Development of an investor relations strategy - Case SSH Communications Security Corp. Communications Security Corp.

Tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli muodostaa viitekehys sijoittajaviestinnän strategian muodostamiseen ja soveltaa viitekehystä käytännössä. Tutkimusongelma nousi case-yrityksestä, SSH Communications Security Oyj:stä, joka listautui vuoden 2000 lopussa. Teoreettinen viitekehys perustuu aikaisempaan kirjallisuuteen sijoittajaviestinnästä, strategian kehittämisestä ja rahoitusteoriasta. Rahoitusteorian alueet, joita käsiteltiin tutkimuksessa ovat; vapaaehtoinen tiedottaminen, markkinatehokkuus ja agenttiteoria. Tutkimuksen empiirinen osa toteutettiin soveltamalla teoreettista viitekehystä case yritykseen. Empiirisessä osuudessa käytiin läpi seuraavat vaiheet; nykyisen tilan ulkoinen ja sisäinen analyysi, tavoitteiden asettaminen ja sijoittajaviestintä strategia ehdotuksen muodostaminen case yritykseen. Tutkielman viimeinen kappale kokoaa tärkeimmät löydökset, pohtii työn teoreettista kontribuutiota ja liikkeenjohdollisia kytköksiä sekä esittää tutkimuksen herättämiä ehdotuksia jatkotutkimuksille

Sähkösuunnittelun projektityön hallinta ja kehittäminen - Management and development of project work in electrical

Työssä on tutkittu sähkösuunnittelun projektityön hallintaa ja kehittämistä. Tavoitteena oli löytää ongelmia ja pyrkiä korjaamaan niitä, jotta suunnittelu olisi mahdollisimman toimivaa. Tutkimus perustuu kirjallisuuteen ja haastatteluihin. Työssä perehdytään kirjallisuuden avulla projektin peruskäsitteisiin ja hallintaan sekä sähkösuunnittelun projektin yleiseen toteutukseen. Haastattelujen avulla on selvitetty tämän hetkistä tilannetta sähkösuunnitteluprojektin hallinnasta ja siihen liittyvistä ongelmista Pöyryn Kouvolan konttorissa. Työn tuloksena on selvitetty merkittävimpiä ongelmia, jotka esiintyvät sähkösuunnitteluprojektissa. Työ keskittyy pääosin sähkösuunnitteluprojektin hallinnallisiin ongelmiin ja niiden toteutukseen. Kirjallisuuden ja haastattelujen pohjalta on koottu ohjeita sähkösuunnittelun projektinhallintaan

Structural development of the harvester head saw unit

The main goal of the thesis was to further develop harvester head saw device to the Finnish forest machine manufacturer. The work was done from the basis of the manufacturer´s current production model and the earlier study from this same subject called: “Development of chain saw for harvester” Tero Kaatrasalo, 2004. The work was focused to improving the serviceability and reliability of the saw device, but design also included adding few beforehand determined new features into the saw unit. This was done to give some added value for the end customer. The work includes analysis of the earlier saw devices and ideations of the improvements for the structure.

Development of research networks : the case of social capital

The aim of this study is to explore how a new concept appears inscientific discussion and research, how it diffuses to other fields and out of the scientific communities, and how the networks are formed around the concept. Text and terminology take the interest of a reader in the digital environment. Texts create networks where the terminology used is dependent on the ideas, viewsand paradigms of the field. This study is based mainly on bibliographic data. Materials for bibliometric studies have been collected from different databases. The databases are also evaluated and their quality and coverage are discussed. The thesauri of those databases that have been selected for a more in depth study have also been evaluated. The material selected has been used to study how long and in which ways an innovative publication, which can be seen as a milestone in a specific field, influences the research. The concept that has been chosen as a topic for this research is Social Capital, because it has been a popular concept in different scientific fields as well as in everyday speech and the media. It seemed to be a `fashion concept´ that appeared in different situations at the Millennium. The growth and diffusion of social capital publications has been studied. The terms connected with social capital in different fields and different stages of the development have also been analyzed. The methods that have been used in this study are growth and diffusion analysis, content analysis, citation analysis, coword analysis and cocitation analysis. One method that can be used tounderstand and to interpret results of these bibliometric studies is to interview some key persons, who are known to have a gatekeeper position in the diffusion of the concept. Thematic interviews with some Finnish researchers and specialists that have influenced the diffusion of social capital into Finnish scientificand social discussions provide background information. iv The Milestone Publications on social capital have been chosen and studied. They give answers to the question "What is Social Capital?" By comparing citations to Milestone Publications with the growth of all social capital publications in a database, we can drawconclusions about the point at which social capital became generally approved `tacit knowledge´. The contribution of the present study lies foremost in understanding the development of network structures around a new concept that has diffused in scientific communities and also outside them. The network means both networks of researchers, networks of publications and networks of concepts that describe the research field. The emphasis has been on the digital environment and onthe socalled information society that we are now living in, but in this transitional stage, the printed publications are still important and widely used in social sciences and humanities. The network formation is affected by social relations and informal contacts that push new ideas. This study also gives new information about using different research methods, like bibliometric methods supported by interviews and content analyses. It is evident that interpretation of bibliometric maps presupposes qualitative information and understanding of the phenomena under study.

Towards increased productivity and quality in software development using agile, lean and collaborative approaches

Dagens programvaruindustri står inför alltmer komplicerade utmaningar i en värld där programvara är nästan allstädes närvarande i våra dagliga liv. Konsumenten vill ha produkter som är pålitliga, innovativa och rika i funktionalitet, men samtidigt också förmånliga. Utmaningen för oss inom IT-industrin är att skapa mer komplexa, innovativa lösningar till en lägre kostnad. Detta är en av orsakerna till att processförbättring som forskningsområde inte har minskat i betydelse. IT-proffs ställer sig frågan: “Hur håller vi våra löften till våra kunder, samtidigt som vi minimerar vår risk och ökar vår kvalitet och produktivitet?” Inom processförbättringsområdet finns det olika tillvägagångssätt. Traditionella processförbättringsmetoder för programvara som CMMI och SPICE fokuserar på kvalitets- och riskaspekten hos förbättringsprocessen. Mer lättviktiga metoder som t.ex. lättrörliga metoder (agile methods) och Lean-metoder fokuserar på att hålla löften och förbättra produktiviteten genom att minimera slöseri inom utvecklingsprocessen. Forskningen som presenteras i denna avhandling utfördes med ett specifikt mål framför ögonen: att förbättra kostnadseffektiviteten i arbetsmetoderna utan att kompromissa med kvaliteten. Den utmaningen attackerades från tre olika vinklar. För det första förbättras arbetsmetoderna genom att man introducerar lättrörliga metoder. För det andra bibehålls kvaliteten genom att man använder mätmetoder på produktnivå. För det tredje förbättras kunskapsspridningen inom stora företag genom metoder som sätter samarbete i centrum. Rörelsen bakom lättrörliga arbetsmetoder växte fram under 90-talet som en reaktion på de orealistiska krav som den tidigare förhärskande vattenfallsmetoden ställde på IT-branschen. Programutveckling är en kreativ process och skiljer sig från annan industri i det att den största delen av det dagliga arbetet går ut på att skapa något nytt som inte har funnits tidigare. Varje programutvecklare måste vara expert på sitt område och använder en stor del av sin arbetsdag till att skapa lösningar på problem som hon aldrig tidigare har löst. Trots att detta har varit ett välkänt faktum redan i många decennier, styrs ändå många programvaruprojekt som om de vore produktionslinjer i fabriker. Ett av målen för rörelsen bakom lättrörliga metoder är att lyfta fram just denna diskrepans mellan programutvecklingens innersta natur och sättet på vilket programvaruprojekt styrs. Lättrörliga arbetsmetoder har visat sig fungera väl i de sammanhang de skapades för, dvs. små, samlokaliserade team som jobbar i nära samarbete med en engagerad kund. I andra sammanhang, och speciellt i stora, geografiskt utspridda företag, är det mera utmanande att införa lättrörliga metoder. Vi har nalkats utmaningen genom att införa lättrörliga metoder med hjälp av pilotprojekt. Detta har två klara fördelar. För det första kan man inkrementellt samla kunskap om metoderna och deras samverkan med sammanhanget i fråga. På så sätt kan man lättare utveckla och anpassa metoderna till de specifika krav som sammanhanget ställer. För det andra kan man lättare överbrygga motstånd mot förändring genom att introducera kulturella förändringar varsamt och genom att målgruppen får direkt förstahandskontakt med de nya metoderna. Relevanta mätmetoder för produkter kan hjälpa programvaruutvecklingsteam att förbättra sina arbetsmetoder. När det gäller team som jobbar med lättrörliga och Lean-metoder kan en bra uppsättning mätmetoder vara avgörande för beslutsfattandet när man prioriterar listan över uppgifter som ska göras. Vårt fokus har legat på att stöda lättrörliga och Lean-team med interna produktmätmetoder för beslutsstöd gällande så kallad omfaktorering, dvs. kontinuerlig kvalitetsförbättring av programmets kod och design. Det kan vara svårt att ta ett beslut att omfaktorera, speciellt för lättrörliga och Lean-team, eftersom de förväntas kunna rättfärdiga sina prioriteter i termer av affärsvärde. Vi föreslår ett sätt att mäta designkvaliteten hos system som har utvecklats med hjälp av det så kallade modelldrivna paradigmet. Vi konstruerar även ett sätt att integrera denna mätmetod i lättrörliga och Lean-arbetsmetoder. En viktig del av alla processförbättringsinitiativ är att sprida kunskap om den nya programvaruprocessen. Detta gäller oavsett hurdan process man försöker introducera – vare sig processen är plandriven eller lättrörlig. Vi föreslår att metoder som baserar sig på samarbete när processen skapas och vidareutvecklas är ett bra sätt att stöda kunskapsspridning på. Vi ger en översikt över författarverktyg för processer på marknaden med det förslaget i åtanke.

Complexity Optimization in Product Development with Modularization

A company’s competence to manage its product portfolio complexity is becoming critically important in the rapidly changing business environment. The continuous evolvement of customer needs, the competitive market environment and internal product development lead to increasing complexity in product portfolios. The companies that manage the complexity in product development are more profitable in the long run. The complexity derives from product development and management processes where the new product variant development is not managed efficiently. Complexity is managed with modularization which is a method that divides the product structure into modules. In modularization, it is essential to take into account the trade-off between the perceived customer value and the module or component commonality across the products. Another goal is to enable the product configuration to be more flexible. The benefits are achieved through optimizing complexity in module offering and deriving the new product variants more flexibly and accurately. The developed modularization process includes the process steps for preparation, mapping the current situation, the creation of a modular strategy and implementing the strategy. Also the organization and support systems have to be adapted to follow-up targets and to execute modularization in practice.

On the impact of rigorous approaches on the quality of development

Software systems are expanding and becoming increasingly present in everyday activities. The constantly evolving society demands that they deliver more functionality, are easy to use and work as expected. All these challenges increase the size and complexity of a system. People may not be aware of a presence of a software system, until it malfunctions or even fails to perform. The concept of being able to depend on the software is particularly significant when it comes to the critical systems. At this point quality of a system is regarded as an essential issue, since any deficiencies may lead to considerable money loss or life endangerment. Traditional development methods may not ensure a sufficiently high level of quality. Formal methods, on the other hand, allow us to achieve a high level of rigour and can be applied to develop a complete system or only a critical part of it. Such techniques, applied during system development starting at early design stages, increase the likelihood of obtaining a system that works as required. However, formal methods are sometimes considered difficult to utilise in traditional developments. Therefore, it is important to make them more accessible and reduce the gap between the formal and traditional development methods. This thesis explores the usability of rigorous approaches by giving an insight into formal designs with the use of graphical notation. The understandability of formal modelling is increased due to a compact representation of the development and related design decisions. The central objective of the thesis is to investigate the impact that rigorous approaches have on quality of developments. This means that it is necessary to establish certain techniques for evaluation of rigorous developments. Since we are studying various development settings and methods, specific measurement plans and a set of metrics need to be created for each setting. Our goal is to provide methods for collecting data and record evidence of the applicability of rigorous approaches. This would support the organisations in making decisions about integration of formal methods into their development processes. It is important to control the software development, especially in its initial stages. Therefore, we focus on the specification and modelling phases, as well as related artefacts, e.g. models. These have significant influence on the quality of a final system. Since application of formal methods may increase the complexity of a system, it may impact its maintainability, and thus quality. Our goal is to leverage quality of a system via metrics and measurements, as well as generic refinement patterns, which are applied to a model and a specification. We argue that they can facilitate the process of creating software systems, by e.g. controlling complexity and providing the modelling guidelines. Moreover, we find them as additional mechanisms for quality control and improvement, also for rigorous approaches. The main contribution of this thesis is to provide the metrics and measurements that help in assessing the impact of rigorous approaches on developments. We establish the techniques for the evaluation of certain aspects of quality, which are based on structural, syntactical and process related characteristics of an early-stage development artefacts, i.e. specifications and models. The presented approaches are applied to various case studies. The results of the investigation are juxtaposed with the perception of domain experts. It is our aspiration to promote measurements as an indispensable part of quality control process and a strategy towards the quality improvement.

Development of a social service in a multi-party network

Tämän pro gradu-tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli tutkia monen toimijan sosiaalipalvelukehittäjäverkoston toimivuutta ja sen toimivuuteen vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Aihetta lähestyttiin erilaisten teoreettisten kokonaisuuksien kautta, joiden avulla saatiin luotua tutkimukselle pohja. Viitekehys tutkimukselle luotiin yhdistäen erilaisia teoreettisia aihealueita verkostoista, verkostojen johtamisesta ja palveluista. Tutkimuksessa korostuu motivaation, yhteisen, tarpeeseen perustuvan tavoitteen, sitoutumisen ja orkestroinnin merkitys verkostotoiminnassa hyvän lopputuloksen aikaansaamiseksi. Tutkimuksen empiirisessä osuudessa tehty kvalitatiivinen case-tutkimus keskittyy tiettyyn verkostoon, joka on Socomin koordinoimana kehittänyt Kaakkois-Suomen alueelle uudenlaista sosiaalipalvelua liittyen henkilökohtaiseen apuun. Verkosto on monen toimijan verkosto, jonka jäsenet edustavat erilaisia tahoja ja organisaatioita. Tutkimuksen perusteella verkosto on toiminut hyvin ja tehokkaasti ja saanut luotua toimivan sosiaalipalvelun. Verkosto tukee kirjallisuuskatsauksessa löydettyjen tekijöiden, kuten verkosto-orkestroinnin, sitoutumisen ja yhteisen päämäärän, vaikutusta verkoston toimintaan ja lopputulokseen.

Competence in intensive and critical care nursing - development of a basic assessment scale for graduating nursing students

Intensive and critical care nursing is a speciality in its own right and with its own nature within the nursing profession. This speciality poses its own demands for nursing competencies. Intensive and critical care nursing is focused on severely ill patients and their significant others. The patients are comprehensively cared for, constantly monitored and their vital functions are sustained artificially. The main goal is to win time to cure the cause of the patient’s situation or illness. The purpose of this empirical study was i) to describe and define competence and competence requirements in intensive and critical care nursing, ii) to develop a basic measurement scale for competence assessment in intensive and critical care nursing for graduating nursing students, and iii) to describe and evaluate graduating nursing students’ basic competence in intensive and critical care nursing by seeking the reference basis of self-evaluated basic competence in intensive and critical care nursing from ICU nurses. However, the main focus of this study was on the outcomes of nursing education in this nursing speciality. The study was carried out in different phases: basic exploration of competence (phase 1 and 2), instrumentation of competence (phase 3) and evaluation of competence (phase 4). Phase 1 (n=130) evaluated graduating nursing students’ basic biological and physiological knowledge and skills for working in intensive and critical care with Basic Knowledge Assessment Tool version 5 (BKAT-5, Toth 2012). Phase 2 focused on defining competence in intensive and critical care nursing with the help of literature review (n=45 empirical studies) as well as competence requirements in intensive and critical care nursing with the help of experts (n=45 experts) in a Delphi study. In phase 3 the scale Intensive and Critical Care Nursing Competence Scale (ICCN-CS) was developed and tested twice (pilot test 1: n=18 students and n=12 nurses; pilot test 2: n=56 students and n=54 nurses). Finally, in phase 4, graduating nursing students’ competence was evaluated with ICCN-CS and BKAT version 7 (Toth 2012). In order to develop a valid assessment scale of competence for graduating nursing students and to evaluate and establish the competence of graduating nursing students, empirical data were retrieved at the same time from both graduating nursing students (n=139) and ICU nurses (n=431). Competence can be divided into clinical and general professional competence. It can be defined as a specific knowledge base, skill base, attitude and value base and experience base of nursing and the personal base of an intensive and critical care nurse. Personal base was excluded in this self-evaluation based scale. The ICCN-CS-1 consists of 144 items (6 sum variables). Finally, it became evident that the experience base of competence is not a suitable sum variable in holistic intensive and critical care competence scale for graduating nursing students because of their minor experience in this special nursing area. ICCN-CS-1 is a reliable and tolerably valid scale for use among graduating nursing students and ICU nurses Among students, basic competence of intensive and critical care nursing was self-rated as good by 69%, as excellent by 25% and as moderate by 6%. However, graduating nursing students’ basic biological and physiological knowledge and skills for working in intensive and critical care were poor. The students rated their clinical and professional competence as good, and their knowledge base and skill base as moderate. They gave slightly higher ratings for their knowledge base than skill base. Differences in basic competence emerged between graduating nursing students and ICU nurses. The students’ self-ratings of both their basic competence and clinical and professional competence were significantly lower than the nurses’ ratings. The students’ self-ratings of their knowledge and skill base were also statistically significantly lower than nurses’ ratings. However, both groups reported the same attitude and value base, which was excellent. The strongest factor explaining students’ conception of their competence was their experience of autonomy in nursing. Conclusions: Competence in intensive and critical care nursing is a multidimensional concept. Basic competence in intensive and critical care nursing can be measured with self-evaluation based scale but alongside should be used an objective evaluation method. Graduating nursing students’ basic competence in intensive and critical care nursing is good but their knowledge and skill base are moderate. Especially the biological and physiological knowledge base is poor. Therefore in future in intensive and critical care nursing education should be focused on both strengthening students’ biological and physiological knowledge base and on strengthening their overall skill base. Practical implications are presented for nursing education, practice and administration. In future, research should focus on education methods and contents, mentoring of clinical practice and orientation programmes as well as further development of the scale.

Worker motivation in crowdsourcing new product development

In the study the recently appeared technology of crowdsourcing and its implications to new product development activities. The goal of the research is to figure out the motivating factors used in crowdsourcing projects related to new product development. The study is based on the theoretical backgrounds of crowdsourcing; new product development, and motivation, which resulted in the framework for the crowdsourcing cases assessment and the list of possible motivating factors used for the analysis. The research is based on 16 crowdsourcing projects divided in 4 sets according to the stage of new product development at which they are directed. The motivating factors present in the projects were distinguished and explained. Further analysis allowed making conclusions showing which of the motivating factors are suitable for the crowdsourcing projects related to the particular stage of new product development. The results can be used for creation or assessment of crowdsourcing projects for the companies because the main factor of success for crowdsourcing is motivation, and the work is answering how to motivate the workers.

Software Development Process Modeling. Developers Perspective to Contemporary Modeling Techniques

Formal software development processes and well-defined development methodologies are nowadays seen as the definite way to produce high-quality software within time-limits and budgets. The variety of such high-level methodologies is huge ranging from rigorous process frameworks like CMMI and RUP to more lightweight agile methodologies. The need for managing this variety and the fact that practically every software development organization has its own unique set of development processes and methods have created a profession of software process engineers. Different kinds of informal and formal software process modeling languages are essential tools for process engineers. These are used to define processes in a way which allows easy management of processes, for example process dissemination, process tailoring and process enactment. The process modeling languages are usually used as a tool for process engineering where the main focus is on the processes themselves. This dissertation has a different emphasis. The dissertation analyses modern software development process modeling from the software developers’ point of view. The goal of the dissertation is to investigate whether the software process modeling and the software process models aid software developers in their day-to-day work and what are the main mechanisms for this. The focus of the work is on the Software Process Engineering Metamodel (SPEM) framework which is currently one of the most influential process modeling notations in software engineering. The research theme is elaborated through six scientific articles which represent the dissertation research done with process modeling during an approximately five year period. The research follows the classical engineering research discipline where the current situation is analyzed, a potentially better solution is developed and finally its implications are analyzed. The research applies a variety of different research techniques ranging from literature surveys to qualitative studies done amongst software practitioners. The key finding of the dissertation is that software process modeling notations and techniques are usually developed in process engineering terms. As a consequence the connection between the process models and actual development work is loose. In addition, the modeling standards like SPEM are partially incomplete when it comes to pragmatic process modeling needs, like light-weight modeling and combining pre-defined process components. This leads to a situation, where the full potential of process modeling techniques for aiding the daily development activities can not be achieved. Despite these difficulties the dissertation shows that it is possible to use modeling standards like SPEM to aid software developers in their work. The dissertation presents a light-weight modeling technique, which software development teams can use to quickly analyze their work practices in a more objective manner. The dissertation also shows how process modeling can be used to more easily compare different software development situations and to analyze their differences in a systematic way. Models also help to share this knowledge with others. A qualitative study done amongst Finnish software practitioners verifies the conclusions of other studies in the dissertation. Although processes and development methodologies are seen as an essential part of software development, the process modeling techniques are rarely used during the daily development work. However, the potential of these techniques intrigues the practitioners. As a conclusion the dissertation shows that process modeling techniques, most commonly used as tools for process engineers, can also be used as tools for organizing the daily software development work. This work presents theoretical solutions for bringing the process modeling closer to the ground-level software development activities. These theories are proven feasible by presenting several case studies where the modeling techniques are used e.g. to find differences in the work methods of the members of a software team and to share the process knowledge to a wider audience.

Foot Health In Older People - Development of a preventive, evaluative instrument for nurses

Foot health is a part of overall health in every age group and its importance increases during ageing. Health care professionals are in a vital position for preventing foot health problems, and identifying and caring them in older people. Despite the rather high number of studies conducted in the field of foot health in older people, reliable and valid nurse-administered foot health assessment instruments seem to be lacking. By identifying foot health in older people, it is possible to develop nursing interventions to enhance safe, independent living at home. The purpose of this three-phase study was to develop an instrument to assess the level of foot health in older people and evaluate foot care practices from the perspective of older people themselves and nurses in home care. The ultimate goal is to prevent foot health problems by increasing the attention paid to older people’s feet and recognizing those foot health problems which need further care; thus not focus on different foot health problems. The study was conducted in different phases and contexts. In phase 1, a descriptive design with a literature review from the Medline (R) and CINAHL databases to explore foot health in older people and nurses’ role in foot health care and pre-post design intervention study in nursing home with nursing staff (n=16) and older residents (n=43) were conducted. In phase 2, a descriptive and explorative study design was employed to develop an instrument for assessing foot health in older people (N=651, n=309, response rate 47%) and explore the psychometrics of the instrument. The data were collected from sheltered housing and home care settings. Finally, in phase 3, descriptive and explorative as well as cross-sectional correlational survey designs were used to assess foot health and evaluate the foot self-care activities of older people (N=651, n=309, response rate 47%) and to describe foot care knowledge and caring activities of nurses (N=651, n=322, response rate 50%) in home care in Finland. To achieve this, the Foot Health Assessment Instrument (FHAI) developed in phase 2 was used; at the same time, this large sample also was used for the psychometric evaluation of the FHAI. The data analysis methods used in this study were content analysis, descriptive and inferential statistics including factor and multivariate analysis. Many long-term diseases can manifest in feet. Therefore, the FHAI, developed in this study consisted of items relating to skin and nail health, foot structure and foot pain. The FHAI demonstrated acceptable preliminary psychometric properties. A great deal of different foot health problems in older people were found of which edema, dry skin, thickened and discoloured toenails and hallux valgus were the most prevalent foot health problems. Moreover, many older people had difficulties in performing foot self-care. Nurses’ knowledge of foot care was insufficient and revealed a need for more information and continuing education in matters relating to foot care in older people. Instead, nurses’ foot care activities were mainly adequate, though the findings indicate the need for updating foot care activities to correspond with the evidence found in the field of foot care. Practical implications are presented for nursing practice, education and administration. In future, research should focus on developing interventions for older people and nurses to promote foot health in older people and to prevent foot health problems, as well as for further development of the FHAI.

Using Moodle to provide added value in the teaching of a software development course

The rate of adoption and use of learning management systems to support teaching and learning processes in academic institutions is growing rapidly. Universities are acquiring systems with functionalities that can match with their specific needs and requirements. Moodle is one of the most popular and widely deployed learning management systems in academic institutions today. However, apart from the system, universities tend to maintain other applications for the purpose of supplementing their teaching and learning processes. This situation is similar to Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT), which is our case study in this project. Apart from Moodle, the university also maintains other systems such as Oodi, Noppa and Uni portal for the purpose of supporting its educational activities. This thesis has two main goals. The first goal is to understand the specific role of Moodle at LUT. This information is fundamental in assessing whether Moodle is needed in the university’s current teaching and learning environment. The second aim is to provide insights to teachers and other departmental stakeholders on how Moodle can provide added value in the teaching of a software development course. In response to this, a Moodle module for a software development course is created and the underlying features are tested. Results of the constructive work proposed some improvements through (i) the use of Moodle for in-class surveys, (ii) transfer of grades from Moodle to Oodi, (iii) use of Moodle in self-study courses and MOOCs, (iv) online examinations, and (v) Moodle integrations with third party applications. The proposed items were then evaluated for their utility through interviews of five expert interviews. The final results of this work are considered useful to LUT administration and management specifically on ways that Moodle can bring changes to the university at managerial, economical and technical level. It also poses some challenges on platform innovations and research.

CTQ process flow development and the impact for cost of quality

Tämä työ tehtiin Kone Industrial Oy:lle Major Projects yksikköön, laatuosastolle. Kone Major Projects yksikkö keskittyy erikoisiin ja suuriin hissi- ja liukuporras projekteihin. Työn tavoitteena oli luoda harmonisoitu prosessi hissikomponenttien laaduntarkkailua varten sekä tarkastella ja vertailla kustannussäästöjä, jota tällä uudella prosessilla voidaan saavuttaa. Tavoitteena oli saavuttaa 80-prosentin kustannussäästöt laatukustannuksissa uuden laatuprosessin avulla. Työn taustana ja tutkimusongelmana ovat lisääntyneet erikoisprojektit ja niiden myötä lisääntynyt laaduntarkkailun tarve. Ongelmana laaduntarkkailussa voitiin pitää harmonisoidun ja selkeän prosessin puuttumista C-prosessikomponenttien valmistuksessa. Lisäksi kehitysprosessin aikana luotiin vanhojen työkalujen pohjalta keskeinen laaduntarkkailutyökalu, CTQ-työkalu. Työssä käsitellään ensin Konetta yhtiönä ja selvitetään Koneen keskeisimmät prosessit työn taustaksi. Teoria osuudessa käsitellään prosessin kehitykseen liittyviä teorioita sekä yleisiä laatukäsitteitä ja esitetään teorioita laadun asemasta nykypäivänä. Lopuksi käsitellään COQ eli laatukustannusten teoriaa ja esitellään teoria PAF-analyysille, jota käytetään työssä laatukustannusten vertailuun case esimerkin avulla. Työssä kuvataan CTQ prosessin luominen alusta loppuun ja case esimerkin avulla testataan uutta CTQ prosessia pilottihankkeessa. Tässä case esimerkissä projektin bracket eli johdekiinnitysklipsi tuotetaan uuden laatuprosessin avulla sekä tehdään kustannusvertailu saman projektin toisen bracketin kanssa, joka on tuotettu ennen uuden laatuprosessin implementoimista. Työn lopputuloksena CTQ prosessi saatiin luotua ja sitä pystyttiin testaamaan käytännössä case esimerkin avulla. Tulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että CTQ prosessin käyttö vähentää laatukustannuksia huomattavasti ja helpottaa laadunhallintaa C-prosessikomponenttien tuotannossa.

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance

Enabling Change in Universities: Enhancing Education for Sustainable Development with Tools for Quality Assurance This thesis deals with enabling change in universities, more explicitly enhancing education for sustainable development with tools for quality assurance. Change management is a discipline within management that was developed in the 1980s because business changed from being predictable to unpredictable. The PEST mnemonic is a method to categorize factors enabling change; such as political, economic, socio-cultural and technological factors, which all affect higher education. A classification of a change, in either hard or soft, can help understanding the type of change that an organization is facing. Hard changes are more applied to problems that have clear objectives and indicators, with a known cause of the problem. Soft changes are applied to larger problems that affect the entire organization or beyond it. The basic definition for sustainable development is: the future generations should have similar opportunities as the previous. The UN has set as a global goal an integration of education for sustainable development (ESD) at all levels of education during 2005- 2014. The goal is set also in universities, the graduates of which are future leaders for all labor markets. The objective for ESD in higher education is that graduates obtain the competence to take economic, social and environmental costs and benefits into account when making decisions. Knowledge outcomes should aim for systematic and holistic thinking, which requires cross disciplinary education. So far, the development of ESD has not achieved its goals. The UN has identified a need for more transdisclipnary research in ESD. A joint global requirement for universities is quality assurance, the aim of which is to secure and improve teaching and learning. Quality, environmental and integrated management systems are used by some universities for filling the quality assurance requirements. The goal of this thesis is to open up new ways for enhancing ESD in universities, beyond the forerunners; by exploring how management systems could be used as tools for promoting ESD. The thesis is based on five studies. In the first study, I focus on if and how tools for quality assurance could be benefitted for promoting ESD. It is written from a new perspective, the memetic, for reaching a diversity of faculty. A meme is an idea that diffuses from brain to brain. It can be applied for cultural evolution. It is a theory that is based on the evolutionary theory by Darwin, applied for social sciences. In the second Paper, I present the results from the development of the pilot process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The development of the model is based on a study that includes earlier studies, a survey in academia and an analysis of the practice in 11 universities in the Nordic countries. In the third study, I explore if the change depends on national culture or if it is global. It is a comparative study on both policy and implementation level, between the Nordic countries and China. The fourth study is a single case study based on change management. In this study, I identify what to consider in order to enable the change: enhancing ESD with tools for quality assurance in universities. In the fifth Paper, I present the results of the process model for enhancing ESD with management systems. The model was compared with identified drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems. Finally, the process model was piloted and applied for identifying sustainability aspects in curricula. Action research was chosen as methodology because there are not already implemented approaches using quality management for promoting ESD, why the only way to study this is to make it happen. Another reason for choosing action research is since it is essential to involve students and faculty for enhancing ESD. Action based research consists of the following phases: a) diagnosing, b) planning action, c) taking action and d) evaluating action. This research was made possible by a project called Education for Sustainable Development in Academia in the Nordic countries, ESDAN, in which activities were divided into these four phases. Each phase ended with an open seminar, where the results of the study were presented. The objective for the research project was to develop a process for including knowledge in sustainable development in curricula, which could be used in the quality assurance work. Eleven universities from the Nordic countries cooperated in the project. The aim was, by applying the process, to identify and publish examples of relevant sustainability aspects in different degree programs in universities in the Nordic countries. The project was partly financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers and partly by the participating pilot universities. Based on the results of my studies, I consider that quality, environmental and integrated management systems can be used for promoting ESD in universities. Relevant sustainability aspects have been identified in different fields of studies by applying the final process model. The final process model was compared with drivers and barriers for enhancing ESD and for implementing management systems in universities and with succeeding with management systems in industry. It corresponds with these, meaning that drivers are taken into account and barriers tackled. Both ESD and management systems in universities could be considered successful memes, which can reflect an effective way of communication among individuals. I have identified that management systems could be used as tools for hard changes and to support the soft change of enhancing ESD in universities with management system. Based on the change management study I have summarized recommendations on what to consider in order to enable the studied change. The main practical implications of the results are that the process model could be applied for assessment, benchmarking and communication of ESD, connected to quality assurance, when applied. This is possible because the information can be assembled in one picture, which facilitates comparison. The memetic approach can be applied for structuring. It is viable to make comparative studies between cultures, for getting insight in special characteristics of the own culture. Action based research is suitable for involving faculty. Change management can be applied for planning a change, which both enhancing ESD and developing management systems are identified to be.