Information professionals in business context: new professionals, old skills

This communication aims to present some reflections regarding the importance of information in organizational context, especially in business context. The ability to produce and to share expertise and knowledge among its employees is now a key factor in the success of any organization. However, it’s also true that workers are increasingly feeling that too much information can hurt their performance. The existence of skilled professionals able to organize, evaluate, select and disseminate information in organizations appears to be a prerequisite for success. The skills necessary for the formation of a professional devoted to the management of information and knowledge in the context of business organizations will be analysed. Then data collected in two focus group discussion with students from a graduate course in Business Information, from Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal, a will be examined.

Teaching accounting and management through business simulation

Everyday accounting and management teachers face the challenge of creating learning environments that motivate students. This chapter describes the Business Simulation (BS) experience that has taken place at the Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Institute of Accounting and Administration (IPP/ISCAP). The chapter presents students’ perceptions about the course and the teaching/learning approach. The results show that pedagogical methods used (competency-oriented), generic competencies (cooperation and group work), and interpersonal skills (organisational and communication skills) are relevant for future accounting professionals. In addition, positive remarks and possible constraints based on observation, staff meetings, and past research are reported. The chapter concludes with some recommendations from the project implementation

BIWiki - Using a Business Intelligence Wiki to Form a Virtual Community of Practice for Portuguese Master's Students

Web 2.0 software in general and wikis in particular have been receiving growing attention as they constitute new and powerful tools, capable of supporting information sharing, creation of knowledge and a wide range of collaborative processes and learning activities. This paper introduces briefly some of the new opportunities made possible by Web 2.0 or the social Internet, focusing on those offered by the use of wikis as learning spaces. A wiki allows documents to be created, edited and shared on a group basis; it has a very easy and efficient markup language, using a simple Web browser. One of the most important characteristics of wiki technology is the ease with which pages are created and edited. The facility for wiki content to be edited by its users means that its pages and structure form a dynamic entity, in permanent evolution, where users can insert new ideas, supplement previously existing information and correct errors and typos in a document at any time, up to the agreed final version. This paper explores wikis as a collaborative learning and knowledge-building space and its potential for supporting Virtual Communities of Practice (VCoPs). In the academic years (2007/8 and 2008/9), students of the Business Intelligence module at the Master's programme of studies on Knowledge Management and Business Intelligence at Instituto Superior de Estatistica e Gestao de Informacao of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, have been actively involved in the creation of BIWiki - a wiki for Business Intelligence in the Portuguese language. Based on usage patterns and feedback from students participating in this experience, some conclusions are drawn regarding the potential of this technology to support the emergence of VCoPs; some provisional suggestions will be made regarding the use of wikis to support information sharing, knowledge creation and transfer and collaborative learning in Higher Education.

Avaliação da maturidade da business intelligence nas organizações

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação

Dealing with frame imperfections in a business survey: an empirical study using without replacement bootstrap

This paper approaches issues related to frame problems and nonresponse in surveys. These nonsampling errors affect the accuracy of the estimates whereas the estimators became biased and less precise. We analyse some estimation methods that deal with those problems and give an especial focus to post-stratification procedures.

Comunicação Externa em Business-to-Business

Esta versão não contém as críticas e sugestões dos elementos do júri

Research and development expenditure in the business sector as indicator of knowledge economy: the Portuguese experience

The objective of the paper is to help to understand recent changes in the structure of R&D activities, by analyzing data on the expenditure of the business sector in research and development (R&D). The results are framed in an international context, through comparison with indicators from the most developed countries, divided by technological intensity and economic activity. The study reveals that the indicators of Portuguese R&D expenditure in the business sector are closely linked both to fiscal policy and to high foreign direct investment in knowledge-intensive industries. It also links these indicators to phenomena such as the abundance of skilled labor in pharmaceutical industries and the government intervention in some sectors of the economy (namely health and rail transportation).

Estudo e Avaliação de Plataformas de Business Intelligence em contexto empresarial

O crescente interesse pela área de Business Intelligence (BI) tem origem no reconhecimento da sua importância pelas organizações, como poderoso aliado dos processos de tomada de decisão. O BI é um conceito dinâmico, que se amplia à medida que são integradas novas ferramentas, em resposta a necessidades emergentes dos mercados. O BI não constitui, ainda, uma realidade nas pequenas e médias empresas, sendo, até, desconhecido para muitas. São, essencialmente, as empresas de maior dimensão, com presença em diferentes mercados e/ou áreas de negócio mais abrangentes, que recorrem a estas soluções. A implementação de ferramentas BI nas organizações depende, pois, das especificidades destas, sendo fundamental que a informação sobre as plataformas disponíveis e suas funcionalidades seja objetiva e inequívoca. Só uma escolha correta, que responda às necessidades da área de negócio desenvolvida, permitirá obter dados que resultem em ganhos, potenciando a vantagem competitiva empresarial. Com este propósito, efectua-se, na presente dissertação, uma análise comparativa das funcionalidades existentes em diversas ferramentas BI, que se pretende que venha auxiliar os processos de seleção da plataforma BI mais adaptada a cada organização e/ou negócio. As plataformas BI enquadram-se em duas grandes vertentes, as que implicam custos de aquisição, de índole comercial, e as disponibilizadas de forma livre, ou em código aberto, designadas open source. Neste sentido, equaciona-se se estas últimas podem constituir uma opção válida para as empresas com recursos mais escassos. Num primeiro momento, procede-se à implementação de tecnologias BI numa organização concreta, a operar na indústria de componentes automóveis, a Yazaki Saltano de Ovar Produtos Eléctricos, Ltd., implantada em Portugal há mais de 25 anos. Para esta empresa, o desenvolvimento de soluções com recurso a ferramentas BI afigura-se como um meio adequado de melhorar o acompanhamento aos seus indicadores de performance. Este processo concretizou-se a partir da stack tecnológica pré-existente na organização, a plataforma BI comercial da Microsoft. Com o objetivo de, por um lado, reunir contributos que possibilitem elucidar as organizações na escolha da plataforma BI mais adequada e, por outro, compreender se as plataformas open source podem constituir uma alternativa credível às plataformas comerciais, procedeu-se a uma pesquisa comparativa das funcionalidades das várias plataformas BI open source. Em resultado desta análise, foram selecionadas duas plataformas, a SpagoBI e a PentahoBI, utilizadas na verificação do potencial alternativo das open source face às plataformas comerciais. Com base nessas plataformas, reproduziu-se os processos e procedimentos desenvolvidos no âmbito do projeto de implementação BI realizado na empresa Yazaki Saltano.

Sustainability of systems interoperability in dynamic business networks

Dissertação para obtenção do Grau de Doutor em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Social BPM – The role of social networks in business process management

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação

Organizational culture influence on information quality - use of business intelligence systems relationship: portuguese context

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Estatística e Gestão de Informação

How do wages react to the business cycle? A microeconometric approach

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Economics from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Nova School of Business & Economics: Sustainability report

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

Business models in the portuguese football clubs

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics