Gunnar Auth

Campus Management System

In recent years, integrated application systems became generally known in the sector of higher education as campus management systems (CMS). The focus is similar to concepts that have proven to be effective for integrated information management within companies in the form of enterprise resource planning (ERP) or merchandise planning and control systems: Data integration using a common database, integration of functions by avoiding redundant functions, and process integration by implementation of cross-functional activity flows. In connection with the diffusion of both Internet access and portal concepts an increasing importance of service has evolved. Accordingly, webbased self-service features support students, teachers, and others in performing their tasks (Pollock 2003). The overall goal in designing and implementing an integrated CMS is to advance both the efficiency and the effectiveness of the entire study organization, and as a consequence, improving the quality of teaching and learning. From the perspective of the university, the most important exogenous drivers for the emergence of CMS include: 1. The Bologna Process (an agreement among European governments on the unification of higher education), which added a significant amount of administrative work regarding the organization of courses and examinations. In particular, medium-sized and large universities are no longer able to handle the complexity of module combinations, the registrations of modules in several programs, or the calculations of credit points without any support of database application systems (Schilbach et al. 2009). As a result, the German Rectors’ Conference has recommended the universities to use suitable software, consistent with the objectives and instruments of the Bologna process (n. a. 2009). Furthermore, integrated application systems will avoid the known shortcomings of isolated solutions. 2. Universities face an increasing competition for students, academics and financial resources in both the national and the international context. Therefore, they need to improve the quality of both their services as well as their service delivery, for example within the framework of the Excellence Initiative of the German federal and state governments. In particular, future generations of students, who grew up in the Internet age, take electronic services such as e-learning or self-service for granted. Universities try to meet this demand by pursuing “eScience” strategies that aim to support all scientific fields and activities with new electronic media. According to Igel (2007, p. 70), this development will change both the internal and the external perception of higher education more fundamentally than many previously enacted laws and regulations. 3. In analogy to other industries standard software packages have emerged for the consistent support of higher education processes. They replace proprietary software which was developed for specific functional areas of higher education only. Commercial providers now offer a solution to a variety of users with the same or similar requirements. On the one hand this leads to more professional software development and maintenance processes, but on the other also to an increased dependency from the solution providers and the necessity to adapt the software to the individual university structures. Although a number of universities are currently replacing their existing systems by a CMS (Schilbach et al. 2009), the sector of higher education is only at the beginning, especially when compared to other industries. The identified drivers initially point to the well-known interaction between organizational and technological design: Integrated application systems are enablers of change for organizational structures in higher education whose design, in turn, determines the system’s benefits. Thus, a CMS implementation is not only a challenge for technological realization but also for the modification of the entire organizational system “university”.

Innovationsorientiertes IT-Management mit DevOps

Das Kapitel liefert einen Uberblick zu Methoden, die sich fur ein innovationsorientiertes ITM im Zeitalter des Software-defined Business anbieten. Im Mittelpunkt stehen dabei Methoden der agilen Softwareentwicklung, die von Continuous Integration uber Continuous Delivery und Testing hin zu Continuous Deployment reichen. Das Kapitel beschreibt DevOps als „Klammer“ um diese Methoden, die neben Automation auch die Prinzipien Culture, Measurement und Sharing umfasst. Dazu schlagt es u.a. ein DevOps-Modell entlang des Dreiecks Kunde, Entwicklung und Betrieb (KEB) vor.

Transformation of Consulting for Software-Defined Businesses: Lessons from a DevOps Case Study in a German IT Company

Digital transformation is occurring across all industries and leads to the presence of information technology (IT) in business processes, products/services and business models. Consulting companies are important enablers in this transformation and contribute knowledge on the (re)design of strategies, processes and systems. At the same time, this involves a change in consulting itself, since the classical distinction of consulting sectors is increasingly blurring. To compete in digital innovation, consulting companies require IT knowledge, in particular, in the domain of software. In view of a growing “softwarization“ of products and services, this chapter argues that consulting companies need to establish skills in efficiently providing software-based solutions. This represents an opportunity for traditional consulting companies, but also for traditional software companies to move towards consulting. Based on agile software engineering methodologies, this chapter conceives DevOps as a promising approach for linking customer requirements with software development and operation. A case study from the German IT company T-Systems Multimedia Solutions is used to formulate a more generic implementation model as well as experiences, which in turn contribute to enhancing the body of knowledge in the DevOps field.

Fallbeispiel T-Systems MMS

Diese Kapitel beschreibt die Einfuhrung eines innovationsorientierten ITM mittels DevOps bei der T-Systems Multimedia Solutions GmbH (T-Systems MMS). Das Fallbeispiel illustriert die strategische Bedeutung von DevOps fur ein IT-Unternehmen und die zentrale Funktion der IT-Abteilung als Innovationstreiber. Unter Verwendung der DevOps-Prinzipien Culture, Automation, Measurement und Sharing strukturiert das Kapitel die Masnahmen bei T-Systems MMS zum DevOps-Einfuhrungsprogramm, zur individualisierten DevOps-Pipeline, zum Erfahrungsaustausch und zu den wichtigsten Auswirkungen.

Implikationen für ein innovationsorientiertes ITM mit DevOps

Das Kapitel fasst die Wirkungen eines „Software-defined Business“ fur Unternehmen zusammen und liefert Implikationen fur eine individuelle Umsetzung von DevOps in Unternehmen. Die Erkenntnisse aus der Fallstudie unterstreichen, dass Unternehmen zur Umsetzung der DevOps-Prinzipien „CAMS“ umfassend eigene Rahmenbedingungen, Ablaufe und Infrastrukturen schaffen mussen, damit das im Buch als „KEB“ formulierte Zusammenspiel von Betrieb, Entwicklung und Kunde zu den beabsichtigten Wirkungen fuhren kann.

Digitalisierung, Innovation und IT-Management

Das Grundlagenkapitel fasst die langjahrigen Entwicklungen in den Gebieten Digitalisierung, Innovationsmanagement und IT-Management (ITM) als Grundlage eines innovationsorientierten ITM zusammen. Es systematisiert dafur die Treiber der Digitalisierung ebenso wie die Wirkprinzipien bei IT-basierten Innovationen und die wichtigsten Entwicklungstufen im ITM.

Digitale Transformation und Software-defined Business

Das Einfuhrungskapitel motiviert den Wandel der betrieblichen Informationstechnologie (IT) von einer Unterstutzungs- („Support“) und Ermoglichungs- („Enabler“) hin zu einer Treiberfunktion („Driver“). Diese Entwicklung ist masgeblich mit der Digitalisierung und der erhohten Relevanz der Software verbunden, wie sie das Software-defined Business kennzeichnet. Der noch junge DevOps-Ansatz gilt als eine Perspektive, um die auf hohe Stabilitat ausgerichtete Welt des IT-Betriebs mit der auf schnelle Bereitstellung kundenorientierter Losungen konfrontierten Welt der agilen Softwareentwicklung zu verbinden.