International Partner Management in the Software Industry

The purpose of this research is to describe how the scope of internationalization affects partner management in software companies. The effects are analyzed separately for small and large companies. Partner management is described from three perspectives: who should manage partnerships, how they should be managed and how does the context affect the choice of management style. Inductive case study is selected as research design. Eventually four case companies are chosen. The findings reveal that the size of the company affects the volume whereas the scope of internationalization affects the choice of partner management activities. Companies with high scope of internationalization required a more formal yet flexible management system whereas companies with low scope of internationalization relied more on the informal relations and personal management.

Creating dynamic continuous improvement system for Larox Corporation

Today´s organizations must have the ability to react to rapid changes in the market. These rapid changes cause pressure to continuously find new efficient ways to organize work practices. Increased competition requires businesses to become more effective and to pay attention to quality of management and to make people to understand their work's impact on the final result. The fundamentals in continmuois improvement are systematic and agile tackling of indentified individual process constraints and the fact tha nothin finally improves without changes. Successful continuous improvement requires management commitment, education, implementation, measurement, recognition and regeneration. These ingredients form the foundation, both for breakthrough projects and small step ongoing improvement activities. One part of the organization's management system are the quality tools, which provide systematic methodologies for identifying problems, defining their root causes, finding solutions, gathering and sorting of data, supporting decision making and implementing the changes, and many other management tasks. Organizational change management includes processes and tools for managing the people in an organizational level change. These tools include a structured approach, which can be used for effective transition of organizations through change. When combined with the understanding of change management of individuals, these tools provide a framework for managing people in change,

Development of Collaborative Product Structure Management

The purpose of this thesis is to develop an environment or network that enables effective collaborative product structure management among stakeholders in each unit, throughout the entire product lifecycle and product data management. This thesis uses framework models as an approach to the problem. Framework model methods for development of collaborative product structure management are proposed in this study, there are three unique models depicted to support collaborative product structure management: organization model, process model and product model. In the organization model, the formation of product data management system (eDSTAT) key user network is specified. In the process model, development is based on the case company’s product development matrix. In the product model framework, product model management, product knowledge management and design knowledge management are defined as development tools and collaboration is based on web-based product structure management. Collaborative management is executed using all these approaches. A case study from an actual project at the case company is presented as an implementation; this is to verify the models’ applicability. A computer assisted design tool and the web-based product structure manager, have been used as tools of this collaboration with the support of the key user. The current PDM system, eDSTAT, is used as a piloting case for key user role. The result of this development is that the role of key user as a collaboration channel is defined and established. The key user is able to provide one on one support for the elevator projects. Also the management activities are improved through the application of process workflow by following criteria for each project milestone. The development shows effectiveness of product structure management in product lifecycle, improved production process by eliminating barriers (e.g. improvement of two-way communication) during design phase and production phase. The key user role is applicable on a global scale in the company.

KILPAILUETUA OSAAMISTA JOHTAMALLA - Tapaustutkimus innovatiivisessa teknologia-alan yrityksessä

Osaamisella on mahdollisuus luoda organisaatiolle kilpailuetua. Henkilöstön osaamisen johtaminen on yksi keskeinen tehtävä menestyvässä organisaatiossa. Osaamisen johtamisen tärkeimpänä tavoitteena on huolehtia strategialähtöisesti osaamisen kehittämisestä organisaation tehtävien suorittamiseksi. Tämän kvalitatiivisen case-tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli selvittää kohdeyrityksen osaamisen johtamisen nykytilaa ja kehittämismahdollisuuksia. Tutkimuksen teoreettisessa osassa esitellään henkilöstöjohtamisen perusteita, oppimista ja osaamista sekä osaamisen johtamista. Tutkimuksen kohteena olivat kaikki kohdeyrityksen esimiehet ja toimihenkilöt. Tutkimusmetodologiana käytettiin laadullista tapaustutkimusta ja tutkimusaineistona yrityksen henkilöstöltä hankittua tietoa. Tutkimuksen perusteella voitiin luoda kuvaus osaamisen johtamisesta kohdeyrityksessä. Yrityksen henkilöstöllä on hyvä osaaminen ja esimiehet tukevat osaamisen kehittymistä. Tutkimus toi esille joitakin kehittämistarpeita. Tutkimustulosten perusteella osaamisen johtaminen ei ole vielä täysin yhtenäistä ja systemaattista toimintaa. Osaamista tulisi kehittää strategian osoittamaan suuntaan. Tutkimuksen kehittämistoimena kohdeyritykselle tehdään ehdotus osaamisen johtamisen sisältävästä johtamisjärjestelmästä.

Mentorointiohjelman kehittäminen toimintatutkimuksen keinoin

Tutkielma on toimintatutkimus mentoroinnin kehittämisestä Osuuskauppa Hämeenmaassa. Tutkielman tavoitteena on ollut suunnitella mentorointiohjelma osuuskaupalle ja kehittää sen sisältöä saatujen tutkimustulosten perusteella sekä kuvata mentoroinnin tuomia hyötyjä ohjelman osallistujille ennen ohjelman päättymistä. Mentorointi on keskeinen osa S-ryhmän osaamisen johtamista. Sen avulla voidaan kehittää tärkeitä osaamisia ja suunnata oppimista organisaation tavoitteiden saavuttamiseksi. Mentorointi tukee henkilöstöstrategian mukaista omaehtoista oppimista, jossa yksilöt ottavat vastuun oman ammattitaitonsa ylläpitämisestä ja kehittämisestä organisaation tuella. Tutkielman viitekehykseen on koottu mentoroinnin ja mentorointiohjelman kehittämiseen liittyviä teorioita ja näkökulmia. Viitekehyksen pohjalta on suunniteltu mentorointiohjelman sisältö ja valmennusmateriaalit. Suunnittelu- ja toteutusprosessi on kuvattu tutkielmassa toimintatutkimuksen luonteen mukaisesti. Ohjelmaa ja sen tuomia hyötyjä osallistujille on arvioitu työssä kirjallisen palautekyselyn ja teemahaastatteluiden avulla. Tutkielman keskeisiä tuloksia ovat ohjelman suunnittelua tukeneen viite-kehyksen kokoaminen ja mentorointiohjelman toteuttaminen sille asetettujen tavoitteiden mukaisesti. Ohjelmaa on kehitetty tutkimustulosten perusteella ja tietoa mentoroinnin hyödyistä osallistujien näkökulmasta on kerätty.

Innovaatioprosessi Balanced Scorecard johtamisjärjestelmässä - Tärkeimmät tekijät prosessin onnistumiseksi

Työn tarkoituksena on tutkia, mitkä ovat tärkeimpiä tekijöitä, joita Balanced Scorecard johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaatioiden tulee huomioida innovaatioprosessinsa suunnittelussa ja toteutuksessa. Lisäksi työssä tutkitaan, millaisia kytkentöjä innovaatioprosessilla on BSC-johtamisjärjestelmän muihin osa-alueisiin sekä onko BSC ylipäätään sopiva johtamisjärjestelmä innovatiivisuutta tavoittelevalla organisaatiolle. Tutkimusstrategiana on kvalitatiivinen tutkimus ja tutkimusmetodina puolestaan puolistrukturoimaton haastattelu. Työn tärkein tutkimustulos on, että BSC-johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaation innovaatioprosessin onnistuminen ratkaistaan pitkälti aivan muualla kuin prosessin sisällä itsessään. Organisaation tulee ensinnäkin keskittyä edistämään innovaatioille suotuisaa kulttuuria, tässä organisaation arvot ovat yksi tärkein työväline. Toiseksi, organisaation tulee systemaattisesti kehittää yhteistyötä eri funktioiden ja niissä työskentelevien ihmisten välillä. Kolmanneksi, organisaation tulee mitata systemaattisesti niitä asioita, jotka indikoivat innovaatioiden edellytyksistä ja itse innovaatioprosessin toimivuudesta. Kaikki kolme mainittua tulosta liitetään työssä kirjoittajan toimesta yläkäsitteen johtaminen alle. Työssä tuodaan myös esille se, että organisaatioiden on syytä tarkastella edellä mainittuja kolmea teemaa kahdessa aikaulottuvuudessa – ajassa ennen innovaatioita ja varsinaisen innovaation jälkeen. Siten kunkin kolmen teeman olennaisin sisältö riippuukin aikaperspektiivistä. Yhtenä olennaisena johtopäätöksenä työn tekijä esittää, että BSC-johtamisjärjestelmää käyttävän organisaation ei tulisi investoida merkittävästi varsinaiseen innovaatioprosessiinsa ennen kuin se on kyennyt luomaan innovatiivisuutta tukevaa kulttuuria oppimisen ja kasvun näkökulmassa. Ilman innovaatioita tukevaa kulttuuria prosessissa itsessään tuskin on laadukasta sisältöä. Tämä johtopäätös on selkeä viesti organisaatioille toiminnan priorisoinnin kannalta.

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.

Model-Based Management

Tämä kandidaatintyö on kirjallisuustutkimus, joka selventää lukijalle mitä tarkoittaa käsite Model-Based Management (MBM). Työssä tarkastellaan keskeisiä suuntauksia, joihin MBM pohjautuu. Lisäksi tutkitaan miksi MBM on kehittynyt ja miten sitä voidaan hyödyntää yrityksissä. Nykyiset käytössä olevat johtamismallit ovat aikaansa jäljessä, eivätkä ne hyödynnä nykyteknologian luomia mahdollisuuksia. Teknologian kehityksen myötä tiedonsaanti on helpottunut ja monipuolistunut. Globalisaation seurauksena organisaatioiden toimintaympäristöt ovat monimutkaistuneet ja organisaatioiden rakenteet ovat muuttuneet. Tiedonsaannin helppous yhdistettynä yritysten monimutkaisiin rakenteisiin aiheuttaa ongelmia yrityksen johtamisen ja hallinnan kannalta. Johtajat eivät kykene ymmärtämään kokonaisuuksia, joiden kanssa he ovat tekemisissä. Kokonaisuuksien ymmärtämisessä hyödynnetään systeemiajattelua ja mallintamista. Malleja on käytetty yrityksissä jo pitkään johtamisen apuna. MBM pohjautuu siihen, että mallit ovat johtamisen lähtökohta. Mallit auttavat ymmärtämään kokonaisuuksia ja hahmottamaan eri tekijöiden yhteyksiä toisiinsa. MBM:n näkökulmasta organisaation rakenteiden mallintaminen on elintärkeää sen toimintakyvyn kannalta.

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.

Getting Started with Islandora

Workshop at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Advanced Islandora Workshop

Workshop at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Waste Management in Commercial Activity: State-of-the-Art and the Potential Innovation in the Urban Areas of Hanoi, Vietnam

As the rapid development of the society as well as the lifestyle, the generation of commercial waste is getting more complicated to control. The situation of packaging waste and food waste – the main fractions of commercial waste in different countries in Europe and Asia is analyzed in order to evaluate and suggest necessary improvements for the existing waste management system in the city of Hanoi, Vietnam. From all waste generation sources of the city, a total amount of approximately 4000 tons of mixed waste is transported to the composting facility and the disposal site, which emits a huge amount of 1,6Mt of GHG emission to the environment. Recycling activity is taking place spontaneously by the informal pickers, leads to the difficulty in managing the whole system and uncertainty of the overall data. With a relative calculation, resulting in only approximately 0,17Mt CO2 equivalent emission, incinerator is suggested to be the solution of the problem with overloaded landfill and raising energy demand within the inhabitants.

Financial controlling and management in recovered paper joint ventures

The objective of this Master’s thesis is to examine financial functions, controlling and management in joint ventures of Manufacturing Corporation Oyj Recovered Paper business area. This case study investigated the current situation of financial functions and find out causes that have led the situation. Current situation of financial functions in joint ventures is variable. The most of the companies is outsourced at least some tasks. However, narrow reporting and problems in reliability are the biggest lack of financial controlling and management. The result of study consists of two parts: short-term and long-term improvement. Short-term improvement includes selected solution to outsource all routine financial tasks to new outsourcing partner and improve financial functions. Long-term improvements aim to create better controlling and management system to joint ventures. It is formed corporate governance and performance measurement. In this study it developed new Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for recovered paper joint ventures. Dimensions of BSC are quality, delivery (time), price and financial controlling and management. Earlier researched are showed problems in success of joint venture relationships. Similar results are obtained in this study. In future research, suitable of developed Balanced Scorecard for other industries could be studied

The Design and Implementation of a SD Card File System

SD card (Secure Digital Memory Card) is widely used in portable storage medium. Currently, latest researches on SD card, are mainly SD card controller based on FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). Most of them are relying on API interface (Application Programming Interface), AHB bus (Advanced High performance Bus), etc. They are dedicated to the realization of ultra high speed communication between SD card and upper systems. Studies about SD card controller, really play a vital role in the field of high speed cameras and other sub-areas of expertise. This design of FPGA-based file systems and SD2.0 IP (Intellectual Property core) does not only exhibit a nice transmission rate, but also achieve the systematic management of files, while retaining a strong portability and practicality. The file system design and implementation on a SD card covers the main three IP innovation points. First, the combination and integration of file system and SD card controller, makes the overall system highly integrated and practical. The popular SD2.0 protocol is implemented for communication channels. Pure digital logic design based on VHDL (Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language), integrates the SD card controller in hardware layer and the FAT32 file system for the entire system. Secondly, the document management system mechanism makes document processing more convenient and easy. Especially for small files in batch processing, it can ease the pressure of upper system to frequently access and process them, thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of systems. Finally, digital design ensures the superior performance. For transmission security, CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) algorithm is for data transmission protection. Design of each module is platform-independent of macro cells, and keeps a better portability. Custom integrated instructions and interfaces may facilitate easily to use. Finally, the actual test went through multi-platform method, Xilinx and Altera FPGA developing platforms. The timing simulation and debugging of each module was covered. Finally, Test results show that the designed FPGA-based file system IP on SD card can support SD card, TF card and Micro SD with 2.0 protocols, and the successful implementation of systematic management for stored files, and supports SD bus mode. Data read and write rates in Kingston class10 card is approximately 24.27MB/s and 16.94MB/s.

Yksittäistuotannon ohjattavuusanalyysi

Tässä työssä tutkitaan Merima Oy:n tuotantolaitoksen toimintaa ohjattavuusanalyysillä. Työn tarkoituksena on etsiä potentiaalisia kehityskohteita yrityksen tuotannosta. Yrityksen tuotanto on muutospaineessa ja se tarvitsee kvantitatiivista informaatiota kehityksen suunnannäyttäjäksi. Työ aloitettiin jalostamalla yrityksen tuotannonohjausjärjestelmästä saatava data analysoitavaan muotoon. Tämän jälkeen päätettiin analyysityypeistä, joita työssä käytetään. Analyysivaiheessa jalostettu data saatettiin informoivaan muotoon, jonka jälkeen voitiin analysoida tuloksia ja tehdä johtopäätöksiä. Työn tuloksena saadaan joukko kehityskohteita, joihin kehityspanos tulisi fokusoida. Lisäksi raportin lopussa pohditaan keinoja kehityskohteiden parantamiseksi.