...Soft Systems Methodology A report by Dale Couprie Alan Goodbrand Bin Li David Zhu Department of Computer Science University of Calgary Table of Contents. Abstract. Introduction Map Stage 1. Problem situation unstructured. Stage 2. Problem Situation expressed. Rich Pictures Illustration of Stage 1 and Stage 2 as a whole in SSM Pitfalls that must be avoided. Stage 3: Naming of Relevant Systems Root Definitions CATWOE Stage 4: Conceptual Models Systems Thinking Formal Systems Model Monitoring a System Stage 5: Comparing Conceptual Models with Reality Using Conceptual Models as a Base for Ordered Questioning Comparing History with Model Prediction General Overall Comparison Model Overlay Stages 6 and 7. Implementing Feasible and Desirable Changes Case Study - Rethinking a Service Function in the Shell Group Stages 1 and 2 Stage 3: Naming of Relevant Systems Stage 4: Conceptual Models Stage 5: Comparing Conceptual Models with Reality Stages 6 and 7. Implementing Feasible and Desirable Changes Observations and Conclusions Exercise References Figures. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Soft Systems Methodology map. Transformation process for producing Rich Picture. The routing of Systems Thinking. Shell's MF Rich Picture. Shell's MF world view of training. Shell's MF training conceptual model. Tables. Table 1. One to one transformations involving different world views. Table 2. Shell's Comparison with reality. Abstract This document deals with...
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...Master thesis in Informatics REPORT NO. 2008:034 ISSN: 1651-4769 Department of Applied Information Technology Soft Systems Methodology in action: A case study at a purchasing department Using SSM to suggest a new way of conducting financial reporting at a purchasing department in the automotive industry OLLE L. BJERKE IT Universtiy of Göteborg Chalmers University of Technology and Universtiy of Gothenburg Göteborg, Sweden 2008 1 Using Soft Systems Methodology at a purchasing department to conduct a study of financial reporting needs Olle L. Bjerke Department of Applied Information Technology IT University of Göteborg Göteborg University and Chalmers University of Technology SUMMARY The aim of this essay has been to try out Soft Systems Methodology on financial reporting at Volvo Cars Corporation (VCC). VCC saw a possible opportunity to improve their reporting processes, and SSM was chosen to deal with this possible problematic situation. Action Research became the natural way of conducting the study since it is almost a mandatory way of conducting SSM. A delimitation was made due to limited resources and only a small part of the purchasing department was involved, namely electrical purchasing. The result of the study is the artifacts from the different SSM steps that points upon how the participants would like the reporting system to be as well as many issues with the current reporting process. These outputs from the method were regarded as successful...
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...AND MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATION MEI 2015 CDAD2103 METHODOLOGY OF INFORMATION SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT Contents 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Methodology 1 1.3 Types of Software developing life cycles (SDLC) 2 1. Waterfall Model 2 2. V-Shaped Model 4 3. Evolutionary Prototyping Model 5 4. Spiral Method (SDM) 7 5. Iterative and Incremental Method 8 6. Extreme programming (Agile development) 10 1.4 CASE (computer-aided software engineering) 11 1.5 Conclusion 16 Introduction System development methodology is a standard process followed in an organization to conduct all the steps necessary to analyze, design, implement, and maintain information systems. Organizations use a standard set of steps, called system development methodology to develop and support their information systems. Like many processes, the development of information systems often follows a life cycle. For example, a commercial product such as a Nike sneaker or a Honda car follows a life cycle; it is created, tested and introduced to the market. Its sales increase, peak and decline. Finally, the product is removed from the market and is replaced with something else. Many options exist for developing information systems, but the most common methodology for system development in many organizations is system development life cycle. However, it is important to know other alternative development methodology available in order to maximize the development process....
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...the publication of Ball and Brown’s seminal work in 1968, accounting research moved into positive research (i.e., examining what is rather than what should be). Although this change has had its critics, it has resulted in a significant increase in research output (and many new journals). A cynical definition of research is: any paper that cites a lot of other accounting papers must be accounting research. This “quick and dirty” definition restricts accounting research to topics and methodologies that are well established in the literature; it is “safe” but somewhat limiting. More rigorously, Oler, Oler, and Skousen (2009) attempt to characterize accounting research by looking at the topics, research methodologies, and citations made by papers published in a set of six top accounting journals (AOS, CAR, JAE, JAR, RAST, and TAR). Their work can be criticized, though, because they do not consider all accounting journals, and because their categorizations of topics (6 of them) and research methodologies (7 of them) are broad. In spite of shortcomings, their paper appears to be the first that attempts to characterize and define accounting research, which they define as follows: “accounting research is research into the effect of economic events on the process of summarizing, analyzing, verifying, and reporting standardized financial information, and on the effects of reported information on economic events.” Professors typically will...
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...may refer to Hillier and Hillier for help in describing the problem. Method used Present the MS method used and why you thought it was the most appropriate amongst other methods. Your justification of the choice is an important part of your assessment Implementation A description of how the raw problem is converted into a spreadsheet model. Please provide details of the raw data and the steps followed for populating it in Excel Analysis Provide alternative solutions and scenarios and their respective outcomes. This should be accompanied by a rationale describing the behaviour of the system as a result of any changes you make to the input values. This is then concluded by an optimisation exercise if required Conclusions The section should provide the final results and justification why this is the best results. The section should include any lessons learned about the system as a result of using this model Marking scheme...
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...In his 1989 article Mouck cites Morgan (1988) who observed that: “The idea that accountants represent reality ‘as is ‘ through the means of numbers that are objective and value free, has clouded the much more important insight that accountants are always engaged in interpreting a complex reality, partially, and in a way that is heavily weighted in favor of what the accountant is able to measure and chooses to measure…” (p. 480). Required: Discuss the extent to which the “scientific” world-view of mainstream accounting researchers, is grounded on a belief that “reality” exists independently of thee human subject and the possible implications this has for accounting theory development. Introduction Accounting is a subject that is guided with principles and regulations. Thus, it is often regarded as a rigid, rigorous, and highly analytical discipline with very precise interpretations. However, this is far from the truth. For instance, two organizations that are otherwise homogeneous can apply different valuation methods giving entirely distinct but equally correct answers. One may argue that a choice between accounting schemes is merely an “accounting construct” the sorts of “games” accountants play that are exclusively of relevance to them but have no pertinent in the “real world.” Once again this is entirely false. For example, valuation of inventory using either LIFO (Last-in-last-out) or FIFO (First-in-first-out) has an impact on income tax, especially in the US...
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...switching over once a better offer comes in. B. Research Problem Employees are the basis of every organization. Recruiting and retaining knowledgeable people for the job is essential for an employer. But it works only if employee satisfaction is considered more important because of it employees attracted and not leave the company. It is require studying the various factors to assess employee satisfaction level. C. Research Questions 1. What is the current employee satisfaction approached used 2. What is the perception of the consumers in terms of the employee satisfaction rates? 3. What do you think should be included in the Employee Satisfaction Index System that will serve as guidelines? 4. What are the ways that the management can do to effectively implement employee satisfaction index system? D. Research Objectives * To Measure the satisfaction levels of employees on various factors and give suggestions for improving the same. * To study the relationship between the personal factors of the employee (Gender, Designation, Qualification, Age, and Years of Service in a company) with satisfaction level. * To derive and analyze the current satisfaction level of the employees in the company...
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...folders that will contain separate documents for each chapter or major section. Add to these as you develop your ideas. The order in which you write about your research is often not the same as the order of the finished chapters or sections. Discuss and work out a draft for organising your chapters with your supervisor. Using questions to guide your structure Here are some questions to help you think about some sections you might include in your minor thesis. The suggestions on the right follow a ‘traditional’ thesis structure, but there are other ways of structuring your thesis. Introduction What is the research about? Literature review What is already known in this area? Research question What do you want to find out about? Methodology How did you go about your research? Results/Findings What did you find?...
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...superblocks is an unfortunate problem [7]. It should be noted that our methodology manages the emulation of replication. Given the current status of real-time modalities, systems engineers daringly desire the simulation of courseware. The deployment of B-trees would profoundly improve voice-over-IP. We demonstrate not only that the foremost homogeneous algorithm for the simulation of superblocks is in Co-NP, but that the same is true for hierarchical databases. We emphasize that Weak should be analyzed to store e-business. It should be noted that our application observes the unproven unification of the partition table and massive multiplayer online role-playing games [6,13]. Contrarily, this approach is often considered private. Combined with compilers, this technique develops new linear-time technology. Our main contributions are as follows. Primarily, we concentrate our efforts on disconfirming that the acclaimed homogeneous algorithm for the understanding of interrupts by L. Maruyama et al. is recursively enumerable. Second, we introduce a system for the synthesis of the Ethernet (Weak), validating that digital-to-analog converters can be made constant-time, autonomous, and knowledge-based. Furthermore, we demonstrate that 802.11 mesh networks and virtual machines can interact to realize this intent. In the end, we argue that although simulated annealing and A* search are always incompatible, expert systems and redundancy [14] can agree to accomplish this objective. The...
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...CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This chapter presents the method of research utilized in the study, the population, sample size, and sampling technique, description of the respondents, research instrument, data-gathering procedure, and statistical treatment used for data analysis. Research Method Used The descriptive method of educational research was employed in the study, since it describes what traits or what it is of a certain educational phenomenon. Borg defines the descriptive method as a distinctive research methodology of systematic data collection, presentation, and analysis. The method of research is concerned with conditions and relations that exist, practices that prevail, processes that are going on, point of view effects that are being felt, or trends that are developing. This method is the most appropriate method for this study, as Best asserts that the descriptive research goes beyond mere tabulation of data to the analysis and interpretation and meaning of what is being described. It involves a more in depth analysis through the use of numerical and comparative analysis. Population, Sample Size and Sampling Technique Table 1 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Population and Sample |Course, Year and Section |Population |Sample |% | |BSMT-A1 |48 |12 ...
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...CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Research Design This chapter presents the methodology of the study by which the research activities were undertaken. This included the research design, the subject of the study, the locale, the research instruments, data gathering procedure and statistical treatment of data. Method of Study This study used the descriptive correlation method since its purpose was to determine the existing condition of the students’ study habits and their academic achievement. Moreover, it also described the existing relationship between students’ academic achievement and their learning environment. According to Good and Scales, a descriptive investigation includes all the studies that support to present facts concerning the nature and status of anything – a group of persons, a number of objects, a set of conditions, a class of events, a system of thought, or any kind of phenomena which one may wish to study. Subjects of the Study The subjects of the study were the Fourth Year High School students from Public and Private schools in Taguig. See Table 1 for the breakdown of sample. Table 1 School Type Male Female Total Total This study focused on the study habits and learning environment in relation to the academic achievement of Fourth Year level students of President Diosdado Macapagal High School, Signal Village National High School, Athens Academy and Royal Era which were utilized as the samples of the study. It was composed of...
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...Research Methodology – Open Doors – Extending Hospitality to Travellers with Disability 1. How did ODO operationalise the definition of an adult with a disability? What arguments could you make that the definition was too inclusive or too narrow? Disability was defined by ODO as “having blindness, deafness or a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying”. Respondents were screened based on these criteria using a variation of the 2000 Census question. Fifteen percent of the general adult population (or more than 31 million adults aged 18 and older) defines themselves as having one or more of these characteristics. In terms of sampling, ODO narrowed its definition of an adult with a disability. “We wanted the disability to be permanent, and we wanted to cover the full range of physically limiting disabilities,” shares Turk. “But we didn’t want to include those with mental or emotional disorders.” Harris Interactive identified an ‘adult with a disability’ participant by using a variation of the 2000 U.S. Census questions. In the U.S. Census, a disability was defined as ‘blindness, deafness, or a condition that substantially limits one or more basic physical activities such as walking, climbing stairs, reaching, lifting, or carrying.’ For purposes of the study conducted by Harris Interactive and Open Door Organization, the definition is sufficient. However, the inclusiveness...
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...they’re doing. As an IS student, documenting everything on our future software is essential and it is a must. We must make sure that we always have clear precise documentation of every single important process, and action that takes place. This will also allow us to have a strong reference point whenever anything is in question. “Real programmers don't comment their code, if it was hard to write, it should be hard to understand and harder to modify.” Programmers don’t just stay on what they have learned, they continuous educating themselves by exploring innovative ideas and modify systems to a better ones. Statement from the owner of a small industrial control software company: "We do not want our (end-user) documentation to be too clear. We make a lot of money doing training." For me, this attitude gives the software industry a bad name. A lot companies does this kind of wrong methodologies these day. They took advantage on end-users by making complicated end-user documentation and make the end-users who doesn’t really understand the documentation drop a call on the help centers and ask for a technical assistance. Or sometimes, they do trainings on how to use the software. And all of it has certain amount of charges. In short, they earn a lot of money in a wrong and corrupt...
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...ResearchBeam has announced a new Report Package "Global Corporate M-learning Market Size, Growth, Trends, Technology, Analysis, Key Vendors, Report 2015-2019" Report Overview M-learning refers to technologies and applications installed in mobile devices to facilitate learning and sharing of information. It is gaining popularity among employees and companies as the advanced features of mobile devices lend good support to daily business activities. M-learning helps overcome time and location constraints imposed by classroom-based learning sessions. It enables rich interaction among trainers and learners, which enhances search capabilities, and enables effective learning. Corporate m-learning offers widespread applications for the corporate sector. It exhibits immense potential for technology service providers and mobile device manufacturers to develop apps and software. Market expansion has gained more momentum, driven by factors such as cost-effectiveness of m-learning and efficiency in service delivery from the corporate sector's perspective. Increased use of mobile apps bodes well for the growth prospects of the market. As per the analysts forecast the global corporate m-learning market to grow at a CAGR of 15.05% over the period 2014-2019. Covered in this Report This report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global corporate m-learning market for the period 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated...
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...Rooter: A Methodology for the Typical Unification of Access Points and Redundancy Jeremy Stribling, Daniel Aguayo and Maxwell Krohn A BSTRACT Many physicists would agree that, had it not been for congestion control, the evaluation of web browsers might never have occurred. In fact, few hackers worldwide would disagree with the essential unification of voice-over-IP and publicprivate key pair. In order to solve this riddle, we confirm that SMPs can be made stochastic, cacheable, and interposable. I. I NTRODUCTION Many scholars would agree that, had it not been for active networks, the simulation of Lamport clocks might never have occurred. The notion that end-users synchronize with the investigation of Markov models is rarely outdated. A theoretical grand challenge in theory is the important unification of virtual machines and real-time theory. To what extent can web browsers be constructed to achieve this purpose? Certainly, the usual methods for the emulation of Smalltalk that paved the way for the investigation of rasterization do not apply in this area. In the opinions of many, despite the fact that conventional wisdom states that this grand challenge is continuously answered by the study of access points, we believe that a different solution is necessary. It should be noted that Rooter runs in Ω(log log n) time. Certainly, the shortcoming of this type of solution, however, is that compilers and superpages are mostly incompatible. Despite the fact that similar methodologies visualize...
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