Katarina Ćurko

Business Intelligence and Business Process Management in Banking Operations

Success of banking operations is strongly correlated with the quality of customer relations and efficacy of banks processes. Banks seek means for efficient analysis of vast amount of gathered data from their IT systems. They are exploiting business intelligence (BI) technology to analyze every aspect of their data to understand behavior of their clients, striving to satisfy clients needs, in an endless race for a competitive advantage in the market. The intention of this paper is to review and discuss the most significant applications of business intelligence in banking as well as point to new technology trends that will affect banks development.

Effects and evaluation of open government data initiative in Croatia

The paper is a follow-up to a previous paper where the authors described how users in a small transitional country perceive open government data. It gives an overview of the characteristics of the open data and the current state of a recently started implementation of an open data initiative in Croatia. Since the process involves a series of actions, the following questions need to be answered: what are the effects of an open data initiative and how could these effects be valued? As a starting point in answering these questions we provide an overview of current research initiatives on how to value effects of open government data. Approaches to open data research are usually classified into three broad groups: open data readiness assessments; open data implementation studies; and impact studies. We also bring an overview of the evaluation frameworks already in place in countries where open data initiatives are on the top of the political and social agenda. As a result, in this paper we propose actions in the areas of law and policy, as well as in the areas of organization and technology, which could benefit Croatias economic growth and democratic empowerment, as suggested by open data advocates.

Bad practices in complex IT projects

Complex IT projects, such as information systems development or ERP implementation, are often unsuccessful due to bad project management, inappropriate methodological approach or ignoring good practice. The paper considers typical and frequently repeated mistakes in IT projects known as bad practice and describes the ways of avoiding them. Bad practices are the signs of either management, methodological or communication problems that have to be avoided during the project lifetime.