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Carsharing offers an ecologically friendly alternative to private car ownership, helping alleviate urban mobility problems and pave the way to a sustainable future for transportation. However, several obstacles in carsharing service management must be overcome in order to take full advantage of its potential as a mainstream mode of transportation. Among others, substantial barriers to involvement include challenges of vehicle supply and demand management. Against this background, in this article, we develop decision support system for the construction of pricing areas via a design science research approach. The pricing areas influence user rental behavior by adding a fee for returning vehicles in low-demand areas and granting a discount for returning vehicles in high-demand areas. To evaluate the output of the decision support system, a set of constructed pricing areas was tested for one year in a real-world car sharing system. The results reveal that pricing areas reduce the need for vehicle relocations while facilitating better vehicle availability.

This study presents an Information Systems (IS) research methodology for the conduct of critical research into sustainable development that encompasses the objectives of socially inclusive and environmentally sustainable economic growth. The specific context is the application of critical research in the problem definition phase of IS Design Science Research for sustainable development. The paper guides IS research through problem scenarios of unsustainable development where power can distort truth and corrupt the public discourse in the furtherance of their ambitions. The methodology provides a structured approach to engage in inquiry of topics which are by their nature, deceptive and opaque. The methodology enables research inquiry encompassing societal topics, macro-social issues related to sustainable development and the application of nomothetic inquiry to address systemic problems. The paper concludes with illustrative examples of outcomes from the application of the prescribed methodology. The study provides an IS response to systemic social and environmental challenges by identifying the routes to transformation which in turn inform the design of IS solutions. Consequently, the study lays a foundation for IS engagement in socially responsible design science research.

The design of sensitive online healthcare systems must balance the requirements of privacy and accountability for the good of individuals, organizations, and society. Via a design science research approach, we build and evaluate a sophisticated software system for the online provision of psychosocial healthcare to distributed and vulnerable populations. Multidisciplinary research capabilities are embedded within the system to investigate the effectiveness of online treatment protocols. Throughout the development cycles of the system, we build an emergent design theory of scrutiny that applies a multi-layer protocol to support governance of privacy and accountability in sensitive online applications. The design goal is to balance stakeholder privacy protections with the need to provide for accountable interventions in critical and well-defined care situations. The research implications for the development and governance of online applications in numerous privacy-sensitive application areas are explored

PurposeThe present paper constructed a new framework for government data governance based on the concept of a data middle platform to elicit the detailed requirements and functionalities of a government data governance framework.Design/methodology/approachFollowing a three-cycle activity, the design science research (DSR) paradigm was used to develop design propositions. The design propositions are obtained based on a systematic literature review of government data governance and data governance frameworks. Cases and experts further assessed the effectiveness of the implementation of the artifacts.FindingsThe study developed an effective framework for government data governance that supported the digital service needs of the government. The results demonstrated the advantages of the framework in adapting to organizational operations and data, realized the value of data assets, improved data auditing and oversight and facilitated communication. From the collection of data to the output of government services, the framework adapted to the new characteristics of digital government.Originality/valueKnowledge of the “data middle platforms” generated in this study provides new knowledge to the design of government data governance frameworks and helps translate design propositions into concrete capabilities. By reviewing earlier literature, the article identified the core needs and challenges of government data governance to help practitioners approach government data governance in a structured manner.

PurposeTo explore the value and the case for designing antifragile socio-technical information systems (IS) in an era of big data, moving beyond traditional notions of IS design towards systems that can leverage uncertainty for gains.Design/methodology/approachA design science research (DSR) approach was adopted, comprising four stages, including problem identification and solutions definition, conceptual artifact or socio-technical system design, preliminary evaluation, and communication and knowledge capture.FindingsA conceptual socio-technical artifact that identifies antecedents to antifragile IS design. When operationalised, the antecedents may produce the desired antifragile outcome. The antecedents are categorised as value propositions, design decisions and system capabilities.Research limitations/implicationsThis research is conceptual in nature, applied and evaluated in a single big data analytics case study in Facebook-Cambridge Analytica. Future research should empirically validate across a range of real-world big data contexts, beyond the presented case study.Practical implicationsUncertainty generally results in socio-technical system failures, impacting individuals, organisations and communities. Conversely, antifragile IS can respond favourably to the shocks and stressors brought forth by periods of elevated uncertainty.Social implicationsAntifragile IS can drive socio-technical systems to respond favourably to uncertainty and stressors. Typically, these socio-technical systems are large, complex structures, with increased connectivity and the requirement to generate, process, analyse and use large datasets. When these systems fail, it affects individuals, organisations and communities.Originality/valueExisting IS design methodologies and frameworks largely ignore antifragility as a possible designable outcome. Extant research is limited to abstract architectural design, and approaches based on the proposition of principles. This research contributes to knowledge of antifragile IS design, by deriving a conceptual artifact or socio-technical system based on antecedent-outcome relationships that leverage uncertainty towards performance gains.

PurposeThe global health crisis represents an unprecedented opportunity for the development of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. This paper aims to integrate explainable AI into the decision-making process in emergency scenarios to help mitigate the high levels of complexity and uncertainty associated with these situations. An AI solution is designed to extract insights into opioid overdose (OD) that can help government agencies to improve their medical emergency response and reduce opioid-related deaths.Design/methodology/approachThis paper employs the design science research paradigm as an overarching framework. Open-access digital data and AI, two essential components within the digital transformation domain, are used to accurately predict OD survival rates.FindingsThe proposed AI solution has two primary implications for the advancement of informed emergency management. Results show that it can help not only local agencies plan their resources for timely response to OD incidents, thus improving survival rates, but also governments to identify geographical areas with lower survival rates and their primary contributing factor; hence, they can plan and allocate long-term resources to increase survival rates and help in developing effective emergency-related policies.Originality/valueThis paper illustrates that digital transformation, particularly open-access digital data and AI, can improve the emergency management framework (EMF). It also demonstrates that the AI models developed in this study can identify opioid OD trends and determine the significant factors improving survival rates.

Daylight efficiency correlates to window design. Guidelines recommend a 20 per cent window-to-floor ratio (WFR) at 900mm windowsill height, where acceptable 300 lx to 500 lx measured at 900mm working plane height. However, Islamic religious schools use a 300mm height table known as ‘rehal’. Studies neglect the difference in required working plane height that effect window design and the illuminance level. A study was established to propose Syaheeza’s Daylight Rule of Thumb (DRT) for Islamic religious schools. This paper aims to highlight the reliability of the methodology framework used in Syaheeza’s DRT, such as surveys, Arabic handwriting performance assessment and computer simulations. Keywords: Daylighting; Islamic religious school; methodology framework eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i17.2877

In Tanzania, street traders face the challenge of limited markets caused by employing weak marketing and promotion strategies. This study developed a mobile application to solve the problem address...

Requirements specifications are essential to properly communicate requirements among the software development team members. However, each role in the team has different informational needs in order to perform their activities. Thus, the requirements engineer should provide the necessary information to meet each team member's necessities to reduce errors in software development due to inadequate or insufficient communication. Although some research is concerned with communicating requirements among clients and analysts, no related research has been found to evaluate and improve requirements communication within the software development team. With this in mind, we present the ReComP framework, which assists in the identification of problems in the artifacts used to communicate requirements, identification of informational requirements for each role of the development team, and provide improvement suggestions to address requirements communication problems. ReComP was developed using the Design Science Research (DSR) method and this paper presents the results of two DSR cycles considering the use of ReComP for the developer and tester roles by using, respectively, user stories and use cases as requirements specifications. The results provide evidence that ReComP helps software development teams to identify and improve issues in the requirements specifications used for project communication. In two independent studies, ReComP was able to decrease the frequency of problems by 77% in user stories identified by developers and the frequency of all (100%) problems in use cases identified by testers.

For a firm in an open source software (OSS) ecosystem, the requirements engineering (RE) process is rather multifaceted. Apart from its typical RE process, there is a competing process, external to the firm and inherent to the firm's ecosystem. When trying to impose an agenda in competition with other firms, and aiming to align internal product planning with the ecosystem's RE process, firms need to consider who and how influential the other stakeholders are, and what their agendas are. The aim of the presented research is to help firms identify and analyze stakeholders in OSS ecosystems, in terms of their influence and interactions, to create awareness of their agendas, their collaborators, and how they invest their resources. To arrive at a solution artifact, we applied a design science research approach where we base artifact design on the literature and earlier work. A stakeholder influence analysis (SIA) method is proposed and demonstrated in terms of applicability and utility through a case study on the Apache Hadoop OSS ecosystem. SIA uses social network constructs to measure the stakeholders' influence and interactions and considers the special characteristics of OSS RE to help firms structure their stakeholder analysis processes in relation to an OSS ecosystem. SIA adds a strategic aspect to the stakeholder analysis process by addressing the concepts of influence and interactions, which are important to consider while acting in collaborative and meritocratic RE cultures of OSS ecosystems.

PurposeThe research introduces means for improving premanufacturing processes (design, procurement and bidding) by leveraging digitalisation in offsite construction. Specifically, this paper proposes a framework that provides measures for the planning and implementation of digitalisation in offsite construction by positioning building information modelling (BIM) as the key technology and lean principles to add value and reduce waste.Design/methodology/approachThe paper follows the design science research approach to develop the proposed framework and attain the aforementioned objective. The developed framework includes data collection, value-stream mapping and simulation to assess current processes, develop and propose improvements. An empirical implementation is employed to demonstrate the applicability of both the framework and the measures used to evaluate the outcomes.FindingsThe application of the proposed three-stage framework resulted in 9.45%–23.33%-time reduction per year for the various improvement categories in premanufacturing phases. Employing simulation and applying the developed measures provide incentive for upper management to adopt the suggested improvements. Additionally, while the empirical implementation was tested on a modular construction company, the methods used indicate that the framework, with its generic guidelines, could be applied and customized to any offsite company.Originality/valueWhile several studies propose that BIM-Lean integration offers an advantage in the context of production systems, this paper focuses on the initial design and planning phases, which are mostly overlooked in the literature. Moreover, the present study provides quantitative evidence of the benefits of data integration through BIM technology.

Case Management is a paradigm to support knowledge-intensive processes. The different approaches developed for modeling these types of processes tend to result in scattered information due to the low abstraction level at which the inherently complex processes are represented. Thus, readability and understandability are more challenging than in imperative process models. This paper extends a case modeling language—the fragment-based Case Management (fCM) language—to a so-called fCM landscape (fCML) with the goal of modeling a single knowledge-intensive process from a higher abstraction level. Following the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, we first define requirements for an fCML, and then review how literature—in the fields of process overviews and case management—could support them. Design decisions are formalized by specifying a syntax for an fCML and the transformation rules from a given fCM model. The proposal is empirically evaluated via a laboratory experiment. Quantitative results imply that interpreting an fCML requires less effort in terms of time—and is thus more efficient—than interpreting its equivalent fCM case model. Qualitative results provide indications on the factors affecting case model interpretation and guidelines for future work.

Business process simulation marks an essential technique for analyzing business processes and for reasoning about process improvement. With first contributions dating back to the mid-1990s, computerized business process simulation has been a continuing research focus and is widely acknowledged as foundational to Business Process Management research and practice. Reviewing contributions to the field published between 1990 and 2018, the authors assess the state of research on business process simulation and develop an organizing overview of research contributions discussing simulation approaches, tool support, results visualization, use context, application purposes, and adoption barriers. Findings inform future research on business process simulation by discussing paths for behavioral research on the use of business process simulation, user requirements, and adoption barriers as well as complementary paths for design science research addressing limitations of present approaches and simulation tool support.

This study investigates sociability in the context of immersive Virtual Reality (VR). A Design Science Research process was applied, and three iterative development versions of a VR application were studied. Sociability around the technology was investigated with two theoretical perspectives: social presence and social interactions. The results of qualitative interviews and observations as well as a quantitative experiment are combined to make a proposal for four design principles enhancing the beneficial sociability of VR systems. These principles address the importance of ease-of-use and personalization in the activation of a customer, customer empowerment and emancipation through familiarization, creating real-world connections and surprising content, as well as adding informative elements and streamlining the customer encounter and service process. The proposed design principles are empirically linked through social behaviors and emotions to cognitive outcomes representing beneficial sociability, e.g., improved customer motivation, willingness-to-share, value communications, co-creation, and co-innovation.

The aim of the article is to present a framework enabling the quick and practical assessment of the nature of business processes, necessary to select business process management (BPM) tools and methodologies in accordance with the actual nature of BPs in the organization. The lack of such compliance reduces or delays the results, or it can even cause the failure of BPM implementations. To avoid this risk, organizations should be aware of the nature of their processes prior to planning and implementing BPM. The article summarizes extensive literature studies and experiences resulting from the practical implementation of business process management in organizations with diverse types of business processes. Developed in accordance with the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, the Business Process Nature Assessment Framework (BPNAF) uses an approach that combines business process management with the management of the knowledge used and created in the course of the process execution. The article presents the concept of the business process space and the Business Process Nature Assessment Framework (BPNAF) based thereon, which enables the quick and efficient assessment of the nature of business processes in an organization in terms of their unpredictability and knowledge intensity. The presentation of the results enables the objective recommendation of the selection of implementation methodologies, HRM policies, or IT systems supporting BPM in line with the real nature of business processes implemented in the organization, in a way that is understandable to both specialists and non-specialists. The article is dedicated to researchers, but above all to practitioners using BPM. The application of the presented BPNAF allows managers to choose the methodology and tools supporting the management of business processes, but also human resources or knowledge, in accordance with the objective nature of the processes and the needs of the organization. The simplicity and speed of analysis, as well as the ability to directly use its results in the initial implementation of business process management, mean that the benefits of using the BPNAF are much greater than the effort or preparation costs involved. An important limitation of the work is the fact that the analysis of the business process space and, consequently, the BPNAF are limited to only two dimensions: unpredictability and knowledge-intensity. The article presents the original concept of the business process space and the author's model of the BPNAF framework based on its two-dimensional version. The supplement of BPM implementation methodologies with the use of the results of this work is of key importance for the success or failure of implementations.

This paper proposes an integrated research framework that takes advantage of the similarities of design science research (DSR) and Design-based research (DBR) for developing a new decision support system (DSS) artefact. Firstly, the paper discusses the progression of DSR in the Information Systems and evolution of DBR in educational technology notifying the similarities and limitations. Next, we apply our proposed framework combining DSR and DBR to develop and effectively evaluate the artefact of the Educational DSS that can be used to identify students at risk and improve student retention and completion rate. Further, our paper creates a basis of methodological guide to construct and evaluate a machine learning (ML) based DSS artefact by conformity to the features and tenets of commonalities between DSR and DBR and correlating them to Peffer’s design science research approach. In line with the characteristic of DSR and DBR, the development framework that we proposed will be used as a new source of knowledge to design any IT artefact in the education domain.

Ambidextrous BPM has gained increasing interest from researchers and practitioners in the last years. It refers to the ability to use exploitative and explorative capabilities in BPM projects. In this paper, we investigate how the integration of exploitative and explorative ideas can leverage the analysis of business processes. The key contributions of this paper are a conceptual model and a method that integrate ambidextrous thinking in a complementary way. Both artefacts were evaluated by means of an expert opinion survey. We also present a case study at an organisation that has implemented our proposed method. We believe that ambidextrous analysis of business processes enables organisations tackling current operational bottlenecks while simultaneously exploring external opportunities for designing innovation in business processes.

PurposeCompanies that strive to provide customers with value in their processes benefit from artefacts that allow them to better understand customer processes (CPs) and to influence CPs in ways that are valuable for customers. Such CP-centric artefacts (CPCAs) carry various labels across research fields, which inhibit their application or utilization for developing further artefacts. This study provides a structured overview of existing CPCAs and investigates which research foundations promote their development.Design/methodology/approachTwenty-five CP-related keyword combinations are applied in several iterations using multiple (meta) search engines to identify papers on CPCAs across different research streams. Introduced research frameworks organize the identified artefacts and indicate research gaps and reasons why some approaches are more successful in developing CPCAs than others.FindingsExisting CPCAs cover different aspects of CPs and utilize contextual factors of CPs to varying degrees to analyse or influence CPs. Research gaps are identified that indicate opportunities to develop further CPCAs. Taking instantiated methods in combination with CP-related descriptive knowledge as a foundation yields the highest potential for generating beneficial CPCAs.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to CP management literature by offering a foundation for the generation of CPCAs suitable for analysing and influencing CPs of end-consumers. This supports the establishment of a CP management aiming at optimizing both, interlinked business processes and CPs.

This paper reports the developed mobile application through the use of advanced technologies such as mobile computing, cloud computing and Global Positioning System (GPS) in order to solve the challenges. The purpose of this study is to find out how the recent advances and mass adoption of ICT by the public can best be leveraged to enhance the performance of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in East Africa. The data collection techniques used are through questionnaires, observations and conducting interviews with different stakeholders in the civil society arena i.e., the donors, the CSOs and the people in society that are given a voice by civil societies. In the system development phase, agile development methodology was used. Analysis of the data collected showed that there is a gap in the availability of a single or a centralized platform which can be easily accessed, user-friendly and reliable where different actors can readily get reliable and up-to-date information about the available CSOs they are interested in. To address this problem, an interactive online directory of CSOs has been developed. The platform is mobile based and enables CSOs to register and fill up their current details, thus ensuring that there is always correct and updated information. The platform is equipped with, among other features, a geo-mapping facility which enables users of the system to correctly geo-locate their civil societies of interest on a map view. The results of system evaluation showed that 88.125% of users were satisfied with the system basing on the evaluation criteria.

This paper investigates possibilities to visually support the collaborative design process of Enterprise Knowledge Graphs for Business Application Systems. Starting with a description of the concept of the Social Network of Business Objects (SoNBO), we show how the SoNBO Visualiser supports the visualisation of a company-specific ontology and the resulting knowledge graph. Our previous research showed that existing visualisation tools from the Semantic Web are unsuited for the human involvement that is required in the design of an ontology for a SoNBO. In order to address the lack of a tool, the SoNBO Visualiser was developed using a Design Science Research approach. This paper aims to provide a methodological as well as a technical contribution: The method provides support for the visualisation of the ontology (on two levels) and facilitates the involvement of domain experts (employees) without technical knowledge in the design process. The complementary technical solution connects heterogeneous source systems in a simple configuration process and allows to visualise the ontology and the resulting knowledge graph.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop a model for automated classification of old digitised texts to the Universal Decimal Classification (UDC), using machine-learning methods.Design/methodology/approachThe general research approach is inherent to design science research, in which the problem of UDC assignment of the old, digitised texts is addressed by developing a machine-learning classification model. A corpus of 70,000 scholarly texts, fully bibliographically processed by librarians, was used to train and test the model, which was used for classification of old texts on a corpus of 200,000 items. Human experts evaluated the performance of the model.FindingsResults suggest that machine-learning models can correctly assign the UDC at some level for almost any scholarly text. Furthermore, the model can be recommended for the UDC assignment of older texts. Ten librarians corroborated this on 150 randomly selected texts.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations of this study were unavailability of labelled older texts and the limited availability of librarians.Practical implicationsThe classification model can provide a recommendation to the librarians during their classification work; furthermore, it can be implemented as an add-on to full-text search in the library databases.Social implicationsThe proposed methodology supports librarians by recommending UDC classifiers, thus saving time in their daily work. By automatically classifying older texts, digital libraries can provide a better user experience by enabling structured searches. These contribute to making knowledge more widely available and useable.Originality/valueThese findings contribute to the field of automated classification of bibliographical information with the usage of full texts, especially in cases in which the texts are old, unstructured and in which archaic language and vocabulary are used.

One of the issues organizations face is identifying the required skills needed for a position and then evaluating whether their personnel have these skills or if there is a “skills gap.” For this research, the authors are defining the “skills gap” as the distance between the position requirements and the skills currently possessed by the worker in that position. While multiple models have been created over the years to address facets of the problem, none of them provide a comprehensive framework to clearly identify the required skills and worker qualifications and then evaluate the degree of similarity. A composite skills gap model has been developed using the design science research method (DSRM) to combine elements of previous models and to ensure that the resulting model met a set of established criteria. The skills gap analysis model (SGAM) was evaluated using demonstration data to ensure that it provided a single taxonomy, for both position requirements and the worker qualifications, the resulting descriptions were quantifiable and comparable, the data was accurate and actionable, the model framework is adaptable to any domain, and it is easy to use and not time consuming. The framework provided by the SGAM model establishes a theoretical foundation for skills gap analyses that allows for more analytical research in this area. By utilizing the SGAM to identify position requirements and worker qualifications, organizations can move personnel to better-suited positions or utilize needed training in the specific areas identified. As technology moves toward increasing automation, robotics and artificial intelligence, this type of model can identify what skills are necessary for “retooling” the workforce to meet the needs to support these systems.

PurposeIn performative architectural design, daylighting is a crucial design consideration; however, the evaluation of daylighting in the design process can be challenging. Immersive environments (IEs) can create a dynamic, multi-sensory, first-person view in computer-generated environments, and can improve designers' visual perception and awareness during performative design processes. This research addresses the need for interactive and integrated design tools for IEs toward better-performing architectural solutions in terms of daylighting illumination. In this context, building information modeling and performance simulations are identified as critical technologies to be integrated into performative architectural design.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopts a design science research (DSR) methodology involving an iterative process of development, validation and improvement of a novel and immersive tool, HoloArch, that supports design development during daylighting-informed design processes. HoloArch was implemented in a game engine during a spiral software development process. HoloArch allows users to interact with, visualize, modify and explore architectural models. The evaluation is performed in two workshops and a user study. A hybrid approach that combines qualitative and quantitative data collection was adopted for evaluation. Qualitative data analyses involve interviews, while quantitative data analyses involve both daylighting simulations and questionnaires (e.g. technology acceptance model (TAM), presence and system usability scale (SUS)).FindingsAccording to the questionnaire results, HoloArch had 92/100 for SUS, a mean value of 120.4 for presence questionnaire (PQ) and 9.4/10 for TAM. According to the simulation results, all participants improved the given building's daylighting performance using HoloArch. The interviews also indicated that HoloArch is an effective design tool in terms of augmented perception, continuous design processes, performative daylighting design and model interaction. However, challenges still remain regarding the complete integration of tools and simultaneous simulation visualization. The study concludes that IEs hold promising potentials where performative design actions at conceptual, spatial and architectural domains can take place interactively and simultaneously with immediate feedback.Originality/valueThe research integrates building information modeling (BIM), performative daylighting simulations and IEs in an interactive environment for the identification of potentials and limitations in performative architectural design. Different from existing immersive tools for architecture, HoloArch offers a continuous bidirectional workflow between BIM tools and IEs.

Environmental sustainability is an increasingly important subject for public transportation organizations. For passenger train operators, modernization projects provide key opportunities to improve the environmental impact of their rolling stock by making informed design decisions at the midpoint of the life cycle of their trains. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is widely adopted as the main instrument for evaluating environmental impact. However, in the past LCA was rarely used in the earlier design stages, where it is most effective, due to constrained access to data, information, and LCA-specific expertise. To this end, a purpose-built streamlined LCA tool for train modernization is developed and demonstrated, following a Design Science Research approach. The developed tool simplifies the application of LCA employing four main design principles: (1) sacrificing the declarative function of LCA, (2) the use of Input&ndash, Output-based Life Cycle Inventory, (3) the inclusion of &lsquo, shadow costs&rsquo, (4) the limitation of the included environmental impact categories. By streamlining the application of LCA in this way, it becomes possible to introduce LCA-based principles and ways of thinking into a process that would otherwise be inaccessible to performing LCA in: the early design stages of modernization projects.

PurposeProject complexity is becoming increasingly challenging for project managers. Much valuable research has been done on the concept of project complexity. The research reported in this paper aims to provide a new means (the “Complexity Navigation Window”) and guiding principles for the navigation of project complexity in practice.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applied action design research (a methodology for design science research) to design and evaluate the Complexity Navigation Window (CNW), which will serve as a representation of project complexity as a key component of the user interface for a decision support system (DSS) for managing project complexity.FindingsFormative evaluations of the CNW by 16 project management practitioners indicated that the artefact is relevant, comprehensible and heading in a promising direction to guide decision-making. The evaluation also highlighted project managers' difficulty in using the (conceptual) representation by itself to assess a project's current situation accurately, which in turn limits their ability to understand a project's current complexity and decide an appropriate course of strategy. A conceptual framework by itself is insufficient. This finding motivates further research to develop and evaluate a DSS that would partially automate the assessment process (by surveying stakeholders and automatically assessing and representing project complexity according to the CNW), which should aid in increasing the accuracy (and timeliness) of project complexity assessments and contribute to appropriate strategy formulation and timely revision.Practical implicationsThe formative evaluation of the CNW indicates relevance for practitioners and the further features of the DSS may still yield even higher perceived utility from the full artefact.Originality/valueThe paper provides improved understanding of practitioners' perceptions of project complexity and ability to assess it for a given project. The paper describes the design of a new visualisation for navigating and managing complexity. The paper further presents four strategies for managing project complexity. Finally, the paper also provides a methodological discussion on the potential of ADR in advancing project management research.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a concept of the protocol for public registries based on blockchain. New database protocol aims to use the benefits of blockchain technologies and ensure their interoperability. Design/methodology/approach This paper is framed with design science research (DSR). The primary method is exaptation, i.e. adoption of solutions from other fields. The research is looking into existing technologies which are applied here as elements of the protocol: Name-Value Storage (NVS), Berkley DB, RAID protocol, among others. The choice of NVS as a reference technology for creating a database over blockchain is based on the analysis and comparison with two other similar technologies Bigchain and Amazon QLDB. Findings The proposed mechanism allows creating a standard database over a bundle of distributed ledgers. It ensures a blockchain agnostic approach and uses the benefits of various blockchain technologies in one ecosystem. In this scheme, blockchains play the role of journal storages (immutable log), whereas the overlaid database is the indexed storage. The distinctive feature of such a system is that in blockchain, users can perform peer-to-peer transactions directly in the ledger using blockchain native mechanism of user access management with public-key cryptography (blockchain does not require to administrate its database). Originality/value This paper presents a new method of creating a public peer-to-peer database across a bundle of distributed ledgers.

The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the concept of physical objects equipped with identifying, sensing, networking, and processing capabilities being connected to the Internet. Architectures for the IoT typically rely on transmitting data to centralized cloud servers for processing. Although cloud services are supposed to enhance the IoT in storage, computation, and communication capabilities, this approach often generates isolated data silos and requires trust in third parties operating the cloud servers, which become single point of failure. In addition, centralized cloud-based applications lack transparency and allow for undetected manipulation and concealment of IoT data. To overcome these downsides, we develop and evaluate a blockchain-based IoT sensor data logging and monitoring system, employing a design science research approach. In this article, we show that such systems should provide modularity, data parsimony, and availability in addition to domain-specific principles. The prototype improves data integrity and availability but uncovers challenges, such as high operating costs through smart contract computation fees. Furthermore, semistructured interviews with practitioners allowed us to derive insights for developing blockchain-based IoT ecosystems and reveal that cooperation with organizations is key for transferring solutions into production. We contribute to the IoT knowledge base by providing design principles as well as managerial and technological recommendations.

Supply chain literature has long recognized the benefits of information sharing. Researchers and practitioners see high potential for improving processes, enabling new replenishment policies, and enhancing supply chain integration. Even though information technology represents a vital role as a driver and a success factor for implementing information sharing, established technologies still do not reflect the highly decentralized and fragmented characteristics of complex and often global supply chains. Early research shows that blockchain might be an enabler for the supply chain management. However, little is known about how blockchain might improve information sharing for complex, multitier supply chains. Therefore, this article aims at analyzing how and to what extent blockchain can facilitate information sharing for vendor managed inventory by designing a software prototype based on Hyperledger Fabric using the design science research approach. This research took place in close cooperation with a leading German healthcare technology manufacturer, which allowed us to base our study both on literature and practical insights. With our results, we contribute to the supply chain knowledge base by introducing the decentralized information hub model, describing how companies utilize decentralized technologies, such as blockchain, to facilitate information sharing.

This paper reports a design science research (DSR) study that develops, demonstrates and evaluates a set of design principles for information systems (IS) that utilise learning analytics to support learning and teaching in higher education. The initial set of design principles is created from theory-inspired conceptualisation based on the literature, and they are evaluated and revised through a DSR process of demonstration and evaluation. We evaluated the developed artefact in four courses with a total enrolment of 1,173 students. The developed design principles for learning analytics information systems (LAIS) to establish a foundation for further development and implementation of learning analytics to support learning and teaching in higher education. peerReviewed

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is widely adopted in industry learning, but it still faces challenges, including low participation, distraction, and learning inefficiency. In our study, we follow the design science research method to develop artifacts (a process and discussion platform) to address these CSCL challenges. Collaboration engineering was used as our design theory. A Discussion Platform was designed as a tool to help non-expert practitioner instruct collaborative learning process. We carried out evaluations on the two designed artifacts through 81 managers working in various industries through a mixed-method approach, including survey and qualitative interviews. We find that our designed artifacts receive high satisfaction in industry CSCL and reduce problems of low participation, distraction, and learning inefficiency. We identified several factors that contribute to the problem solving of low participation, distraction and inefficiency in industry CSCL, including usability, expression affordance, process guidance, goal clarity, flexibility affordance, thinkLet instruction, and flow experiences.

PurposePredictive analytics and artificial intelligence are perceived as significant drivers to improve organizational performance and managerial decision-making. Hiring employees and contract renewals are instances of managerial decision-making problems that can incur high financial costs and long-term impacts on organizational performance. The primary goal of this study is to identify the Major League Baseball (MLB) free agents who are likely to receive a contract.Design/methodology/approachThis study used the design science research paradigm and the cognitive analytics management (CAM) theory to develop the research framework. A dataset on MLB's free agents between 2013 and 2017 was collected. A decision support tool was built using artificial neural networks.FindingsThere are clear links between a player's statistical performance and the decision of the player to sign a new offered contract. “Age,” “Wins above Replacement” and “the team on which a player last played” are the most significant factors in determining if a player signs a new contract.Originality/valueThis paper applied analytical modeling to personnel decision-making using the design science paradigm and guided by CAM as the kernel theory. The study employed machine learning techniques, producing a model that predicts the probability of free agents signing a new contract. Also, a web-based tool was developed to help decision-makers in baseball front offices so they can determine which available free agents to offer contracts.

In the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), many mobile heart disease applications are available on Apple App Store and Google Play and these applications enable heart patients to carry out self-monitoring of their heart conditions practically easily. However, when the user feels dissatisfied with the usability and affordances of the mobile heart disease application, it impacts the user satisfaction level to the extent that the users do not use it anymore. The user satisfaction level is a very important factor in the usability of any mobile application including mobile heart disease application which is comfortable and pleasant for continuous use. This paper uses the User-Centered Design (UCD) method towards understanding users’ perspective as the problem of lack of user satisfaction affects the usability and affordances of mobile heart disease applications. This study recruits twenty heart patients and four cardiologists in a hospital in Palembang, Indonesia for designing a mobile heart disease prototype called HeartM. The prototype has several features including measuring the patient’s heart rate, recording heart rate, chatting, sending reminders, and configuring system settings. The focus of this paper is on the design of the mobile heart disease application on its usability, affordances, and user satisfaction aspects based on the user's perspective. The overall study adopts the Design Science Research (DSR) approach. DSR approach involves several iterations to ensure the final prototype produces a better design compared to its previous iterations. This paper contributes to design knowledge and offers recommendations particularly for the design of mobile heart disease applications.

In the course of digitization in healthcare, personal health records (PHRs) are handled as a key solution. Despite the indisputable benefits, the adoption of PHRs is hampered by data security and data privacy concerns. Blockchain technology offers promising potential to address these issues by enabling secure transactions of sensitive data. With regards to PHRs, the blockchain can be used to manage the access to health-related data. Besides existing generic PHR architectures, we systematically identified issues for the healthcare sector that need to be considered for the development of a PHR. We subsequently derived eight meta-requirements that were consolidated into three design principles. Within a 1-year design science research project, we developed the blockchain-secured PHR prototype, OSHealthRec, and evaluated the system in four evaluation cycles. The findings of our research are twofold. On the one hand, we contribute to the design knowledge base by presenting three design principles. On the other hand, we present the development of a real, operational blockchain-secured PHR and the findings from its continuous evaluation, which may serve as useful advice for further solutions.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an integrative framework for handling the security and usability conflicts during the system development lifecycle. The framework has been formulated while considering key concerns raised after conducting a series of interviews with practitioners from the industry. The framework is aimed at assisting system designers and developers in making reasonably accurate choices when it comes to the trade-offs between security and usability. The outcomes of using the framework are documented as design patterns, which are disseminated among the community of system designers and developers for use in other but similar contexts. Design/methodology/approach A design science research approach was used to develop the integrative framework for usable security. Interviews were conducted for identification of the key concerns; however, the framework was validated during a workshop. Moreover, to validate the patterns’ template and the usable security pattern identified after instantiating the framework, a survey instrument was used. Findings It is important to consider the usability aspect in the development of security systems; otherwise, the systems, despite being secure against attacks, would be susceptible to user mistakes leading to compromises. It is worthwhile to handle usable security concerns right from the start of system development life cycle. Design patterns can help the developers in assessing the usability of their security options. Practical implications Practical implications The framework would assist the designers and developers in handling the security and usability conflicts right from the start of the system development life cycle. The patterns documented after using the framework would help not only the designers and developers working in the industry but also freelancers. Originality/value The authors present a novel framework to handle the security and usability conflicts during the system development life cycle. The development process of the framework was driven by the concerns raised after a series of interviews with the practitioners from industry. The framework presented in this paper was validated during a workshop in which it was exposed for review and comments by the participants from the industry. To demonstrate the use of patterns in general and the framework in particular, a case study featuring smart grids from the domain of cyber-physical systems is presented, which (to the best of the authors’ knowledge) features the first work relevant to usable security in the domain of cyber-physical systems.

PurposeThis paper proposes a conceptualization of the e-waste domain, formalized through a metamodel, to express complex e-waste realities in a simple manner. This also enables the transition from a structural model to a behavioral model to implement analysis techniques.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology used is design science research (DSR), a problem-solving paradigm which seeks to construct a working artifact and prove its relevance. The artifact, a metamodel for the e-waste domain, was constructed through an iterative manner and later analyzed to conclude its theoretical relevance and contributions in this domain. As part of the approach, the authors used supplementary techniques such as systematic literature review (SLR), conceptual modeling (CM) and system dynamics (SD).FindingsThe application in the e-waste domain of CM techniques such as metamodeling, model-to-model transformation and simulation is valuable for supporting decision-making, especially when combined with SD. The approach presented in this paper, the conceptual tools and different simulation techniques could also be applied in other complex domains to obtain similar results.Practical implicationsThe modeling method to apply simulation techniques is targeted toward the e-waste domain experts to understand, design, implement, measure and improve strategies and public policies.Originality/valueThe use of CM techniques to model and analyze structural and behavioral e-waste scenarios.

Construction projects often suffer from backlashes in relation to poor plans and schedules. Especially pre-construction planning has been challenging due to a high complexity, an extensive amount of information, and a lack of site managers time to make the schedule. To solve these issues for pre-construction planning; new planning processes, methods and tools have been developed over the last decade. However, due to a disregard of the current planning processes these tools have been difficult to adopt in practice. In addition, these developed tools and methods are seldom developed from the user’s point of view. A promising development is the introduction of integrated planning as a concept in construction companies. It involves the use of BIM models in concert with a planning approach where the subcontractors engage in the planning. However, currently available tools are more geared towards experienced users such as expert planners and does not allow for a fully collaborative and integrated planning approach. While many current tools would tick many of the requirements identified, they still fail to address the base requirements from the collaborative work environment literature. This paper contributes with a user-centric design and development of a collaborative planning application showing the integration of the existing collaborative planning process. By adopting a socio-technical approach, the paper focuses on combining technology and processes supporting the users and their way of working in order to enable adoption of the solution. A design science research approach has been used to gather requirements and develop and evaluate the Visual Project Planner (VPP) application. The VPP application applies a collaborative, visual approach supporting interdisciplinary knowledge sharing between all parties involved where the subcontractors actively can contribute to schedule. The VPP application has potential to reduce time for pre-construction planning regardless of the planning approach used.