1213745
Migrating Agile Methods to Standardized Development Practice
Situated process and quality frameworks offer a way to resolve the tensions that arise when introducing agile methods into standardized software development engineering. For these to be successful, however, organizations must grasp the opportunity to reintegrate software development management, theory, and practice.
2076128
Simulation in healthcare management: a soft approach (MAPIU)
Abstract Simulation application in healthcare is not as widely perceived for problem solving as it is in other application areas. This might be due to the way simulation is applied in healthcare modelling, as it follows a traditionally based on engineering approach. This may not be a problem in itself; however, healthcare systems are often complex in that they involve multiple decision-makers and thus understanding and communication between the various stakeholders is potentially problematic. Problem understanding and efficient communication means can widely contribute to the solution; consequently a modelling approach is proposed in this paper to enhance such understanding and communication. The approach is based on participation of stakeholders; it is also iterative. An example is given aiming to show how this approach has been used to successfully facilitate the modelling process, concluding that involving stakeholders throughout enables them to fully appreciate the findings. This approach thus serves to enrich the communication process.
609354
Adapting to Survive: Lessons Learned from an Investigation into the Effects of Contextual Change on Information Systems
In an effort to create shareholder value in the new frontier opened by a world but volatile economy, organizations have long ago realized that processes, structure and control procedures have to be reconstructed anew. It follows that information systems should be approached not as static artifacts but as dynamic entities able to model the ever-changing organization. In this paper we report of a case study investigating the effects of privatization on the systems of an industrial organization. Our findings illustrate the vulnerability of information systems in turbulent environments, provide insight into the causes of misfit due to contextual change, and establish flexibility as a success variable of contemporary information systems.
24905037
Using Machine Learning Techniques to Interpret Results from Discrete Event Simulation
This paper describes an approach to the interpretation of discrete event simulation results using machine learning techniques. The results of two simulators were processed as machine learning problems. Interpretation obtained by the regression tree learning system Retis was intuitive but obviously expressed in a complicated way. To enable a more powerful knowledge representation, Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) system Markus was used, that also highlighted some attribute combinations. These attribute combinations were used as new attributes in further experiments with Retis and Assistant. Some interesting regularities were thereby automatically discovered.