abstract: According to the ADA (American Diabetes Association), diabetes mellitus is one of the chronic diseases with the highest mortality rate. In the US, 25 million are known diabetics, which may double in the next decade, and another seven million are undiagnosed. Among these patients, older adults are a very special group with varying physical capabilities, cognitive functions and life expectancies. Because they run an increased risk for geriatric conditions, Type 2 diabetes treatments for them must be both realistic and systematic. In fact, some researchers have explored older adults’ experiences of diabetes, and how they manage their diabetes with new technological devices. However, little research has focused on their emotional experiences of medical treatment technology, such as mobile applications, tablets, and websites for geriatric diabetes. This study will address both elderly people's experiences and reactions to devices and their children's awareness of diabetes. It aims to find out how to improve the diabetes treatment and create a systematic diabetes mobile application that combines self-initiated and assisted care together. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Design 2017

The objective of this thesis is to identify how a salesperson perform the product-service sale process, through investigating the salesperson’s conditions, challenges, and improvement opportunities within. Based on this, recommendations are given regarding how the product-service sale process can be improved, and how to develop the ideal sale process. The research is conducted from a salesperson’s perspective, since it is the role who interacts the most with the product-service sale process.  To fulfil the objective, service design methodologies are utilized, and a case company is studied. Data is collected from 23 interviews, two focus groups and one ideation generation workshop, held at two different markets, and with people at the case company and salespeople responsible for selling services. The findings from the just mentioned methods are analysed by a thematic approach and with service design tools, and are, lastly, discussed with support from relevant literature from the literature study.  The thesis results in many different findings. One of the findings regards which and how actors influence the sale process, and how they are structured. The actors, and especially the salesforce, are structured differently at different markets. The salesforce has either an integrated structure or a separated structure. Another finding is that the identified challenges are similar to common uncertainties and challenges within a product-service system, and the conditions, that are not met, reflects necessary conditions within a value-based sale. Challenges regarding how sales of services are too time consuming, there is a mismatch between the service’s price and packaging to customer needs, and there is a complex communication structure in the salesforces. These three challenges are considered as the most important.  Recommendations are given at two levels. At the first level ideas for future actions. with the aim to solve challenges and fulfil conditions, are presented. Meanwhile, at the second level, ideal examples regarding development process, relationships and information flows, salesforce and sale process, for the case company, to strive towards, with the aim to create ideal conditions for a product-service sale, are presented. / Syftet med denna avhandling är att identifiera hur en säljare utför en produkt- och tjänsteförsäljningsprocess (PSS), genom att undersöka vilka förutsättningar, utmaningar och förbättringsmöjligheter säljaren har vid utförandet av processen. Baserat på detta, har rekommendationer tagits fram angående hur produkt- och tjänsteförsäljningsprocessen kan förbättras, samt hur den ideala försäljningsprocessen kan utvecklas. Avhandlingen är genomförd ur en säljares perspektiv, med anledningen att det är den aktör som interagerar mest med produkt- och tjänsteförsäljningsprocess.  För att fullgöra avhandlingens syfte appliceras metoder inom tjänstedesign, samt en fallstudie på ett företag. Information erhålls från två olika marknader, där 23 intervjuer, två fokusgrupper och en idégenereringsworkshop utförs med deltagare från det studerade företaget och säljare som ansvarar för att sälja tjänster. Resultatet från informationsinsamlingen analyseras med hjälp av ett tematiskt synsätt och med verktyg inom tjänstedesign, för att sedan diskuteras med stöd från relevant litteratur från litteraturstudien.  Avhandlingen resulterar i flertalet insikter. Vilka aktörer som influerar produkt- och tjänsteförsäljningsprocess, och hur de gör det, är en utav insikterna. En annan insikt är angående hur aktörerna, inom försäljningsorganisationen, är strukturerad. På olika på marknader kan de ha antingen en separerad eller en interagerad organisationsstruktur. Ytterligare en insikt är att de identifierade utmaningarna efterliknar de utmaningar och osäkerheter som finns inom en PSS. Även de ej uppfyllda förutsättningar som finns, reflekterar de förutsättningar som bör finnas för att utföra en värdebaserad försäljning. Fortsättningsvis, de viktigaste utmaningarna som har identifierats är att tjänsteförsäljning förbrukar för mycket tid, tjänstens pris och paketering är missanpassade till kundbehoven, samt att kommunikationen i säljorganisationen är komplex.  Rekommendationer är utvecklade på två olika nivåer. Den första nivån förespråkar idéer för framtida handlingar, med målet att lösa utmaningar och uppfylla förutsättningar. Den andra nivån presenterar ideala exempel angående utvecklingsprocess, relationer och informationsflöden, säljorganisationsstruktur och säljprocess för företaget att sträva mot, och har som mål att visa hur ideala förutsättningar för en produkt- och tjänsteförsäljningsprocess kan skapas.

O censo demográfico apresentado pelo IBGE em 2010 apontou cerca de 45 milhões de pessoas com alguma deficiência vivendo no Brasil, dentre as quais 35 milhões são deficientes visuais. Apesar de consistir grande parcela da população, são notáveis as barreiras que esse público enfrenta para ter acesso à cultura e ao lazer, pois as iniciativas de inclusão em ambientes de convívio social são limitadas e muitas vezes inexistentes. Sob o olhar do Design, e com base em métodos relacionados Design de Serviços, este trabalho apresenta uma pesquisa não propositiva sobre acessibilidade daquele público em salas de cinema, considerando toda a complexidade que envolve essa experiência, desde, por exemplo, a produção de filmes até a experiência propriamente dita nos espaços de projeção. / The census presented by IBGE in 2010 showed about 45 million people with disabilities living in Brazil, of which 35 million are visually impaired. Despite this fact, persons with disabilities face obvious barriers to cultural and leisure services due to the limitation or lack of attitudinal and environmental inclusion initiatives. From a Design perspective, and based on Service Design methods, this paper presents a research on accessibility in cinemas, considering the complexity that surrounds this experience, the production of films, and the experience itself in projection rooms.

Many interactive products and services have made the move from stationary or desktop applications to dedicated mobile devices. Sonys Playstation has evolved into the PSP (playstation portable), Apples iPod is fully integrated with iTunes, Microsoft’s new media player is rumored to carry the Xbox brand and browsers like Internet Explorer and Opera can be used on pocket PCs, cell phones and Smart Phones. A very interesting example of this development is the global telephony company Skype that offers free calls over the Internet as well as instant messaging, video conferencing among many other things. Skype is making its way from the desktop to a wide array of devices, stressing the need for a unified brand experience. This thesis seeks to explore the different interactive aspects that constitute the user experience of a specific brand. Through listing the use qualities fulfilled by the services in the primary product and examining their requirements and dependencies in the user interface, this thesis proposes a method to foresee potential confinements in the brand experience when distributing an interactive product or service to a new platform. The thesis also aims at examining how the method can be used in the design process.

Today’s society has moved towards a greater focus on users experiences from several different perspectives. It applies to the virtual world as well as to the environment outside computers. As markets are becoming saturated with products and services that are relatively similar, staging experiences is a possible way to increase product and service value. Within academic ceremonies at universities, the focus on the guests’ experiences is central. The aim of this thesis is to clarify how three key concepts can lay a ground for better understanding when going forward in the design of experiences in the context of academic ceremonies. The concepts are User Experience, Service Design and Ubiquitous Computing. The results shows that by dividing the processes of designing the ceremonies into smaller pieces and analysing them, using Patrick W. Jordan’s Hierarchy of Consumer Needs the current situation could be defined. A unified approach was taken towards the key concepts, which visualized the means we have to utilize in the possibilities of reaching upwards in the hierarchy and thus designing better experiences.

What transportation means corporations choose for satisfying their mobility needs may have an essential impact on the environment. Choosing environmental friendly, alternatives such as battery driven light electric vehicles, would mean drastically contributing to a more sustainable environment. Meanwhile as carsharing solutions, continuously rise in popularity together with other sharing economy business models so do their possibilities to satisfy the mobility needs for corporations either by them implementing their own carsharing service or by investing on external services offered by established carsharing operators. This thesis has investigated and designed for a Zbee based corporate carsharing service, to be used between the affiliates of Vinngroup in Gothenburg. A Zbee is a light electric three-wheeled vehicle. Based on user-centred service design methods, methods suggested for sharing economy solutions, as well as user experience design methods, this thesis identified that users have different individualistic needs in a workplace and prior experiences that affects how they will use the service.In order to satisfy these different needs, it was found, the system needs to provide real-time vehicle and scheduling information for ensuring the users vehicle availability and service reliability, being one of the first requirement from the users. Further the service should provide users with functions that help users through the different use phases that were identified during this work. The findings found were then presented visually by designing mobile application prototypes and testing them on participants iteratively. The final set of prototypes was further evaluated by using the System Usability Scale, an effective and popular tool for measuring the usability of products and services. This evaluation gave the scores 77.5, 92.5, 90, 87.5 and 72.5, thus this giving a mean-value of 84 and a median of 87.5. All these scores suggests the prototype has high usability.

Abstract As services are increasingly becoming the main focus in the traditional information communication technology industry, companies are seeking leverage from new types of collaborations, such as business ecosystems that cross industry boundaries. The health and wellness business is one service domain in which advances in technology have created the need for services that integrate technology in novel ways. To advance new service businesses, national research programmes offer funding for organisations to collaborate for developing innovative services. Forming new networks and collaboration between organisations is essential in the new business environment. Emerging business ecosystems formed in the research programme context are expanding the concept of business ecosystems. When organisations work together for the first time, challenges arise from bringing together different expectations and working styles. Additional challenges arise through issues regarding suitable integrations or in the creation of completely new services. The need to understand the practical phenomenon of emerging business ecosystems and the service innovation in these ecosystems formed the starting point of this research. The research was conducted in two separate Finnish research programmes in which the researcher actively participated. This led to the adoption of an action research strategy, comprising several activities focusing on the actor dynamics and roles as well as resolving issues arising from the ecosystem formation. In addition, the service innovation-focused research activities were based on the capabilities and domain expertise of the ecosystem companies. This research produced an understanding of the formation of wellness business ecosystems, identified the main phases of the formation and some challenges. This research found out that successful emerging business ecosystems require strong leadership early in the formation to maintain the stability and vision of the ecosystem, and each organisation should find its role within the ecosystem. The creation of viable services also requires openness between organisations. This research provides practical knowledge of the organisational actions, managerial insights and solutions to issues that are identified when organisations come together to form new ecosystems in a research programme context. / Tiivistelmä Eri ICT-alojen yritykset ovat tänä päivänä siirtyneet yhä enemmän määrittelemään toimintansa teknologian sijaan palveluratkaisujen tuottamisen sekä uudenlaisten yhteistyöratkaisujen kautta. Uusien teknologiaratkaisujen hyödyntäminen on tuonut digitalisaation myös hyvinvointialojen palveluihin. Sen myötä alalle on tullut uusia, teknologiaperustaisia ratkaisuja tuottavia pieniä toimijoita. Viime vuosina myös kansallinen tutkimushankerahoitus on tukenut uutta liiketoimintaa teknologiaperustaisten hyvinvointipalveluratkaisujen ympärille, ja edistänyt uusien yritysverkostojen, kuten liiketoimintaekosysteemien muodostumista. Kun organisaatiot ryhtyvät tekemään tiivistä yhteistyötä ensimmäistä kertaa yhdessä hankkeiden puitteissa, tuovat erilaiset odotukset ja työskentelytapojen yhteensovittaminen myös omat haasteensa yhteistyöhön. Uusien ekosysteemien muodostumista ja siihen liittyviä käytänteitä on tarvetta ymmärtää aiempaa syvällisemmin. Tämä tunnistettu tarve toimi tämän väitöstutkimuksen lähtökohtana. Tämä tutkimus toteutettiin kahdessa suomalaisessa tutkimusohjelmassa, joihin väitöstyön tekijä osallistui aktiivisena tutkijana. Tutkimus toteutettiin toimintatutkimuksena, ja siihen sisällytettiin useita tutkimustehtäviä. Tehtävien tavoitteena oli keskittyä toimijoiden keskinäiseen toimintaan ja rooleihin, ja pyrkiä ratkaisemaan ekosysteemiyhteistyöstä syntyviä haasteita. Lisäksi tutkimuksessa keskityttiin ekosysteemiyhteistyön pyrkimykseen synnyttää innovatiivista liiketoimintaa organisaatioiden yhteistyöllä. Väitöstyön tuloksena saatiin uutta ymmärrystä hyvinvointialan ekosysteemien muodostamisesta tutkimushankkeen yhteydessä ja tunnistettiin muodostumisen vaiheita sekä niihin liittyviä ongelmia. Tässä tutkimuksessa todettiin, että onnistunut yhteistyö uudessa liiketoimintaekosysteemissä vaatii vahvan johtavan yrityksen, joka tuo ekosysteemiin päämäärätietoisuutta ja vakautta. Tämän lisäksi muiden yritysten on löydettävä niille sopiva rooli ekosysteemissä. Uusien palveluiden kehittäminen ekosysteemissä vaatii avoimuutta yritysten yhteisessä toiminnassa. Väitöskirjatyö tuotti käytäntöön sovellettavaa tietoa organisaatioiden toiminnasta, ja johtamiseen kohdistuvista tarpeista. Lisäksi se tuotti ratkaisuja tunnistettuihin ongelmiin, joita organisaatioiden yhteistyö ekosysteemin muodostamisen alkuvaiheessa aiheutti tässä työssä tarkastelluissa tutkimushankkeissa.

The engineering design process transforms stakeholders’ needs and desires into design specifications. In this process, manufacturers make decisions that impact how much value can be generated from a new product/service. Clear design specification can enhance the value of a product/service. This research study focuses on the engineering design process for systems of products and services - product-service systems (PSSs). An unambiguous PSS classification could help manufacturers to produce clearer design specifications, however there is a lack of clear PSS classifications for engineering design. Existing classifications rely on an out-dated distinction between tangible objects as products, and everything else as a service, a division that inappropriately classifies digital products as services. To develop a coherent PSS classification, it is necessary to understand which characteristics of PSS can clarify its design specification. This research addresses this problem by determining the PSS characteristics that are useful for clarifying the design specification. The research aims to develop a PSS characterisation scheme and explore how the scheme influences design specifications. To achieve these aims, case study and action research methods are employed. This study has developed a PSS characterisation scheme that clarifies design specifications and a method to systematically apply this scheme, the PSS characterisation approach. This approach proves useful for practitioners to clarify design specifications, and has extended the application of the theory of technical systems to instruments supporting the engineering design process. The PSS characterisation scheme comprises four characteristics: customer perceived value level, ‘connectivity number’, type and degree of connectivity and configuration type. The scheme does not use the ‘tangibility’ distinction, but incorporates concepts of value creation and interdependencies within a PSS and between a PSS and its environment. This novel characterisation scheme contributes to the development of a PSS classification scheme for engineering design and also to the literature of PSS classifications.

This diploma thesis adresses on-line banking systems integration using SOA principles. The objective of this work is to define difficulties of integration and offer and analyze their possible solutions. Integration problems mostly pertain to the areas of service design and management, from both the service design and service run-time point of view. The work tries to combine SOA theoretical principles and author's work experience. The diploma thesis is divided into several chapters. First two chapters establish theoretical framework of the thesis and concentrate on describing the banking sector environment and defining banking IS characteristics impacting system integration endeavours. Moreover they try to define SOA and analyze banking SOA specifics. Next chapter describes actual IS architecture of the enterprise, whose problems will be analyzed in the practical part of the diploma thesis. Main part of the work goes into defining particular SOA integration issues. Every issue is analyzed and possible solutions are then offered with emphasis of impact on IS architecture. Main asset of the diploma thesis should be author's extensive work experience with systems integration using SOA principles.

This paper takes a look at the challenges mayors of Czech small towns face in they day-to-day job and presents a comprehensive overview of ways they can be addressed. It then focuses on the non-financial and non-legislative tools of cooperation and external support in particular, which are introduced under a collective name "services for effective rural governance". The thesis then presents on the concept of "service design" and its uses in the public sector. Consequently, this method is used to analyze and propose changes to the currently available services for effective rural governance so that they best serve the small town mayors.