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This research studies the three market-leading RPA-tools, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism and UiPath, in order to fill the lack of literature regarding methods for evaluating and comparing RPA-tools. Design science research was performed by designing and creating artefacts in the form of process implementations and an evaluative model. A typical process representing a common area of use was implemented using each of the three RPA-tools, in order to create an evaluative model. Official documentation, along with the three implementations, were studied. Evaluative questions specific to RPA-tool evaluation were created based on a quality model for product quality found in the ISO/IEC 25010 standard. Characteristics dependant on organisational context were not included in the evaluation, in order to create an evaluative model which is not dependant on any specific business environment. The results of the research provide knowledge of (1) how RPA-tools can be implemented and (2) the differences that exist between the three market-leading RPA tools. The research also contributes in the form of a method for investigating and evaluating the RPA-tools. When creating the evaluative model, some of the criteria found in the ISO/IEC 25010 quality model were concluded to be of low relevance and, therefore, not included in the model. By analysing and evaluating the created evaluative model, using a theoretical concept of digital resources and their evaluation, the validity of the evaluative model was reinforced. From an evaluative perspective, this research emphasises the need to appropriate and change existing evaluative methods in order to successfully evaluate the most relevant characteristics of RPA-tools. / Denna forskning studerar de tre marknadsledande RPA-verktygen, Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism och UiPath, för att fylla bristen på litteratur om metoder för utvärdering och jämförelse av RPA-verktyg. Design science research genomfördes genom att utforma och skapa artefakter i form av processimplementeringar och en utvärderingsmodell. En typisk process som representerar ett vanligt användningsområde implementerades med användning av vart och ett av de tre RPA-verktygen för att skapa en utvärderingsmodell. Officiell dokumentation, tillsammans med de tre implementeringarna, studerades. Utvärder-ingsfrågor specifika för RPA-verktygsutvärdering skapades baserat på en kvalitetsmodell för produktkvalitet som finns i ISO/IEC 25010-standarden. Egenskaper som är beroende av organisatoriskt sammanhang ingick inte i utvärderingen för att skapa en utvärderingsmodell som inte är beroende av någon specifik affärsmiljö. Resultaten av forskningen ger kunskap om (1) hur RPA-verktyg kan implementeras och (2) skillnaderna som finns mellan de tre marknadsledande RPA-verktygen. Forskningen bidrar också i form av en metod för att undersöka och utvärdera RPA-verktygen. Vid skapandet av utvärderingsmodellen drogs slutsatsen att några av kriterierna i kvalitetsmodellen i ISO/IEC 25010 var av låg relevans och de är därför inte inkluderade i den resulterande modellen. Genom att analysera och utvärdera den skapade utvärderingsmodellen, med hjälp av ett teoretiskt koncept av digitala resurser och deras utvärdering, förstärktes utvärderingsmodellens validitet. Ur ett utvärderingsperspektiv betonar denna forskning behovet av att anpassa och ändra befintliga utvärderingsmetoder för att framgångsrikt utvärdera de mest relevanta egenskaperna hos RPA-verktyg.

Autonomous robots are becoming a bigger part of our society. This thesis aims to evaluate a robot testing dashboard (RTD) that can be used as a new way of finding improvements when developing autonomous robots that do not use machine learning. The method that is used is design science research, which is used when creating and evaluating an artifact to address a practical problem. In our case the artifact isthe RTD. This project was performed at a company called Greenworks, which among other things develops and sells autonomous lawn mowers. The company wants to find new testing methods to help develop their autonomous lawnmowers. The RTD is created to visualize the inputs that the lawn mower utilizes to perform its tasks. A human pilot will then control the lawn mower, by only looking at that visualized data. If the pilot using the RTD can execute the same tasks as the lawn mower in its autonomous mode, the test results can be analyzed to see whether the human has done some parts of the tasks differently. The best outcome from the analysis of the test results is to find areas of improvement that can be implemented into the autonomous lawn mower design, both in software and hardware. For this purpose, an RTD was built and tested at Greenworks. From the tests using the RTD we concluded that it is helpful in the testing process, and we could find areas of improvements after analysis of our tests. However, the use of the RTD will require more time and resources compared to other methods. Each company that uses a similar dashboard concept will have to evaluate if the benefits are worth the time. Furthermore, the concept may not suit all areas of robotics but does seem to suit situations where a human can have an advantage over robots, such as in creative problem solving.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing contemporary industries and being applied in application domains ranging from recommendation systems to self-driving cars. In scenarios in which humans are interacting with an AI, inaccurate algorithms could lead to human mistreatment or even harmful events. Human-in-the-loop computing is a machine learning approach desiring hybrid intelligence, the combination of human and machine intelligence, to achieve accurate and interpretable results. This thesis applies human-in-the-loop computing in a Design Science Research project with a Swedish manufacturing company to make operational processes more efficient. The thesis aims to investigate emerging design principles useful for designing machine learning algorithms of hybrid intelligence. Hereby, the thesis has two key contributions: First, a theoretical framework is built that comprises general design knowledge originating from Information Systems (IS) research. Second, the analysis of empirical findings leads to the review of general IS design principles and to the formulation of useful design principles for human-in-the-loop computing. Whereas the principle of AI-readiness improves the likelihood of strategical AI success, the principle of hybrid intelligence shows how useful it can be to trigger a demand for human-in-the-loop computing in involved stakeholders. The principle of use case-marketing might help designers to promote the customer benefits of applying human-in-the-loop computing in a research setting. By utilizing the principle of power relationship and the principle of human-AI trust, designers can demonstrate the humans’ power over AI and build a trusting human-machine relationship. Future research is encouraged to extend and specify the formulated design principles and employ human-in-the-loop computing in different research settings. With regard to technological advancements in brain-machine interfaces, human-in-the-loop computing might even become much more critical in the future.

A rising problem exists regarding the ownership of memes. This research proposes a solution consisting of an IT artefact that solves this problem by utilising design science research in combination with affordance theory and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). This artefact is designed by identifying the problem areas and creating affordances that guide the design process, using the design science research methodology by Peffers et al. (2007). The artefact is evaluated and considered a potential solution to the problem with meme ownership. The affordances are connected to the designed features and offer contributions in the form of a novel artefact and documented design processes. By using affordance theory as a lens to help the design, further research can build upon this idea and expand research by combining design science with affordances. The practical implementation of NFTs gives insights into how NFTs can be applied in the case of tokenising digital goods and allows people without knowledge of blockchains to participate.

Software security for agile methods, particularly for those designed for individual developers, is still a major concern. With most software products deployed over the Internet, security as a key component of software quality has become a major problem. In addressing this problem, this research proposes a solo software development methodology (SSDM) that uses as minimum resources as possible, at the same time conforming to the best practice for delivering secure and high-quality software products. Agile methods have excelled on delivering timely and quality software. At the same time research also shows that most agile methods do not address the problem of security in the developed software. A metasynthesis of SSDMs conducted in this thesis confirmed the lack practices that promote security in the developed software product. On the other hand, some researchers have demonstrated the feasibility of incorporating existing lightweight security practices into agile methods. This research uses Design Science Research (DSR) to build, demonstrate and evaluate a lightweight SSDM. Using an algorithm adapted for the purpose, the research systematically integrates lightweight security and quality practices to produce an agile secure-solo software development methodology (Secure-SSDM). A multiple-case study in an academic and industry setting is conducted to demonstrate and evaluate the utility of the methodology. This demonstration and evaluation thereof, indicates the applicability of the methodology in building high-quality and secure software products. Theoretical evaluation of the agility of the Secure-SSDM using the four-dimensional analytical tool (4-DAT) shows satisfactory compliance of the methodology with agile principles. The main contributions in this thesis are: the Secure-SSDM, which entails description of the concepts, modelling languages, stages, tasks, tools and techniques; generation of a quality theory on practices that promote quality in a solo software development environment; adaptation of Keramati and Mirian-Hosseinabadi’s algorithm for the purposes of integrating quality and security practices. This research would be of value to researchers as it introduces the security component of software quality into a solo software development environment, probing more research in the area. To software developers the research has provided a lightweight methodology that builds quality and security into the product using minimum resources. / School of Computing / D. Phil. (Computer Science)

The notion of change is one of the more pronounced challenges API developers face, since a change to published APIs means a change for its’ consumers. API Versioning is a commonly used strategy to mitigate the risks of changing APIs, however, the strategy introduces a possibility of having practically innumerable number of API versions published at once, all possibly used by different consumers, creating considerable overhead for API developers to manage. API Versioning and API version management are well-researched disciplines. Nevertheless, Yasmin et al. (2020) have identified a research gap in the support for API consumers to made aware of API deprecations in a proactive and automatic fashion. API Versioning in the context of microservices– which the literature seldom addresses– may serve as an interesting solution space for answering the call of Yasmin et al. (2020), due to the architecture’s strong ties to continuous integration– a practice concerned with automatically and proactively ensuring software quality. Concisely, this thesis is set out to answer Yasmin et al.’s (2020) call for research by utilizing the underexplored contextualization of microservices and continuous integration. Using a Design Science Research strategy, this thesis proposes a model detailing how deprecated RESTful web API version usage can be automatically and proactively detected in microservices using continuous integration. The model is subsequently proven to be instantiable via a proof of concept, designed for and situated at a national Swedish bank. Through a series of in-vitro simulations at the bank, the proof of concept is demonstrated to successfully being able to automatically and proactively detect deprecated RESTful web API version usage. An evaluation of the solution shows that the proof of concept– and by extent the model– fulfills the demarcated research objectives of automaticity, proactivity, generality, and autonomy. Thus, the proposed solution is determined to be both novel and useful, successfully answering the call of Yasmin et al. (2020) in the context of microservices and continuous integration.

Since the advent of the Internet, we have been observing a fast-paced development within the computing world. One of the major innovations in recent years is the “Internet of Things”, which brings interconnectedness between devices and humans to unprecedented heights. This technological breakthrough enabled the emergence of a new sub-field within Learning Analytics, Multimodal Learning Analytics, which makes use of several types of data sources to study learning-related processes. As computers and sensors become increasingly cheaper and more accessible,  research within this new sub-field grows, yet some gaps remain unexplored. Additionally, there is a research bias toward computer-assisted learning environments, rather than physical ones. At the same time, the current labor market is highly competitive, and possessing profession-related skills is not sufficient to land a job. Besides these skills, there is an increasing demand for social skills, such as communication, teamwork, and collaboration. However, there is a gap between the skills that are trained in an academic setting and the ones that are required by the labor market. Having this background in mind, this work aims at designing and evaluating an IoT sensor system capable of tracking patterns observed under social interactions within a group, and more specifically, in terms of the distance between group members while solving a task. Another important aspect of this study is the system's cost-effectiveness so that it can be employed in a scalable and sustainable manner. To achieve this goal, a multimethodological approach for Design Science Research was adopted, which implied the combination of several methods such as sketching, prototyping, and testing. As a result, this study contributes both to the research area of Multimodal Learning Analytics, and to educational practices.

Today, the world contains a large number of important non-profit organizations (NPOs) that seek to maintain the welfare of people and animals and to preserve the natural world. NPOs are extremely dependent on funds from the public which has resulted in severe competition between these organizations. This has also come as a result of the cut down of government support and a shortage of donations. Their lack of financial resources indicates that NPOs around the world face major challenges and are therefore in need of customized tools to increase their revenue and ensure their survival. With the purpose of increasing donations towards NPOs, this study aims to research how a media object can be developed and marketed in Bali to motivate tourists into donating money to the Bali Animal Welfare Association (BAWA) which is located in Canguu, Bali. By doing this, NPOs can use this research as tool for application within their own organization to increase their revenues.The media object that was chosen for this research was a poster, placed in the streets of Canggu, Bali and was selected because it has been shown that visual communication is a powerful tool for encouraging prosocial human behavior. The aim was to document how the media object affected levels of tourist engagement and ultimately their motivation to donate money to an NPO. A number of theories of motivation and behavior were used to form the foundation for this research. The methodology used included qualitative data collection by way of interviews, observations of local conditions pertinent to tourist interaction with media objects, as well as information gathered through a focus group involving local tourists. Research Through Design (RTD) was the framework that was used to structure the process for the creation and the testing of the prototype (the media object). The RTD included four phases, two of which were not completed due to complications involving the COVID-19 pandemic. The research concluded that the environment, attitudes towards legitimacy and emotional engagement all played a crucial role for the effectiveness and ultimately the success of a media object. Furthermore, it was concluded that there is a need for extended research on tourists’ behavior as well as consumer behavior, in relation to donors, in order to fully understand how a media object should be developed to motivate a tourist to donate money to an NPO.

Die gesetzlich verpflichtende Jahresabschlussprüfung ist in den vergangenen Jahren durch wesentliche Veränderungen gekennzeichnet. Einerseits verlangen gesetzliche Vorgaben als Reaktion auf Bilanzskandale und Finanzkrisen eine zeitnahe Berichterstattung über die rechnungslegungsrelevanten Aktivitäten geprüfter Unternehmen. Andererseits werden Rechnungslegungsprozesse mittlerweile nahezu vollständig mithilfe betrieblicher Informationssysteme, z. B. Enterprise-Resource-Planning-Systeme (ERP-Systeme) und Buchhaltungssysteme, durchgeführt. Dadurch ergeben sich sowohl der Bedarf als auch die grundsätzliche Umsetzbarkeit digitaler, kontinuierlicher Prüfungsansätze. Trotz umfangreicher Vorarbeiten im Bereich der digitalen Prüfung in den letzten 30 Jahren haben sich jedoch bislang keine Ansätze zur flächendeckenden Ausbreitung kontinuierlicher Prüfungsansätze etabliert. Grund dafür sind vor allem Barrieren auf organisatorischer und technischer Ebene. Dies stellt insbesondere kleine und mittelständische Prüfungsgesellschaften vor große Herausforderungen, da diese in der Regel nicht über personelle und fachliche Kapazitäten für die Umsetzung komplexer Prüfungssysteme verfügen. Die gestaltungsorientierte Wirtschaftsinformatik kann mit der Entwicklung von IT-Artefakten einen Beitrag zur digitalen Transformation der Abschlussprüfung leisten. In dieser Dissertation wird der beschriebene Bedarf aufgegriffen und, auf Basis eines dreistufigen Forschungsvorgehens, ein Lösungsansatz für die geschilderte Problemstellung entwickelt: Auf der ersten Stufe wird anhand einer empirischen Grundmethodik der Prüfungsprozess in der Praxis analysiert (Ist-Analyse). Auf der zweiten Stufe werden bestehende Konzepte und Erfolgsfaktoren für die Umsetzung der kontinuierlichen Prüfung untersucht (Soll-Konzeption). Das in der dritten Stufe beschriebene Lösungskonzept „Audit-as-a-Service“ sieht die Integration eines spezialisierten Informationsdienstleisters vor, der als Mediator zwischen Prüfungsgesellschaften und geprüften Unternehmen fungiert und die kontinuierliche Prüfung zu einem Geschäftsmodellansatz erweitert.