Globalization and innovation are revolutionizing the higher education forcing to create new market trends. Different nations have their own pattern and framework of education in delivering the educational services. Educational institutions are also seeking different organizational and behavioural changes for their better future as they hunt for new financial resources, face new competition and seek greater prestige domestically and internationally. The coming future will decide which universities would survive the market trends, competition and expectations of the students (Clients). The survival-of-the-fittest paradigm framework plays a prominent role in ideas of how the higher education would be delivered to the students in future with the Instruction Technology and distance education. According to us the education trend has changed its phase of delivery of services form the management point of view to student’s point of view. Leading to delivery of educational service’s which would have more impact on student’s education, knowledge and experience within the institution. In our thesis we try to provide some information about how to support and manage the information in Virtual Organizations. We also explore the frameworks of the university and discussed a case study about the different ways of providing better support for information management resulting in delivery of best students driven services and unique facilities. We would be looking at the different aspects of the university work flows and procedures and gain an insight on the student’s expectation from the organization. This investigation would be helpful for the students to know what are the services they should expect from the universities and also helpful for management to know better the needs of the students and their needs and to develop a framework for proper execution of these services. / Pavan Kumar Yadav, S/o: B.R.Basant Kumar Yadav, Hno: 291,292, Lalbazar, Trimulgherry, Secunderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India 500015. PH: (+91)(040)27793414

Major bridge stakeholders such as federal and provincial transportation agencies are in dire need for objective knowledge-based systems that assist decision-makers in the selection of bridge type. Besides that, estimating bridge construction costs at the conceptual design stage is an increasing necessity for accurate budgeting and effective allocation of funding. Whilst multiple bridge management systems have already been developed; they still possess major drawbacks pertaining to interoperability and integration with complex time and cost optimization-related problem solving. In another perspective, infrastructure restoration has been backlogged with multifaceted factors that have captured the attention of municipal and federal authorities. Several successful integrations of bridge information management systems (BrIMS) with decision support systems and computer-aided engineering design solutions have significantly leveraged downstream processes of bridge maintenance operations and inspired many researchers. The subjective nature of evaluating bridge conditions and deteriorations is the main factor that influences bridge maintenance, repair, and replacement decisions. In order to overcome this shortcoming, the objectives of this study are intended to demonstrate the viability of integrating a decision support system with a stochastic gamma deterioration model utilizing a probabilistic fuzzy logic strategic approach at the conceptual design stage. In summary, this study presents a systematic multi-objective knowledge-based approach for selecting bridge type, forecasting elemental deteriorations, linear scheduling, and estimating construction costs at the conceptual design stage. The proposed methodology comprises a framework to deploy a system that automatically generates conceptual cost estimates by integrating objective functions with bridge information modeling (BrIM) through an external data interchange protocol in synchrony with interoperability standards. Deployment of the developed system shall minimize the degree of subjectivity involved while decision makings pertaining to bridge projects and assists designers and cost engineers obtain results in an integrated quantitative, qualitative, and systematic manner. The successful deployment of the expert system signifies a technological achievement of novelty pertaining to the integration of bridge information modeling (BrIM) concept with probabilistic fuzzy logic strategic approaches at the conceptual design stage of bridges.

This thesis is a case study of the search function on the University of Uppsala’s web site. The search function in this study was chosen since it exists on a large and complex web site and there were apparent lacks in the old version of the search function. The thesis highlights some of the problems that can appear in the development of a search function on a local site. One interesting find is that one of the most difficult issues is organizational and not technical. Without a common strategy how to handle information is it very difficult to make good searches on the web site. / Den här uppsatsen är en fallstudie av Uppsala Universitets sökfunktion. Sökfunktionen i studien valdes för att den finns på en stor och komplex webbplats som tillhör en motsvarande stor och komplex organisation och eftersom det fanns tydliga brister i den äldre versionen av sökfunktion. Uppsatsen belyser en del av de svårigheter som man kan stöta på när man bygger en lokal sökfunktion för den typen av webbplats. Bland annat så verkar de största svårigheterna inte vara tekniska, utan organisatoriska. Utan en gemensam strategi för hur man ska hantera information är det svårt att göra bra sökningar på webbplatsen.

Informationsdelning är viktigt för att en organisation ska kunna uppnå god effektivitet, men i många fall delas och används inte information på det sätt som det skulle kunna göras. För att förbättra informationsdelningen har vissa företag investerat eller utvecklat IT-applikationer, men teknologin måste samverka med mänskliga och organisatoriska faktorer för att den önskade informationsdelningen ska kunna uppnås. Studiens syfte var att beskriva vilka faktorer som påverkar informationsdelningen ur ett MTO-perspektiv. För att svara på syftet genomfördes en fallstudie på ett konsultföretag som arbetar med produkt- och teknisk dokumentation och på fallföretaget utfördes 6 intervjuer med tekniska skribenter. Några av de faktorer som identifierats är att människan måste vara medveten om varför det är viktigt att dela viss typ av information, för att vilja dela och för att informationen ska hålla en bra kvalitet. Människan delar heller inte information ifall denne inte är medveten om att det finns ett informationsbehov. Att arbeta i ett konsultföretag innebär ofta att de anställda är spridda ute hos kund, vilket gör att det blir svår att upprätthålla en personlig kontakt. Finns det en god personlig kontakt mellan de som ska dela information är det troligare att informationsdelning sker. En annan faktor är när det inte finns någon IT-applikation i ett företag som används aktivt och som dessutom har få användare.

Researchers in military command and control (C2) have for several decades sought to help commanders by introducing automated, intelligent decision support systems. These systems are still not widely used, however, and some researchers argue that this may be due to those problems that are inherent in the relationship between the affordances of technology and the requirements by the specific contexts of work in military C2. In this thesis, we study some specific properties of three support techniques for analyzing and automating aspects of C2 scenarios that are relevant for the contexts of work in which they can be used. The research questions we address concern (1) which affordances and constraints of these technologies are of most relevance to C2, and (2) how these affordances and limitations can be managed to improve the utility of intelligent decision support systems in C2. The thesis comprises three case studies of C2 scenarios where intelligent support systems have been devised for each scenario. The first study considered two military planning scenarios: planning for medical evacuations and similar tactical operations. In the study, we argue that the plan production capabilities of automated planners may be of less use than their constraint management facilities. ComPlan, which was the main technical system studied in the first case study, consisted of a highly configurable, collaborative, constraint-management framework for planning in which constraints could be used either to enforce relationships or notify users of their validity during planning. As a partial result of the first study, we proposed three tentative design criteria for intelligent decision support: transparency, graceful regulation and event-based feedback. The second study was of information management during planning at the operational level, where we used a C2 training scenario from the Swedish Armed Forces and the documents produced during the scenario as a basis for studying properties of Semantic Desktops as intelligent decision support. In the study, we argue that (1) due to the simultaneous use of both documents and specialized systems, it is imperative that commanders can manage information from heterogeneous sources consistently, and (2) in the context of a structurally rich domain such as C2, documents can contain enough information about domain-specific concepts that occur in several applications to allow them to be automatically extracted from documents and managed in a unified manner. As a result of our second study, we present a model for extending a general semantic desktop ontology with domain-specific concepts and mechanisms for extracting and managing semantic objects from plan documents. Our model adheres to the design criteria from the first case study. The third study investigated machine learning techniques in general and text clustering in particular, to support researchers who study team behavior and performance in C2. In this study, we used material from several C2 scenarios which had been studied previously. We interviewed the participating researchers about their work profiles, evaluated machine learning approaches for the purpose of supporting their work and devised a support system based on the results of our evaluations. In the study, we report on empirical results regarding the precision possible to achieve when automatically classifying messages in C2 workflows and present some ramifications of these results on the design of support tools for communication analysis. Finally, we report how the prototype support system for clustering messages in C2 communications was conceived by the users, the utility of the design criteria from case study 1 when applied to communication analysis, and the possibilities for using text clustering as a concrete support tool in communication analysis. In conclusion, we discuss how the affordances and constraints of intelligent decision support systems for C2 relate to our design criteria, and how the characteristics of each work situation demand new adaptations of the way in which intelligent support systems are used.

Magister Bibliothecologiae - MBibl / The study investigates knowledge management (KM) practices in the public sector in Botswana. The underlying premise is that good KM leads to efficiency and effectiveness. The study assesses the KM practices in the government departments by means of a questionnaire survey of senior managers. The assumption is that the corporate manager/directors will know what knowledge is there, how knowledge is created, shared and flow in the organization. The main question of this study is whether the Botswana public sector is practicing KM. The study explores the problem and questions by means of a questionnaire survey amongst 43 departmental directors of the Government of Botswana. The overall finding is that information management rather than KM is being practiced. The respondents, senior public service managers, certainly recognize the value of and the need for KM. But, they themselves identify certain weaknesses, such as lack of knowledge of KM among their staff, weak communication inside and across the departments, lack of policy and lack of good KM systems. / South Africa

Parallel to the Open Source Software movement, there is an increased demand and need for free, open access to information resources. The Open Access initiative is characterized by two strategies: namely the promotion of self-archiving or, alternatively, publishing of research articles in open-access journals. The purpose of an Institutional Repository (IR) is to provide a suitable archival environment for the self-archiving of digital items. This study provides a clear understanding of the issues surrounding the implementation of an IR. Issues discussed include software selection, as well as the development, implementation and marketing of an IR. An equally important issue is individual skills development. Attention is given to the development of the policies that are required by an organization and its main stakeholders. These policies form an essential part of the development of an information system. Issues such as acceptance, usage, population, and management of the repository are reported on. The actual work that was done at the CSIR is used as a case study. The implementation process at the CSIR and the subsequent lessons learnt are used to highlight some of problems experienced and how these problems were solved. Issues that still need investigation, e.g. long-term preservation, are discussed. / Dissertation (MPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

The shift in the strategic role that knowledge plays in business is forcing business managers to actively participate in, if not lead, knowledge management for decision making. Unfortunately there are not enough generic models or even guidelines for incorporating the management of knowledge into business and especially business strategy formulation. This leads to business managers considering knowledge management as being separate from business, leading to an inability to align knowledge management goals with corporate goals. The goal of the study was therefore to investigate the interdependency between knowledge, knowledge management and business from a managerial/strategic perspective rather than from a technological perspective. This was done to supply practitioners and managers with guidelines for successful institutionalization and management of knowledge. In order to achieve this goal, research focused on the following objectives: <ul> <li>Heightening awareness of the critical role knowledge plays as a strategic corporate resource.</li> <li>Determining the issues/models/methods and perspectives available, to guide strategists in the quest to efficiently and effectively manage knowledge, within a strategic/managerial perspective.</li> <li>The progression of knowledge management maturity from a strategic/managerial perspective.</li> <li>Knowledge management’s performance in relation to the objectives and measures that determine the overall efficiency and effectiveness of an organization.</li> <li>Formulation of guidelines (a knowledge management maturity questionnaire) to aid practitioners and strategists to successfully assess knowledge management maturity.</li> </ul> Finally, to expand the research beyond purely theoretical and/or academic value, i.e. to validate all propositions made in the scholarly review as being valid and applicable in a real world scenario, the knowledge management maturity questionnaire was tested in South African industry. Although not directly supportive of the aim, the knowledge gained from conducting research in industry supply knowledge management practitioners with a baseline of data to benchmark knowledge management maturity upon. The thesis therefore concludes with a summary of the main findings of the knowledge management maturity in 86 South African-based organizations. In focusing on the evolution of strategy, it was determined that knowledge has played an enabling role in the formulation of strategies. It was proposed that the evolution of strategy will continue not by replacing previous notions, but rather by building knowledgeably upon previous thought. The proposition was made that in order to set the stage for the successful institutionalization of knowledge management, organizations should decide upon issues that are proven to lead to the implementation of a knowledge management culture. In order to ensure uniformity in the institutionalizing of these issues, it was proposed that not only should issues be encapsulated within policy, but also that the strategic management process be used to determine the priority of issues. In placing knowledge management issues, policies and strategies in a chronological order, a new maturity model was formulated to reflect the progression of knowledge management endeavours from within a strategic/managerial perspective. Differences in opinion with regard to innovation’s role as measurement criteria for knowledge management were also critically reviewed. It was found that although numerous authors support a link between knowledge management and innovation, empirical evidence is not supportive. It was argued that the link between knowledge management and innovation is blurred, primarily due to the interdependency between knowledge, strategy and knowledge management. Owing to the complex nature of managing knowledge as a strategic enabler, the argument was proposed that the sum of the input will not equal the output. It was therefore proposed that knowledge management enables strategists to formulate winning strategies. The key to determining the value of knowledge management therefore lies in the extent knowledgeable reasoning leads to organisational growth, profitability and sustainability and not purely within the amount of innovation it sparks. As mentioned earlier, building on the inductive reasoning followed in the literature review, a questionnaire of six sections, constituting 101 descriptive questions, was developed and used to empirically test the knowledge management maturity of 86 South African-based organizations. With regard to the level of knowledge management maturity reached it was found that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Information Management (IM) are fairly well institutionalised within South African industry. A large number of South African organizations still consider ICT, and especially, IM to be knowledge management. Most organizations understand the concepts and issues surrounding knowledge management. Organizations agree on the benefits of knowledge management. Findings also indicated that there are differences between the scores forwarded for small, medium, large and extra-large organizations. Also, it was found that there are significant differences between the score by the different managerial levels present within organizations. Organizations in general struggle with the successful institutionalization of formal knowledge management endeavours beyond their borders. Not only is there a strong indication that middle management (supported by senior management) hold the key to successful implementation and diffusion of knowledge management, but knowledge management maturity achievements seem to be more dependent on a deliberate, conscious and calculated managerial effort, than on factors such as organizational size, the industry competing within, number of managerial levels present and resources available such as ICT. The study not only commented on the knowledge management maturity of the 86 South African-based organizations, but also identifies the extent of maturity in South African organizations and industry groupings. It was found those organizations in the construction, building materials and mining sectors, banks and insurance, consulting, auditing, and service delivery and consumer goods and utilities were the leaders regarding knowledge management maturity. Score differences between groupings could mainly be attributed to the consistency of achievement over maturity. It was noted that sector leaders achieved higher than average scores in maturity sections, and in particular regarding the management of ICT and information, the formulation of knowledge management issues, plus policy and strategy. / Thesis (PhD(IT))--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Informatics / unrestricted

A Personal Health Record (PHR) is an electronic record of a patient’s health-related information that is managed by the patient. The patient can give access to other parties, such as healthcare providers and family members, as they see fit. These parties can use the information in emergency situations, in order to help improve the patient’s healthcare. PHRs have an important role to play in ensuring that a patient’s complete health history is available to his healthcare providers at the point of care. This is especially true in South Africa, where the majority of healthcare organizations still rely on paper-based methods of record-keeping. Research indicates that physicians play an important role in encouraging the adoption of PHRs amongst patients. Whilst various studies have focused on the perceptions of South African citizens towards PHRs, to date no research has focused on the perceptions of South African physicians. Considering the importance of physicians in encouraging the adoption of PHRs, the problem being addressed by this research project thus relates to the lack of information relating to the perceptions of South African physicians of PHRs. Physicians with private practices at private hospitals in Port Elizabeth, South Africa were surveyed in order to determine their perceptions towards PHRs. Results indicate perceptions regarding benefits to the physician and the patient, as well as concerns to the physician and the patient. The levels of trust in various potential PHR providers and the potential uses of a PHR for the physician were also explored. The results of the survey were compared with the results of relevant international literature in order to describe the perceptions of physicians towards PHRs.

The diploma thesis focuses on preparing and application of controlling tools in a medium sized growing company. Because of the fact that the system of controlling almost did not exist in that company theoretical part of the thesis describes the term of controlling itself, its goals, functions, possible benefits and ways in which companies can approach to controlling. The practical part of the thesis focuses on three key company fields. It is issue of price formation, material management and controlling of orders. For each of these fields the original (and in view of controlling unsatisfactory) state has been mentioned. After that the way of application of controlling measures in each field has been described. Thanks to sufficient time interval it was possible to evaluate results of applied measures and outline future steps that could lead in improvement of company controlling.