Management of the Interconnected World

In this article we investigate open innovation in a non commercial setting: research libraries. The research questions are: Do academic libraries engage in open innovation processes? If so, what are the most important actors in e-services innovation and development and what is their role? By drawing on earlier research on open innovation, new product development and new service development, a case study at Roskilde University Library is conducted. We found that research libraries are indeed engaging in open innovation, especially they are involving competitors, government agencies and users. In particular collaboration with other Danish research libraries and governmental agencies are important in setting the visions and strategies for e-services innovations; users have a more limited role.

This paper presents a study of the adoption of Web 2.0 by Danish online newspapers and discusses the future of the newspaper in the light of contemporary shifts from mass media and printed products to social media and web services. First the context of the study is presented. Then a methodology for collecting and analyzing data on Web 2.0 adoption is suggested. Data from two surveys carried out with an interval of 14 months (2008/2009) is discussed. These data reveal that most online newspapers have adopted blogs and commenting and many have adopted other interactive features such as voting and sharing of user-generated content, e.g. photos and video. The most significant development in the period between the two observation sets is a rapid diffusion of article tools for bookmarking and sharing of content via social networks or aggregation sites. The main conclusions are that the news industry will have to embrace the emerging “media-as-a-service” paradigm and that the future challenge for web services will be to leverage informational and social connectivity.

This article explores the emerging challenges and opportunities of Open Source Software used in Public Sector as an instrument and method to ensure and to encourage citizen participation in public decisions in e-Democracy projects. The main aim is to verify the presence of these projects and to check if they’re realized using Open Source Software and what are the reasons which support this choice. The Open Source can be considered also as an operating model which is used to the development of the software itself. This operating model is based on the democratic principle of sharing information and results, of transparency and participation among community members, in order to achieve common goals. For these characteristics it can be successful used in other fields. The paper will verify, through a research regarding the Italian Regional Administrations how the OSS can be considered a useful operating model that allows to include citizen in public decisions as well as a software.

This study provides a System Dynamics model built to identify the benefits arising from the process of digitization in the Italian Public Administration. The paper describes the process in terms of the causal relationships between systemic variables that define the underlying structure of the problem. The analysis focuses on the interaction between the “outer world” of the citizens and the “inner world” of the Italian Administrations, by designing a causal loop diagram and a stock and flow simulation model. The systemic approach allows considering many crucial aspects for the digitization problem and provides a rich analysis that shows how those obstacles brought forward by social and psychological factors may become a great obstacle to organizational change.

Because of the paramount demographic changes involving the western world, the so-called “Information Society” is going to be also an “Ageing Society”. Severe problems are emerging, involving for example the pension system, the healthcare system, or the labor market. Of course, ICTs and IS are called to action in this scenario. How are the researchers addressing the issue of the technological needs in an ageing world? To answer this question, a systematic Literature Survey was conducted, during which 419 papers and books were identified and analyzed in their disciplinary approaches and main outcomes. What came out is that whilst the issue of the technological needs of our ageing society is quite thoroughly investigated from other disciplinary fields, such as Medicine or Engineering or Human–Computer Interaction studies, it is quite overlooked by Organizational Studies. A new brief Research Agenda, identifying some possible new Research Questions about this topic for Information Systems/Organizational Studies researchers, is the outcome of this work.

Measuring service structure is a requirement to advance our scientific understanding of service provision. This paper describes a method to analyze some aspects of service complexity from the viewpoint of the number of collaborating elements and their relations. All these relationships determine to some extent the complexity of the service production and indirectly, its final quality and the possible incidents during service provision. The properties of these networks of collaborations are candidates to devise measures of structure and complexity that are meaningful for system design. The approach to measuring complexity in this paper provides an analytical framework for the assessment of the design of the service, focusing on critical structural points.

Today, the lives of both people and organizations are strongly focused on the creation, development and maintenance of relationships. These are influenced by several factors, amongst which trust plays an important role. Same as in traditional relationships, trust is considered crucial in their digital equivalent; here we can speak of the concept of trust in technology. An example for trust in technology is given by biometric authentication and authorization infrastructures. A possible approach is the use of typing behavior biometrics as authentication method. This provides a higher security, considering several biometric specific problems like replay attacks or template aging. The intra-organizational environment allows an interesting solution to these problems, namely the synchronization of biometric data within a federation of applications running in the same company. This paper presents the influence of the proposed authentication model on trust by means of the technical-formal-informal model inside an organization.

The eGovernment stage is being populated by a cast of intermediary actors from both the private and the not-for-profit sectors, as a result of the multichannel strategies with which many countries are seeking to give new impulse to their eGovernment plans. This paper claims that a fuller understanding of these players’ role is crucial in developing socially-aware eGovernment policies and suggests the usefulness of adopting an institutional perspective to place the intermediaries in an adequate frame of reference. In particular, it suggests that it might be fruitful to slot the intermediaries into the “institutional agent” category. Some implications ensuing from this study are proposed and discussed.

Conventional patent analysis has commonly focused on factual information, while less scholarly attention has been devoted to the strategic role of Patent Information System in supporting decision-making in R&D investment. This paper attempts to fill this gap and proposes an integrated conceptual framework which lies upon a process view of R&D strategy formulation, which is split into four stages. For each stage, PIS task and nature of information are highlighted. Moreover, some public and private on-line research tools are analyzed to compare services and support.

This study investigates the process of acceptance and use of ERP system by its users. The TAM is used as a starting point for this work. We assume that affective commitment directly also affects both the behavioral intention to ERP system use and it moderates the relationships between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and behavioral intention. A survey methodology was used to gather data from an Italian public transport firm. Findings show the importance of affective commitment in determining acceptance and use behavior by users.

The present study takes a rather innovative approach and investigates the organizational implications of the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in companies from people integration, process integration and information integration perspectives. In this manner we discover the ERP-specific sources of resistance that could affect negatively the deployment of the software in an organization. Then, we argue that a general set of beliefs shapes employees readiness to change to IT use and provides the foundation for resistance or for adoptive behavior. We define the concept of readiness for change in the context of ERP implementation and introduce a readiness for change assessment approach. Then, we test empirically the study hypotheses upon which the research model was build. The results obtained offer insights into factors that can improve the effectiveness of ERP implementation strategies.

The research presented in this paper focuses on two different periods of implementation choices in the history of an Italian public sector organization as ERP software support shifts from being provided in-house to a market-based supply. The case illustrates a deeply contextual reflexivity between the various compositions of supply and use space and the social learning that shapes organizational members’ representations of ERP system implementation choices. Data on distinctive situational maps of organizational resources concerning implementation choices and post-implementation enhancements of the system were gathered through biographic interviews and observations of the system in use. Two different situational maps of IT related expertise were identified across different time periods: the “Steering Committee” period (1998–2001) and the “Key Users” period (2002–2005). We explore the role played across time by the reconfiguration of actors and their interactions along the ERP system support chain in patterning the way project participants make sense of notions like “customization” or “standardization”.

Despite the many advantages of Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP) or integrated systems, the research is inconclusive when it comes to the adoption of ERP in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). At the very least a comprehensive ERP system is not easily implemented by SMEs. This paper seeks to explore the following question: what can be done to enhance the chance of success of the ERP implementation process in SMEs? The paper shares some insight into research aimed at identifying the technical and organizational requirements of SMEs in the implementation of an ERP. It highlights a set of organizational and technical capabilities which influence implementation project success. In addition, the results of a case study are discussed that test the methodological approach. This model expounds on how the various enterprise capabilities in an SME can influence the implementation process. By drawing upon this model and case study, we can show how SMEs can select better implementation strategic and change management activities.

In the busy operational environment of Small-to-Medium enterprises (SMEs), the challenge for owners is to achieve a balance between “working in the business” and “working on the business”. Often SME’s invest in Information Technology (IT) to achieve operational efficiencies and facilitate development of new business initiatives without really planning for the required new structures and processes. This paper reports on the IT experiences of 158 firms in one tourism sector in one Australian state. Results suggest a need to understand mediating factors like organizational context, the role of key personnel, and human attitudes and behaviours as they relate to successful IT infusion.

The protection of information has always been a challenge. There is a lack of academic research regarding the protection of information in small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this research study was to gain an under-standing of the role of information systems security in SMEs in the South East of Ireland. This paper outlines the importance of SMEs in Ireland and examines the implementation of information systems security in those organisations. The study reports on the security technologies that are implemented and examines issues re-garding the implementation of those technologies. This study employed a quanti-tative approach to gather empirical data

The paper explores the relation between innovations and standards in companies that have implemented an IT Service Management framework. Six German companies were asked which process was implemented first: the framework or the Innovation Management process. In addition, the companies were queried on the impact of IT Service Management frameworks on innovation. The resultant research shows that a great majority of companies that adopted an IT Service Management framework first and later implemented the Innovation Management process. Benefits observed include a faster adoption of innovations and an enhanced ability to recognize potential for improvement.

In the archaeological sector, information about finds and related documents is highly relevant, but no information system (IS) is available to manage it. Professionals working in the field are often not used to managing information by means of technology and, moreover, work practices are not standardized. The introduction of a new IS to track events and record information in such an environment is therefore a big challenge. An adaptation between technology and organization is then to be expected, in order to find an appropriate form of integration. By adopting a structuration theory perspective, this work analyses the case of a project in which an IS to manage finds was designed, experimented with, discussed, and then developed.

Despite institutional programs and enthusiastic declarations of eHealth potential, the adoption of Health Information Systems, and Electronic Health Record Systems (EHR-S) in particular, has progressed very slowly. Thus, the expected benefits have not fully surfaced. This can be partly ascribed to the lack of attention to organizational and individual variables influencing the success of the EHR-S adoption, in practice as well as in literature. A possible strategy to reduce the risk of failure is to identify some organizational and cultural factors that get the internal environment “ready” for the innovation. This makes it able to manage the change process needed to effectively enact the EHR-S potential and to assure the satisfaction of all stakeholders involved. Using this hypothesis, in this contribution, the preliminary steps of a study aiming to define a framework supporting the analysis and diagnosis of the “organizational readiness” to the EHR-S adoption will be presented. More in detail, the critical dimensions of organizational readiness and the relationship between this construct, project outcomes and the success of EHR-S adoption will be discussed.

In this paper we present the research activity we are carrying out in the “Mobile Semantic Self-Organizing Wireless Sensor Networks” Project at the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia. In this context, the main aim of our research is to study solutions for the flexible querying of distributed data collected by heterogeneous devices providing measurement readings. To this end, we propose a middleware for wireless sensor networks which is able to autonomously configure the communication and the operations required to each device in order to reduce energy and temporal costs.

The adoption of Web service technologies to enable collaboration in distributed environments has been made possible by the availability of huge amount of service repositories, that, if not properly controlled, leads to information overload rather than facilitating collaboration. Data mining provides well known exploratory techniques to extract relevant and frequent information from data repositories. This paper presents a preliminary effort to apply data mining algorithms to service repositories, to properly extract useful information about services. Our purpose is two-fold: (i) we study a proper Web service representation extracted from available Web service standards, to enable the application of data mining techniques; (ii) we propose the application of data mining algorithms to infer patterns representing summarized and integrated representation of service functionalities. These patterns can be used to facilitate the formulation of service requests on the underlying repositories. Semantic heterogeneities will be also addressed, in order to improve the recall of data mining results.

Services are more and more provided for semantic search of different types of information and knowledge (resources) from multiple heterogeneous sources, by gaining platform independence and transparent access. The growth of service provisioning and the advent of advanced service registries have led to the design of sophisticated techniques and tools to retrieve services apt to access required resources. This paper describes a computer aided methodology SELF-SERVICE based on formal service specifications, scoring mechanism and thresholds, to support – in a user-transparent and cost effective way – semantic search on multiple heterogeneous sources in P2P environments.

At strategic and decision levels of information systems, information models are defined by a set of high-level measurable performance indexes, calculated by composition of more basic pieces of information, and aggregated along a number of different dimensions. Although the multidimensional model is able to effectively capture the aggregative characteristics of strategic information, it fails to represent its compound nature. Hence, index semantics is not completely specified and OLAP operators allow only to analyze indexes through the different aggregation dimensions. In this paper we discuss a novel set of OLAP operators resulting from a previously defined model for the semantic annotation of a Data Warehouse (DW) schema. These operators perform the analogous of drill down operators on index components instead of dimensions, both at intensional and extensional level. This means that both the definition of an index in terms of components and compositions operators and the actual values of the components can be hierarchically explored on-line, giving final users better ways to understand the meaning of the complex information encoded in a DW, its correctness, and more powerful tools to analyze it. A prototype implementing the proposal is presented.

The design of a Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) experiment implies the combined use of several data manipulation tools that are suited for the discovery problem at hand. This implies that users should possess a considerable amount of knowledge and expertise about functionalities and properties of all KDD algorithms implemented in available tools, for choosing the right tools and their proper composition. In order to support users in these demanding activities, we introduce a goal-driven procedure to automatically discover candidate prototype processes by composition of basic algorithms. The core of this procedure is the algorithm matching, which is based on the exploitation of an ontology formalizing the domain of KDD algorithms. The present work focuses on the definition and evaluation of algorithm matching criteria.

Ontology building is a social process requiring, as a first step, the collaborative work of a group of people to create a shared understanding of a specific domain of interest. This process typically involves an heterogeneous group of people: from ontology engineers to domain experts, to end users. A crucial aspect of ontology building is to reach consensus among all the involved actors. For this reason, it is important that every step of the process is clearly defined and the roles played by the members of a community of interest (COI) are precisely assigned. In this paper we present the guidelines for social validation in the ontology evolution process. In particular, we describe the process and we identify the milestones where the COI is asked to reach a consensus. Then, we present the different roles to be played in the COI, the procedures to reach consensus and the result of a first experimentation in the domain of semantic technologies.

Context awareness is an enabling technology of ubiquitous computing aimed at utilizing the location, the time, and other properties that characterize the context of use to select the information that is most appropriate to final users. Although it is widely considered a fundamental ability of modern applications, current database technology does not provide any support to context awareness yet. In this paper, we propose a logical model and an abstract query language as a foundation for context-aware database management systems. The model is a natural extension of the relational model in which contexts are first class citizens and can be described at different levels of granularity. This guarantees a smooth implementation of the approach with current database technology. The query language is a conservative extension of relational algebra where special operators allow the specification of queries over contexts.

This paper proposes a method for the automatic discovery of probabilistic relationships in the environment of data integration systems. Dynamic data integration systems extend the architecture of current data integration systems by modeling uncertainty at their core. Our method is based on probabilistic word sense disambiguation (PWSD), which allows to automatically lexically annotate (i.e. to perform annotation w.r.t. a thesaurus/lexical resource) the schemata of a given set of data sources to be integrated. From the annotated schemata and the relathionships defined in the thesaurus, we derived the probabilistic lexical relationships among schema elements. Lexical relationships are collected in the Probabilistic Common Thesaurus (PCT), as well as structural relationships.

In this paper, we present iKM, the three-layer peer knowledge model developed in the framework of the iCoord system for P2P semantic coordination. iKM grounds on the notion of

knowledge chunk

embedding the information about concepts to be shared/exchanged across peers for coordination. The main functionalities of iCoord for exploiting an iKM knowledge repository, namely

knowledge browsing

and

data search

, will be also presented.

The aim of this research was to develop a decision support tool to measure the performance of Italian courts. This tool consists of five perspectives for measuring court performance, four of which are based on BSC perspectives, and one on the IS success perspective. We believe that this decision support tool could respond to the needs of court managers and presiding judges to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of dispute resolution, and overall court performance.

“Information security consciousness” (also cited in literature as awareness) is referred to the condition in which information systems users (end-users principally) in an organisation are well informed, prepared to – and committed – the security issues concerning the use of those systems. There is no doubt in doctrine that security of IS represents a central strategic matter. In adherence to Mathieson’s thought about the use of Information Systems (IS) information security consciousness is, within that view, of fundamental importance. It is foreseen by a number of studies that a higher level of consciousness should significantly reduce “user related faults” and maximize the overall information system. Understanding of the context and of the original reasons of users-level errors, are crucial to achieve, at a strategic level, the above mentioned goals. The motivation of different organisational levels, e.g., to comply with information security policies and procedures is an activity that falls into the “content category”. Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of Davis and the Theory of Planned Behaviour of Ajzen are taken into account. Communication and moreover, the “persuasive communication” turned out to be one of the main key points. It is suggested that the persuasion strategy should start from communication of reasons and explanations, providing answers about rules and security procedures.

The aim of the paper is to analyze and discuss the organizational implications of the Virtual Reality (VR) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) start up. To this purpose the case of the simulated enterprise in the fashion sector New Fashion Perspectives (NFP) will be examined, with its establishment from 2008 in Second Life (SL), one of the most diffused 3D world in last years. In particular the analysis wants to underline the impact of ICT implications on organizational processes and structures according to the networking approach based on the net of relationships that an organization can establish during its cycle of life and mainly in the start up phase.

Accordingly to the Resource Based View, the online corporate reputation is seen as a resource for a sustainable competitive advantage. The Internet and “Web 2.0”, in particular, have radically altered the dynamics of corporate reputation formation and management by creating newly accessible channels and ways of communication, shifting the balance of power of “voice”. The result is that corporate reputation is increasingly defined not (only) by what companies do or say, but also by how stakeholders perceive and respond to their actions and words. Effective online corporate reputation management requires companies to develop new capabilities, also in terms of IT exploitation. Our work is focused on Web Reputation Management Systems, emerging software systems to monitor and to manage online corporate reputation. We aim at highlighting main criticisms, opportunities and managerial needs through the analysis of an explorative case study, based on the experience developed with 35 customers in the last 2 years by an Italian consulting firm. Finally, we provide some suggestions for future researches.

This paper aims to provide some evidences to contribute to the ongoing debate about IS discipline domain and its theoretical boundaries and backgrounds. In order to investigate the main issues and topics related with the IS discipline and the most recurrent relationships and ties among IS, Organization and Strategy we performed a meta-analysis based on the 170 papers published in 2008 in the six reference IS journals. Our findings point out the convergence towards some theoretical and research issues and moreover suggest the emerging of a new “two-ways” form of interaction that requires original directions for the future IS and management research.

This work includes an analysis of the most significant studies in the academic literature on the evaluation and measurement of Decision Support Systems and Business Intelligence Systems (BIS).

The evaluation model of BIS success proposed by Clark et al. has been studied in depth and a new model has been proposed.

The conclusions will describe the most meaningful factors that influence the new proposed evaluation model of BIS success. Particularly important are commitment to the system development and users’ training, while technology does not seem to be one of most critical elements.

In the light of the development of E-CRM, the right customer perception of web site can improve management and customer relationships and better orients web site goals. This is true particularly in a specific market as well as the online tourism. The aim of this work is to underline how a wrong consumer perception may affect goals of a web site and consequently what management have to learn from this misunderstanding. The theoretical analysis is established on a tourism site web called Terremobili (Italy) through a learning approach that shows the misinterpretation between management and customer perception about the offer of this web site. Interviewing management and analyzing information, we demonstrated that the web site initially did not meet consumer needs and beliefs, and, moreover, its structure generated a wrong perception of consumer observation. The study offers useful details about which consequences firms may suffer because of a wrong customer perception of the web site generating opportunistic behaviors. Conclusion underlines the need of a perceptive concordance between management and customer perception as a way for the businesses to aim their goals.

Logistics Service Providers have become important players in supply chain management as increasing numbers of firms are outsourcing their logistics activities. In a highly competitive context characterized by “time compression”, IT alignment between supplier and logistics service provider has a direct positive impact on, strategic and operational performance. The success of logistics outsourcing relationship is entrenched in the third party’s technological ability to improve the supply chain reactivity.

The process of planning is largely based on the way the Information Technology supports decision makers to formulate the future objectives from the past results, and, at the same time, managing knowledge development. In this perspective, the past business dynamics are very important in order to estimate the future ones; this way, taking some aspects arising from the variance analysis, can improve the understanding of past data and, consequently, improve the reliability of estimation. The aim of the paper is to discuss how different modelling approaches allow the process to evolve from supporting decisions to generating knowledge.

IT compliance is one of the main challenges for Information Systems, not only because it is difficult to implement compliant applications, but because it requires very high investments and expenditures. Companies involved by IT compliance can pursue two different behaviours: the

Compliance view

considers IT compliance merely like a duty to accomplish with, and related cost as a necessary expenditure. The

Governance view

on the contrary considers IT compliance rules like an opportunity to improve administrative processes and information quality, and related cost like an investment able to create satisfactory returns.

In this paper, these two views are described, especially focusing on

Governance view

and benefits deriving from its implementation in companies. A business case is also examined, describing the implementation of IT compliance applying the

Governance view

in a large and global Italian group.

IS Performance Management Systems seem to be the right solution for the CIO and IS department’s problems, but they are not so widespread in companies due to the difficulties that companies have in the design and implementation process. This paper attempts to address this issue by investigating what factors affect the design and implementation of IS Performance Management Systems and how these factors influence their shape in terms of IS performance dimensions and measures. The majority of previous studies dealing with this issue sought to develop an

algorithm for selecting the appropriate dimensions and measures

. This scope implied clarity and a willingness to pursue organizational goals and that only one appropriate set of dimensions and measures exists for a company. This paper points out how it is arduous to define such an algorithm because several “soft” factors, e.g. climate and private goals, affect the final shape of IS Performance Systems.

Over the past years, a wide range of maturity models have been developed by practitioners as well as academics for the purpose of measuring and prescribing certain aspects of information systems “maturity”. Since, to our knowledge, no classification system for maturity models exists to date, the rising number of maturity models implicates problems with respect to retrievability and reusability. Aiming at enhancing the time consuming and exhausting search and selection process of appropriate assessment models, a classification approach for IS maturity models is presented in this paper. Based on a broad literature review that yields 117 maturity models which are analysed in detail, the following classification characteristics are proposed: (a) a set of general model attributes that describe basic characteristics (such as the topic addressed by the model, the primary source or the targeted audience), (b) maturity model design attributes (relating to the construction and organisation of the model) and (c) maturity model use attributes (such as application method or tool support)

The development of a new web technology rises a challenge to information engineering to identify instruments and suitable techniques for the production of web 2.0 software applications. For large enterprise solutions, designing human interactions is a complex process. Products of this design process are the bridge between business requirements and solution development. This paper describes a design methodological process and a framework that implements and solves some software standard issues to develop enterprise applications and it is the basis to ensure a full continuity from the business model to system software through the physical realization of the use case. We also illustrate a real process that uses the framework for the development of an enterprise application.

In this paper we discuss the GovQual methodology for planning eGovernment initiatives in public administrations. In particular, the paper describes an application of the GovQual methodology for information systems integration at the Tunisian Ministry of agriculture and hydraulic resources. The key elements of the methodology are the multidisciplinary approach, which considers social, economical, organizational, juridical and technological issues in the identification and ranking of eGovernment projects, and the quality-driven strategy which considers the assessment of actual and future target quality values for services, processes, organizational systems, and technologies. GovQual aims to satisfy the requirements of the context where the methodology has been developed and tested such as e.g. the requirements of the countries involved in the methodology application during the eGovernment for Mediterranean Countries (eG4M) project and former preliminary experiences in the Italian Public Administrations.

This paper attempts to address the failings of a predominant paradigm in IS research and practice that emphasises technological determinism. This paradigm makes use of a false belief in the power of rationality in organizational decision-making, and a mythology in which organizational actors can be viewed as passive “users” of technology. We wish to create a discussion of the nature and role of professionalism as an expression of more than technical competence. Both system analysts and organizational stakeholders (e.g. “users”) are to be viewed as professionals. We discuss desire, exercise of will and their role in professional judgment in relation to transcendent values espoused within communities of practice. We go on to relate this to the environments of Information Systems research and practice. It is pointed out that many researchers, over a number of years, have dealt with these issues in relation to effective management of technological development and organizational change. The paper attempts to encourage renewed attention to interpretivist perspectives on IS development and organizational change, including recognition of the importance of contextual dependencies.

ERP systems are complex software packages, generally composed of a core part and a set of modules to be customized according to the company’s characteristics, needs and target market. However, ERP system customization is often a critical problem because it is usually carried out by “shaping” the company and its business processes according to a predefined ERP model, rather than vice versa. As a result, company’s managers and employees using an ERP system are often forced to reason about and work in some way different from what they are accustomed to. Such a situation frequently leads to ERP failures. This paper advocates the adoption of HCI methods to address these problems. Specifically, the paper presents an approach to ERP customization based on user-system dialogue specification and participatory design, in order to allow ERP users to participate in creating the interaction experience they would like to live with the system.

This paper addresses the main shortcoming that was reported by the users of ProDoc, an electronic document system that we developed to enable users to navigate electronic documents according to predefined process maps: how to render criticality. Criticality is a dimension that pertains to process modeling and for which a graphical way to represent it in flowcharts and process modeling notations does not exist. We report a questionnaire-based empirical user study where we sound out respondents of heterogeneous expertise and attitude on the importance of representing this dimension, as well as on the efficacy of some graphical solutions to integrate it in flowcharts representing work processes. The results we obtained are statistically significant: they show that current notations are inadequate and that a solution to convey flow criticality exists and can be used in software applications that visualize processes

The design of domain specific information systems, like Emergency Management Systems, has to rely on the participation of experts with different backgrounds. Such multi-disciplinary process is often characterized by misunderstandings and communication problems. In this context, design patterns might be a useful tool to communicate ideas since patterns collect solutions to recurrent problems in a domain using a language that should be understandable by a general audience with no technical knowledge. In this paper we introduce a catalog of design patterns for Web-based Emergency Management Systems (WEMS). We have used three sources to find out patterns: design principles for WEMS, existing WEMS and design patterns from related design areas including interaction, ubiquitous computing or security. Furthermore, the catalog is deployed as a collaborative web application so that designers can navigate through the patterns space but they can also make the collection grow adding their own expertise

The web revolution makes outdated preexisting Information Systems (legacy systems). Companies need to update their Information Systems without lose neither investments on design and implementation made in the past nor the know-how acquired during years. The modern trend is to activate a reengineering process for the legacy systems. It is important that the reengineering process con-sider both technological aspect and definition of the Human Computer Interaction as important quality factors for the Information System transformation into a Web Information System. The process requires a methodological approach oriented to the application of a specific methodology for each reengineering phase. In this paper, we present a reengineering path that involves both technological and methodological aspects. The idea was born during the MIGR.O.S (MIGRation Open Source) project that aims to transform legacy systems into modern Web Information Systems.

This paper presents a system to specify and verify web applications, based on previous results on usability evaluation of interactive visual interfaces by means of checking their corresponding formal specification. In Cassino and Tucci we have described a methodology to design, specify and evaluate interactive visual interfaces, based on the SR-Action Grammars formalism, and we have presented a bottom – up approach to guide the designer to develop graphical user interface which respect any usability metrics before the software is released and tested by standard methods. TAGIVE (

T

ool for the

A

ided

G

eneration of

I

nteractive

V

isual

E

nvironments) is a visual environment for the implementation of interactive visual applications (html, xml, java applications), and for the generation of the underlying SR-Action Grammar specification. Now, we present

VALUTA (A

utomatic

T

ool for the

U

sability

V

erification at

A

bstraction

L

evel ), a tool that supports the generation of the formal specification of existing interactive visual applications in an automatic manner, so to perform the related usability controls. Checking the usability of interactive applications at a formal level, allows a designer to perform feedback analysis of the environment under consideration.

With the advent of broadband connections, the Internet service providers have begun to charge users with fees in order to cover the higher infrastructural costs due to the management/rental of broadband networks. However, the user is often left the chance for a free Internet connection, provided that he/she accepts to be invaded by banner ads, which arbitrarily, in terms of time and position, appear on the screen. In order to make effective the latter, the Internet service providers have been studying the most appropriate advertisement (ad, for short) supply policy, in order to satisfy companies who wish to advertise their products without annoying the user while he/she is interacting with the service. In this paper we present an approach for the presentation of personalized ads on mobile devices, which is based on a user model that takes into account user’s interests over time. The approach has been adopted within the LUNA wireless network project, which is targeted at realizing a business model such that the services provided in the area of Trento, in the North of Italy, are accessible and usable by everybody, at a very low cost.

Platforms like E-bay allow product seekers and providers to meet and exchange goods. On the same way in open innovation, as defined by Chesbrough, an enterprise can collect ideas from outside the company. But on E-bay, the seeker can return the product if it does not correspond to the expectations, since E-bay is the third-party actor in charge of assuring that the agreement between seekers and providers will be respected. So who does provide the same service for what concerns open innovation, where specifications might not fully defined? In this paper we shall describe the business model of an organizational structure to support the elicitation and respect of agreements between actors, who have conflicting interests but that gain from cooperating together. The concepts of the model will be illustrated to derive a set of propositions and a simple example will illustrate one of its possible instantiations. The description of our first evaluation phase shall find place at the end.

Clinical risk management may be considered as a set of actions with the aim of raising performance and health-care safety, through error learning. Most studies carried out and guidelines introduced give ample scope, to information and communication technology in clinical risk management. The assumption, in this case, is that human errors are an inevitable component in real life. Although this component can never be totally eliminated, the risk of error can be greatly reduced, if precise codes of behavior, shared by all health-care workers, are backed-up by suitable information and technological support. With all of the above in mind, referring to the case in hand, we will try to pinpoint critical points associated with computerization of procedures and introduction of new technological instruments to manage clinical risk in a health-care institution, and how they should be dealt with. In particular, we will try to identify the key factors in related organizational change.

In this paper, authors focus on those contributions to the IS and Service literature recognized as being the most influential, using co-citation analysis. The aim is to explore and review the research domain in order to better understand the origins, the current state of development and future trends.

This study will conceptualize antecedents of dynamic capabilities at the individual and organizational level. My focus is on network exploitation capability, defined as the ability of an organization to effectively “orchestrate” the combination of traditional and technology-enabled distribution channels for its product or service. My analysis has allowed me to reach four main results: (1) to distinguish individual antecedents from the organizational ones; (2) to list the individual and organizational antecedents in terms of sensing, seizing and reconfiguring; (3) to underscore the existing relationship between individual and organizational antecedents; to provide a small theoretical contribution to the literature concerning dynamic capabilities

1

.

The paper presents a case study about the first introduction of the collaborative environment CoFFEE and its educational approach within the DAOSan Masters course in Leadership in Health-care Services. First, the pedagogical and technological aspects of CoFFEE-supported activities are presented. Then, the context of the DAOSan problem-solving-based approach is described. The case study of a training scenario is discussed, in order to draw a methodology fostering reflexivity, collaboration and situated learning in management training.

The purpose of this work is the analysis of the benefits that the enterprises may enjoy with the adoption of e-procurement solutions. In particular the analysis concerns the e-sourcing solutions implemented by an Italian bank group and the main organizational implications connected to the use of such systems within the purchasing department.

The peculiarities detected by this study through the administration of interviews to a few department managers confirmed that the e-sourcing systems adopted by the group have allowed large saving in terms of lower purchase prices and most of all in terms of rationalization of the procurement process

Training is one of the key activities for Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) adoption processes in organizations. Literature emphasizes the importance of training to assimilate new technologies and to take the highest benefits from them. But we do not know enough about decisions drivers for launching ICT training programs, both to support the ICT introduction and later to reinforce the use of installed ICT. Besides, literature and business practice seem to ignore what happens when the pure training activity is over. E.g., what is the return for the company of the training effort? Based on this assumption, SDA Bocconi and AICA1 launched a multiyear research program in order to understand the impact of ICT training on organizational performance and to investigated ICT training propensity among CIOs and HR managers.

Recently, several laws (38/2005, 231/2001, 262/2005) have been revising the corporate internal control legislation system in Italy, consequently requiring the accounting information system (AIS) to adapt

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. Accounting systems and financial reporting must comply with new law requirements which generate a “corporate impact”. The object of this paper is to examine this corporate impact. Analyzing four Italian listed companies, authors investigate the effects of the adoption of the International Accounting Standard-International Financial Reporting Standard (IAS/IFRS) on the information process, tools, accounting and procedures. The analysis shows that firms use different approaches to implement law requirements; authors develop a model to identify their determinants.

We present FAME (Filter, Analyze, Measure and Evaluate), a simplified approach for Open Source software assessment. This approach has been derived by more heavyweight, proven approaches developed in a University research environment, to match the needs of small organizations. The proposed approach has been developed by CC-ICT-SUD, a consortium for the delivery of technology transfer services, and for transferring advanced methodologies for software evaluation and assessment from academic to industrial contexts, in particular for Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The FAME methodology is briefly described, and a case study involving the choice of a document management system for a SME is presented, showing how the approach can be used.

In a conventional way, we refer to “open source” as the set of tools achieved without licensing, and available to every user in open environments oriented toward democratization of innovation. In another meaning, it is possible to assume open sources as the set of material and immaterial resources shared in open environments to produce innovation. Thus, the open innovation phenomenon is multifaceted and may be used to explain various issues related to the sharing of knowledge, know-how and competencies in a lot of contexts. In this new framework, this paper explores the open innovation paradigm as an innovative and pervasive method to transfer knowledge from research organizations to industrial world. Among the different ways to transfer innovative knowledge, this paper focuses on spin-off phenomenon, as one of the most effective and suitable approach to transfer innovation from research organizations to industrial world and to capitalize on tangible and intangible outcomes. The main attention concerns inter−intra organizational issues of IT spin-offs created within European cooperative research projects

The Digital Business Ecosystem (DBE) is an organizational approach which allows competitive enterprises to cooperate with each other. It is necessary to put aside the operating realizations to formalize this new approach in order to build up a theory to base the empirical experimentation. This work is a contribution to the formalization with the goal of understanding how competitive enterprises with heterogeneous organizations and belonging to different areas, can coexist in a same DBE. The formalization proposed has a logical reading based on processes models. Thanks to the use of the process models it is possible to organize some tools which allow to quickly build platforms for DBE management and governance and to make this flexible to comply with the different operating modes foreseen by the management of the enterprises which are part of the DBE

Logistics companies have faced in recent years the challenges imposed by globalization. The thinning of the margins and the enormous costs have forced companies to review and modify their product offerings and services and their business processes. One of the most feasible and reasonable way for improving port competitiveness of logistics companies is to make better use of available resources through the adoption of information technology.

This paper presents the results of some research activities of a research project called

PROMIS

(

logistic PROcess Management and Intelligence

). The

PROMIS

research project has been started by the

R&D.LOG

(

Research and Development Logistics

) Consortium, that operates in the area of Gioia Tauro terminal container, and that is characterized by public–private partnerships for

ICT

transfer and diffusion. In particular, the paper proposes an agent-based model of the entities involved in berthing, shipping, yard planning and straddle carriers routing processes and describes its implementation as a multi-agent system using constraint programming (

OPL

) to find re-planning problem solutions

Large scale publicly funded research projects involving both academia and industry have gained tremendous importance in information systems research. However, little knowledge is available on how to suitably manage these projects. Project management contingency frameworks can help to characterize the specific type of a project and offer guidelines for its management. In this paper we apply these frameworks to collaborative research projects. As a result we present a first set of management guidelines derived from each framework and highlight further directions of research towards a comprehensive management approach for collaborative research projects