Research proposal

Research proposalIntroductionThe seek proposal you argon near to read is constructed in secernate to describe the look into be sick I go forth execute. I imparting execute this research insure in order to finalize the educational program ICT in worry at Leiden University. In this proposal I leave give the documentary and explain the methodology of this research. First, I all toldow for leap out with an introduction of the report and the theoretical background.The research allow for be hosted and supervised by Getronics Consulting and depart be executed at the Business Unit groundbreaking applied science (BUIT). The time span of this research will be 24 weeks. diligenceThis research will be foc utilize on the Dutch ICT consultancy assiduity. This industry suits my interests and the friendship I gained during the educational program ICT in Business.Getronics ConsultingGetronics Consulting is an ICT Consultancy firm which operates in various marketplaces want f inancial, industrial, educational, public and healthc atomic number 18. Getronics Consulting advises companies on their ICT-strategy and executes ICT reorganizations based on knowledge just close current ICT-architectures. They streamline and integrate populate, process and technology in order to create a reliable ICT-architecture which is well-disposed anywhere at any time. Getronics Consulting has already 20 years vex in IT operate Management and has a working force of 1400 scramd professionals.The ambitionGetronics Consulting wants to be known as the opinion leader in the ara of wind standards and advanced selective nurture and conversation technologies. Business and ICT-trends argon translated into concrete and in operation(p) products and services. They state that every seam process of necessity a nonher ICT start and call themselves architects of the invisible.The processionIn their salute in improving ICT-services, they legitimateize all aspects of the or ganization people, products, partners and processes. From that perspective, Getronics Consulting offers dungeon in setting up and optimizing ICT organizations. The ism is to enable employees to do their work more efficient.Business Unit Innovative TechnologyThe Business Unit Innovative Technology (BUIT) is a competence center in the field of tissue national Management and ( coactionism) portals. The guest base includes assorted organizations throughout the Netherlands varying from government, energy, media and logistical service returnrs. The tools hired by BUIT are SDL Tridion and Microsoft SharePoint.The execution of successful ICT projects is based on the collaboration between People, Process and Technology. These technologies employ by BUIT support the node inquires in various miens and are part of Enterprise Content Management (electronic countermeasures).Enterprise Content ManagementThe Association for Information and film Management (AIIM), in any case known a s the electronic countermeasures association defines ECM asThe strategies, methods and tools apply to capture, manage, store, preserve, and deliver core and documents related to organizational processes. ECM tools and strategies will the circumspection of an organizations unstructured development, wherever that nurture exists (AIIM, 2008, What is ECM?, para.1.).The solutions offered by BUIT are within the manage category. This category has five traditional cover areas (Kampffmeyer, 2004)Document Management (DM)Collaboration net Content Management (WCM) eternize Management (RM)Workflow/business process management (BPM)BUIT has the focus on dickens application areas collaboration and WCM. The guest necessarily are back up with contrastive solutions (Tridion SharePoint) around the stand menti angiotensin converting enzyme(a)d mentioned application areas.The approachGetronics Consulting brought structure into the approach of their projects. They based this approach on th e experiences of projects executed in the past. These experiences are bundled into opera hat practices which are based on the eBusiness Development Cycle. The eBusiness Development Cycle consists of vi phases. I will elaborate on these phases to give an explanation of the almost important activities.StrategyKnowing the mission, vision and goals of the customer is important in order to learn in what direction that organization wants to move. A take a leak business case is delivered which describes the attention deficit disordered-value of the desired solution. second, a conceptual radiation diagram is created. This blueprint will describe the building blocks of the system in a operating(a) as well as a expert manner. A flexible and modular architecture is the fundamental idea which enables serve wellalities to be added in the incoming with minimal adaptations. This blueprint will in addition function as a starting point of the second phase.PreparationDuring this phase, s everal analyses will be done. First, to prolongher with the customer, the sources of data which pick out to be exposeded up are identified. In otherwise words, what kind of business message does the customer adopt and for what purpose. Secondly, a prioritized list of the desired functionalities is created. This document will describe the need-to- scores and the nice-to- bring ons. Also, a s arse of the al-Qaeda is performed in order to compare the current infrastructure with the desired infrastructure. This scan will identify possible technical bottlenecks. by and by these analyses, the organization itself will be analyzed in order to get a general picture and to see how the sassy solution would enclothe in. The master(prenominal) purpose is to define which processes, responsibilities and tasks are related to the cooperatedesk, technical management and functional- or application management.Finally, all he cultivation gained from the analyses will be the input of the proj ect plan. This plan will be created based on the project management methodology Price2.DesignDuring the excogitate phase, several headings will be expanded in detail. These formulas are the basic foundation of what should be built during realization. The designs to be delivered are infrastructural design, graphical design, functional design and technical design. acceptation criteria will be written down by the customer. These criteria will be used at a later stage in order to test if the delivered product friction matches the customers criteria.Every carrying out necessitate its acceptation. Acceptation within the organization is a crucial factor of the success of an implementation. Therefore, an integrating plan is created which describes the tasks, responsibilities and processes in such a way the customer understands how they should fate with them.RealizationThe designs of the latter phase are approved and BUIT will start with the implementation of the infrastructure and t he development of custom components. External functionalities and connections will also be realized.Finally, all the realized functionalities will be time-tested consort to the acceptation criteria before the actual implementation takes place.ImplementationDuring this phase, existing content will be migrated to the naked as a jaybird system according to the migration plan. The users of these new functionalities will be trained properly. Also, the apply system will be tested in order see how it performs and what kind of influence it has on the environment. The users are the last ones testing the system. Again, this is based on the acceptation criteria. During this test, the users will look into the usability and user interfaces of the system.Bugs, found during the tests will be fixed and last only when not least the system will go live including the talk to the end-users.MaintenanceThe maintenance phase is the practicable situation after implementation of the complete system . The emphasis of this phase lies on proper documentation in order to simplify and support future developments and decisions. If necessary, backup- and observe processes can be arranged. In the end, an evaluation of the project and its output will be executed. customer broadcastulateThe customer requests received by BUIT are especially intimately online collaboration and the publication of business tuition ( net Content Management). Today, these processes are back up by internet technologies. The following sections will elaborate on these customer needs. web Content ManagementCustomers have the need to maintain business information in an easy and intuitive way and deliver it accessible for those who are authorized to see the content. Information should not be confused around the organization accessible via distinct chopines, un little via one exchange plan. Organizational members should also be able to add content to this platform.Adding and maintaining information is on e thing, finding the information is another important feature. Organizations have the need to find information via one central search engine which mines different business information sources. nigh information is confidential and should only be accessible via the intranet. Organizations can also have the need to share information with the outside orbit. Think about jobs, news etc.CollaborationCollaboration, congenital for improving productivity, becomes more and more important as global market opportunities and competition increase (Soriano, Lizcano, Caas, Reyes, Hierro, 2007). Today, there are all kinds of collaboration platforms addressable. BUIT is specialized in Microsoft SharePoint. Microsoft SharePoint is an enterprise platform which supports organizations with collaboration. SharePoint enables people to access diverse resources of information via one platform regardless the devices they have available (Microsoft, 2009). rice beer in new technologiesBUIT notices the emerge nce of new technologies and is interested in how these new tools are able to support their current and near-future customer needs. With these new technologies I confer with to entanglement 2.0 technologies. BUITs assumptions about Web 2.0 are not rare. Some researchers come up with statements which add even more interrogative marks. concord to Tedennick (2006) Web 2.0 technologies have the advantage of adaptability to the business environment and responsiveness to ever-changing business information needs. He argues that Web 2.0 technologies may offer real benefits in business environments where information plays a vital berth. Bughin and numerousika (2007) vocalize that Web 2.0 technologies rely on user collaboration.For BUIT, this raises a couple of questions. What should we do with Web 2.0? Should we embrace Web 2.0, if yes, why? And what are the benefits of Web 2.0 when living our customers needs?Web 2.0Nowadays, new technologies emerged under the label Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is a label coined by OReilly (2005) to describe new ensamples which emerged due to the changes occurred by the use of internet. These patterns do not describe the technology exactly describe the way people share information, contribute to collective knowledge, collaborate and interact with all(prenominal) other. Although this explanation is not about technologies, technologies play a significant role in Web 2.0. As Shah et al. (2005) state in their essay about Web 2.0 The technologies behind Web 2.0 provide a profuseer user experience and make use of information in unique ways (Introduction, para.1). suppositional backgroundLike many researchers and organization the Association for Information and paradigm Management (AIIM) has also his own opinions about Web 2.0. They state that Many organizations see value in use Web 2.0 tools or genial parcel within their organizations for reformd collaboration and innovation, and this is then often referred to as Enterprise 2.0 (AIIM, 2008 , What is Web 2.0?, para.2). The AIIM (2008) defines Enterprise 2.0 as a system of nedeucerk-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities in the protracted enterprise (What is Web 2.0?, para.1).An important link with this assume is that Web 2.0 seems to improve collaboration (AIIM, 2008). Organizations, primarily located in the US are provision to maintain and increase investments in technologies which encourages collaboration (Bughin Manyika, 2007). Unfortunately, the literature gives no reason about the Dutch interests and investments in Web 2.0.Tredinnick (2006) has the most interesting statements regarding the interests of BUIT. He claims that The key to Web 2.0 is harnessing the ways in which users use information to add value to information (either through direct or indirect user-participation) in creating the information sources that they use (p.232). This is in relation with the current custom er needs. As you could read in chapter 2, in the most abstract form, customers have the need to publish information and enable the access to multiple sources of information. Another expiration of Tredinnick (2006) suggests a benefit for the customer needs Web 2.0 technologies also allow a far greater degree of collaboration in the mental hospital of content. (p.233)Not only Tedinnick talks about Web 2.0 benefits regarding collaboration. Soriano et al. (2007) says that Enterprise 2.0 provides enterprises with new models and tools for emergent collaboration and co-creation (Introduction, para.1).Clearly, Web 2.0 has a relation to customer needs regarding WCM and collaboration. Unfortunately, we do not know which elements of Web 2.0 offer what kind of benefits. It would be interesting to know which specific Web 2.0 patterns can offer benefits in supporting the customer needs described in chapter 2.Web 2.0 design patternsOReilly described his ideas about Web 2.0 through seven design p atterns 1) the wind vane as a platform 2) harnessing collective intelligence 3) entropy is the adjacent Intel inside 4) end of the bundle release cycle 5) lightweight program models 6) software extravagantlyer up the level of a single device and, 7) rich user experience.The meshing as platformThe internet can be seen as a platform through which the users are committed and collaborating with apiece other. The platform can be seen as the core which binds the elements of Web 2.0 together. Facebook use the pattern the web as a platform. Facebook, an online tender network enables people to connect with each other and share and access information. Their mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected (Facebook, 2010). Facebook (2010) also provides the programmatic interfaces that make it easy, quick, and efficient to share and access information.Harnessing incarnate IntelligenceToday, the web connects 1.7 billion users with each other (I nternet World Stats, 2010). The web enables these users to add content to the web and collaborate with each other. This means users are collectively participating. They bring structure to information by tagging the information (OReilly, 2005). rock about topics in their blogs (short for Web Log) and sharing their knowledge trough online encyclopedia like Wikipedia (OReilly, 2005).Data is the next Intel insideThe web is all about finding, sharing and enriching information. virago, the online store for books and electronics gets his information about books from ISBN registry provider R.R. Bowker. Amazon and its users enrich this information by adding covers, previews, comments and reviews about the books. The ISBN registry is also available to the competitors of Amazon, but the value added by amazon and their users is hard to copy by competitors. The enriched information is whence Amazons Intel inside.End of the software release cycleNormally, software is released when totally fini shed and tested. When this is not the case, it gets labeled as Beta which indicates that the software is not totally finished and needs some testing. In the world of Web 2.0, users are the testers and provide the vendor with feedback, or even help improve the software by co-development. This beta version gets modifyd regularly but never becomes a final version. Vendors use real time monitoring to track user behavior in order to make changes in their software (OReilly, 2005).Lightweight programming modelsThis pattern could also be explained by Web Services and RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Web Services are protocols which make it easier for different systems to communicate with one another automatically in order to pass information or conduct transactions. For example, a retailer and supplier use Web Services to communicate over the internet and update each others inventory systems (Bughin Manyika, How Business are Using Web 2.0 A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007).These Web Servic es are lightweight and could be used to pull or push information between systems.RSS enables users to aggregate information from various sources. Users can gunmanscribe to web puts and blogs or other information sources. The content gets separated from its design and can be used anywhere.Software above the level of a single deviceIn the Web 1.0 paradigm, the web was only accessible via a single device. Nowadays, the web is accessible via a wide range of devices e.g. mobile phones, televisions, game consoles, MP3-playes, PDAs etc. These devices are connected to the platform which enables users to stay in touch virtually anywhere at any time.Rich user experienceLast but not the least the rich user experience pattern is about the immensity of an internet application. These applications are also called Rich Internet Application (RIA). A RIA is an internet application, viewed via the web browser where the user experiences a richer environment which is like to a desktop application.Rese arch fair gameThe objective of this research is to check the benefits of Web 2.0 regarding WCM and Collaboration activities. In other words, what is the benefit for an organization to have Web 2.0 support their Web Content Management and collaboration activities? In order to see the benefits I will need to compare the aged situation with the new Web 2.0 situation. With the old situation I refer to how the WCM and Collaboration activities are support today. The new situation refers to a situation where an organization utilize one or more Web 2.0 design patterns in order to support their activities.Measuring the difference between the two situations requires a measurement cats-paw. Having the validation in mind, this should be the said(prenominal) instrument for both the situations in order to make a valid comparison. Therefore, I will use the conceptual fabric described in chapter 5.The low gear step of this research is to find out which processes are demanding what kind of i nformation properties and with what degree (e.g. high accuracy of information). The second step is to look at new technologies referred to as Web 2.0 and check into how they support WCM and Collaboration. The focus is on the level of information properties. So, how do Web 2.0 design patterns perform regarding the demanded information properties. It could be that a design pattern causes information to be break away accessible.Managerial relevanceThis research will be relevant because ICT Consultancy companies like Getronics Consulting gain insight in the benefits Web 2.0 might offer when supporting their customers processes related to Web Content Management and Collaboration.Due to the abstract approach of this research, near-future processes which require certain information properties could be matched with Web 2.0 design patterns.academic relevanceNowadays, Web 2.0 is a hot research topic. Researchers are nerve-racking to find out how businesses are using Web 2.0 (Bughin Manyik a, How Business Are Using Web 2.0 A McKinsey Global Survey, 2007) what impact Web 2.0 has on enterprise applications (Adobe, 2007) and Web 2.0 Business A pointer to the intranets of the future? (Tredinnick, 2006). The check over done by Bughin and Manyika tells us that the corporate world has a promiscuous interest in Web 2.0 technologies. Respondents of their survey say they are using Web 2.0 technologies to communicate with customers and business partners help manage knowledge internally share and gather ideas and for automation and collaboration.(Tredinnick, 2006) explored the application of Web 2.0 technologies to business intranets, and their probable use in managing and developing business information and knowledge assets.The latter mentioned authors lack to describe information properties required by the processes of the organizations and how Web 2.0 touch on these properties. New knowledge could be created by finding out which and how Web 2.0 patterns affect the inform ation properties. Another issue from the latter mentioned papers is that they mainly surveyed the US and only some European countries like Germany, France and the U.K. Since this research will be executed inside the Netherlands based on organizational needs from Dutch companies, new knowledge could be created.Information requirementsOrganizations have all kind of processes which need to be supported. Today, many of those processes are supported with IT solutions. Davenport (1993) defines a business process as A structured, measured set of activities knowing to produce a specific output for a particular customer or market (p. 5). In short, the core of a process could be explained asFigure 1 Core principle of a process.Depending on what kind of activity needs to be supported, emphasis is placed on different requirements of information (Davis, 1982). One business process could require high accuracy of information while another process would require less accurate but timelier informati on. When these requirements or properties of information are known, a adequate solution for supporting the business process could be selected. But how do we analyze which information requirements are demanded?Conceptual frameworkWang and gruelling (1996) conducted research in order to develop a hierarchical framework for organizing info case dimensions. This framework tempers several information requirements grouped into four categories. Wang and Strong (1996) conclude that the framework could be useful as a checklist during data requirement depth psychology (p. 23). This particular statement is interesting since one objective of this research is to analyze which requirements of information are demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities.As you may have noticed, the words data and information are used interchangeably. The word data is a Latin noun, datum, meaning something that is given (Bovee et al., 2002). For information the definition that information is, or contains, inpu t or pieces of information (data) unionised to some purpose will be used (Davenport Prusak, Stonie, as cited in Bovee et al., 2002 ,p4). Therefore, data and information will be treated synonymously throughout this proposal.The perspective from which the requirements of information will be measured is an organizational perspective. other researchers (Bovee et al, 2002 and Katerattanakul Siau, 1999) used this model to measure the superior of information based on a user perspective. Within the context of this research, the organization can also be seen as the user who requires information to be e.g. accurate or timely. Again, this framework proves to be a relevant tool required by this research.The framework contains 15 requirements grouped into 4 categories. Wang and Strong (1996) stated that this framework provides a basis for deciding which aspects of data quality to use in any research bring (p. 22). Regarding this statement, I will have to determine the relevance of each inf ormation requirement.For the case studies (proposed in chapter 7) the data quality metrics accuracy, relevancy, timeliness, interpretability and accessibility will be used. The latter metrics are the most commonly used metrics according to the reviewed literature (Bovee et al., 2002 and Kahn et al., 2002 and lee side et al., 2001 and Griffiths, 2005).Figure 2 A conceptual framework of data quality (Wang Strong, 1996)Research questionsMain research questionWhat is the benefit for an organization to have Web 2.0 support their WCM and Collaboration activities?Sub questionsSome sub questions are posed in order to answer the main research question. These sub questions will gain more insight about the separate components of the main research question.Which properties of information are important regarding the processes which are currently supported by WCM and Collaboration?Which properties of information are offered by each Web 2.0 design pattern?How do the information properties offere d by Web 2.0 patterns match with the information properties demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities?Research methodologyObviously, the main research question as well as the sub-questions cannot be answered without justified sources of evidence. You can imagine that a certain starting point is needed. Therefore, the methodology for this research will be an explanatory multiple-case study within Getronics Consulting and KPN. Herriott Firestone (as cited by Yin, 2003, p.46) say that the evidence from multiple cases is often considered more compelling, and the overall study is therefore regarded as being more robust.According to Yin (2003) a case study is best used when asking questions such as how and why. Since the sub-questions one and two are not how or why questions, these questions are operationalized. The data ingathering methods will be face-to-face interviews, documentation and archival records (system data).Case verbal descriptionAs stated in the introduction, two case studies will be conducted within two different companies. First the Knowledge Sharing expertness grammatical construction project within Getronics Consulting will be studied. Secondly, the social media platform KPN1 Connect within KPN will be studied.Knowledge Sharing expertise Building (KSEB)Getronics Consulting recently initiated the KSEB project. Getronics Consulting has the need to capture and preserve knowledge gained by its employees. When an employee is working on a project and wants to know more about a particular subject, he should be able to find the expert colleague(s) with the mightily expertise for addressing this particular subject.The KSEB platform will consist of different portals Personal Communities and Knowledge Base. The personal portal will contain a public profile and a blog with posts. The communities portal will contain a community wiki and a community team site. News, a assembly and shared documents will be present on the team site. The last portal, th e knowledge base will contain a category site with documents.KPN1 ConnectThe project KPN1 Connect is initiated because of a specific need. KPN had the need to sustain communication between all employees across the entire organization. They wanted communication to happen in an organic manner rather than a horizontal/vertical manner which is based on the employees hierarchical status.Therefore, a social media platform was launched earlier this year. This platform is an extension to their original intranet and enables employees to communicate with one another via weblogs (blogs) and short (micro blog) messages. Employees have their own profile which contains name function professional expertise professional interests hobbies and product expertise. In short, they can post blogs short messages photos videos and reactions based on content posted by others. The platform also recommends other employees based on the content of the employees profile. And, last but not least, a sophisticated search function enables employee to find other employees and content posted by others.Case studies propositionsThe propositions of a case study are important in order to direct the attention into the right direction within the scope of the study (Yin, 2003). For both the case studies the same propositions are posed. The propositions areGetronics Consulting is using Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building in order to support WCM and Collaboration activities.KPN is using KPN1 Connect in order to support Collaboration activities.Getronics Consulting implemented at least one Web 2.0 design pattern into Knowledge Sharing Expertise Building.KPN implemented at least one Web 2.0 design pattern into KPN1 Connect.Web 2.0 design patterns have an effect on the properties of information.Operational questionsWith the case studies I hope to answer the sub-questions stated in chapter 6. The following table presents how the sub-questions will be operationalized in a larger set of questions, and how t hey will be answered by each method.Question q1 will be answered with three operational questions. By answering the first, evidence should point out which processes the company wants to support and why with the use of this particular system. The second question is about the analysis of the content. The analysis should indicate what kind of information is stored and processed by the system, and how this information is tagged and related with each other. The purpose of the third question is to investigate what kinds of properties of information are demanded by the organization. This is regarding the processes and the kind of content stored and processed by the system.Question q2 will be answered with two operational questions. The first question will explore what kind of Web 2.0 design patterns are implemented and with what intentions. The second question will measure how the implemented Web 2.0 design patterns score according to the properties of information.Analyzing the resultsDuri ng the case studies, the data quality will be measured twice. First according to what the organization is demanding. For example organization x has the activity of publishing content and ranks the accuracy of the information most important. Secondly the data quality is measured according to what the Web 2.0 design pattern can offer. For example design pattern rich user experience causes information to be better interpretable.By analyzing both results the last sub-question will be answered(q3) How do the information properties offered by Web 2.0 patterns match with the information properties demanded by WCM and Collaboration activities?ReferencesAdobe. (2007). The Impact of Web 2.0 on Enterprise Applications A strategy to improve business performance through software that industrial plant the way people work. CIO Custom Solution Group.AIIM. (2008). AIIM What is Web 2.0? Retrieved April 13, 2010, from AIIM http//www.aiim.org/What-is-Web-2.0.aspxAIIM. (2008, Januari). What is ECM? R etrieved April 2010, from AIIM http//www.aiim.org/What-is-ECM-Enterprise-Content-Management.aspxBaarde, B., Goede, M. d. (1995). Methoden en Technieken (2nd ed.). Houten Educatieve Partners Nederland BV.Bouman, E. (2008). SmarTEST slim testen van informatiesystemen. Den Haag Sdu Uitgevers bv.Bovee, M., Srivasta