Karsten Boye Rasmussen

The data documentation initiative: the value and significance of a worldwide standard

Effective secondary analysis of social science data requires good documentation. Especially because Internet access has become standard, the problems of reading and understanding the contents of data files have become acute. Resolving these problems requires standards for documenting data, as well as standard formats for both data and documentation that can be read and displayed by computers and software anywhere in the world. To define a documentation standard, representatives of North American and European survey research and data archive organizations have created a Data Documentation Initiative (DDI). This article discusses the value and significance of that effort for the social sciences.

An information support service for moderators of SME company networks

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the management process in company networks. A new information support service can assist network managers in the complex task of orchestrating members of the network to so‐called network actor sets (NAS) that deliver the “best fit” for incoming inquiries.Design/methodology/approach – A corresponding conceptual framework and system approach is developed. The proposed system employs a pragmatic two‐phase multi‐criteria scoring scheme for orchestrating NAS under consideration of the specific needs of inquiries and, too, the company network as a whole.Findings – The research indicates that the orchestration of NAS may be effectively performed by a corresponding information technology (IT) support service. Through the service orchestration decisions may become less influenced by human factors. The service will also lead to better transparency, traceability, and analytical possibilities regarding the inquiry management process. Networks with a high number of members and ...

A Decision and Transparency Support Service for Moderation Management of Virtual Enterprises in Collaborative Networks

Successful management of collaborative business in company networks calls for efficient moderator processes in assigning companies to a particular request. The moderator makes configuration decisions that generate a Virtual Enterprise (VE) as a set of companies from the network members. Alternative configurations are evaluated and the most fitting VE configuration is chosen. The moderator is furthermore required to make the configuration decisions transparent in order to achieve decision acceptance by the network members. We present corresponding information technology based services that allow moderators to meet these requirements by supporting the decision making as well as supporting the distribution of the corresponding decision information. The decision support service computes ranked configuration alternatives according to a given search profile. The transparency support service generates decision explanations which contain the rationale behind the final decision as well as both the aggregated decision information and individualized data directed towards the single company.

Obtaining informedness in collaborative networks through automated information provisioning – a modelling framework and active database system approach

Successful collaboration in business networks calls for well-informed network participants. Members who know about the many aspects of the network are an effective vehicle to successfully resolve conflicts, build a prospering collaboration climate and promote trust within the network. The importance of well-informed network participants has led to the concept of network participant informedness which is derived from existing theories and concepts for firm informedness. It is possible to support and develop well-informed network participants through a specialised IT-based active information provisioning service. This article presents a corresponding modelling framework and a rule-based approach for the active system capabilities required. Details of a prototype implementation building on concepts of the research area of active databases are also reported.

Informedness in Collaborative Networks through Active Information Provisioning

Successful collaboration in business networks calls for well-informed network participants. Members who know about the many aspects of the network are an effective vehicle to promote trust within the network, successfully resolve conflicts, and build a prospering collaboration climate. The importance of well-informed network participants has lead to our concept of network participant informedness which is derived from existing theories and concepts for firm informedness. Through a specialized IT based active information provisioning service it is possible to effectively obtain well informed network participants. A corresponding modeling framework and a rule based approach for the needed active system capabilities are presented.

Information Support Services for Intermediation Tasks of Collaborative Networks

Companies in collaborative networks require intermediation to perform. The collaborative network forms the breeding environment for the configuration of a Virtual Enterprise that can handle a business request. This configuration task can be supported by IT services. For collaborative networks such as production networks focused on non-digital services and products we propose to assign specific intermediation tasks to a human network moderator supported by these IT services. The obvious support is targeted for the configuration of the Virtual Enterprise i.e. the search and selection from the available products, services, and competences found among the network participants. The configuration decision can jeopardize the network performance by harming the trust necessary to build new Virtual Enterprises. Through a further intermediation task trust can be inspired and promoted in the network. This article shows how the configuration is supported by a Decision Support Service and how a Transparency Support Service supports the downloading and acceptance of decisions in collaborative networks. The article outlines the IT supportive service system and exemplifies the use by a scenario example. Results on intermediation in collaborative networks can prove helpful for general service science problems.

Circumventing nonresponse - upgrading traditional company survey data with unobtrusive data from company websites

To validate a survey of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), we tested the similarity between respondents and nonrespondents using traditional methods of supplemental data collection. Additionally we also applied mixed methods by enhancing the survey data with data obtained by a novel unobtrusive method: observation of company websites. The website data were obtained through human collection of characteristics of the homepage with observation of functional items that were coded and combined into an index for general website quality. Analysis of these data supported the validity of the original survey and exhibited a positive significant correlation between the survey index for use of information technology (IT) and the website quality index. The finding supports unobtrusive website observation as an appropriate data collection substitute.

Adaptable Information Provisioning in Collaborative Networks: An Object Modeling Framework and System Approach

Well-informed network participants are a necessity for successful collaboration in business networks. The widespread knowledge of the many aspects of the network is an effective vehicle to promote trust within the network, successfully resolve conflicts, and build a prospering collaboration climate. Despite their natural interest in being well informed about all the different aspects of the network, limited resources, e.g. time restrictions of the participants, often prevents reaching an appropriate level of shared information. It is possible to overcome this problem through the use of an active information provisioning service that allows users to adapt the provisioning of information to their specific needs. This paper presents an extensible information modeling framework and also additional complementary concepts that are designed to enable such an active provisioning service. Furthermore, a high-level architecture for a system that offers the targeted information provisioning service is described.

A Service for Robust Decision Downloading in Collaborative Networks

Theory and observations about the positive influence of robust decision downloading among the employees within single companies can be related to the context of Collaborative Networks were a moderator makes decisions on behalf of the network. Especially, configuration decisions that generate a Virtual Enterprise arranged from the network members must be downloaded robustly within the network. Otherwise, the network collaboration climate can be damaged since in such decisions the network is separated in members that are included and others that are excluded from participation in the Virtual Enterprise. We present an information technological service that generates and downloads explanations from data about the network and about configuration decisions within the network. Through this service robust decision downloading can be performed effectively and with little time effort by moderators thus contributing to a successful network.