Evidence of the interest in enterprise architecture (EA) is seen in the number of enterprise architecture frameworks (EAF) in existence. An EAF is responsible for the realisation of an EA, and therefore acts as a container for the terminology of EA. The lack of acceptance of terms and definitions, coupled with the phenomenon of the large number of EAFs, indicate a silo type understanding of what EA is, which leads to a lack of clarity in the conceptual foundations of EA. By following a design science research (DSR) approach, a conceptual artefact (an enterprise architectonic (EAt)) is created to address the lack of clarity in the conceptual foundations of EA thinking and practice. The EAt serves as a conceptual device to represent the fundamental understanding of EA in terms of concepts and their relationships. The content of the EAt is derived from applying a structured interpretation method (SIM) to three prominent EAFs (The Open Group Architecture Framework, the Department of Defense Architecture Framework and the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture). The SIM’s results are an EA understanding that consists of an EA claim: EA is similar in intent to the enterprise as a worldview is to the world. It is supported by six EA propositions:  Proposition 1: EA’s underlying theoretical knowledge is in a pre-suppositional state.  Proposition 2: EA is a description of the structure of the systems of an enterprise.  Proposition 3: EA represents the enterprise in time-oriented architectures such as an as-is, to-be and has-been architecture.  Proposition 4: EA translates the values/strategy of the enterprise into operational systems appropriate to the information society.  Proposition 5: EA provides a means to manage decisions about the IT/IS management and implementation in the enterprise.  Proposition 6: EA captures a representation of the enterprise in the form of a model or set of models. The six EA propositions are analysed through the lens of Heidegger's equipment analysis, to produce a set of architectonic elements. These elements are arranged in the EAt to create a conceptual device to support the fundamental understanding of EA. / Centre for Applied Information and Communication / Ph.D. (Information Systems)

This thesis investigates large private companies in Sweden that have outsourced their information technology (IT). A considerable proportion of IT outsourcing (ITO) is unsuccessful. For IT service buyers, this could cause IT that does not fully work, entailing problems with the network, application, infrastructure and security, with serious consequences such as a loss of customers’ confidence and significantly increased costs. Therefore, the main research goal was to analyse and define ways to improve ITO for buyer organizations. This main research goal was accomplished through three research goals that are the followings: 1) To develop a method for risk assessment in IT outsourcing; 2) To identify the important factors in IT outsourcing relationship; and 3) To identify the success factors in IT outsourcing.                       The research strategies applied in conducting this research were design science research and survey research. To achieve the first research goal, a method was developed for assessing the ITO risks, including support for mitigating these risks. This method could help both researchers and practitioners in estimating the ITO risks and in this way improve ITO. An application based on the developed method was used to facilitate the testing of this method by several ITO decision makers in large companies concerning its usability, correctness and functionality. Moreover, a study was performed to explore ITO decision makers’ acceptance of the developed method and their use of it for assessing the ITO risks.             The second research goal investigated how to improve service buyers’ ITO relationship with their providers. A well-working ITO relationship is a critical determinant of successful ITO and is relevant to the whole ITO life cycle. This research goal was achieved by identifying and analysing the most important factors in ITO relationships, including a prioritized list of those factors that are highly recommended for use in creating and maintaining a good ITO relationship.                       The third research goal examined how to improve ITO by identifying and prioritizing the success factors (SFs) in ITO. This research identified the ITO SFs in large companies and provided a prioritized list of them to be applied in these companies with a description of the value that they could create from implementation during the ITO life cycle. Moreover, the SFs identified in large companies were compared with those identified in medium-sized companies, which could give an indication to the researchers in this field that company size matters in regard to the implementation order of the identified SFs.               In summary, the research presented in this thesis contributes with: 1) a method for assessing the risks of outsourcing IT and, in the case that IT has been outsourced, suggested ways to mitigate them; 2) the important factors that could improve ITO relationships and 3) a prioritized list of success factors that could improve IT outsourcing. / Denna avhandling undersöker stora privata företag i Sverige som har outsourcat sin IT verksamhet. Som vi uppmärksammade har en stor del av IT-outsourcingen (ITO) misslyckats. För köparen av IT-tjänsten kan det leda till bristande IT funktionalitet med allvarliga konsekvenser som i värsta fall leder till förlorade kunder och betydande kostnadsökningar. Därför är det övergripande forskningsmålet är att analysera och fastställa hur ITO:n för köparen av IT tjänsten kan förbättras. För att lösa det övergripande forskningsmålet forskningen undersökte: 1) Utvecklingen av en metod för att bedöma riskerna med IT-outsourcing; 2) Identifiering av de viktiga faktorerna inom IT-outsourcingsrelationer; och 3) Identifiering av en lista över framgångsfaktorer i IT-outsourcing. De använda forskningsstrategierna för att genomföra forskningen var ”design science research" och kartläggning. För att uppnå först huvudforskningsmålet, har en metod tagits fram för att bedöma riskerna och vägleda hur man kan minska dem. Den här metoden kan hjälpa både forskare och de som utövar IT-outsourcing med att bedöma ITO-riskerna och på så sätt förbättra sina IT-outsourcing.  En programvara baserad på den metoden har utvecklats för att underlätta testningen av metoden vilket har genomförts med IT beslutsfattare på stora organisationer, beträffande användbarhet, korrekthet och funktionalitet. Dessutom har en studie utförts för att bedöma om programvaran kan accepteras av IT beslutsfattare och få reda på om de skulle använda metoden för att bedöma ITO riskerna. Det andra forskningsmålet har undersökt hur köparna av den outsourcade IT-tjänsten kan förbättra relationen med sina leverantörer. En bra ITO-relation är en avgörande faktor för en framgångsrik ITO och den är viktig för hela livscykeln. Forskningsmålet har uppnåtts genom analys för att hitta de viktigaste faktorerna ITO-relationsfaktorer, som studien rekommenderar för att skapa och underhålla en bra ITO relation. Det tredje forskningsmålet har undersökt hur ITO kan förbättras genom att identifiera och prioritera framgångsfaktorerna i ITO. Studien har identifierat framgångsfaktorerna i stora företag och tagit fram en lista med prioriterade framgångsfaktorer som bör implementeras i de undersökta företagen. Dessutom så har nyttan av dessa framgångsfaktorer beskrivits under ITO livscykeln. Dessutom har de identifierade framgångsfaktorerna från stora företag jämförts med framgångsfaktorerna som har identifierats för medelstora företag. Denna jämförelse ger en indikation till forskarna på det här området att prioriteringen av framgångsfaktorerna är beroende av företagsstorlek. Sammanfattningsvis, den beskrivna forskningen i den här uppsatsen bidrar med: 1) En metod för att bedöma risker och förslag på hur minska dessa risker; 2) En lista med de viktiga faktorerna för att förbättra ITO relationen inom IT-outsourcing och; 3) En prioriterad lista av framgångsfaktorer som kan förbättra IT outsourcing.

Evidence of the interest in enterprise architecture (EA) is seen in the number of enterprise architecture frameworks (EAF) in existence. An EAF is responsible for the realisation of an EA, and therefore acts as a container for the terminology of EA. The lack of acceptance of terms and definitions, coupled with the phenomenon of the large number of EAFs, indicate a silo type understanding of what EA is, which leads to a lack of clarity in the conceptual foundations of EA. By following a design science research (DSR) approach, a conceptual artefact (an enterprise architectonic (EAt)) is created to address the lack of clarity in the conceptual foundations of EA thinking and practice. The EAt serves as a conceptual device to represent the fundamental understanding of EA in terms of concepts and their relationships. The content of the EAt is derived from applying a structured interpretation method (SIM) to three prominent EAFs (The Open Group Architecture Framework, the Department of Defense Architecture Framework and the Zachman Framework for Enterprise Architecture). The SIM’s results are an EA understanding that consists of an EA claim: EA is similar in intent to the enterprise as a worldview is to the world. It is supported by six EA propositions:  Proposition 1: EA’s underlying theoretical knowledge is in a pre-suppositional state.  Proposition 2: EA is a description of the structure of the systems of an enterprise.  Proposition 3: EA represents the enterprise in time-oriented architectures such as an as-is, to-be and has-been architecture.  Proposition 4: EA translates the values/strategy of the enterprise into operational systems appropriate to the information society.  Proposition 5: EA provides a means to manage decisions about the IT/IS management and implementation in the enterprise.  Proposition 6: EA captures a representation of the enterprise in the form of a model or set of models. The six EA propositions are analysed through the lens of Heidegger's equipment analysis, to produce a set of architectonic elements. These elements are arranged in the EAt to create a conceptual device to support the fundamental understanding of EA. / Centre for Applied Information and Communication / Ph. D. (Information Systems)

Digital Health relates to “health information systems which enable the merging of social-care and healthcare systems. This would impact on the organisation, service delivery as well as the technological infrastructure” (Herselman & Botha, 2016, p.10). However, with relatively sparse research publications emanating from within the Namibian Health domain, and the concept of Namibian Digital Health as an emergent phenomenon, a Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Framework would provide a start to conceptualising, developing and implementing such an ecosystem for Namibia and thus unlocking the potential of Digital Health in this country. The purpose of this study is to develop a Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Framework based on literature reviews and the feedback from knowledgeable professionals (KPs) in Namibia, as well as global experts. The methodology which was applied in this study to address the purpose, and to answer the research questions, was Design Science Research Methodology and the Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM) process of Peffers, Tuunanen, Rothenberger and Chatterjee (2008), was adopted. Pragmatism is the overall philosophy guiding the study, as proposed by Ackoff’s theory regarding the hierarchy of human understanding (1989) and Shneiderman’s visual information seeking mantra (1996). During Phases 2 and 3 of the study interpretivism and positivism were applied as philosophies, guided by hermeneutics and triangulation, towards understanding the feedback of Knowledgeable Professionals (KPs) in Namibia, as well as the global experts. The study was divided into three phases. The first phase entailed a literature study which identified the components of Digital Health, Innovation and Digital Ecosystems as well as related research of Digital health, Innovation and Digital Ecosystems in developed and developing countries. This process led to the compilation of the initial Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Framework using a conceptual approach. In the second phase of the study, the initial Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem was evaluated by KPs in Namibia using the Delphi method and interviews. Phase 2 adopted both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The findings from Phase 2 resulted in the development of the intermediate Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystem Framework. In Phase 3 of the study, the intermediate framework was validated by global experts. Feedback was collected from global experts through questionnaires which were analysed through qualitative content analysis. The findings, from Phase 3 led to the development of the final Namibian Digital Health Innovation Ecosystems Framework. The guidelines, which can be used by the Namibian government to implement the suggested digital health innovation ecosystem framework, were also provided. / Information Science / D. Litt. et Phil. (Information Systems)

This thesis focuses on the adaptation of formal education to people’s technology- use patterns, their technology-in-practice, where the ubiquitous use of mobile technologies is central. The research question is: How can language learning practices occuring in informal learning environments be effectively integrated with formal education through the use of mobile technology? The study investigates the technical, pedagogical, social and cultural challenges involved in a design science approach. The thesis consists of four studies. The first study systematises MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) research. The second investigates Swedish and Chinese students’ attitudes towards the use of mobile technology in education. The third examines students’ use of technology in an online language course, with a specific focus on their learning practices in informal learning contexts and their understanding of how this use guides their learning. Based on the findings, a specifically designed MALL application was built and used in two courses. Study four analyses the app use in terms of students’ perceived level of self-regulation and structuration. The studies show that technology itself plays a very important role in reshaping peoples’ attitudes and that new learning methods are coconstructed in a sociotechnical system. Technology’s influence on student practices is equally strong across borders. Students’ established technologies-in-practice guide the ways they approach learning. Hence, designing effective online distance education involves three interrelated elements: technology, information, and social arrangements. This thesis contributes to mobile learning research by offering empirically and theoretically grounded insights that shift the focus from technology design to design of information systems.

Abstract Choreography modelling, as a service-oriented architecture specific technique, is increasingly present in embedded systems development domain. This technique specifies a flow of interactions between participants' services from the global or neutral point of view while the specified models represent an integral part of the overall software architecture. Choreography modelling languages that are currently used in embedded systems domain, however, are not expressive enough to capture the choreography-relevant information in this domain. For this reason, choreography specifications are often lacking information or include ambiguous information. This allows misinterpretation of the specified choreography models and leads to difficulties in communication among stakeholders that use those models. The objective of this research is to advance the design of choreography modelling languages by identifying the information content that is relevant in embedded systems domain and by designing a choreography modelling language that supports that information content. To achieve this objective, this research adopted the design science research framework and five individual studies were conducted within this framework. These studies used methods such as the interviews with practitioners, company specific documents and open standards to understand the challenges in industry, systematic literature review to collect the existing scientific knowledge about the utilization of choreography in embedded systems and the focus groups to evaluate the designed language. Based on these study results, the information content that is relevant for choreography modelling in embedded systems domain was identified and then supported with the design of choreography modelling language. The design of the choreography modelling language is evaluated in academic and industry context. The evaluation in academic context is realized by language implementation while the evaluation in industry is realized with industry experts. Language evaluation showed increased expressiveness of the designed language and indicated on possible benefits from its use in testing and protocol development area. These benefits include the reduction of development time and errors in the testing phase while the reduction of maintenance burden and performance improvement can be expected in the protocol development area. / Tiivistelmä Koreografinen mallintaminen on enenevässä määrin käytetty tekniikka sulautettujen järjestelmien palvelukeskeisten arkkitehtuurien määrittelyssä. Tämän mallintamisen avulla pystytään määrittämään palveluiden ja osallistujien välisten vuorovaikutusten virtaa globaalilla tasolla kun taas määritellyt mallit kuvaavat ohjelmistoarkkitehtuurin keskeisiä osakokonaisuuksia. Tällä hetkellä sulautettujen järjestelmien koreografiseen mallintamiseen käytetyt kielet eivät ole tarpeeksi ilmaisuvoimaisia kattaakseen alalla tarvittavien mallien oleelliset tietosisällöt. Tästä syystä koreografiamalleista puuttuu usein oleellisia tietoja tai tietosisällöt eivät ole yksiselitteisiä. Tämä johtaa koreografiamallien tietosisältöjen virheelliseen tulkintaan, joka taas aiheuttaa haasteita malleja hyödyntävien sidosryhmien välisessä vuorovaikutuksessa. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena on edistää koreografiamallinnuksessa käytettävien kielten suunnittelua tunnistamalla ne tietosisällöt, jotka ovat oleellisia sulautetuille järjestelmille sekä suunnitella kieli, joka tukee oleellisia tietosisältöjä. Tavoitteen saavuttamiseksi sovellettiin "design science" (suunnittelun tutkimus) tutkimusmenetelmää, jolla toteutettiin viisi tapaustutkimusta. Näissä tutkimuksissa hyödynnettiin teollisuuden asiantuntijoiden haastatteluita, yrityskohtaisia dokumentteja ja avoimia standardeja, joiden avulla pystyttiin ymmärtämään teollisuuden kohtaamia haasteita tutkimusalueella. Systemaattisen kirjallisuuskatsauksen avulla kerättiin yhteen olemassa oleva tieteellinen tietämys koreografian käytöstä sulautetuissa järjestelmissä. Kehitetyn kielen sopivuutta teolliseen tuotekehitykseen arvioitiin asiantuntiaryhmille järjestetyissä työpajoissa. Saatujen tutkimustulosten valossa koreografiamallinnuksessa tarvittavat oleelliset tietosisällöt sulautettujen järjestelmien alueella pystyttiin määrittämään sekä kehittämään tietosisältöä tukeva koreografian mallinnuskieli. Kehitetty mallinnuskieli on arvioitu akateemisessa kontekstissa toteuttamalla koreografian mallinnuskieli. Teollisessa ympäristössä arvioinnin ovat suorittaneet teollisuuden asiantuntijat. Arviointien tuloksena voidaan todeta, että kehitetyllä mallinnuskielellä on parempi ilmaisuvoima kuin aiemmin käytössä olleilla kielillä. Lisäksi saatiin viitteitä kielen soveltuvuudesta testauksessa ja protokollien kehityksessä. Kieltä soveltamalla saavutettiin lyhempi kehitysaika ja vähennettiin virheitä testausvaiheessa. Lisäksi protokollan kehityksen osuudessa oletetaan ylläpidon kuormittavuuden vähenevän ja suorituskyvyn paranevan.

Online marketing activities play an increasingly important role for organization in connection with the development of internet based technologies and their positive reception by the society. The aim of this dissertation is to design an artefact that would support the decision making of marketing specialists and thus the management of online marketing activities. The starting point is an explorative research among Czech companies, which identifies the issues felt as problematic and the needs of the selected set of organizations. Introduced at the same time is the current state of use of selected tools for online marketing by these organizations, and the situation is compared with worldwide development. The output of this explorative research, the examination of scientific literature, and a critical analysis serve as a basis for designing an own method, Genoma, whose purpose is to support the decision making of marketing specialists, and thereby also the management of marketing activities in internet-mediated environment. This method is presented as Deming (PDCA) cycle, which enables it to be used not only separately, but also as part of other frameworks for the management of marketing activities (e.g. the frameworks PMF, MCPF and RACE, which are presented in the dissertation). The Genoma method uses mainly the genetic algorithm for selecting a suitable portfolio of online marketing tools for a particular campaign. The selection is made on the basis of expected feedback at the level of social interaction, meeting the given marketing targets, and the financial demands of the individual tools. The prerequisite of using this method is a knowledge base that includes the area of sociotechnical interaction, which is based on interpreting phenomena related to the internet-mediated environment and the features of complex networks. Methodically, this dissertation builds on the complementary relationship of the behavioural (social informatics) and the design type of research (design science research). The final assessment of the suitability of the proposed method is done on the basis of a multiple case study, which uses also an own program created in C#, implementing the genetic algorithm used in the Genoma method.

Innerhalb der Fachdomäne Logistik ist ein ausgeprägter Bedarf zur Unterstützung von immer komplexer werdenden und dynamischen Dienstleistungsprozessen durch mobile Informationssysteme festzustellen. Besonders neue Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglichen die Neugestaltung zugehöriger logistischer Wertschöpfungssysteme durch die Vernetzung von produzierenden Unternehmen, Dienstleistern und Endkunden entlang der Supply Chain. Für die Logistik wird die Technologie Augmented Reality (AR) als nutzenstiftendes Werkzeug zur Prozessunterstützung und Realisierung von zwischenmenschlichen Kollaborationen als auch Mensch-Maschine-Kollaborationen bewertet. Hierzu zählen besonders Datenbrillen, sogenannte „Smart Glasses“, die als Trägersystem für die augmentierte Prozessunterstützung zum Einsatz kommen. Zielsetzung dieser Forschungsarbeit ist die Gestaltung von logistischen Wertschöpfungssystemen mittels augmentierter Prozessunterstützung auf Basis Smart-Glasses-basierter Assistenzsysteme. Dazu werden zunächst (1) domänenspezifische als auch branchenübergreifende nutzenstiftende Anwendungsfälle identifiziert und aggregiert, (2) ein Vorgehensmodell zur Konzeption, Integration und Implementierung von entsprechen mobilen Informationssystemen erstellt und (3) Gestaltungsrichtlinien für mensch-zentrierte Assistenzsysteme und zugehörige Kollaborationsfunktionen mit Fokus auf die Gebrauchstauglichkeit (engl. Usability) etabliert. Mittels eines gestaltungsorientierten Vorgehens (Design Science Research) wird der identifizierte Forschungsbedarf mit Erkenntnissen aus einem in der Dienstleistungslogistik verorteten Konsortialforschungsprojekt als auch mehreren prototypischen Instanziierungen praktisch fundiert. Die vorliegende Arbeit erweitert durch die Gestaltung von gebrauchstauglichen Smart-Glasses-basierten Assistenzsystemen und die Schaffung entsprechender Kollaborationsfunktionen das Forschungsgebiet der Mensch-Computer-Interaktion und hier speziell den Forschungsbereich der Computer-Supported Cooperative Work. Zusätzlich wird der Bereich des Service Systems Engineering als Teildisziplin der Wirtschaftsinformatik mit Gestaltungswissen ergänzt. Zugleich wird die Wissensbasis der Fachdomäne Logistik (und hier speziell der Dienstleistungslogistik) um konkrete Anwendungsfälle für eine augmentierte Prozessunterstützung erweitert.

In dieser Dissertationsschrift wird ein Design-Science-Ansatz unternommen zur Analyse der IT-Unterstützung mobiler Gesundheitsdienstleister. Dabei wurde für das Forschungsfeld E-Health bzw. M-Health an der Schnittstelle von Gesundheits- und Wirtschaftsinformatik ein Ausbau der Prozessorientierung untersucht. Daraus resultierten basierend auf einer Analogie zum technischen Außendienst in sechs wissenschaftlichen Erst- und Koautorenschaften des Verfassers (siehe Tabelle 3 sowie Literaturverzeichnis für bibliographische Details) Artefakte und Gestaltungswissen. Mit deren Hilfe können komplexe Versorgungsabläufe als Hilfestellung für Rettungs- oder ambulante Pflegekräfte IT-gestützt auf modernen tragbaren Endgeräten, wie Smartphones mit Touchscreen, zur Verfügung gestellt werden, unter anderem zum Ausbau evidenzbasierten Handelns. Die Resultate werden weiterhin in einem Ordnungsrahmen für Gestaltungswissen lokalisiert, so dass diesbezügliche Erkenntnisse auch andernorts leicht wiederverwendet werden können. Bisherige Evaluationen des Konzepts und eines bereits vorliegenden Prototyps, insbesondere mit Anwenderzielgruppen, erbrachten positive Resultate bzw. Rückmeldungen hinsichtlich der Akzeptanz, so dass dieser für eine praktische Implementierung weiter vorbereitet werden kann.

In Wissenschaft und Praxis herrscht Einigkeit über die Notwendigkeit der Unterstützung von Dienstleistungen durch mobile Informationssysteme (IS). Der primäre Untersuchungsgegenstand der vorliegenden Dissertation ist die Gestaltung eines mobilen IS zur Unterstützung produktbegleitender Dienstleistungen. Innovativ an der im Rahmen dieses Promotionsverfahrens entwickelten Lösung ist die Verwendung der neu auf dem Markt erschienenen Smart Glasses, die u. a. dadurch, dass sie freihändig bedient werden können, einen Mehrwert zur Unterstützung während der Dienstleistungserbringung bieten. Ziel der Arbeit ist die Entwicklung von Gestaltungswissen zum Design, zur Implementierung und zur Evaluation mobiler Informationssysteme. Die Bearbeitung der Zielsetzung beinhaltet (1) die multi-methodische Analyse zentraler Anforderungen an das IS in Form der zu deckenden Informationsbedarfe der Leistungserbringer und der zu implementierenden Anwendungsfälle. (2) Die fachlichen Anforderungen adressierend, wird das Design, die Implementierung und die Evaluation des mobilen Informationssystems selbst durchgeführt. Hierzu werden zusätzlich technische Funktionalitäten der Smart Glasses erfasst. (3) Aus der Analyse, dem Design und der Evaluation des mobilen Informationssystems wird anschließend methodisches Gestaltungswissen abgeleitet. (4) Abschließend erfolgt die Anwendung des Gestaltungswissens innerhalb weiterer Dienstleistungssektoren (Logistikdienstleistungen, Gesundheitsdienstleistungen). Hierbei werden ein Smart Glasses-basiertes IS für die Unterstützung von Logistikdienstleistungen und eine Smartphone-Applikation zur Unterstützung von Gesundheitsdienstleistungen für das Entwicklungsland Papua-Neuguinea konzipiert. Die vorliegende Dissertation leistet einen Beitrag zum Service Systems Engineering als Teildisziplin der Wirtschaftsinformatik. Sie füllt die Forschungslücke zu evidenzbasiertem Gestaltungswissen in der Disziplin, indem durch einen gestaltungsorientierten Ansatz sowohl mobile Informationssysteme selbst, als auch methodische Erkenntnisse generiert werden.