An intelligent decision support system prototype for hinterland port logistics

2020 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 1

Authors: Irannezhad, Elnaz; Prato, Carlo G.; Hickman, Mark

Abstract: Port logistics is characterised by a high degree of fragmentation, uncertainty a ... Expand

Abstract: Port logistics is characterised by a high degree of fragmentation, uncertainty and complexity. In a context with these characteristics, decision support can be of significant value. This study presents the prototype of an intelligent decision support system (DSS) that leads to horizontal and vertical cooperation among freight agents involved in port logistics. A multi-agent simulation model is presented where heterogeneous actions are enabled as a result of an adaptive reinforcement learning algorithm that is inspired by human decision-making strategies. The model combines optimisation modelling and decision theory to operate in a dynamic environment characterised by information asymmetry among agents and dynamic changes over time. A simulation demonstrates the dynamics and convergence to equilibrium of the interactions of heterogeneous agents for delivery and pick up of import/export shipments. In particular, we answer two specific research questions. What is the likely impact of an intelligent DSS in hinterland container transport as a value-added service of port community system (PCS)? How can an optimum cooperative strategy be formulated to meet the dynamic demand and supply of freight agents in hinterland container transport and achieve agility in the age of hyper-competition? By addressing these two research questions we make a specific contribution by developing an agent-based simulation model in a real-world and large-scale case study, by using a reinforcement learning model based on probability matching theory that allows simulating realistically the adaptive behaviour of agents. The results of the simulation of two weeks of container movements indicate huge savings in total transport costs and distance travelled as well as higher utilisation of trucks from the sharing of resources. Moreover, we show that it is strictly better for smaller freight agents to cooperate – a conclusion generated endogenously inside the model as a trade-off between exploration and exploitation. As a result of this prototype simulation, major freight agents will not necessarily benefit from the DSS mainly because they are already using the economies of scale. Collapse

Topics: logistics management decision support system decision making application programming interface Google+

Methods: simulation design artifact agent based simulation computational algorithm reinforcement learning

An Empirical Review of the Connection Between Model Viewer Characteristics and the Comprehension of Conceptual Process Models

2019 | Information Systems Frontiers | Citations: 8

Authors: Mendling, Jan; Recker, Jan; Reijers, Hajo A.; Leopold, Henrik

Abstract: Understanding conceptual models of business domains is a key skill for practitio ... Expand

Abstract: Understanding conceptual models of business domains is a key skill for practitioners tasked with systems analysis and design. Research in this field predominantly uses experiments with specific user proxy cohorts to examine factors that explain how well different types of conceptual models can be comprehended by model viewers. However, the results from these studies are difficult to compare. One key difficulty rests in the unsystematic and fluctuating consideration of model viewer characteristics (MVCs) to date. In this paper, we review MVCs used in prominent prior studies on conceptual model comprehension. We then design an empirical review of the influence of MVCS through a global, cross-sectional experimental study in which over 500 student and practitioner users were asked to answer comprehension questions about a prominent type of conceptual model - BPMN process models. As an experimental treatment, we used good versus bad layout in order to increase the variance of performance. Our results show MVC to be a multi-dimensional construct. Moreover, process model comprehension is related in different ways to different traits of the MVC construct. Based on these findings, we offer guidance for experimental designs in this area of research and provide implications for the study of MVCs. Collapse

Topics: website problem solving internet technology electronic mail task productivity

Methods: experiment business process modeling business process model and notation modeling language conceptual modelling

TOWARDS A TYPOLOGY OF AGILE ISD LEADERSHIP

2018 | European Conference On Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Andrias, Mone Stepanus; Matook, Sabine; Vidgen, Richard

Abstract: Leadership influences the success of any project, including agile information sy ... Expand

Abstract: Leadership influences the success of any project, including agile information systems development (ISD) projects. In fact, agile ISD projects are nowadays the ISD method of choice in practice irrespectively of the size of the project - either small or large projects. There, leadership is crucial because it transcends and influences other factors, such as team motivation and commitment. However, knowledge of agile ISD leadership is limited as research in this area is rare. This study aims to reveal how leadership manifests in an agile ISD project, specifically in the setting of large-scale projects. To investigate leadership in an agile ISD project, we conducted a qualitative case study and interviewed 12 agile ISD practitioners from three teams. Preliminary results show that personal attributes, attitudes, and behaviors of the leader are important for agile ISD leadership to be effective. Based on those characteristics, we develop a theoretical framework about leadership for agile ISD projects. Collapse

Topics: agile software development pseudonymity Scrum

Methods: qualitative interview design methodology qualitative coding theory development grounded theory

ProcessProfiler3D: A visualisation framework for log-based process performance comparison

2017 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Wynn, M. T.; Poppe, E.; Xu, J.; ter Hofstede, A. H. M.; Brown, R.; Pini, A.; van der Aalst, W. M. P.

Abstract: An organisation can significantly improve its performance by observing how their ... Expand

Abstract: An organisation can significantly improve its performance by observing how their business operations are currently being carried out. A great way to derive evidence-based process improvement insights is to compare the behaviour and performance of processes for different process cohorts by utilising the information recorded in event logs. A process cohort is a coherent group of process instances that has one or more shared characteristics. Such process performance comparisons can highlight positive or negative variations that can be evident in a particular cohort, thus enabling a tailored approach to process improvement. Although existing process mining techniques can be used to calculate various statistics from event logs for performance analysis, most techniques calculate and display the statistics for each cohort separately. Furthermore, the numerical statistics and simple visualisations may not be intuitive enough to allow users to compare the performance of various cohorts efficiently and effectively. We developed a novel visualisation framework for log-based process performance comparison to address these issues. It enables analysts to quickly identify the performance differences between cohorts. The framework supports the selection of cohorts and a three-dimensional visualisation to compare the cohorts using a variety of performance metrics. The approach has been implemented as a set of plug-ins within the open source process mining framework ProM and has been evaluated using two real-life datasets from the insurance domain to assess the usefulness of such a tool. This paper also derives a set of design principles from our approach which provide guidance for the development of new approaches to process cohort performance comparison. Collapse

Topics: ease of use process mining perceived usefulness online analytical processing task productivity

Methods: design principle event log business process modeling Petri net modeling language

Theories: technology acceptance model

The Role of the Doctoral Consortium: An Information Systems Signature Pedagogy?

2016 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Gable, Guy G.; Smyth, Robert; Gable, Alison

Abstract: The doctoral consortium is a well-established, widely endorsed event in the info ... Expand

Abstract: The doctoral consortium is a well-established, widely endorsed event in the information systems (IS) discipline that occurs adjunct to mainstream IS conferences (e.g., ICIS, ECIS, PACIS, AMCIS). Anecdotal evidence suggests that PhD students’ experience of these events is almost universally positive; some have referred to the events as “life changing” or “magical”. Further, both participating students and scholars strongly perceive the events’ value. To extend the experience to more PhD students, doctoral consortia are more recently being run locally and unaffiliated with any conference. By reviewing the literature and historical documents and conducting a series of interviews and email exchanges with past conference co-chairs, we explore the merits of IS doctoral consortia (consortia). We position the IS doctoral consortium as distinct from forms of doctoral student development in other disciplines, a veritable “signature pedagogy” for IS. In examining the practices and motivations underlying doctoral consortia, we explain related phenomena to improving future consortia. In addition, by appending much historical detail, we add to the IS discipline’s organizational memory. Collapse

Topics: IS discipline electronic mail Wikipedia organizational memory accounting

Methods: field study design artifact literature sample design science theoretical contribution

A field study of spatial preferences in enterprise microblogging

2016 | Journal of Information Technology | Citations: 11

Authors: Recker, Jan; Lekse, Dominik

Abstract: How does the introduction of enterprise social networking affect the way that ge ... Expand

Abstract: How does the introduction of enterprise social networking affect the way that geographically dispersed managers communicate with each other? We examine enterprise social network (ESN) usage data obtained from a community of store managers in a leading Australian retail organization, over a period of 15 months after introduction of the platform. Our interest in examining this data is in spatial communication preferences by the network users, that is, to ascertain who is communicating with whom and where. Our analysis of 12,000 messages exchanged between 530 managers shows that interactions can generally be characterized by individual preferences for local communication but also that two different user communities exist – ‘locals’ and ‘globals’. We develop empirical profiles for these two types of social network user communities, and we compare the empirical results against contrasting theoretical perspectives for spatial preference patterns in communication behaviour. We outline implications for theories on spatial influences on communication behaviours on ESNs. Collapse

Topics: social network enterprise social media systems development media richness organization learning

Methods: field study post-hoc analysis descriptive statistic design science spatial analysis

Theories: theory of affordance transaction cost economics media theory media richness theory

Understanding the Behavior of Workshop Facilitators in Systems Analysis and Design Projects: Developing Theory from Process Modeling Projects

2015 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 5

Authors: Hjalmarsson, Anders; Recker, Jan; Rosemann, Michael; Lind, Mikael

Abstract: Organizational and technological systems analysis and design practices such as p ... Expand

Abstract: Organizational and technological systems analysis and design practices such as process modeling have received much attention in recent years. However, while knowledge about related artifacts such as models, tools, or grammars has substantially matured, little is known about the actual tasks and interaction activities that are conducted as part of analysis and design acts. In particular, key role of the facilitator has not been researched extensively to date. In this paper, we propose a new conceptual framework that can be used to examine facilitation behaviors in process modeling projects. The framework distinguishes four behavioral styles in facilitation (the driving engineer, the driving artist, the catalyzing engineer, and the catalyzing artist) that a facilitator can adopt. To distinguish between the four styles, we provide a set of ten behavioral anchors that underpin facilitation behaviors. We also report on a preliminary empirical exploration of our framework through interviews with experienced analysts in six modeling cases. Our research provides a conceptual foundation for an emerging theory for describing and explaining different behaviors associated with process modeling facilitation, provides first preliminary empirical results about facilitation in modeling projects, and provides a fertile basis for examining facilitation in other conceptual modeling activities. Collapse

Topics: systems development business process management innovation management organizational change digital innovation

Methods: business process modeling qualitative interview case study design science literature sample

Information Systems Success Research: The “20-Year Update?” Panel Report from PACIS, 2011

2014 | Communications of the Association for Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Tate, Mary; Sedera, Darshana; McLean, Ephraim; Burton-Jones, Andrew

Abstract: This article summarizes a panel held at the 15th Pacific Asia Conference on Info ... Expand

Abstract: This article summarizes a panel held at the 15th Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) in Brisbane, Austrailia, in 2011. The panelists proposed a new research agenda for information systems success research. The DeLone and McLean IS Success Model has been one of the most influential models in Information Systems research. However, the nature of information systems continues to change. Information systems are increasingly implemented across layers of infrastructure and application architecture. The diffusion of information systems into many spheres of life means that information systems success needs to be considered in multiple contexts. Services play a much more prominent role in the economies of countries, making the “service” context of information systems increasingly important. Further, improved understandings of theory and measurement offer new opportunities for novel approaches and new research questions about information systems success. Collapse

Topics: IS success service quality system support systems evaluation technology diffusion

Methods: self reported survey

Theories: information systems success model

Now I know what ICT can do for me!

2012 | Information Systems Journal | Citations: 0

Authors: Clayton, Kaylene; Beekhuyzen, Jenine; Nielsen, Sue

Abstract: The under-representation of women entering into information and communication te ... Expand

Abstract: The under-representation of women entering into information and communication technology (ICT) programmes is a long-standing problem. While ICT continues to be increasingly accepted and integrated into everyday life, gender stereotypes prevail in ICT turning female students away from ICT as an occupation. Based on existing literature on factors influencing girls' career choices and on an empirical qualitative study in three schools in Australia, a conceptualisation of the influence of middle-school experiences on girls' ICT study and career choices is presented. This conceptualisation is used as a guide to evaluate a recent intervention programme aimed at promoting ICT study and work opportunities to middle-school girls. A number of recommendations for future programmes are provided, highlighting the need to study how subcultures that support ICT career choices develop and are supported in Australian schools. Collapse

Topics: IT career IS education information system use website

Methods: survey group interview personal interview qualitative interview

A generic ballast water discharge assessment model as a decision supporting tool in ballast water management

2012 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: David, Matej; Perkovič, Marko; Suban, Valter; Gollasch, Stephan

Abstract: One of the critical issues in species invasion ecology is the need to understand ... Expand

Abstract: One of the critical issues in species invasion ecology is the need to understand and evaluate the dimensions and processes of aquatic organisms transfer with vessels ballast water. The assessment of the quantity of ballast water discharged as the medium of transfer is one of the basic elements of the decision making process in ballast water risk assessment and management. The possibility to assess this in advance of the vessel's arrival to a port enhances the management process and gives port authorities a decision supporting tool to respond in time with adequate measures. A new generic ballast water discharge assessment model has been prepared. The model is based on vessel cargo operation and vessel dimensions. The model was tested on real shipping traffic and ballast water discharge data for the Port of Koper, Slovenia. The results show high confidence in predicting whether a vessel will discharge ballast water, as well in assessing the quantity of ballast water (to be) discharged. Collapse

Topics: database system

Methods: machine learning