Modern IT Systems Research Articles

STRATEGIC PURCHASING IN A PROJECT- BASED COMPANY – TO CENTRALIZE OR DECENTRALIZE

Organizations all lie on a spectrum, at one end of which are firms with complete centralization of purchasing, and at the other end are firms with complete decentralization. Most firms lie somewhere between the two extremes, and we have already mentioned the most common model that has certain decisions centralized (perhaps strategy design, selection of suppliers, purchasing of major capital equipment, training, co-ordination, communications, etc.) and bulk of purchasing devolved to local buyers. There are many variations on the type of activities that are either centralized or decentralized. In the last 12 years purchasing has noticed two radical changes in the majority of facilities. First change was the reverse of supplier – customer relationships where the role of purchasers changed from persuading and begging the suppliers to ever deliver, preferably with minimum delay (for fixed prices), to standard purchase activities where the purchaser can choose from many suppliers and negotiate prices with vendors to achieve the best conditions for his buyer. The second change was the establishing of a modern IT system that made purchasing activities more effective, more automatic and transparent to a considerable extent. It is good to realize whether all changes have led to improvement or whether these changes have caused a stop or a slowdown of the project purchasing – whether it is possible or even necessary to take into account global as well as local suppliers or to combine them. This Case Study demonstrates how a project - managed organization could look like, where it is necessary to take into account customer´s wishes and benefit.

Establishing local and regional DRLs by means of electronic radiographical X-ray examination records

The objective of the paper is to demonstrate that patient dose audits may be undertaken at the local and regional levels by employing electronic examination records contained in Radiology Information Systems (RISs) that have been collected, analysed and managed by modern IT systems. The resulting mean and third quartile values obtained may then be used to establish local and regional dose reference levels (DRLs) as part of an optimisation strategy. The method involved the collection of roughly 1.3 million radiographical examination records stored in hospital RIS over a 3-y period from 10 hospital sites in the north of England. These were analysed according to the process employed in the national patient dose (NPD) audits undertaken every 5 y in the UK. Data processing and analysis methods are described that are suitable for handling very large data sets quickly and efficiently. Because RIS data involve manual data entry it may be susceptible to data entry errors. Therefore, a comparison of results obtained from both RIS and DICOM generated data was first of all undertaken in order to 'calibrate' the RIS-based method and demonstrate its accuracy. The results obtained from this comparison indicate that the RIS-based examination records provide patient dose distributions with an equivalent statistical accuracy compared with those employing DICOM data and, therefore, may be employed in patient dose audits in order to establish both local and regional DRLs for use in patient dose management and optimisation strategies.

Автоматизация регрессионного тестирования при помощи анализа трасс событий

Modern IT systems become more and more distributed, both in literal sense - as business logic spreads across applications running in several different network domains, and in a metaphorical sense - as expert knowledge about system's inner working spreads across different outsource companies and hundreds of documents. In this paper we are discussing regression testing as one of the issues related to that trend. When it comes to testing, quality of specifications is a major issue. They are either unmanageably big and outdated, or very much fragmented - each specifying its own module, but lacking perspective on how system works as a whole. In our practice, it often comes down to reverse engineering to discover what exactly different parts of the system are expecting from each other, but such ad hoc techniques are not welcome in the domain of testing. Different approach relies on analyzing system's events trace that is provided either by business activity monitoring tools, transaction logs or, simply, log files. There is a lot of different data mining techniques already developed; we are mostly interested in process mining as a way of discovering system's decision model. A key factor of any process mining application is the algorithm of discovering events relation. It can be either generic algorithm like Alpha-algorithm or a specific algorithm tailored for a particular set of possible events. In this paper we provide an outline for a specific algorithm that we use to discover events relation in a special environment. The environment we are using is specifically designed for the goal and has central part in the process. It is used for mediating interactions happening between system's modules in run-time as a discrete process thus providing us with a very straightforward way of determining events causality.

In the Need of Speed – The Impact of Organizational Learning on the Competitiveness of Born Transnationals

The globalization process stimulates more and more start‐ups entering international markets at their earliest convenience. Supported by modern IT and logistics systems, this option is available for many ventures that become more and more independent from their country‐of‐origin. For transnational companies, as heterarchical networks without typical internal hub structures and a high degree of responsiveness, this holds particularly true. This is the reason why this paper focuses the ‘born transnational’ type of international entrepreneurship. The question arises how international ventures achieve international competitiveness. This paper argues that the pace and the alignment of processes of external and internal learning are of utmost importance. Knowledge generation, absorption, integration, and company‐wide transfer play a pivotal role in this regard. Insofar, the research question of the paper is: What are the factors that accelerate organizational learning of ‘born transnationals’? Based on competence‐based theory and a particular model of organizational learning, the paper presents research propositions on the learning process of ‘born transnationals’.

Process Mining: A New Research Methodology for AIS

Process mining is the systematic analysis of the information contained in an event log, which is a data set constructed from the information recorded in modern IT systems. That data consists of both information entered by users, and meta-information about that transaction, such as data stamps and user identity. Critically, meta-information is automatically recorded by the system, beyond the control of the user to manipulate or prevent recording, which makes event logs valuable control tools. Moreover, event log data are so rich that numerous modes of analysis can be conducted on it, yielding many different insights into underlying business processes. Process mining has been widely researched in computer science and management science, as well as adopted in industry with the support of leading high tech companies. This paper provides AIS researchers with an introduction to process mining, a primer on how it is undertaken, and a discussion on why it can add value to both accounting research and practice.

Records management and information processing on construction sites using digital pen and paper

PurposeThis paper aims to present findings from research that evaluate the defects/snagging management process at construction project level and review the potential for the operation of a novel, paper‐based, records management mechanism.Design/methodology/approachThe design and use of a hybrid electronic/paper‐based snagging management system are discussed. The design and practicalities of the system are considered as a means towards demonstrating that a link currently exists between modern IT systems and traditional, paper‐based methods of document transfer.FindingsThe paper finds that the snagging aspect of construction projects is often overlooked and under‐estimated. Construction projects require systems that facilitate data input and records management processing, thus removing the reliance upon traditional methods of working. A highly advanced digital pen and paper technology is discussed which has the potential to totally revolutionise the collection of information on paper (for all organisations). The IT system can be adapted for a range of processes/needs which aids not only management but also the individuals on the frontline responsible for collecting site‐based records.Practical implicationsThe system highlighted has the potential to be adopted within every construction‐based organisation and indeed wider industrial sectors due to its unique adaptability and ease with which features can be incorporated. There are a number of business benefits to be accrued from the adoption of digital pen and paper‐based IT systems.Originality/valueExtremely novel technology is discussed. The value to the construction industry and wider industrial sectors is the opportunity to continue working using existing processes, whilst at the same time becoming wholly electronic.

A long‐term trial of alternative user authentication technologies

Modern IT systems have a continued requirement for reliable user authentication at login. However, the majority of systems are still using username/password combinations, in spite of a variety of recognised weaknesses. Identifies the need for improved login authentication, and investigates the suitability of two alternative methods, using cognitive questions and an image‐based PIN. The effectiveness of these techniques has already been evaluated in an earlier study, which assessed users' ability to recall the necessary information after a prolonged period of inactivity. Here, the evaluation is focused on the perceived acceptability of the techniques, based upon users' longer‐term opinions arising from a period of regular usage. Discovers that 56 per cent of the participants would support the use of such techniques as a replacement for traditional password or numeric PIN‐based authentication. However, also discovers that some users have the potential to compromise the security of the methods by using them inappropriately. As such, concludes that, although the use of alternative authentication techniques is viable, further research is needed to refine the approaches and identify the best combination of methods across a larger base of users.