Decision making is a key activity for management in any organization, several decision making met... more Decision making is a key activity for management in any organization, several decision making methods including Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) have been used to assist this process especially when the decision involves multiple stakeholders and multiple criteria. These methods, which evaluate each alternative by a set of criteria, tend to be subjective in nature. However, although they are subjective it should be ensured that the decisions makers have as much knowledge about the alternatives as is possible. This would include understanding all the consequences of each alternative and all the effects of these consequences. This requires a thorough understanding of the domain within which the decision is being made. We argue that an organizational ontology provides this understanding and propose a method for integrating an ontology into typical multi-criteria decision making techniques. The overall aim of this method is to improve the decision making process. We demonstrate the...
Business Intelligence for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, 2018
Business Intelligence (BI) has become a strategic initiative of many organizations and successful... more Business Intelligence (BI) has become a strategic initiative of many organizations and successful BI implementations have generated significant increases in revenue and cost savings, however, failure rates are also very high and some organisations are cautious to invest in BI initiatives. One of the reasons for this high failure rate is that traditional BI methods are not suited to all organizations; they are seen by some as being too rigid and resource intensive. Additionally, the focus is often on localized rather than enterprise-wide analytics. This paper addresses these issues by proposing a BI methodology that integrates a number of existing techniques to support an agile, enterprise-wide perspective. This methodology provides a systematic and structured approach that is enterprise in reach yet agile in execution and generates a strategic BI Roadmap. It was evaluated using a case study and the agile and strategic focus was found to be extremely beneficial.
Disasters have the potential to cripple a country and those countries that are particularly susce... more Disasters have the potential to cripple a country and those countries that are particularly susceptible to disasters must have adequate disaster recovery plans in place to ensure that the country can return to normalcy as soon as possible after the disaster. These plans will involve a number of autonomous entities that need to be able to communicate and coordinate their activities effectively. This paper describes how ontologies can be used to support this effective communication and coordination between entities and how they can help to ensure that the disaster recovery plan (DRP) is effective. The applicability of ontologies to DRPs will be demonstrated using a case study of an electric utility company in Jamaica, a country in the hurricane region.
Three main functions of customs agencies are security and facilitation of international trade, fa... more Three main functions of customs agencies are security and facilitation of international trade, fair and efficient collection of revenue and protection of public health and safety. These functions are becoming more difficult due to rapid changes in the operational environment. In this increasingly difficult environment the World Customs Organization advocates less intrusive customs inspections under the revised Kyoto Convention. However, customs administrations in developing countries, like Jamaica, have to contend with the simultaneous conflicting tensions between growing trade flows, service quality demands of private operators, and increased revenue demand pressures of governments. This paper discusses the potential of Big Data Analytics and Data Mining techniques, adapted from other sectors, to explore the research question: Can Big Data Analytics improve efficiency and effectiveness of Customs Operations in developing countries by increasing the precision of targeted physical in...
Although Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become a common place in higher education many st... more Although Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become a common place in higher education many stakeholders invest in this technology once the expected benefits align with the strategic goals of the institution and the technology falls within a given budget. However, it is not immediately apparent how stakeholders can determine whether the level of investment associated with implementing the LMS is justified by the benefits obtained. In this paper, a case study will be used to identify the costs and benefits associated with the implementation of a web-based LMS. In the instances where these costs and benefits and indirect, measures will be proposed that can be used to quantify them. The goal is to produce information that stakeholders can use to understand the value of their investments and at the same time, practitioners can use the information to maximize the value of the investment in a LMS.
Organizations often struggle with their efforts to implement data mining projects successfully. T... more Organizations often struggle with their efforts to implement data mining projects successfully. This is often due to the fact that they are influenced by success stories of others that glamorize the outcome of successful initiatives, while understating the persistent rigour and diligence required. Although process models exist for the knowledge discovery process their focus is often on outlining the activities that must be done and not on describing how they should be done. While there is some research in addressing how to carry out the various tasks in the phases, the data preparation phase is thought to be the most challenging and is often described as an art rather than a science. In this study we apply a multi-phased integrated knowledge discovery and data mining process model (IKDDM) to a data set from the financial sector and a present a new approach to data preparation for Sequential Patterns (SP) that facilitated the identification of customer focused patterns rather than pr...
Organizations have still not realized the full potential of e-commerce. One factor that is likely... more Organizations have still not realized the full potential of e-commerce. One factor that is likely to influence the further adoption of e-commerce is the quality of the e-commerce system as system quality impacts user satisfaction and hence use of the system. However, in order to improve the quality of any systems, one first needs to identify measures to assess quality. Although other researchers have recognized the need for such measures, they have primarily focused on a single specific aspect of e-commerce systems, typically the user interface. In this paper we identify the key components of e-commerce systems and synthesize existing research related to quality of these components to arrive at a comprehensive list of quality dimensions, which in turn provide measures to assess the quality of e-commerce systems.
Anumber of developing countries, including small island states have common problems that have aff... more Anumber of developing countries, including small island states have common problems that have affected their development and growth. Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives can be used to address some of these issues, but these developing countries need to understand what is needed to implement them, in order to improve economic conditions. While many of these countries have access to technologies that can be used to assist in knowledge management, relevant and low cost KM initiatives need to be considered in improving their existing KM processes. Sectors critical to the growth of these developing countries include health care, crime management, disaster recovery management, small and medium size enterprise development. Knowledge Management for Development: Domains, Strategies and Technologies for Developing Countries highlights the opportunities in these sectors and provides advice as to how these countries should go about understanding, building and adopting the relevant KM strategies and technologies. This book identifies appropriate technologies which should be considered to increase productivity within the identified sectors in the developing countries and also sectors in where knowledge management initiatives can yield maximum value. It also considers the constraints of these territories, recommending appropriate technologies and strategies for KM initiatives. It provides advice on how these technologies should be adopted in these sectors of developing countries. Investing in these strategies should benefit these countries development and growth.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an agile approach to academic analytics that is ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an agile approach to academic analytics that is currently being applied on one of the campuses of a leading higher educational institution in the Caribbean. This agile approach enables the rapid development of a strategic analytics roadmap and proof-of-concept analytics applications for the institution. Design/methodology/approach The approach was developed using Design Science which involves the development and rigorous evaluation of an artifact. The agile approach is the artifact and the design evaluation was done using the observational method of primary cases studies where the artifact is studied in depth in a business environment, in this case this was a leading higher educational institution in the Caribbean. Findings The final output, the roadmap, highlights the importance of a balanced portfolio of analytics initiatives, relevant and tailored to the institution’s specific context that includes technology and applications proje...
Decision making is a key activity for management in any organization, several decision making met... more Decision making is a key activity for management in any organization, several decision making methods including Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) have been used to assist this process especially when the decision involves multiple stakeholders and multiple criteria. These methods, which evaluate each alternative by a set of criteria, tend to be subjective in nature. However, although they are subjective it should be ensured that the decisions makers have as much knowledge about the alternatives as is possible. This would include understanding all the consequences of each alternative and all the effects of these consequences. This requires a thorough understanding of the domain within which the decision is being made. We argue that an organizational ontology provides this understanding and propose a method for integrating an ontology into typical multi-criteria decision making techniques. The overall aim of this method is to improve the decision making process. We demonstrate the...
Business Intelligence for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, 2018
Business Intelligence (BI) has become a strategic initiative of many organizations and successful... more Business Intelligence (BI) has become a strategic initiative of many organizations and successful BI implementations have generated significant increases in revenue and cost savings, however, failure rates are also very high and some organisations are cautious to invest in BI initiatives. One of the reasons for this high failure rate is that traditional BI methods are not suited to all organizations; they are seen by some as being too rigid and resource intensive. Additionally, the focus is often on localized rather than enterprise-wide analytics. This paper addresses these issues by proposing a BI methodology that integrates a number of existing techniques to support an agile, enterprise-wide perspective. This methodology provides a systematic and structured approach that is enterprise in reach yet agile in execution and generates a strategic BI Roadmap. It was evaluated using a case study and the agile and strategic focus was found to be extremely beneficial.
Disasters have the potential to cripple a country and those countries that are particularly susce... more Disasters have the potential to cripple a country and those countries that are particularly susceptible to disasters must have adequate disaster recovery plans in place to ensure that the country can return to normalcy as soon as possible after the disaster. These plans will involve a number of autonomous entities that need to be able to communicate and coordinate their activities effectively. This paper describes how ontologies can be used to support this effective communication and coordination between entities and how they can help to ensure that the disaster recovery plan (DRP) is effective. The applicability of ontologies to DRPs will be demonstrated using a case study of an electric utility company in Jamaica, a country in the hurricane region.
Three main functions of customs agencies are security and facilitation of international trade, fa... more Three main functions of customs agencies are security and facilitation of international trade, fair and efficient collection of revenue and protection of public health and safety. These functions are becoming more difficult due to rapid changes in the operational environment. In this increasingly difficult environment the World Customs Organization advocates less intrusive customs inspections under the revised Kyoto Convention. However, customs administrations in developing countries, like Jamaica, have to contend with the simultaneous conflicting tensions between growing trade flows, service quality demands of private operators, and increased revenue demand pressures of governments. This paper discusses the potential of Big Data Analytics and Data Mining techniques, adapted from other sectors, to explore the research question: Can Big Data Analytics improve efficiency and effectiveness of Customs Operations in developing countries by increasing the precision of targeted physical in...
Although Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become a common place in higher education many st... more Although Learning Management Systems (LMS) have become a common place in higher education many stakeholders invest in this technology once the expected benefits align with the strategic goals of the institution and the technology falls within a given budget. However, it is not immediately apparent how stakeholders can determine whether the level of investment associated with implementing the LMS is justified by the benefits obtained. In this paper, a case study will be used to identify the costs and benefits associated with the implementation of a web-based LMS. In the instances where these costs and benefits and indirect, measures will be proposed that can be used to quantify them. The goal is to produce information that stakeholders can use to understand the value of their investments and at the same time, practitioners can use the information to maximize the value of the investment in a LMS.
Organizations often struggle with their efforts to implement data mining projects successfully. T... more Organizations often struggle with their efforts to implement data mining projects successfully. This is often due to the fact that they are influenced by success stories of others that glamorize the outcome of successful initiatives, while understating the persistent rigour and diligence required. Although process models exist for the knowledge discovery process their focus is often on outlining the activities that must be done and not on describing how they should be done. While there is some research in addressing how to carry out the various tasks in the phases, the data preparation phase is thought to be the most challenging and is often described as an art rather than a science. In this study we apply a multi-phased integrated knowledge discovery and data mining process model (IKDDM) to a data set from the financial sector and a present a new approach to data preparation for Sequential Patterns (SP) that facilitated the identification of customer focused patterns rather than pr...
Organizations have still not realized the full potential of e-commerce. One factor that is likely... more Organizations have still not realized the full potential of e-commerce. One factor that is likely to influence the further adoption of e-commerce is the quality of the e-commerce system as system quality impacts user satisfaction and hence use of the system. However, in order to improve the quality of any systems, one first needs to identify measures to assess quality. Although other researchers have recognized the need for such measures, they have primarily focused on a single specific aspect of e-commerce systems, typically the user interface. In this paper we identify the key components of e-commerce systems and synthesize existing research related to quality of these components to arrive at a comprehensive list of quality dimensions, which in turn provide measures to assess the quality of e-commerce systems.
Anumber of developing countries, including small island states have common problems that have aff... more Anumber of developing countries, including small island states have common problems that have affected their development and growth. Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives can be used to address some of these issues, but these developing countries need to understand what is needed to implement them, in order to improve economic conditions. While many of these countries have access to technologies that can be used to assist in knowledge management, relevant and low cost KM initiatives need to be considered in improving their existing KM processes. Sectors critical to the growth of these developing countries include health care, crime management, disaster recovery management, small and medium size enterprise development. Knowledge Management for Development: Domains, Strategies and Technologies for Developing Countries highlights the opportunities in these sectors and provides advice as to how these countries should go about understanding, building and adopting the relevant KM strategies and technologies. This book identifies appropriate technologies which should be considered to increase productivity within the identified sectors in the developing countries and also sectors in where knowledge management initiatives can yield maximum value. It also considers the constraints of these territories, recommending appropriate technologies and strategies for KM initiatives. It provides advice on how these technologies should be adopted in these sectors of developing countries. Investing in these strategies should benefit these countries development and growth.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an agile approach to academic analytics that is ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an agile approach to academic analytics that is currently being applied on one of the campuses of a leading higher educational institution in the Caribbean. This agile approach enables the rapid development of a strategic analytics roadmap and proof-of-concept analytics applications for the institution. Design/methodology/approach The approach was developed using Design Science which involves the development and rigorous evaluation of an artifact. The agile approach is the artifact and the design evaluation was done using the observational method of primary cases studies where the artifact is studied in depth in a business environment, in this case this was a leading higher educational institution in the Caribbean. Findings The final output, the roadmap, highlights the importance of a balanced portfolio of analytics initiatives, relevant and tailored to the institution’s specific context that includes technology and applications proje...
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