José Braga de Vasconcelos

An Organisational Memory Information System using Ontologies

O Acto de gerir adquiriu ao longo do tempo uma crescente complexidade. Cada vez sao mais as incertezas quanto ao seu resultado, e cada vez maior o numero de variaveis que tendem a influencia-la. Como tal, os Sistemas de Informacao sao hoje um recurso chave no apoio a tarefa “Gerir”. Nunca foi tao importante explorar ao maximo toda a informacao que prolifera numa dada organizacao. “Gerir e decidir em cenario de incerteza, com suporte probabilistico e intuicao, na procura constante de antecipar o futuro, actuando o mais cedo possivel, com um determinado nivel de risco. A informacao constitui o recurso-chave para a reducao da incerteza na gestao empresarial. Saber gerir a informacao de forma a apoiar a gestao global da unidade economica, e actualmente um dos principais desafios que se coloca as empresas” [Zorrinho, Carlos 1995]. Aproveitar os meios que as TIC (Tecnologias de Informacao e Comunicacao) disponibilizam, passou a ser nao somente um factor de sucesso mas essencialmente um factor de sobrevivencia.Apresenta-se um sistema de apoio a decisao (SAD) cujo principal objectivo e aplicar metodos formais de apoio a decisao, no âmbito da gestao de uma rede rodoviaria. Partindo de uma analise efectuada a dados disponibilizados pelo Instituto para a Conservacao e Exploracao da Rede Rodoviaria (ICERR), foi adaptada uma estrutura de dados que permitiu eliminar as redundâncias, inconsistencias e lacunas detectadas. O Sistema de Informacao (SI) desenvolvido corresponde aos requisitos fundamentais de um sistema de apoio a decisao (flexibilidade e interactividade), e permite a visualizacao dos resultados em ambiente grafico. Integra um Sistema de Informacao Geografica (SIG) – ArcView - e um Sistema de Gestao de Bases de Dados Relacional (SGBDR) - 4th Dimension. O metodo de apoio a decisao implementado foi o ELECTRE TRI, por se abordar este caso como sendo um problema de afectacao, de situacoes observadas, a classes que sao pre-definidas a partir de situacoes de referencia. A classificacao em classes tem por objectivo permitir ao Agente de Decisao (AD) tomar decisoes de forma coerente e fundamentada, no que respeita a afectacao de recursos (sempre escassos) para as operacoes de conservacao de uma rede de estradas.Neste artigo aborda-se o tema gestao do conhecimento nas organizacoes, apresentando-se o estudo de caso do Departamento de Informatica da Universidade da Beira Interior. Estuda-se o processo de geracao, transmissao e partilha de conhecimento no contexto deste Departamento e, propoe-se um Modelo de Gestao do Conhecimento que facilite a interaccao entre as pessoas, armazene e favoreca a partilha de informacao e conhecimento no Departamento. No modelo proposto, consideram-se dois niveis: o nivel organizacional e o nivel aplicacional/tecnologico. Ao nivel organizacional sao abordados os aspectos que devem ser considerados para implementar um processo de gestao do conhecimento no Departamento. Ao nivel aplicacional e desenvolvido um Sistema de Gestao do Conhecimento integrado na intranet do Departamento, suportado em tecnologias que facilitam o armazenamento e a partilha de informacao e conhecimento e que inclui, nomeadamente, documentacao cientifica e administrativa, fora de discussao e “melhores praticas”. O sistema serve de suporte ao modelo em termos organizacionais. Como abordagem metodologica adequada para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, foi escolhido um estudo de caso explicativo e interpretativo, recorrendo-se a triangulacao de metodos, atraves da administracao de um questionario, da observacao participante e da analise documental.Com a finalidade de auxiliar os usuarios, proporcionando recursos e procedimentos para um gerenciamento eficiente das informacoes, a Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina – Unisul implantou um Sistema Integrado de Gestao (Enterprise Resources Planning - ERP), apoiado por uma Arquitetura de Sistemas de Informacao (Information Systems Architecture - ISA). Este artigo apresenta algumas experiencias da implantacao do SAP/R3 e do uso do ARIS na reestruturacao da Unisul, para promover uma melhor integracao dos alunos, docentes e colaboradores aos processos de gestao universitaria, sendo que o aperfeicoamento e a manutencao destes sistemas e apoiada por um grupo de pesquisa, que tambem proporciona suporte e inovacao aos processos de aprendizagem que se vem praticando. Alem disso, descreve-se neste trabalho, uma abordagem do ensino de Reengenharia de Processos de Negocios (Business Process Re-engineering - BPR), considerando que mudancas tecnologicas possibilitam a execucao de tarefas, de modo bem diferente dos anteriores. Tendo em vista que a reestruturacao da universidade e a implantacao do ERP sao tarefas de longo prazo e que exigem melhorias continuas, o principal objetivo deste artigo e contribuir com a aplicacao de conceitos de integracao, mudancas organizacionais e tecnologicas nos procedimentos de ensino.Apresentamos um modelo para geracao automatica de programas para invocacao de transaccoes em sistemas ERP em operacao desconectada. O modelo estende estes sistemas para alem da sua natureza cliente-servidor tradicional, permitindo a existencia de um novo tipo de aplicacoes cliente, executaveis em PDA, capazes de invocar transaccoes das varias areas funcionais dos ERP. Este processo de geracao tem por base as API ja existentes nos ERP, permitindo a construcao de aplicacoes simples correspondentes aos processos elementares do negocio, com capacidade de sincronizacao com o sistema central.Compara-se neste artigo o papel dos Sistemas de Informacao e das Tecnologias de Informacao em duas industrias: texteis e do vestuario; e moldes de plastico. A comparacao e efectuada na optica da cooperacao entre empresas dessas industrias. A presenca mais intensa e generalizada de Sistemas Informacao e Tecnologias de Informacao na industria dos moldes de plastico favorece esta industria, na forma como se envolve em processos de cooperacao inter-organizacionais. A concentracao geografica das empresas das duas industrias em estudo, aponta para a existencia de clusters. No entanto, na industria de moldes de plastico, a evidencia de concentracao geografica das empresas ligadas a industria e mais forte do que para as industrias texteis e do vestuario. Este aspecto parece gerar maiores oportunidades de cooperacao.ERP implementation success is influenced by a large number of factors, which most of the times are difficult to measure objectively. User involvement and participation is one of the most cited critical success factors in ERP implementation projects, and one of the most critical ones for the their satisfactory outcome. This study attempts to define a set of metrics for monitoring user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects by using the Goals/Questions/Metrics method. The results of this work are twofold. First, a literature review is presented on the user involvement and participation topic as related with ERP implementation projects. And second, a Goals/Questions/Metrics preliminary plan is proposed to monitor and control user involvement and participation within ERP implementation projects.

A knowledge management approach to capture organizational learning networks

Abstract Effective knowledge management practices in organizations are focused on knowledge creation and knowledge transfer activities. Thus, intelligence and competencies matters at the organizational workplace. For most knowledge intensive organizations is fundamental the continuous availability and development of domain expertise. This paper describes an ongoing research project to develop an organizational knowledge architecture that is being specified and developed to support collaboration tasks as well as design and model predictive data analysis and insights for organizational development. The primary goal of this research is to create a suitable architecture for use, initially, in intranet (corporate portal) collaborative procedures, but also scalable for later use in more generic forms of ontology-driven knowledge management systems. The designed architecture and functionalities aim to create coherent web data layers for intranet learning and predictive analysis, defining the vocabulary and semantics for knowledge sharing and reuse projects. Regarding intellectual capital definition, this research argues that effective knowledge management are based on the dynamic nature of the organizational knowledge, and predictive data analysis and insights identification can transform and add value to an organization. This paper presents a knowledge management and engineering perspective (ontology based) for the application of predictive analysis and insights at the organizational (corporate) workplace towards the development of the organizational learning network.

A special issue on knowledge and competence management: Developing Enterprise solutions

Knowledge Management (KM) initiatives promote the management, i.e. the creation, storage and sharing, of knowledge assets within an organization. The practical focus of this special issue is to bring together researchers, professionals and practitioners to present recent developments on the knowledge and competence management areas. KM focuses on techniques of managing a common base of organizational knowledge that allows organizational groups and functions to coordinate their efforts and share knowledge across time, function, discipline and business activities. In addition, knowledge may be geographically distributed and stored in a variety of different representations, e.g. tacit knowledge in managers’ minds, and structured information in distributed databases.

Towards an Encompassing Maturity Model for the Management of Hospital Information Systems

Maturity models are tools that favour the management of organizations, including their information systems management task, and hospital organizations are no exception. In the present paper we put forth a preliminary investigation aimed at the development of an encompassing maturity model for the management of hospital information systems. The development of this model is justified to the extent that current maturity models in the field of hospital information systems management are still in an early development stage, and especially because they are poorly detailed, do not provide tools to determine the maturity stage nor structure the characteristics of maturity stages according to different influencing factors.

A Knowledge Management Approach for Software Engineering Projects Development

Aiming to emphasize the effect of knowledge management practices during software development projects, this research paper presents a first approach to cope with knowledge management and engineering practices across software development projects. The main goal is to define a roadmap for representative software development life cycle tasks during a typical software project development. The research introduces an ongoing architectural case study using software maintenance tasks as a means to enhance the knowledge flows within the organization. Software maintainers validate, correct and update knowledge from previous phases of software development life cycle through the application of back flushing technique at the software data warehouse. Further research developments will present a detailed guidance model for both research areas: knowledge management for software engineering combining insights across corporate software projects as a means of evaluating the effects on people and organization, technology, workflows and processes.

Health Data Analytics: A Proposal to Measure Hospitals Information Systems Maturity.

In the last five decades, maturity models have been introduced as reference frameworks for Information System (IS) management in organizations within different industries. In the healthcare domain, maturity models have also been used to address a wide variety of challenges and the high demand for hospital IS (HIS) implementations. The increasing volume of data, is exceeded the ability of health organizations to process it for improving clinical and financial efficiencies and quality of care. It is believed that careful and attentive use of Data Analytics (DA) in healthcare can transform data into knowledge that can improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency. A maturity model in this conjuncture, is a way of identifying strengths and weaknesses of the HIS maturity and thus, find a way for improvement and evolution. This paper presents a proposal to measure Hospitals Information Systems maturity with regard to DA. The outcome of this paper is a maturity model, which includes six stages of HIS growth and maturity progression.

A health data analytics maturity model for hospitals information systems

Abstract In the last five decades, maturity models have been introduced as reference frameworks for Information System (IS) management in organizations within different industries. In the healthcare domain, maturity models have also been used to address a wide variety of challenges and the high demand for hospital IS (HIS) implementations. The increasing volume of data, is exceeded the ability of health organizations to process it for improving clinical and financial efficiencies and quality of care. It is believed that careful and attentive use of Data Analytics in healthcare can transform data into knowledge that can improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency. A maturity model in this conjuncture, is a way of identifying strengths and weaknesses of the HIS maturity and thus, find a way for improvement and evolution. This paper presents a proposal to measure Hospitals Information Systems maturity with regard to Data Analytics. The outcome of this paper is a maturity model, which includes six stages of HIS growth and maturity progression.

Maturity Models for Hospital Information Systems Management: Are They Mature?

This paper introduces the concepts related with maturity models and analyses the evolution of maturity models for Information Systems Management and mainly the evolution of maturity models focused on the management of Hospital Information Systems. We concluded that current maturity models in the field of Hospital Information Systems management are still in an early development stage, and especially because they are poorly detailed, do not provide tools to determine the maturity stage nor structure the characteristics of maturity stages according to different influencing factors. Consequently, we consider opportune the development of a comprehensive maturity model to improve the Hospital Information Systems management.

Perioperative Data Science: A Research Approach for Building Hospital Knowledge

Perioperative care is changing through advances in technology with the aim of maximizing quality and value. Future transformation in care will be enabled by data and consequently by knowledge. This paper describes a knowledge management and data science research project and its results based on a study applied to the perioperative department at Hospital Dr. Nelio Mendonca between 2013 and 2015. Conservative practices, such as manual registry, are limited in their scope for preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative decision making, discovery, extent and complexity of data, analytical techniques, and translation or integration of knowledge into patient care. This study contributed to the perioperative decision making process improvement by integrating data science tools on the perioperative electronic system (PES) assembled. Before the PES implementation only 1,2% of the nurses registered the preoperative visit and after 87,6% registered it. Regarding the patient features it was possible to assess anxiety and pain levels. A future conceptual model for perioperative decision support systems grounded on data science should be considered as a knowledge management tool.

Decision Support Systems Based on Knowledge Management

This paper describes a knowledge management research project and specific results based on a case study applied to a set of hotel organisations in the Madeira Island. Information technology contributed to internet and intranet use, information systems and technology-based on knowledge. Hotel organisations endured radical changes in strategic decision-making for which knowledge management creates value and competitive advantage. The contribution of IS to strategic planning and decision making is low. This study evaluated the impact of IS through its maturity, in the decision-making process. Most of the decisions were based on experience (80%). The decision-making process was rated as “Good”. The evaluated maturity demonstrated that IS supported business strategy (84%) and provided flexible data for decision making (56%). A conceptual model for decision support systems (DSS) based on knowledge increases IS maturity by increasing the effectiveness of strategic decision-making and reducing the uncertainty and risk inherent to this process.