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2022 | Buch

Advances in Information Systems Development

Crossing Boundaries Between Development and Operations in Information Systems

herausgegeben von: Dr. Emilio Insfran, Dr. Fernando González, Dr. Silvia Abrahão, Dr. Marta Fernández, Dr. Chris Barry, Dr. Michael Lang, Dr. Henry Linger, Dr. Christoph Schneider

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This volume features a collection of papers on emerging concepts, significant insights, novel approaches and ideas in information systems development (ISD). It examines and investigates up-and-coming trends in ISD in general, emphasizing the continuous collaboration between developers and operators to optimize the software delivery time. The book gathers selected papers from the 29th International Conference on Information Systems Development held at Universitat Politècnica de València, Spain, September 8-10, 2021.

The theme of ISD2021 was “Crossing Boundaries between Development and Operations (DevOps) in Information Systems.” The revised and extended papers focus on the influences among information systems, organizational structures, processes and people from its conception to its operation. They examine methodological issues and ways in which the IS designers, developers and operators are transforming organisations and society through information systems.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

A Data-Driven Optimization Computational Tool Design for Bike-Sharing Station Distribution in Small to Medium-Sized Cities: A Case Study for Cuenca, Ecuador

Abstract

Faced with heavy vehicular traffic at present, the strategic implementation of Bike Sharing Systems (BSSs) in cities as an alternative means of transport for users is increasingly being adopted. These solutions reduce the environmental burden posed by other means of transportation, decrease costs for citizens, improves people's health due to physical activity, among other advantages. However, aspects such as the definition of bike stations’ locations represent a challenge when these solutions are being implemented. Therefore, this paper presents a software tool design that supports a method that defines the location and number of stations within a BSS. Also, the tool uses a data-driven optimization model to establish the location of stations. Finally, a case study carried out in Cuenca—Ecuador, demonstrates the proposal's feasibility, showing a significant concordance with the consulting firms-consortia results (70–90% of coincidence) at a lower cost.

Fernando Cueva, Pengcheng Shi, Priscila Cedillo

A Method to Build Serious Games for Older Adults ADE2: Evaluation of User Perceptions and Threats of Validity

Abstract

Over the years, people decrease their ability to remember certain events, which is more evident in older adults. Therefore, cognitive health professionals use tools and methods to train and assess attention and memory; among those solutions are found serious games. These games are intended to teach, while the player has fun. These games’ demand an important amount of Human–Computer Interaction (HCI) characteristics, which are not formally included during their development. A previous contribution, presented a first approach of a method to build serious games, named ADE2. In those studies, we established as further work the need of perform the empirical evaluation of the solution. Therefore, this paper presents an experimental process, where the ADE2 method has been evaluated by 22 software engineers, who evaluated it by using the Method Evaluation Model (MEM). The results show that the ADE2 method can be successfully adopted by the software engineering community, and the actions performed, by following each step of the method, can be reached effectively and efficiently.

Priscila Cedillo, Cristina Sánchez-Zhunio, Emily Arteaga, Jefferson Arias, Marcos Orellana

Accessibility of Digital Content in Europe: Users’ Perspective

Abstract

European Union has decided to impulse accessibility of digital contents through several directives, which include all types of digital information and files. As technicians cannot curate and supervise all the contents of information systems, now accountability has expanded to include users who create or add contents to information systems. This paper presents the results of a survey to 525 persons in several countries of EU to check awareness and general knowledge of users on digital accessibility. Results suggest the need of much more effort to ensure the digital accessibility out of the technical aspects managed by IT professionals.

Inés López Baldominos, Vera Pospelova, Luis Fernández Sanz, Ana Castillo-Martínez

Authentic Learning for Groupwork Skills: A Comparison Between a Physical and a Virtual Experience

Abstract

Development of teamwork skills is a stated goal of many group assignments in university settings. However, the challenges associated with the effective design of assignments to achieve this goal have been well-documented. Students regularly circumvent the process by dividing the work and completing it separately. The difficulties inherent in a normal academic environment have been compounded by the restrictions and difficulties placed on lecturers and students during a global pandemic. This paper discusses the use of an authentic learning approach in ‘normal’ times and an authentic learning approach adapted to a virtual environment during Covid-19 and whether they impact on the development of teamwork skills in a post-graduate user experience design (UXD) module. Using the Groupwork Skills Questionnaire (GSQ), analysis shows the ‘live’ version of the learning experience resulted in improved task-based teamwork skills while the virtual event had no impact.

Mairéad Hogan

Business-IT Alignment Anti-patterns

A Thought from an Empirical Point of View

Abstract

This preliminary work aims to formalizes observed recurring bad business-IT alignment scenarios. This observation has been conducted subsequently to a 6-years empirical experience of audits of about thirty companies. It considers two research questions: (1) are there recuring BITA problems independently of the business domains? (2) how to formalize them? 14 BITA anti-patterns have been identified. A visual representation and an identity card are proposed to formalize them and illustrated on the 4 most encountered BITA anti-patterns. A first milestone is thus proposed towards a common base of BITA anti-patterns and open the discussion with BITA experts among researchers and practitioners, to pooling our efforts and identify research tracks. In fact, BITA is steel a crucial challenge for companies to have a good alignment between business and software. Moreover, handling misalignments is becoming much more sensitive for companies to move towards adoption of new digital capabilities in Digital Transformation challenges.

Jean-Philippe Gouigoux, Dalila Tamzalit

Fuzzy Personalization of Mobile Apps: A Case Study from mHealth Domain

Abstract

The growing interest in wearable devices has stimulated the development of mHealth applications: users can be monitored at different levels of granularity and their data can be exploited for recommendations about different aspects of their conditions, i.e., physical, psychological, and social. To this aim, recommendation systems should be able to profile patients to suggest them the most proper actions to promote effective behavior changes. This paper presents a solution to this challenging research topic implemented in an Android app, based on the adoption of fuzzy logic to cluster users according to quantitative and qualitative variables about their physical and psychological well-being. Four classes have been obtained from the two models developed, in accordance with previous experiments. The final aim of user profiling is promoting group physical activity among users characterized by similar behaviors.

Fabio Sartori, Lidia Lucrezia Tonelli

Government IT Projects: Current Evidence of Cost and Schedule Overrun and Their Antecedents

Abstract

Although government information technology (IT) projects are often claimed to suffer from cost and schedule overrun, current valid evidence of the magnitude of the problem and its antecedents is difficult to find. To address this gap, we present a mixed-methods study based on 54 Danish government IT projects completed between 2011 and 2020. Using archival data and measures established by Flyvbjerg and colleagues, we find that cost and schedule overrun is substantially lower than reported in previous studies. Qualitative analysis based on interviews and documents in a purposefully selected sub-sample shows that projects are more likely to be completed within budget and schedule if managers actively adopt four key practices: building one team, accommodating uncertainty, rigorous project management and capitalizing on previous domain knowledge. Our findings also suggest that scope reductions may help projects complete within budget and schedule. We discuss theoretical and practical implications for IT project management.

Adam Alami, Christian Østergaard Madsen, Oliver Krancher

Heat Maps from Decision Flaps—What We See and What We Think

Abstract

This research study observes how consumers are influenced by the design of decision constructs encountered during the online transactional process. The default values of decision constructs and how decisions are framed, set out the scope of the analysis. A multi-method approach is taken to examine error rates and attitudes of users when making micro-decisions. Eye tracking technology and Cued RTA interviews were used to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Powerful techniques, namely heat maps and gaze plots, are used to visualise and inform the discussion. The study found: choice errors abound; consumers dither and vacillate during decision-making, extending dwell times; and that there are gender differences in outcomes.

Chris Barry, Mairéad Hogan, Michael Lang

Modeling Boundary-Spanning Business Processes in Industry 4.0: Incorporating Risk-Based Design

Abstract

Industry 4.0 brings new challenges to the digitalization and decentralization of business processes. This paper contributes with a Business Process Modeling and Notation (BPMN) Extension that addresses the inter-organizational nature of the fourth industrial revolution and the need to address risk-by-design since the early stages of industrial collaboration. The proposal results from two design science research cycles. The extension named IOBP 4.0 provides an integrated description of (1) private/shared process elements, (2) local/distributed manufacturing stages, (3) technology incorporation strategy in the production network, and (4) risk situations. IOBP 4.0 can be useful for companies certified by the ISO 9001 quality standard that need to disclose their processes and third-party collaborations, following a risk-based approach. Moreover, incorporating risk-based process design in Industry 4.0 may improve business process resilience in manufacturing networks.

Vítor Ribeiro, João Barata, Paulo Rupino da Cunha

Paving the Way for Smart Community Composting

A Design Science Research Project in Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark

Abstract

Community composting is an essential facet of circular economy and sustainable food production. Our contribution based on design science research presents the development of a regional composting network in Estrela UNESCO Global Geopark. The community composting model uses mobile technologies and geographic information systems. This paper details the instantiation of the mobile solution layer and proposes a plan to scale-up the model to the entire region. The theoretical contribution of this paper is the concept of smart community composting inspired by the 5.0 movement expanding in societies, cities, and industries. For practice, our work presents a mobile information system customized for UNESCO Geoparks and their recently created GEOfood brand to promote sustainable production practices.

José Monteiro, João Barata, Hugo Gomes, Emanuel Castro

Reducing Cognitive Load in Learning to Model UML Sequence Diagrams

Abstract

This paper demonstrates how cognitive load theory can be used to improve learning outcomes by presenting a tool capable of assisting novices to learn to model sequence diagrams effectively. Learning sequence diagrams is known to lead to heavy cognitive load as they must be consistent with the class diagram, while discharging all the responsibilities specified in the underlying use case. Moreover, novices must also consider the various design options and their impact on the qualitative aspects of the model. Our tool allows cognitive load to be better managed by using a ‘divide and conquer’ approach. In the initial stage, only consistency with the class diagram is enforced. In the second stage, invalid messages are disallowed by tracking the active entity and the current knowledge state in entities. In the third stage, students will not be allowed to submit a diagram until the stated use case goals are met. In the final stage, qualitative feedback and marks are awarded based on established metrics, and students are allowed to improve their scores by resubmitting the model. Students’ performance and feedback on the tool show that our novel framework combining scaffolding with a form of gamification has helped to improve the learning outcomes in modelling substantially, especially among stragglers. One benefit of our approach is that it can be adapted to other areas where students may be cognitively challenged.

Sohail Alhazmi, Charles Thevathayan, Margaret Hamilton

Studying the Influence of Empathy Maps on Brainstorming for Requirements Elicitation: A Quasi-Experiment

Abstract

There is currently a trend that highlights the interest in the use of Design Thinking techniques for the elicitation of requirements. The evidence concerning the effectiveness of these techniques is, however, still scarce, which has consequently led us to carry out a quasi-experiment in order to evaluate the effectiveness of one of the most frequently used DT techniques: Empathy Maps. Empathy Maps were employed by students enrolled on a Bachelor’s degree in Computer to understand their influence on the effectiveness of Brainstorming sessions. The students perceived a slightly positive influence as regards the use of the Empathy Maps as part of a requirements elicitation, despite not finding statistically positive results. We obtained several insights that may be useful for practitioners, researchers and lecturers interested in using this type of techniques to improve the requirements elicitation practices, although this preliminary result is not conclusive and should be corroborated in further studies.

Ezequiel Kahan, Emilio Insfran, Marcela Genero, Alejandro Oliveros

Supporting a Bottom-Up Evolution of Microservice Compositions Based on the Choreography of BPMN Fragments

Abstract

Microservices need to be composed in order to provide their customers with valuable services. To do so, event-based choreographies are used many times since they help to maintain a lower coupling among microservices. In a previous work, we presented an approach that proposed creating the big picture of the composition in a BPMN model, splitting in into BPMN fragments and distributing these fragments among microservices. In this way, we implemented a microservice composition as an event-based choreography of BPMN fragments. Based on this approach, this work focuses on supporting the evolution of a microservice composition. We pay special attention to how a microservice composition can be evolved from the local perspective of a microservice, since changes performed locally can affect to the communication among microservices and as a result in the integrity of the whole composition. We present an evolution protocol that allows a microservice composition implemented as an event-based choreography of BPMN fragments to evolve from the local perspective of the composed microservices.

Jesús Ortiz, Victoria Torres, Pedro Valderas

Team Performance in Large-Scale Agile Software Development

Abstract

Agile ways of working are nowadays used in many software development departments in larger organizations. When scaling up agile ways of working, new practices for coordinating teams become necessary, and many organizations are implementing the Scaled Agile Framework. The added practices for coordinating teams could have an impact on team performance, but they have not been much studied. In this study, data were obtained by means of a survey questionnaire that was answered by 201 employees from three organizations: one from the automotive industry, one government agency, and a business bank. The study suggests that efficient inter-team coordination does not have a positive relationship to team performance, which is contrary to previous studies. However, results suggests that a high level of psychological safety has a significant positive correlation to team performance.

Tomas Gustavsson

Towards Conceptual and Logical Modelling of NoSQL Databases

Abstract

NoSQL databases (DB) support the ability to handle large volumes of data in the absence of an explicit data schema. On the other hand, schema information is sometimes essential for applications during data retrieval. Consequently, there are approaches to schema construction, e.g., in the JSON DB and graph DB communities. The difference between a conceptual and database schema is often vague in this case. We use functional constructs—typed attributes for a conceptual view of DB that provide a sufficiently structured approach for expressing semantics of document and graph data. Attribute names are natural language expressions. Such typed functional data objects can be manipulated by terms of a typed λ-calculus, providing powerful nonprocedural query features for considered data structures. The calculus is extendible. Logical, arithmetic operations, and aggregation functions can be included there. Really, conceptual and database modelling merge in this case. The paper focuses on conceptual/database schemas for JSON and graph NoSQL data models.

Jaroslav Pokorný, Karel Richta

Towards the Development of a Contingent Use of Systems Development Methodologies Model

Abstract

Systems development methodologies (SDMs) are divided into two categories: plan-driven SDMs and agile SDMs. Research has shown that no single SDM is suitable for every systems development project situation. This paper aims to present aspects of a study that developed and empirically tested a contingent use of SDMs model to investigate contingent use of SDMs. The developed contingent use of SDMs model is tested using survey data collected from 155 systems development organizations. The findings show that SDMs are adopted and continuously tailored throughout the life cycle of a systems development project. This has theoretical and practical implications for SDM design and deployment. The empirical findings and the model presented in this study can assist researchers to investigate the contingent use of SDMs and improve their implementation in systems development projects. The findings provide insights on how theory and practice co-evolve and inform one another.

Benson Moyo, Magda Huisman, Lynette Drevin

Titel: Advances in Information Systems Development
herausgegeben von: Dr. Emilio Insfran
Dr. Fernando González
Dr. Silvia Abrahão
Dr. Marta Fernández
Dr. Chris Barry
Dr. Michael Lang
Dr. Henry Linger
Dr. Christoph Schneider
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-030-95354-6
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-95353-9
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95354-6