The year 2000 (Y2K) problem presented a fortuitous opportunity to explore the relationship between estimated costs of software projects and five cost influence dimensions described by the Year 2000 Enterprise Cost Model (Kappelman, et al., 1998) -- organization, problem, solution, resources, and stage of completion. This research was a field study survey of (Y2K) project managers in industry, government, and education and part of a joint project that began in 1996 between the University of North Texas and the Y2K Working Group of the Society for Information Management (SIM). Evidence was found to support relationships between estimated costs and organization, problem, resources, and project stage but not for the solution dimension. Project stage appears to moderate the relationships for organization, particularly IS practices, and resources. A history of superior IS practices appears to mean lower estimated costs, especially for projects in larger IS organizations. Acquiring resources, especially external skills, appears to increase costs. Moreover, projects apparently have many individual differences, many related to size and to project stage, and their influences on costs appear to be at the sub-dimension or even the individual variable level. A Revised Year 2000 Enterprise Model is presented incorporating this granularity. Two primary conclusions can be drawn from this research: (1) large software projects are very complex and thus cost estimating is also; and (2) the devil of cost estimating is in the details of knowing which of the many possible variables are the important ones for each particular enterprise and project. This points to the importance of organizations keeping software project metrics and the historical calibration of cost-estimating practices. Project managers must understand the relevant details and their interaction and importance in order to successfully develop a cost estimate for a particular project, even when rational cost models are used. This research also indicates that software cost estimating has political as well as rational influences at play.

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, partly for the fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Engineering. Johannesburg 2016 / This dissertation aims to identify whether or not there is clear and tangible evidence to suggest a relationship between the presence of total quality management (TQM) practices and service quality in the restaurant industry. It attempts to investigate if restaurants that show higher levels of service quality do so because they implement quality management practices in some form or another. The study considers four restaurants in Johannesburg. A research method was devised purely for this dissertation to measure the presence of quality management practices within the restaurant and the level of service quality experienced by the customer. Three research instruments were designed for the study by using various frameworks, specifically TQM (a type of quality management practice), the SERVQUAL instrument (a tool used to measure service quality) and qualitative research interviewing. Quality management practices at the restaurants were assessed using the first research instrument: The TQM Questionnaire, which was conducted as an interview between researcher and restaurant employees. The level of service quality was assessed using the second research instrument: The Customer Survey, which was dispensed to the restaurant customers. The third instrument, an observations table was used to corroborate the results obtained by the first two instruments and was designed by the researcher. The results of the TQM Questionnaire were analysed using content analysis, and each restaurant was assigned a total TQM score, which signified the degree to which they implement TQM practices. These scores were compared to the results obtained from the customer surveys, which assigned each restaurant with a SERVQUAL score that measured the degree of customer satisfaction. The TQM results were compared to the SERVQUAL results for each restaurant in order to identify a relationship between the two aspects. The research identified that 3 of the 4 restaurants showed a clear relationship between the presence of TQM practices in their operations and the level of service quality experienced by the customer. It was identified that restaurants that achieved high TQM scores also achieved the highest SERVQUAL scores. This finding recognises that there is a relationship between TQM and service quality, however the study does not go forward to investigate the nature of this relationship. / MT2016

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / This study recognises that, regardless of information security policies, information about institutions continues to be leaked due to the lack of employee compliance. The problem is that information leakages have serious consequences for institutions, especially those that rely on information for its sustainability, functionality and competitiveness. As such, institutions ensure that information about their processes, activities and services are secured, which they do through enforcement and compliance of policies. The aim of this study is to explore the extent of non-compliance with information security policy in an institution. The study followed an interpretive, qualitative case study approach to understand the meaningful characteristics of the actual situations of security breaches in institutions. Qualitative data was collected from two universities, using semi-structured interviews, with 17 participants. Two departments were selected: Human Resources and the Administrative office. These two departments were selected based on the following criteria: they both play key roles within an institution, they maintain and improve the university’s policies, and both departments manage and keep confidential university information (Human Resources transects and keeps employees’ information, whilst the Administrative office manages students’ records). This study used structuration theory as a lens to view and interpret the data. The qualitative content analysis was used to analyse documentation, such as brochures and information obtained from the websites of the case study’s universities. The documentation was then further used to support the data from the interviews. The findings revealed some factors that influence non-compliance with regards to information security policy, such as a lack of leadership skills, favouritism, fraud, corruption, insufficiency of infrastructure, lack of security education and miscommunication. In the context of this study, these factors have severe consequences on an institution, such as the loss of the institution’s credibility or the institution’s closure. Recommendations for further study are also made available.

Retaining business value in a legacy commercial enterprise resource planning system today often entails more than just maintaining the software to preserve existing functionality. This type of system tends to represent a significant capital investment that may not be easily scrapped, replaced, or re-engineered without considerable expense. A legacy system may need to be frequently extended to impart new behavior as stakeholder business goals and technical requirements evolve. Legacy ERP systems are growing in prevalence and are both expensive to maintain and risky to evolve. Humans are the driving factor behind the expense, from the engineering costs associated with evolving these types of systems to the labor costs required to operate the result. Autonomic computing is one approach that addresses these challenges by imparting self-adaptive behavior into the evolved system. The contribution of this dissertation aims to add to the body of knowledge in software engineering some insight and best practices for development approaches that are normally hidden from academia by the competitive nature of the retail industry. We present a formal architectural pattern that describes an asynchronous, low-complexity, and autonomic approach. We validate the pattern with two real-world commercial case studies and a reengineering simulation to demonstrate that the pattern is repeatable and agnostic with respect to the operating system, programming language, and communication protocols. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Numerous models of IS success and technology acceptance their extensions have been proposed and applied in empirical. This study continues this tradition and extends the body of knowledge on the topic of IS success by developing a more comprehensive model for measuring IS success and technology acceptance within a government organization. The proposed model builds upon three established IS success and technology acceptance frameworks namely the DeLone and McLean (2003), Venkatesh et al.'s (2003) unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), and Wixom and Todd (2005). The findings from this study provide not only a comprehensive IS success assessment model but also insights into whether and how IS success models are influenced by application variables as applied within a government organization. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were performed for instrument refinement and validity test of the existing and proposed models. Using data from employees of a local government municipal, the comprehensive model explained 32 percent variance. Four of the hypothesis were fully supported five were not supported, and four were partially supported. In addition, the results suggest that behavioral intention may not be the best predictor of technology acceptance in a mandatory environment.

This research reported in this thesis explores job search networking amongst 16-24 year olds living in Scotland, and the role of social media platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn) during this process. Networking is treated as an information behaviour; reflecting this, the study is underpinned by a prominent model from the domain of information science. A sequential, mixed methods approach was applied to gather data. This included the use of interviews, focus groups, and a survey questionnaire. The interviews incorporated ego-centric network methods to develop a relational perspective of job search networking. The findings show that young people accrue different types of information from network contacts which can be useful for all job search tasks. Indeed, frequent networking offline and on social media is associated with positive job search outcomes. This is especially true of engaging with family members and acquaintances, and frequent use of Facebook for job search purposes. However, demographic and other contextual factors have a substantial impact on the nature of networking behaviours, and the extent to which they can influence outcomes. Additionally, young jobseekers face a range of barriers to networking, do not always utilise their networks thoroughly, and are more likely to use social media platforms as supplementary tools for job search. A key contribution of this work is that it provides a detailed insight into the process of networking that has been neglected in previous studies. Its focus on social media also reveals a new dimension to the concept which has received little attention in the job search literature. Given its focus on young jobseekers living in Scotland, the findings have also been used to create a detailed list of recommendations for practitioners.

This diploma thesis deals with integration of Competitive Intelligence and Business Intelligence into one solution, which would provide small and medium enterprises with maximum amount of information to help them make the right decision. The primary goal of the diploma thesis is to define user's requirements for such system and find for these requirements suitable information resources. Secondary goal is to analyze new Microsoft service called Windows Azure Marketplace Datamarket and its information resources, which could possibly be beneficial for this thesis. Gained information will be used to design the integrated solution. This diploma thesis could be used by companies, which are interested in solution like this, or by companies, which develop these solutions.

This study took the form of an evaluative study of the effectiveness of public libraries as a means of providing information to school children, and was conducted at the Queenstown Public Library in the province of the Eastern Cape in South Africa. The research endeavoured to evaluate the effectiveness of public libraries in the role which they play to provide information to school children, despite the widespread belief that the role of libraries is now being replaced by Information and Communication Technologies, or ICTs. This study is also significant for the factors which contribute towards school children being prevented from receiving the full range of benefits which libraries have to offer and the recommendations which it makes to improve the effectiveness of the role played by libraries in this respect. The study could also be of benefit to the staff of libraries, as it could serve to inform them with respect to what needs to be done in order to improve the ways in which libraries make information available to school children. In this respect the research could also provide valuable insights into the strategies which need to be developed and adopted in order to make public libraries more effective providers of various types and forms of information to school children. It is to be hoped that the study will also make a valuable contribution to the existing body of knowledge concerning public libraries as a means of providing information to school children. It is the fervent wish of this researcher to make a credible and articulate case for the great value which public libraries have for school children, despite the fact that general perceptions no longer accord libraries the value which they were once commonly held to possess.

Thesis (Ph.D. (Information Studies)) --University of Limpopo, 2009 / This research report serves as an empirical investigation into the utilization of information technology to support information and knowledge management in law firms, as well as an attempt to design an information and knowledge management model for law firms. Members of the legal profession attached to law firms in the Polokwane City were investigated to find out how optimally they utilize information and communication technologies to support information and knowledge management in their daily operations. The research indicated that there are several ways in which information technology could be used to support the creation, organization, and transfer of information and knowledge in law firms, for the benefit of both lawyers and their clients . In order to provide for an empirical basis for this research, a survey research method, through the use of the questionnaires and interviews, was conducted, followed by a detailed content analysis of law firm websites. An in-depth literature review on the utilization of information technology to support information and knowledge management in law firms was also carried out to determine the findings of other studies that have been conducted elsewhere on the current topic. The results of this research showed that lawyers attached to law firms in the city of Polokwane appear to be non-users of information technology in as far as information and knowledge management is concerned. Most of the members of the law firms in the city seem to be utilizing information technology for basic purposes such as word processing, legal research, client billing, and communication through the e-mail. Other information and knowledge management tools, such as intranets, extranets and web portals, appear not to be utilized by most of the law firms in the city. Based on the findings of this research project, an information and knowledge network model, in a form of Wireless Local Area Network for the law firms in the Polokwane City, is proposed. This network could be utilized by law firms operating in the city to deposit, organize, retrieve, and share information and knowledge collaboratively through the use of information technology. Factors that should be taken into consideration in attempting to implement the proposed model are also discussed. At the end of the research report, some recommendations on encouraging lawyers to utilize information technology optimally are provided, together with recommendations for future research.

Information literacy skills among university students have become a necessity rather than the norm. With the increase of information resources, the need for information skills among university students is important for their continued access to, and retrieval of, information. The purpose of this research was to investigate information literacy skills and competencies among incoming first-year undergraduate students in institutions of higher learning in Kenya, with special reference to the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. The objectives of the study were; to identify the types and formats of resources that incoming undergraduate students are aware of, to determine whether the incoming undergraduates are aware of search strategies for both print and electronic/online resources, to determine whether incoming undergraduate students possess basic information technology skills, to find out whether incoming undergraduate students know information retrieval tools and their use, and to determine whether incoming students are aware of intellectual property and copyrighted materials and their ethical use. The study adopted a quantitative approach and used the case study research method. The study targeted first year incoming undergraduate students at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa for the academic year 2013/2014. 137 incoming undergraduate students participated in the study. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaires. Quantitative data was coded and analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Qualitative data generated form open-ended questions was presented in narrative form under respective subheadings. The finding of the study observed that: (a) Incoming first-year students have limited knowledge of strategies used to search for information. (b) The incoming first-year undergraduate students at the Catholic university of Eastern Africa do possess computer skills in applications such as the use of the internet and its applications (e.g. social networking sites and the World Wide Web) as well as the word-processing applications such as (Microsoft Office and Microsoft Word) and statistical applications such as SPSS. (c) Majority of incoming undergraduate university students are not familiar with the various retrieval tools and their applications. (d) The incoming first-year undergraduate students are familiar with both electronic and printed information resources. (e) A significant number of students were not aware what constitutes primary resources and secondary sources. (f) Incoming first-year undergraduate students exhibited little knowledge of issues relating to intellectual property rights and copyright. Several recommendations have been made based on the findings of the study. One of the recommendations is that the university library mandated with offering information literacy instruction to incoming students should adopt several incentives aimed at encouraging the students to attend library orientation. Another recommendation is to integrate the information literacy training with the normal university curriculum to become a credit-earning course for all incoming students. The university library should also carry out a needs assessment on information literacy training to help determine the existing gaps in the current information literacy programme. The programme should also be tailored to help in emerging issues such electronic plagiarism of information resources. The study further recommends a longitudinal study to determine whether students joining the university are able to gain information literacy skills over a period of time. / Information Science