Pervasive Business Intelligence

In the last few years, a new generation of Business Intelligence (BI) tools called BI 2.0 has emerged to meet the new and ambitious requirements of business users. BI 2.0 not only introduces brand new topics, but in some cases it re-examines past challenges according to new perspectives depending on the market changes and needs. In this context, the term pervasive BI has gained increasing interest as an innovative and forward-looking perspective. This thesis investigates three different aspects of pervasive BI: personalization, timeliness, and integration. Personalization refers to the capacity of BI tools to customize the query result according to the user who takes advantage of it, facilitating the fruition of BI information by different type of users (e.g., front-line employees, suppliers, customers, or business partners). In this direction, the thesis proposes a model for On-Line Analytical Process (OLAP) query personalization to reduce the query result to the most relevant information for the specific user. Timeliness refers to the timely provision of business information for decision-making. In this direction, this thesis defines a new Data Warehuose (DW) methodology, Four-Wheel-Drive (4WD), that combines traditional development approaches with agile methods; the aim is to accelerate the project development and reduce the software costs, so as to decrease the number of DW project failures and favour the BI tool penetration even in small and medium companies. Integration refers to the ability of BI tools to allow users to access information anywhere it can be found, by using the device they prefer. To this end, this thesis proposes Business Intelligence Network (BIN), a peer-to-peer data warehousing architecture, where a user can formulate an OLAP query on its own system and retrieve relevant information from both its local system and the DWs of the net, preserving its autonomy and independency.

La governance della società di capitale a base familiare: "Protocolo Familiar" e Patti di Famiglia

Family businesses have acquired a very specific gravity in the economy of occidental countries, generating most of the employment and the richness for the last ages. In Spain Family Businesses represent the 65% about the total of enterprises with 1,5 million companies. They give employment to 8 million people, the 80% of the private employment and develop the 65% of the Spanish GNP (Gross National Product). Otherwise, the family business needs a complete law regulation that gives satisfaction to their own necessities and challenges. These companies have to deal with national or international economic scene to assure their permanency and competitiveness. In fact, the statistics about family companies have a medium life of 35 years. European family businesses success their successor process between a 10 and 25%. It’s said: first generation makes, second generation stays, third generation distributes. In that sense, the Recommendation of the European Commission of December 7º 1994 about the succession of the small and medium companies has reformed European internal orders according to make easier successor process and to introduce practices of family companies’ good government. So, the Italian law, under the 14th Law, February 2006, has reformed its Covil Code, appearing a new concept, called “Patto di famiglia”, wich abolish the prohibition as laid dwon in the 458 article about successors’ agreements, admitting the possibility that testator guarantees the continuity of the company or of the family society, giving it, totally or in part, to one or various of its descendents. On other hand, Spain has promulgated the 17th Royal Decree (9th February 2007), that governs the publicity of family agreements (Protocolos familiars). These “protocolo familiar” (Family Agreement) are known as accord of wills, consented and accepted unanimously of all the family members and the company, taking into account recommendations and practices of family company’s good government.