Information Systems Development Process Research Articles

Agile 방법론과 MDA/MDD 기법을 활용하여 전자정부 표준 프레임워크 프로젝트의 품질 향상 사례

This paper analyzes the effect on productivity by measuring Function Point per MM(man-month) in a software development project and code inspection which performed in Agile methodology, and introduce the method of applying MDA/MDD technology in the e-government standard framework project. MDA/MDD which recently raising its head is technology that increase software development productivity through automatic transformation form abstract model into lower abstract model, or from model to code. but, many Lessons obtained through the case studies, the analysis suggests a limited effect measurements. In this study, efficient development methodology and utilizing a e-government framework to measure the effectiveness of the MDD to the new measures through a case study applied to real information system development process. In addition to, managing information modeling through integrated repository presents a traceability and visibility.

Observations of Service Identification from Two Enterprises

Service-oriented computing has created new requirements for information systems development processes and methods. The adoption of service-oriented development requires service identification methods matching the challenge in enterprises. A wide variety of service identification methods (SIM) have been proposed, but less attention has been paid to the actual requirements of the methods. This paper provides an ethnographical look at challenges in service identification based on data from 14 service identification sessions, providing insight into the practice of service identification. The findings identified two types of service identification sessions and the results can be used for selecting the appropriate SIM based on the type of the session.

Requirement Meta Model of a Cooperative Information System Oriented Viewpoints

Abstract A cooperative information system (CIS) development process includes two main steps: Requirements Engineering (RE), that includes the following two phases: (organizational reality and the conception solution) and the step of Systems Engineering that involves the implementation phase of the solution. In this paper we focus on one of the critical steps of the development process of a CIS which is RE. CIS is a complex system; it involves the cooperation of many stakeholders in a common purpose and each with its own viewpoint. This complexity makes more difficult the design; RE phase is therefore a crucial phase of the development life cycle of a CIS. This leads us to propose a meta-model which allows defining the RE phase of a CIS. We used for that a notion of software engineering: the viewpoints, in order to decompose and partition the needs of a CIS according to the viewpoint of each stakeholder, to simplify its modeling and overcome their complexity. This model-driven approach which is based on a requirements meta-model of a CIS using viewpoints, will allow us to instance the necessary viewpoints to define the needs and requirements of a CIS.

Tree testing of hierarchical menu structures for health applications

To address the need for greater evidence-based evaluation of Health Information Technology (HIT) systems we introduce a method of usability testing termed tree testing. In a tree test, participants are presented with an abstract hierarchical tree of the system taxonomy and asked to navigate through the tree in completing representative tasks. We apply tree testing to a commercially available health application, demonstrating a use case and providing a comparison with more traditional in-person usability testing methods. Online tree tests (N=54) and in-person usability tests (N=15) were conducted from August to September 2013. Tree testing provided a method to quantitatively evaluate the information structure of a system using various navigational metrics including completion time, task accuracy, and path length. The results of the analyses compared favorably to the results seen from the traditional usability test. Tree testing provides a flexible, evidence-based approach for researchers to evaluate the information structure of HITs. In addition, remote tree testing provides a quick, flexible, and high volume method of acquiring feedback in a structured format that allows for quantitative comparisons. With the diverse nature and often large quantities of health information available, addressing issues of terminology and concept classifications during the early development process of a health information system will improve navigation through the system and save future resources. Tree testing is a usability method that can be used to quickly and easily assess information hierarchy of health information systems.

The evaluation of hospital laboratory information management systems based on the standards of the American National Standard Institute.

Introduction:Nowadays, modern laboratories are faced with a huge volume of information. One of the goals of the Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) is to assist in the management of the information generated in the laboratory. This study intends to evaluate the LIMS based on the standards of the American National Standard Institute (ANSI).Materials and Methods:This research is a descriptive–analytical study, which had been conducted in 2011, on the LIMSs in use, in the teaching and private hospitals in Isfahan. The data collecting instrument was a checklist, which was made by evaluating three groups of information components namely: ‘System capabilities’, ‘work list functions,’ and ‘reporting’ based on LIS8-A. Data were analyzed using the SPSS 20. Data were analyzed using (relative) frequency, percentage. To compare the data the following statistical tests were used: Leven test, t-test, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).Results:The results of the study indicated that the LIMS had a low conformity (30%) with LIS8-A (P = 0.001), with no difference between teaching and private hospitals (P = 0.806). The ANOVA revealed that in terms of conformity with the LIS8-A standard, there was a significant difference between the systems produced by different vendors (P = 0.023). According to the results, a Kowsar system with more than %57 conformity in the three groups of information components had a better conformity to the standard, compared to the other systems.Conclusions:This study indicated that none of the LIMSs had a good conformity to the standard. It seems that system providers did not pay sufficient attention to many of the information components required by the standards when designing and developing their systems. It was suggested that standards from certified organizations and institutions be followed in the design and development process of health information systems.

Information Systems Development in a Low Methodology Maturity Environment: A Case Study from the Control Perspective

This paper presents an exploratory case study to examine information systems development (ISD) processes in a low methodology maturity environment, and to understand the role of control mechanisms in project success. The case involves the development of a large scale information system, which progressed without a fully-defined “master plan” or much reliance on formal methodologies, but was successfully launched nevertheless despite some delay. Data were analyzed from the lens of control theory. Results show that clan control emerged as a dominant form of informal control in a high complexity and low methodology maturity environment. Moreover, end-to-end user participation through collocation with the developers served as effective outcome control, which appeared to be a critical success factor. The reliance on behavior control was marginal, although the project manager’s effective leadership as a form of self-control also played a role in project success. This work contributes to ISD research in general and the development of a control perspective to user participation in ISD.

Language Quality in Requirements Development: Tracing Communication in the Process of Information Systems Development

Knowledge transfer, communication, and shared understanding between project stakeholders are important factors in requirements development and in the information systems development process. Nevertheless, the impact and analysis of language and linguistic communication during requirements development is still an open issue. In our research, we claim that requirements development depends on the ability to deal with language and communication issues in practice and reach shared understanding of requirements. We propose the concept of language quality as a suitable means for analyzing the emergence of coherent and meaningful requirements. By applying the thereby developed dimensions of language quality to a real information systems development project, we are able to obtain practice-grounded propositions to further evaluate the consequences of different actions on the interaction and communication process of stakeholders in requirements development.

The Study & Application of Information System Based on Component Model and UML

This paper first introduces the basic concept of UML and artifacts, then discuss the UML and artifacts in the important role of information systems development, and combined with the development of information system of UML and components of feasibility analysis are studied, finally combined component model with UML modeling technology to develop information system has carried on the systematic study, based on UML is proposed and the components of information system development process.

Rule-based Expert Systems for Selecting Information Systems Development Methodologies

Information Systems (IS) are increasingly becoming regarded as crucial to an organization's success. Information Systems Development Methodologies (ISDMs) are used by organizations to structure the information system development process. ISDMs are essential for structuring project participants' thinking and actions; therefore ISDMs play an important role to achieve successful projects. There are different ISDMs and no methodology can claim that it can be applied to any organization. The problem facing decision makers is how to select an appropriate development methodology that may increase the probability of system success. This paper takes this issue into account when study ISDMs and provides a Rule-based Expert System as a tool for selecting appropriate ISDMs. The proposed expert system consists of three main phases to automate the process of selecting ISDMs. Three approaches were used to test the proposed expert system. Face validation through six professors and six IS professionals, predictive validation through twenty four experts and blind validation through nine employees working in IT field. The results show that the proposed system was found to be run without any errors, offered a friendly user interface and its suggestions matching user expectations with 95.8%. It also can help project managers, systems' engineers, systems' developers, consultants, and planners in the process of selecting the suitable ISDM. Finally, the results show that the proposed Rule-based Expert System can facilities the selection process especially for new users and non- specialist in Information System field.

Ontology-based Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm for Deriving Software Services from Business Process Model

Various approaches uses business process models as starting point to derive software services. The first and the important task for developing service-oriented models is service identification. However, the majority of existing methods for service identification are developed manually because, on the one hand, they are based on the competence of the developers and, on the other hand, the business process models do not comprise sufficient knowledge to identify services automatically. The integration of Business Process Modeling (BPM), Model-Driven Development (MDD), and Ontology-based Semantic Annotation (OSA) allows the automation of the SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) services development. Three steps are used for developing an SOA solution: service identification, service specification and finally service realization. In this paper, the authors illustrate a method called MOOSI (Multi-Objective Optimization-based Service Identification) that automatically identifies the architecturally significant elements from an annotated business process model in order to specify service model artifacts. The main goal of this work is to support the automation of the development process of service-oriented enterprise information system. The implementation results of our proposed method are discussed. This result shows that MOOSI can achieve high performance in terms of execution time and important quality in terms of modularization quality of identified services compared with other solution.

Performing and analyzing non-formal inspections of entity relationship diagram (ERD)

Designing and understanding of diagrammatic representations is a critical issue for the success of software projects because diagrams in this field provide a collection of related information with various perceptual signs and they help software engineers to understand operational systems at different levels of information system development process. Entity relationship diagram (ERD) is one of the main diagrammatic representations of a conceptual data model that reflects users’ data requirements in a database system. In today's business environment, the business model is in a constant change which creates highly dynamic data requirements which also requires additional processes like modifications of ERD. However, in the literature there are not many measures to better understand the behaviors of software engineers during designing and understanding these representations. Hence, the main motivation of this study is to develop measures to better understand performance of software engineers during their understanding process of ERD. Accordingly, this study proposes two measures for ERD defect detection process. The defect detection difficulty level (DF) measures how difficult a defect to be detected according to the other defects for a group of software engineers. Defect detection performance (PP) measure is also proposed to understand the performance of a software engineer during the defect detection process. The results of this study are validated through the eye tracker data collected during the defect detection process of participants. Additionally, a relationship between the defect detection performance (PP) of a software engineer and his/her search patterns within an ERD is analyzed. Second experiment with five participants is also conducted to show the correlation between the proposed metric results and eye tracker data. The results of experiment-2 also found to be similar for DF and PP values. The results of this study are expected to provide insights to the researchers, software companies, and to the educators to improve ERD reasoning process. Through these measures several design guidelines can be developed for better graphical representations and modeling of the information which would improve quality of these diagrams. Moreover, some reviewing instructions can be developed for the software engineers to improve their reviewing process in ERD. These guidelines in turn will provide some tools for the educators to improve design and review skills of future software engineers.

Offshore Information System Development Process in India: How Practitioners Respond to the Challenges

Offshore information systems development (ISD) has been an important practice for the last fifteen or more years, and it will likely continue to be. The potential benefits derived from lower operational costs and complementary time schedules are extremely attractive. Many organizations have successfully realized these benefits; however, others encountered unexpected challenges in the process and decided to move their operational capabilities back onshore. Current research addresses many challenges in the process and describes tools and methods for managing those challenges. However, more work needs to be done to investigate why offshoring works for some organizations but not others. This study investigates the system of offshore ISD through the eyes of practitioners by using grounded theory methods to inductively build theory to understand how they respond to the challenges that they encounter. We present an emergent theoretical model from the analysis of interviews performed with 29 respondents across 10 organizations in the U.S. and India. One portion of this model suggests that Indian organizations differ with respect to the way they respond to the challenge of solving problems that require critical thinking and creative problem-solving. While some organizations respond with an overemphasis on processes, others invest in the training and development of employees to teach them higher-level skills in consulting. This model suggests that organizations can improve performance in offshore ISD by focusing more resources toward hiring the right employees, giving them the necessary training and development, and retaining them for many years.

Editorial

Editorial

Architecture Framework for Resolution of System Complexity in an Enterprise

Software engineers and architects have been faced with the problem of IT system complexity for some years. The challenge to build highly complex IT systems, ensure that these systems meet the needs of increasingly complex business processes and do all this in a way that allows everything to adapt quickly to changing market condition coupled with rapid development in information technology has been a problem facing the development and building of workable and functional information systems. Research on this problem has been conducted and it was found to cause large cost of software development project, schedule overrun and outright software project failure. A novel architecture framework was developed as a tool for resolving and managing IT system complexity in the enterprise as the end objective. Comprehensive business system frameworks are necessary to capture the entire complexity of such systems. The framework provides the conceptual foundation necessary for building and managing the integral business system and all its components and also provides an integrated description of enterprise information systems that comprises of the back-end systems, front-end systems, management tools and communication system. The framework provides a detailed process of information system development and defines the necessary subsystems that make up the integrated enterprise information system.

The effects of information sharing, collective efficacy and team conflict on system development team performance

Understanding the factors that determine information systems development (ISD) outcomes is an important step towards successfully deploying those systems. The ISD process is an information intensive and collaborative endeavour typically performed in teams. As a result, the process involves the sharing of information among multiple individuals. Previous research has demonstrated that information sharing has a direct positive effect on team performance. However, little is known about key mechanisms that underlie this relationship. The goal of this research is to understand direct and indirect effects of information sharing in the ISD context. Specifically, collective efficacy and conflict are theorised as intervening mechanisms in the information sharing and team performance relationship. Data were collected from experienced software development professionals. Information sharing was found to influence ISD team performance directly and indirectly via team conflict and collective efficacy. The results of the study provide important insight into effectively managing software development activities.

Enchanced growth development through better information system design: the system analyst perspective

Nowadays, many industrial countries are being transformed from industrial economies to knowledge and information-based service economies, whereas manufacturing has been moving to low-wage countries i.e. China, India etc. In knowledge societies, information and knowledge are key parts in creating wealth. To achieve growth de1376 Z. Manoussaridis, C. Mamaloukas and M. Sagheb-Tehrani velopment, there is a need to continuously distributing or creating new knowledge and information. Appropriate information systems are needed to optimize the ‡ow of information and knowledge in the organizations to help planners and decision makers. Better information systems can increase the e¤ectiveness and the quality of crucial activities like spatial analysis, strategic objectives setting, long-range planning and decision-making. Respectively, this e¤ect can enhance the potentials for growth development of a regional or a national economy. The dimension of an information system’s role and responsibility can play a signi cant role in the outset of the information systems development (ISD) process. These aspects have not been the subject of much debate and attention in ISD. In this paper an attempt is made to conceptualize the dimension of information systems’roles and responsibilities. This comprises an initial step towards exploration of the relationship between the dimension of information systems’roles and responsibilities and ISD and respectively their potential impact in growth development performances. Mathematics Subject Classi cation: 68U35

The use of ethnography and grounded theory in the development of a management information system

This work presents new evidence on how ethnography and the grounded theory approach can be integrated within a participatory information system development process. We conducted an ethnography in a hospital unit, collecting data from observations, interviews, and documents. The discussion about emergent themes with the actors in their natural context and the development of a grounded model allowed us to identify widespread discomfort felt by personnel and to code it as process conflict, that is a particular type of conflict caused by inefficiencies in the organization of work activities. The grounded model was the starting point for conducting a series of focus groups during which the organizational actors were allowed to face process conflict while defining the requirements of a new management information system. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our study for IS researchers and practitioners.

A framework for Chinese Power Games – Political tactics in information systems development processes

This paper explores the way one particular manager of the MIS department at TaiJen uses expert knowledge to adopt political tactics to achieve his goals of self-interest in information system development (ISD) processes. Based on qualitative data collected from TaiJen (pseudonym), the study interweaves Chinese Power Game: Face and Favor Theory and Confucian Relationalism into the different kinds of political tactics utilized by the MIS department manager. An appropriate categorization of political tactics is constructed based on two dimensions: “relatively strong/weak power” and “winning/losing position.” Nine kinds of political tactics are grouped into four types: aggression, defense, strengthening and withdrawal, and the different tactics used by the manager of the MIS department on his supervisors, equals and subordinates are categorized on the basis of these types. In view of the important role played by Asia in the 21st Century, particularly by Chinese cultural societies, which represent a hugely significant market to all global enterprises, it is hoped that this study will assist the business world in understanding the culture that places emphasis on the conducting of business through interpersonal relationships.

요구사항 추적모델 개선 연구 -공공부문 정보시스템 구축 사례를 중심으로-

The management of user requirements for information system development is a key element. The traceability has been studied in a specific method as using a traceability table or SOA related to the requirement management. But there are few case about proposing a objective and quantified evaluation method and judgement criterion for none-technical business managers. This researcher has proposed, easy to access by unprofessional and objective and qualifiable, evaluation methods and criteria of Judging for adequacy of requirements reflection in the development process of information system for the government office through a previous case study. In this study, I will give consideration to study the limitations of previous studies and improve the evaluation formula for measuring the reflection of the requirements and derive, reviewed to provide a variety of criteria for each business, through business case analysis.

Dynamic evaluation of the development process of knowledge-based information systems

Codifying expert domain knowledge is a difficult and expensive task. To evaluate the quality of the outcome, often the same domain expert or a colleague of similar expertise is relied on to undertake a direct evaluation of the knowledge-based system or indirectly by preparing appropriate test data. During an incremental knowledge acquisition process, a data stream is available, and the knowledge base is observed and amended by an expert each time it produces an error. Using the kept record of the system’s performance, we propose an evaluation process to estimate its effectiveness as it gets evolved. We instantiate this process for an incremental knowledge acquisition methodology, Ripple Down Rules. We estimate the added value in each knowledge base update. Using these values, the decision makers in the organisation employing the knowledge-based information system can apply a cost-benefit analysis of the continuation of the incremental knowledge acquisition process. They can then determine when this process, involving keeping an expert online, should be terminated. As a result, the expert is not kept on-line longer than it is absolutely necessary. Hence, a major expense in deploying the information system—the cost of keeping a domain expert on-line—is reduced.