Panos Fitsilis

From Digital to Ubiquitous Cities: Defining a Common Architecture for Urban Development

Digital cities have been evolved from web applications and knowledge bases to smart urban environments. This evolution has mainly been based on broadband metro-networks and complex information systems, and it suggests the form of the future city that is called wireless/smart/digital or ubiquitous city. Although common practices are being developed all over the world, different priorities are defined and different architectures are followed. In this paper we summarize on the applied architectures of multiple city case studies, we use the experiences of the digital city of Trikala, Greece, and we conclude to a common Enterprise Architecture for digital city cases. This common architecture identifies the blue prints for urban information based development. Moreover, this paper presents a common architecture for service delivery in urban spaces.

Comparing PMBOK and Agile Project Management software development processes

The objective of this article is to compare a generic set of project management processes as defined in Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) with a number of agile project management processes. PMBOK is developed by Project Management Institute and it is structured around five process groups (initiating, planning, execution, controlling and closure) and nine knowledge areas (integration management, scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, human resource management, communication management, risk management, procurement management). On the other hand, agile software project management is based on the following principles: embrace change, focus on customer value, deliver part of functionality incrementally, collaborate, reflect and learn continuously. The purpose of this comparison is to identify gaps, differences, discrepancies etc. The result is that, agile project management methodologies cannot be considered complete, from the traditional project management point of view, since a number of processes either are missing or not described explicitly.

Supporting the Requirements Prioritization Process Using Social Network Analysis Techniques

Requirements management and prioritization is a complex process that should take into account requirements value for customers, cost of implementation, available resources, requirements interdependencies, system architecture and dependencies to the code base. In this paper we present how Social Network Analysis can be used in order to improve software requirements management and the prioritization process. The presented model is based on meta-networks where basic entities are combined for representing requirements priorities, interdependencies, required knowledge, etc.. The analysis of the model is illustrated with sample data and a number of examples.

Practices and problems in managing electronic services using SLAs

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to present the key areas of activity to be used for drafting service level agreements (SLAs) for electronic services and, at the same time, to present best practices and problems that arise from the application of this discipline.Design/methodology/approach – A range of recently published (2000‐2005) works has been reviewed, in order to: a) analyse how an SLA has to be defined and applied b) identify the applicable best practices and c) identify the problem areas.Findings – Provides guidance for the business and the Application Service Provider (ASP) when they want to engage in an outsourcing agreement by presenting best practices and problems that occur from the application of SLAs.Research limitations/implications – Suggests further research is needed in a number of research areas such as: development of semantic models for SLAs, development of flexible pricing models in relation with SLAs, definition of SLAs in cases of dynamic service creation, etc.Practical implicat...

Producing relational database schemata from an object oriented design

Although Object-Oriented Database Management Systems provide a direct mapping between problem domain and the way data are stored they are not yet as popular as Relational Database Management Systems. Storing objects in a relational database requires fitting them into tables. In this paper, a straightforward methodology for producing a Relational Database schema from an Object-Oriented Design is presented. The proposed approach provides a solution for mapping all object oriented constructions to tables. The strongest features of the approach are that it yields normalized schemata and can be easily automated. Finally, a high-level algorithm and a very simple example to illustrate the approach and its benefits, are given.<<ETX>>

What is the Source of Smart City Value?: A Business Model Analysis

Smart cities have attracted an increasing international scientific and business attention and an enormous niche market is being evolved, which engages almost all the business sectors. Being engaged in the smart city market is not free-of-charge and corresponding investments are extensive, while they usually concern innovation development and always demand careful planning. However, until today it is not clear how the smart city creates value to its stakeholders or simply how profit is being created. To this end, this paper performs an investigation on the smart city business models and utilizes decision making process with the contribution of smart city experts in order to conclude on the most appropriate one. This papers findings demonstrate that business models that are followed in practice by smart cities are different to the ones suggested in literature. Moreover, the decision making processes that were followed showed that the optimal choice is the ownership business model group and from its contents preferred the Open Business Model OBM, with the Municipal-Owned-Development MOD as an alternative option.

Measuring the Complexity of Software Projects

Software project complexity is a subject that has not received detailed attention. The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic way for studying and modeling software project complexity. The proposed model is based on the widely known and accepted Project Management Body of Knowledge and it uses a typology for modeling complexity based on complexity of faith, fact and interaction.

Object-oriented development for telecommunication services

Abstract In this paper an integrated object-oriented methodology for the development of telecommunication services is presented. Methodology integration refers to the capability to support development approaches that have multiple alternative perspectives. The proposed methodology is composed of three different models: the object model, the task model, and the architectural model. Each of these models gives emphasis to different system features. The object model is based on Coad and Yourdon object-oriented methodology and describes primarily the functionality and the data manipulated by the system. Since telecommunication service development has special requirements, some new features have been added to the methodology in order to support complexity handling and control. The task model describes the way the control is enforced within the system. Finally, the architectural model gives the actual layout and the task distribution of the system.

Social networks in smart cities: Comparing evaluation models

The aim of this paper is to identify and compare the evaluation models for social networks (SN) that can be installed in or utilized by a smart city. Evaluation purposes concern SN either selection or performance measurement. In this order, this paper investigates the SN domain with regard to the smart city. More specifically, it uses literature findings in order to demonstrate how SN can be evaluated in respect to the smart city and alternative model choices are discovered. Finally, it follows a multi-criteria decision making process with the contribution of smart city experts in order to conclude on the optimal evaluation model.

Classification of Software Projects’ Complexity

Software project complexity is a subject that has not received detailed attention. The purpose of this chapter is to present a systematic way for studying and modeling software project complexity. The proposed model is based on the widely known and accepted Project Management Body of Knowledge and it uses a typology for modeling complexity based on complexity of faith, fact, and interaction.