Assessing the potential of inter-organisational shared services

Shared Services (SS) involves the convergence and streamlining of an organisation’s functions to ensure timely service delivery as effectively and efficiently as possible. As a management structure designed to promote value generation, cost savings and improved service delivery by leveraging on economies of scale, the idea of SS is driven by cost reduction and improvements in quality levels of service and efficiency. Current conventional wisdom is that the potential for SS is increasing due to the increasing costs of changing systems and business requirements for organisations and in implementing and running information systems. In addition, due to commoditisation of large information systems such as enterprise systems, many common, supporting functions across organisations are becoming more similar than not, leading to an increasing overlap in processes and fuelling the notion that it is possible for organisations to derive benefits from collaborating and sharing their common services through an inter-organisational shared services (IOSS) arrangement. While there is some research on traditional SS, very little research has been done on IOSS. In particular, it is unclear what are the potential drivers and inhibitors of IOSS. As the concepts of IOSS and SS are closely related to that of Outsourcing, and their distinction is sometimes blurred, this research has the first objective of seeking a clear conceptual understanding of the differences between SS and Outsourcing (in motivators, arrangements, benefits, disadvantages, etc) and based on this conceptual understanding, the second objective of this research is to develop a decision model (Shared Services Potential model) which would aid organisations in deciding which arrangement would be more appropriate for them to adopt in pursuit of process improvements for their operations. As the context of the study is on universities in higher education sharing administrative services common to or across them and with the assumption that such services were homogenous in nature, this thesis also reports on a case study. The case study involved face to face interviews from representatives of an Australian university to explore the potential for IOSS. Our key findings suggest that it is possible for universities to share services common across them as most of them were currently using the same systems although independently.

Airwaves: 100 years of radio

Music composition using prominent broadcast speeches across the whole twentieth century in commemoration of the centenary of Marconi's first transatlantic radio transmission. The work is based on creating music from the found objects of melody derived from spoken intonation. Recordings of the speeches are accompanied throughout by live instrumental music.

Is there a future for non-motorized public transport in Asia?

Non-motorized public transport (NMPT), especially three-wheeler cycle rickshaws, has a long history in East Asia; and has long been a major transport planning issue. Policy measures to restrict or eliminate NMPT have already been implemented in many developing cities with mixed success. However given the economic, social and cultural significance of NMPT, its environmental benefits, and the magnitude of its role in sustaining the mobility needs of citizens, it is timely to reconsider the future role of NMPT. Rather than pursuing policies to eliminate NMPT, a better approach may be to integrate motorized and non-motorized vehicles as complementary rather than competitive forces. With this backdrop and given the international significance of the problem, this paper examines the current role and significance of NMPT using Dhaka as a case study, and sets a research agenda for the future of NMPT in a sustainable transport system.

Effects of fare collection policy on operating characteristics of a Brisbane busway station

Transit agencies across the world are increasingly shifting their fare collection mechanisms towards fully automated systems like the smart card. One of the objectives in implementing such a system is to reduce the boarding time per passenger and hence reduce the overall dwell time for the buses at the bus stops/bus rapid transit (BRT) stations. TransLink, the transit authority responsible for public transport management in South East Queensland, has introduced ‘GoCard’ technology using the Cubic platform for fare collection on its public transport system. In addition to this, three inner city BRT stations on South East Busway spine are operating as pre-paid platforms during evening peak time. This paper evaluates the effects of these multiple policy measures on operation of study busway station. The comparison between pre and post policy scenarios suggests that though boarding time per passenger has decreased, while the alighting time per passenger has increased slightly. However, there is a substantial reduction in operating efficiency was observed at the station.

4-Chloroanilinium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate

The structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer compound of 4-chloroaniline with 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid (DCPA), viz. C6H7ClN+ C8H3Cl2O4-, has been determined at 130 K. The non-planar hydrogen phthalate anions and the 4-chloroanilinium cations form two-dimensional O-H...O and N-H...O hydrogen-bonded substructures which have no peripheral extension. Between the sheets there are weak \p--\p associations between alternating cation--anion aromatic ring systems [shortest centroid separation, 3.735(4)A].

1,10-phenanthrolin-1-ium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate

In the structure of the 1:1 proton-transfer compound of 1,10-phenanthroline with 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid, C12H9N2+ C8H3Cl2O4-, determined at 130 K, the 1,10-phenanthroline cation and the hydrogen 4,5-dichlorophthalate anion associate through a single N-H...O(carboxyl) hydrogen bond giving discrete units which have no extension except through a number of weak cation C-H...O(anion) associations and weak cation--anion aromatic ring pi-pi interactions [minimum centroid separation, 3.6815(12)A]. The anions are essentially planar [maximum deviation 0.214(1)A (a carboxyl O)] with the syn-related H atom of the carboxyl group forming a short intramolecular O-H...O(carboxyl) hydrogen bond.

Zero- one- and two-dimensional hydrogen-bonded structures in the 1:1 proton-transfer compounds of 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid with the monocyclic heteroaromatic Lewis bases 2-aminopyrimidine, nicotinamide and isonicotinamide

The structures of the anhydrous 1:1 proton-transfer compounds of 4,5-dichlorophthalic acid (DCPA) with the monocyclic heteroaromatic Lewis bases 2-aminopyrimidine, 3-(aminocarboxy) pyridine (nicotinamide) and 4-(aminocarbonyl) pyridine (isonicotinamide), namely 2-aminopyrimidinium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate C4H6N3+ C8H3Cl2O4- (I), 3-(aminocarbonyl) pyridinium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate C6H7N2O+ C8H3Cl2O4- (II) and the unusual salt adduct 4-(aminocarbonyl) pyridinium 2-carboxy-4,5-dichlorobenzoate 2-carboxymethyl-4,5-dichlorobenzoic acid (1/1/1) C6H7N2O+ C8H3Cl2O4-.C9H6Cl2O4 (III) have been determined at 130 K. Compound (I) forms discrete centrosymmetric hydrogen-bonded cyclic bis(cation--anion) units having both R2/2(8) and R2/1(4) N-H...O interactions. In compound (II) the primary N-H...O linked cation--anion units are extended into a two-dimensional sheet structure via amide-carboxyl and amide-carbonyl N-H...O interactions. The structure of (III) reveals the presence of an unusual and unexpected self-synthesized methyl monoester of the acid as an adduct molecule giving one-dimensional hydrogen-bonded chains. In all three structures the hydrogen phthalate anions are

Modelling urban public transit users' route choice behaviour: review and outlook

This paper reviews the main development of approaches to modelling urban public transit users’ route choice behaviour from 1960s to the present. The approaches reviewed include the early heuristic studies on finding the least cost transit route and all-or-nothing transit assignment, the bus common line problem and corresponding network representation methods, the disaggregate discrete choice models which are based on random utility maximization assumptions, the deterministic use equilibrium and stochastic user equilibrium transit assignment models, and the recent dynamic transit assignment models using either frequency or schedule based network formulation. In addition to reviewing past outcomes, this paper also gives an outlook into the possible future directions of modelling transit users’ route choice behaviour. Based on the comparison with the development of models for motorists’ route choice and traffic assignment problems in an urban road area, this paper points out that it is rewarding for transit route choice research to draw inspiration from the intellectual outcomes out of the road area. Particularly, in light of the recent advancement of modelling motorists’ complex road route choice behaviour, this paper advocates that the modelling practice of transit users’ route choice should further explore the complexities of the problem.