Evaluating an (implemented) Business Rules Management Solution (BRMS) is not a frequently conducted process within organizations. A tool is needed, which supports this process and supports future BRMS implementations. A literature study is conducted on the relevant building blocks of a BRMS. The results are validated through qualitative expert interviews. This resulted in the BRMS analysis tool that can be utilized to structure the analysis for one or multiple BRMS implementations. Next, the BRMS analysis tool is applied at 13 organizations that implemented a BRMS. The BRMS analysis tool provides the BRMS implementation stakeholders with a tool that structures, in a systematic and controlled way, that is capable to analyze a BRMS implementation for one or multiple organizations. This research contributes to structured and managed information which is important for better business and IT alignment. Furthermore, structured and managed information contributes towards the easier creation of a business case.
DOCUMENT
This paper presents an approach to organizational research that aims to produce research results that are both relevant and rigorous. The research approach combines the designing of a management tool with the testing of the tool using an action research methodology. The lack of relevance in organizational research is a much debated issue in literature. A design approach has been proposed to help bridge the gap between research and practice. However, in organizational research, there is little empirical evidence how design-based research works in practice and it is unclear how this type of research is best structured. The purpose of the paper is to illustrate what a comprehensive methodology for design-based research can look like and how an action research methodology can be used to test the design in practice.
DOCUMENT
Secondary school physical education (PE) teachers are continuously challenged to find ways to support students learning and motivate them for an active and healthy lifestyle. To address this complexity, continuing teacher professional development (TPD) is key. Technological tools can facilitate the effective delivery of TPD in this context. Successful implementation of this technology, however, is not self-evident. Based on the general aim of effectively integrating technologies in the educational process and focusing on the needs of educators, this study examines how the evidence-based theoretical TARGET framework for creating a motivating PE learning climate might be embedded into a digital professional development tool for PE teachers, useful in everyday practice. It presents a case study in which a multidisciplinary team of researchers, designers, and end-users iteratively went through several phases of need identification, idea generation, designing, development, and testing. By using a participatory approach, we were able to collect contextualized data and gain insights into users’ preferences, requirements, and ideas for designing and engaging with the tool. Based on these insights the TPD TARGET-tool for PE teachers was ultimately developed. The most prominent characteristics of this tool are (1) the combination of an evaluative function with teaching strategy support, (2) the strong emphasis on ease of use due to the complex PE teaching context, (3) the avoidance of social comparison, and suggestions of normative judgment, and (4) the allowance for a high level of customization and teacher autonomy.
DOCUMENT
The consumer electronics (CE) industry has high turnovers and a growing demand, such as on the home entertainment segment. At the same time, it generates e-waste of the order of a dozen million tons, about one quarter of the world's total. With the purpose of improving the environmental performance of businesses, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive was put in place in Europe. Given the high competitive environment of this industry, WEEE could be a clue for competitive edge. To create an environmental and economic win-win situation, however, companies have to master reverse logistics (RL). This is particularly challenging in fast clockspeed environments, as it is the case for the CE industry. In this paper, we develop a theoretically and empirically grounded diagnostic tool for assessing a CE company's RL practices and identifying potential for RL improvement, from a business perspective. To theoretically ground the tool, we combine specific CE literature with general theory on reverse logistics management and performance improvement. To empirically ground the tool, we collect field data by combining quantitative (a multiactor survey) with qualitative (interviews and company visits) methods. We demonstrate how our tool can be used to create awareness at senior management about the reverse logistics maturity state.
LINK
Background and aim – The aim of this paper is present how applicationof the innovative Indoor Comfort Index (ICI) method reveal the actualindoor environmental quality (IEQ) and the perceived IEQ and itsinfluence on office workers productivity. Application of this tool in a preand post-test after an office refurbishment, will reveal the effectivenessof this intervention. The development and application of this tool,emerged from education and research in facility management, led to aspin-off consultancy firm Vital Workplace.Methods – Actual measurements of the IEQ conditions, combined with users’ perceptions of the IEQ,before and after an office refurbishment, reveals the effectiveness of a refurbishment by analysing thedifferences between the pre and post-test with multiple statistical analyses.Results – Regarding the IEQ, the ICI reveals not only the actual performance of an office building, alsoif improved conditions contribute to improved comfort of office workers. In addition, the possibleinfluence of the IEQ on office workers productivity is revealed. This allows facility managers to determineand improve the alignment of environment quality with workers’ activities and performance.Originality – The tool combines actual and perceived environmental quality at office buildings.Practical or social implications – Education and research can be used to create spin-offs in facilitymanagement. The developed tool can be used to diagnose the current state of the office, a basis fordiscussion on related improvements, and by doing so, for a cost-benefit analyses of design interventionsat organizations. Showing if design impact on users outweigh the costs of real estate, refurbishment,and changes in operations.Type of paper – Research paper.
LINK
The Material Sample Management Tool is a label generator and database to support creative communities in documenting and sharing material experiments. It was designed around the idea of collaboratively building an archive of alternative design materials with an emphasis on materials that are easily renewable, reusable, (home) compostable within 90 days, locally abundant and make use of local waste streams. The open-source tool, which functions as a collaborative archive as well as label generator to help showcase material experiments, was developed to help any community of creatives (especially students) share them with peers online and offline, and showcase them the physical material wall in their shared workspaces, studios and tool shops.The “Material Sample Management Tool” was developed in 2020-2021 by AUAS computer engineering students Alec Wouda, Sam Overheul, Kostas Mylothridis, Mitchell de Vries and Jarno van der Velde, with wonderful guidance from Okechukwu Onwunli and the teaching team of the Enterprise Web Applications semester course.Entries into the material archive are produced by students in several courses at AUAS.This tool is part of a larger material archiving project funded by NWO by means of a Comenius Teaching Fellowship awarded to senior lecturer and researcher Loes Bogers. In close collaboration with Textile Lab Amsterdam at Waag, a dedicated project team consisting of design educators, researchers and partners at Waag will develop archiving tools for sharing research into sustainable design materials in higher education. The project is inspired by, and a continuation of the Material Archive developed at Waag by Cecilia Raspanti, Maria Viftrup and other (2017-2019). The project will run until January 2022.The project is further supported by the AUAS learning community on Critical Making and Research through Design: a partnership between the Amsterdam Fashion Institute and various research groups at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences: Fashion Research & Technology Visual Methodologies Collective Play and Civic MediaCC BY-NC-SA 4.0 (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0)
LINK
The Technical Manual for the digital evaluation tool QualiTePE supports users of the QualiTePE tool in creating, conducting and analysing evaluations to record the quality of teaching in physical education. The information on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) instructs users on how to anonymise the data collection of evaluations and which legal bases apply with regard to the collection of personal data. The technical manual for the digital evaluation tool QualiTePE and the information on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are available in English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Slovenian, Czech and Greek.
DOCUMENT
Met de toenemende drukte in de stad neemt ook het autogebruik toe. Deze toename zorgt voor extra druk op de veiligheid en gezondheid voor mens en natuur. Om de negatieve impact van verkeer te mitigeren kan gekeken worden naar strengere eisen aan hinder en uitstoot. Met Smooth Traffic Management (STM) wordt gewerkt aan het verminderen van de negatieve verkeerseffecten rond ‘gevoelige locaties’ door bestuurders middels een navigatiesysteem een alternatieve, omgevingsbewuste route aan te bieden.
DOCUMENT
The main question in this PhD thesis is: How can Business Rules Management be configured and valued in organizations? A BRM problem space framework is proposed, existing of service systems, as a solution to the BRM problems. In total 94 vendor documents and approximately 32 hours of semi-structured interviews were analyzed. This analysis revealed nine individual service systems, in casu elicitation, design, verification, validation, deployment, execution, monitor, audit, and version. In the second part of this dissertation, BRM is positioned in relation to BPM (Business Process Management) by means of a literature study. An extension study was conducted: a qualitative study on a list of business rules formulated by a consulting organization based on the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission risk framework. (from the summary of the Thesis p. 165)
DOCUMENT
Vanuit Fontys Hogescholen wordt veel onderzoek gedaan, met name door onderzoekers van de verschillende lectoraten. Vanzelfsprekend worden er binnen deze onderzoeken veel data verzameld en verwerkt. Fontys onderschrijft het belang van zorgvuldige omgang met onderzoeksdata en vraagt daarom van onderzoekers dat zij hun Research Data Management (RDM) op orde hebben. Denk hierbij aan veilige opslag en duurzame toegankelijkheid van data. Maar ook (open access) publiceren en archiveren van onderzoeksdata maken onderdeel uit van RDM. Hoe je hier als onderzoeker invulling aan geeft kan soms best een zoektocht zijn, mede doordat nog niet iedereen even bekend is met het onderwerp RDM. Met dit boek hopen we onderzoekers binnen Fontys de belangrijkste informatie te bieden die nodig is om goed invulling te geven aan Research Data Management en daarbij ook te wijzen op de ondersteuning die op dit gebied voorhanden is.
DOCUMENT
