Modeling and illustrating requirement prioritization in public e-service development from a value-based perspective

A major problem in e-service development is the prioritization of the requirements of different stakeholders. The main stakeholders are governments and their citizens, all of whom have different and sometimes conflicting requirements. In this paper, the prioritization problem is addressed by combining a value-based approach with an illustration technique. This paper examines the following research question: How can multiple stakeholder requirements be illustrated from a value-based perspective in order to be prioritizable? We used an e-service development case taken from a Swedish municipality to elaborate on our approach. Our contributions are: 1) a model of the relevant domains for requirement prioritization for government, citizens, technology, finances and laws and regulations; and 2) a requirement fulfillment analysis tool (RFA) that consists of a requirement-goal-value matrix (RGV), and a calculation and illustration module (CIM). The model reduces cognitive load, helps developers to focus on value fulfillment in e-service development and supports them in the formulation of requirements. It also offers an input to public policy makers, should they aim to target values in the design of e-services.

Network density and the p-median solution

The p-medianmodel is commonly used to find optimal locations of facilities for geographically distributed demands. So far, there are few studies that have considered the importance of the road network in the model. However, Han, H��kansson, and Rebreyend (2013) examined the solutions of the p-median model with densities of the road network varying from 500 to 70,000 nodes. They found as the density went beyond some 10,000 nodes, solutions have no further improvements but gradually worsen. The aim of this study is to check their findings by using an alternative heuristic being vertex substitution, as a complement to their using simulated annealing. We reject the findings in Han et al (2013). The solutions do not further improve as the nodes exceed 10,000, but neither do the solutions deteriorate.

Reliability of GPS based traffic data: an experimental evaluation

GPS tracking of mobile objects provides spatial and temporal data for a broad range of applications including traffic management and control, transportation routing and planning. Previous transport research has focused on GPS tracking data as an appealing alternative to travel diaries. Moreover, the GPS based data are gradually becoming a cornerstone for real-time traffic management. Tracking data of vehicles from GPS devices are however susceptible to measurement errors ��� a neglected issue in transport research. By conducting a randomized experiment, we assess the reliability of GPS based traffic data on geographical position, velocity, and altitude for three types of vehicles; bike, car, and bus. We find the geographical positioning reliable, but with an error greater than postulated by the manufacturer and a non-negligible risk for aberrant positioning. Velocity is slightly underestimated, whereas altitude measurements are unreliable.

Molntj��nster f��r utvecklings- och testverksamhet i krisberedskapsmyndigheter

Molntj��nster har blivit ett intressant fenomen i IT-v��rlden. Molntj��nster har skapat m��jligheter f��r f��retag och individer att effektivisera sin verksamhet f��r en minimal avgift ist��llet f��r att drifts��tta egna servrar. Detta blir m��jligt genom att erbjuda flera olika tj��nster p�� varierande distributionsmodeller. Till f��ljd av detta fenomen f��rekommer servicef��rfr��gningar av molntj��nster kontinuerligt bland svenska privata f��retag och myndigheter. De privata f��retagen har ingen skyldighet att f��lja lagar som begr��nsar dem fr��n att anv��nda molntj��nster, i motsats till krisberedskapsmyndigheterna och deras utvecklings- och testverksamhet. Detta examensarbete kommer fokusera p�� att analysera de m��jligheter som finns f��r svenska krisberedskapsmyndigheters och deras utvecklings- och testverksamheter att anv��nda molntj��nster Examensarbetet genomf��rdes som en kvalitativ studie med hj��lp av intervjuer och litteraturstudier som datainsamlingsmetoder. Intervjuerna genomf��rdes p�� anst��llda i en krisberedskapsmyndighet f��r att ge en bild av hur dessa anst��llda med varierande befattningar tolkar molntj��nster samt dess f��r- och nackdelar. Litteraturstudien anv��ndes f��r att spegla andra nationers synpunkter p�� molntj��nster i myndigheter, samt vilka svenska lagar och regelverk som kan f��rhindra molntj��nster i en krisberedskapsmyndighet. Resultatet av examensarbetet visade att det existerar m��jligheter f��r anv��ndning av molntj��nster i en krisberedskapsmyndighet. Detta g��rs m��jligt genom att analysera informationen som skall distribueras p�� en molntj��nst.

J��mf��relse av tv�� system f��r att bed��ma vinter v��glag : Ett nytt system i utvecklingen f��r att s��kra Sveriges v��gar

Trafikverket, ��r den statliga verksamhet som har hand om alla Sveriges v��gar och j��rnv��gar har den s�� kallade nollvisionen som ett huvudm��l. Tanken bakom nollvisionen ��r att de som anv��nder v��garna skall vara s��kra och inte komma till skada. En del av uppfyllandet av detta m��l ��r att Trafikverket ger ut korttidsprognoser f��r v��glag och k��rf��rh��llande. I nul��get s�� anv��nds ett mycket manuellt systemet som heter NTIS, men man h��ller p�� att utveckla det nya automatiska systemet RCC som skall kunna ta fram korttidsprognoser baserat p�� olika former av data, t.ex. data fr��n v��derstationer. Syftet med denna studie ��r att utv��rdera hur v��l de tv�� olika systemen utf��r en korttidsprognos och j��mf��ra de mot varandra, samt verkligheten. Denna studie gjordes i form av en f��rklarande fallstudie. Som datainsamling anv��nds dokument i olika former och analysen var kvantitativ d�� resultatet av utv��rdering ger olika procenttal av hur r��tt respektive system har. Under unders��kningen g��ng s�� kom vi fram till att b��da systemen hade sina f��rdelar och nackdelar. T.ex. s�� det gamla NTIS systemet fortfarande b��st p�� isigt och moddigt v��glag. Medans det nya RCC systemet hade sina egna f��rdelar, t.ex. sn��igt v��glag och v��tt v��glag. Samt s�� hade RCC en klar f��rdel med sin rapporteringstid, vilket var ett problem man s��g med NTIS. Resultat var som sagt ett procenttal av hur r��tt de tv�� olika systemen hade, men ��ven f��rslag till f��rb��ttringar. T.ex. hur man skulle kunna ��ndra RCC regler f��r b��ttre resultat.

Applikations��vervakning : Dess m��jliga bidrag till en verksamhet

Applikations��vervakning ��r en term f��r att i realtid ��vervaka applikationer och kunna uppt��cka fel innan slutanv��ndaren m��rker av ett problem. Med ��vervakning av applikationer menas inte bara den enskilda programvaran utan allt som r��r applikationen i fr��ga. Trafikverkets ��nskem��l ��r att leverera en h��g kvalit�� i sina applikationer. I nul��get har utvecklare ingen eller d��lig insyn i hur en applikation levererar i en skarp milj�� efter att de l��mnat ��ver ansvaret till drift. F��r att kunna h��lla en bra kvalit�� i sina applikationer s�� vill de unders��ka hur applikations��vervakning kan hj��lpa till att se behov av ��ndringar i applikationer innan st��rre problem uppst��r. I en fallstudie best��ende av intervjuer och dokumentstudier kommer genom anv��ndning av situationsbaserad FA/SIMM nuvarande arbetss��tt f��ngas. Samt f��nga m��l och problem som uttrycks i verksamheten kring utveckling & f��rvaltning och drift av applikationer. Dessa kommer sedan analyseras f��r att unders��ka p�� vilket s��tt applikations��vervakning skulle hj��lpa utvecklare & f��rvaltare, men ��ven driftspersonal i deras arbete. Resultatet av detta visar att de problem och m��l som tas upp dels ��r organisatoriska i sin natur och arbetss��ttet DevOps framh��lls som en m��jlig l��sning. ��ven att applikations��vervakning de facto skulle kunna bidra till en ��kad kvalit�� i applikationerna genom att tillf��ra en m��jlighet att arbeta mer proaktivt.

Systemutveckling f��r riskbaserad tillsyn : Hur verksamhetsanalys p�� praktikteoretisk grund kan anv��ndas f��r kravf��ngst

Denna studie har utf��rts vid en myndighet som bedriver statlig tillsyn ��ver det svenska j��rnv��gssystemet. N��r myndigheten beslutade att deras tillsyn skulle vara riskbaserad uppstod behov att se ��ver och eventuellt f��r��ndra myndighetens verksamhetsprocesser utifr��n ett riskbaserat syns��tt. Arbetet med denna licentiatavhandling, som har skett i form av praktikforskning, har sin grund i tv�� f��r��ndringsprojekt som var starkt p��verkade av den b��rande id��n om riskbaserad tillsyn. Av denna anledning fanns ett behov att karakt��risera riskbaserad tillsyn. Detta skedde med hj��lp av verksamhetsanalys p�� praktikteoretisk grund vars resultat formulerades i en verksamhetsteori f��r riskbaserad tillsyn. P�� ett ��vergripande plan handlar riskbaserad tillsyn om att integrera riskhantering i myndighetens tillsynsprocesser. Denna licentiatavhandling ��r skriven inom ��mnet informationssystemsutveckling och det problem som unders��ks ��r hur man kan f��nga kraven p�� ett verksamhetsst��djande informationssystem med hj��lp av en verksamhetsanalys p�� praktikteoretisk grund. Tesen f��r arbetet ��r att de krav som identifieras i en verksamhetsanalys p�� praktikteoretisk grund b��r kunna anv��ndas i det fortsatta kravarbetet. D��rf��r ��r sp��rbarhet mellan verksamhetsanalysens dokumentation och den fortsatta kravhanteringen i ett systemutvecklingsprojekt en viktig egenskap. Sp��rbarheten unders��ks genom att tv�� av myndighetens utvecklingsprojekt som var inriktade p�� att utveckla b��de verksamheten och nya informationssystem analyseras. Att uppn�� sp��rbarhet ��r en del av tillv��gag��ngss��ttet n��r informationssystem utvecklas. I denna licentiatavhandling beskrivs tillv��gag��ngss��ttet utifr��n tre metodegenskaper: arbetss��tt (vilka fr��gor som st��lls), notation (hur kraven dokumenteras) och arbetsformer (vilka tekniker f��r datainsamling som anv��nds). Det ��r allts�� inte bara sp��rbarhet (som ing��r i metodegenskapen notation) som ��r intressant att studera n��rmare utan hela tillv��gag��ngss��ttet i verksamhetsanalysen. Studien har bedrivits i form av praktikforskning och det inneb��r att tre bidrag har producerats: 1) ett bidrag till den lokala praktiken, dvs. till myndigheten; 2) ett bidrag till den generella praktiken, dvs. till andra verksamheter som bedriver statlig tillsyn men ��ven praktiker som arbetar med verksamhets- respektive systemutveckling inkluderas i den generella praktiken; samt 3) ett bidrag till akademin. Bidraget till den lokala praktiken ��r genomf��randet av utvecklingsprojekten och deras resultat. Bidraget till den generella praktiken inom verksamhetsutveckling ��r verksamhetsanalysen som resulterar i en verksamhetsteori f��r riskbaserad tillsyn. Bidraget till praktiker inom systemutveckling ��r kravanalysen som visar hur en verksamhetsanalys p�� praktikteoretisk grund kan anv��ndas f��r att f��nga krav p�� ett verksamhetsst��djande informationssystem. Kravanalysen ��ppnar ��ven f��r m��jligheter att s��ka efter krav p�� ett informationssystem utan att verksamhetsanalysen fokuserar informationssystemet. Bidraget till akademin best��r ocks�� av kravanalysen som med hj��lp av fyra kravkategorier h��rleder sp��rbarhet mellan verksamhetsteorin f��r riskbaserad tillsyn och kravdokumentation fr��n de studerade projekten. Det andra bidraget till akademin ��r ett ��nskv��rt tillv��gag��ngss��tt f��r att genomf��ra en praktikteoretisk verksamhetsanalys f��r riskbaserad tillsyn.

Ubiquitous computing in education : a SWOT analysis by students and teachers

Learning from anywhere anytime is a contemporary phenomenon in the field of education that is thought to be flexible, time and cost saving. The phenomenon is evident in the way computer technology mediates knowledge processes among learners. Computer technology is however, in some instances, faulted. There are studies that highlight drawbacks of computer technology use in learning. In this study we aimed at conducting a SWOT analysis on ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction and their affect on education. Students and teachers were interviewed on the mentioned concepts using focus group interviews. Our contribution in this study is, identifying what teachers and students perceive to be the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction in education. We also relate the findings with literature and present a common understanding on the SWOT of these concepts. Results show positive perceptions. Respondents revealed that ubiquitous computing and computer-mediated social interaction are important in their education due to advantages such as flexibility, efficiency in terms of cost and time, ability to acquire computer skills. Nevertheless disadvantages where also mentioned for example health effects, privacy and security issues, noise in the learning environment, to mention but a few. This paper gives suggestions on how to overcome threats mentioned.

Usability of government websites in Uganda

Government websites offer great benefits to citizens and governments. Such benefits, however,cannot be realized if websites are unusable. This study investigates usability of government websites in Uganda.Using the feature investigation method, the study evaluated four Ugandan government websites according tothree perspectives. Results show that websites are partially usable in the design layout and navigationperspectives but are rather weak in stating legal policies. Evaluation results provide the Ugandan governmentwith a clear picture of what needs to be improved according to international website design standards. Moreover,the parsimonious evaluation framework proposed in the research is useful for any country that wants to do aquick and easy evaluation of their government websites.

MLCMS actual use, perceived use, and experiences of use

Mobile learning involves use of mobile devices to participate in learning activities. Most elearning activities are available to participants through learning systems such as learning content management systems (LCMS). Due to certain challenges, LCMS are not equally accessible on all mobile devices. This study investigates actual use, perceived usefulness and user experiences of LCMS use on mobile phones at Makerere University in Uganda. The study identifies challenges pertaining to use and discusses how to improve LCMS use on mobile phones. Such solutions are a cornerstone in enabling and improving mobile learning. Data was collected by means of focus group discussions, an online survey designed based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), and LCMS log files of user activities. Data was collected from two courses where Moodle was used as a learning platform. The results indicate positive attitudes towards use of LCMS on phones but also huge challenges whichare content related and technical in nature.

Does road network density matter in optimally locating facilities?

Optimal location on the transport infrastructure is the preferable requirement for many decision making processes. Most studies have focused on evaluating performances of optimally locate p facilities by minimizing their distances to a geographically distributed demand (n) when p and n vary. The optimal locations are also sensitive to geographical context such as road network, especially when they are asymmetrically distributed in the plane. The influence of alternating road network density is however not a very well-studied problem especially when it is applied in a real world context. This paper aims to investigate how the density level of the road network affects finding optimal location by solving the specific case of p-median location problem. A denser network is found needed when a higher number of facilities are to locate. The best solution will not always be obtained in the most detailed network but in a middle density level. The solutions do not further improve or improve insignificantly as the density exceeds 12,000 nodes, some solutions even deteriorate. The hierarchy of the different densities of network can be used according to location and transportation purposes and increase the efficiency of heuristic methods. The method in this study can be applied to other location-allocation problem in transportation analysis where the road network density can be differentiated.��

Measuring CO2 emissions induced by online and brick-and-mortar retailing

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (���e-tailing���) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region���s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers��� transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO2 footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products.��

Measuring CO2 emissions induced by online and brick-and-mortar retailing

We develop a method for empirically measuring the difference in carbon footprint between traditional and online retailing (���e-tailing���) from entry point to a geographical area to consumer residence. The method only requires data on the locations of brick-and-mortar stores, online delivery points, and residences of the region���s population, and on the goods transportation networks in the studied region. Such data are readily available in most countries, so the method is not country or region specific. The method has been evaluated using data from the Dalecarlia region in Sweden, and is shown to be robust to all assumptions made. In our empirical example, the results indicate that the average distance from consumer residence to a brick-and-mortar retailer is 48.54 km in the studied region, while the average distance to an online delivery point is 6.7 km. The results also indicate that e-tailing increases the average distance traveled from the regional entry point to the delivery point from 47.15 km for a brick-and-mortar store to 122.75 km for the online delivery points. However, as professional carriers transport the products in bulk to stores or online delivery points, which is more efficient than consumers��� transporting the products to their residences, the results indicate that consumers switching from traditional to e-tailing on average reduce their CO2 footprints by 84% when buying standard consumer electronics products.��

How does data quality in a network affect heuristic solutions?

To have good data quality with high complexity is often seen to be important. Intuition says that the higher accuracy and complexity the data have the better the analytic solutions becomes if it is possible to handle the increasing computing time. However, for most of the practical computational problems, high complexity data means that computational times become too long or that heuristics used to solve the problem have difficulties to reach good solutions. This is even further stressed when the size of the combinatorial problem increases. Consequently, we often need a simplified data to deal with complex combinatorial problems. In this study we stress the question of how the complexity and accuracy in a network affect the quality of the heuristic solutions for different sizes of the combinatorial problem. We evaluate this question by applying the commonly used p-median model, which is used to find optimal locations in a network of p supply points that serve n demand points. To evaluate this, we vary both the accuracy (the number of nodes) of the network and the size of the combinatorial problem (p). The investigation is conducted by the means of a case study in a region in Sweden with an asymmetrically distributed population (15,000 weighted demand points), Dalecarlia. To locate 5 to 50 supply points we use the national transport administrations official road network (NVDB). The road network consists of 1.5 million nodes. To find the optimal location we start with 500 candidate nodes in the network and increase the number of candidate nodes in steps up to 67,000 (which is aggregated from the 1.5 million nodes). To find the optimal solution we use a simulated annealing algorithm with adaptive tuning of the temperature. The results show that there is a limited improvement in the optimal solutions when the accuracy in the road network increase and the combinatorial problem (low p) is simple. When the combinatorial problem is complex (large p) the improvements of increasing the accuracy in the road network are much larger. The results also show that choice of the best accuracy of the network depends on the complexity of the combinatorial (varying p) problem.

Predicting entry of Swedish wholesale firms into local markets

Applying microeconomic theory, we develop a forecasting model for firm entry into local markets and test this model using data from the Swedish wholesale industry. The empirical analysis is based on directly estimating the profit function of wholesale firms. As in previous entry studies, profits are assumed to depend on firm- and location-specific factors,and the profit equation is estimated using panel data econometric techniques. Using the residuals from the profit equation estimations, we identify local markets in Sweden where firm profits are abnormally high given the level of all independent variables included in the profit function. From microeconomic theory, we then know that these local markets should have higher net entry than other markets, all else being equal, and we investigate this in a second step,also using a panel data econometric model. The results of estimating the net-entry equation indicate that four of five estimated models have more net entry in high-return municipalities, but the estimated parameter is only statistically significant at conventional levels in one of our estimated models.