Ontologies are viewed as increasingly important tools for structuring domains of interests. In this paper we propose a reference ontology of business models using concepts from three established business model ontologies; the REA, BMO, and e3-value. The basic concepts in the reference ontology concern actors, resources, and the transfer of resources between actors. Most of the concepts in the reference ontology are taken from one of the original ontologies, but we have also introduced a number of additional concepts, primarily related to resource transfers between business actors. The purpose of the proposed ontology is to increase the understanding of the original ontologies as well as the relationships between them, and also to seek opportunities to complement and improve on them.
To create an understanding of enterprises and the ways they do business, a starting point could be to identify the main actors and the values transferred between them. Business models are created in order to make clear who the business actors are in a business case and to make their relations explicit. The relations are formulated in terms of values exchanged between the actors. The purpose of the work reported in this paper is to create a better understanding of business models by identifying basic notions used in such models. It does so by constructing a common ontology based on three established business model ontologies: e3-value, REA, and BMO. By means of a careful analysis of these ontologies a conceptual schema is created that defines the common concepts. An example is worked out that explains how the common ontology should be understood.
This paper provides an overview of a collaborative research program in information fusion from databases, sensors and simulations. Information fusion entails the combination of data from multiple sources, to generate information that cannot be derived from the individual sources. This area is of strategic importance for industry and defense, as well as public administration areas such as health care, and needs to be pursued as an academic subject. A large number of industrial partners are supporting and participating in the development of the area. The paper describes the program’s general approach and main research areas, with a particular focus on the role of information fusion in systems development
The healthcare domain is in urgent need for solutions to making clinical and administrative systems, possibly belonging to different healthcare units, interoperable and hence making them deliver timely and correct information as needed in particular situations. Process manager technology allows making all actors (humans or information systems) involved in healthcare processes communicate along these processes. This paper argues that process manager technology is essential for achieving interoperability in healthcare, but that some serious problems need to be overcome to realise its full potential. A number of design solutions to address these problems are proposed.
Modelling of information is necessary in developing information systems. Information is acquired from many sources, by using various methods and tools. It must be recognized, conceptualized, and conceptually organized efficiently so that users can easily understand and use it. Modelling is needed to understand, explain, organize, predict and reason on information. It also helps to master the role and functions of components of information systems. Modelling can be performed with many different purposes in mind, at different levels, and by using different notions and different background theories. It can be made by emphasizing users' conceptual understanding of information on a domain level, on an algorithmic level, or on representation levels. On each level, the objects and structures used on them are different, and different rules govern the behavior on them. Therefore the notions, rules, theories, languages and methods for modelling on different levels are also different. It will be useful if we can develop theories and methodologies for modelling, to be used in different situations, because databases, knowledge bases, and repositories in knowledge management systems, developed on the basis of models and used to technically store information, are growing day by day. In this publication, the interest is focused on modelling of information and one of the central topics is modelling of time. Scientific and technical papers of high quality are brought together in this book.
Social engineering is a term used for techniques to trick, or con, users into giving out information to someone that should not have it. In this paper we discuss and model various notions related to social engineering. By using a broad, cross disciplinary approach, we present a conceptual model of the different kinds of social engineering attacks, and their preparation, the victim and the perpetrator, as well as the cultural aspects. By using this approach a better general understanding of social engineering can be reached. The model is also a good tool for teaching about and protecting against social engineering attacks.
Healthcare often involves cooperation between several actors: primary care, hospitals, relatives etc. For elderly patients living in their own homes, integration with social care is also mandatory, as home healthcare teams andsocial care workers contribute to a unified “homecare”. Correct and updated information about patients, the treatment provided, and planned activities is crucial for successful cooperation in such cases, yet ICT tools for collaboration between all actors involved are not commonly used. Initial findings from one project to develop a process management tool for this type of situation (treatment of leg ulcers) are discussed from a multiactor economic perspective. It is argued that evaluations should identify the consequences for each among the most important collaborating organisations. Such evaluations could be used to predict the impact of the proposed changes, and to redesign projects accordingly. Such evaluations may also be used to define what could be achieved with process changes in general, aside from direct process related effects that can only be assessed when new ICT tools are actually introduced.
This paper presents a method based on process manager technology for making all actors (humans or information systems) involved in healthcare processes to communicate along these processes. The method utilizes straightforward and yet executable process diagrams. Furthermore, the paper suggests a number of additional features to the method that may cater for the representation of security and quality requirements, as well as enhanced efficiency of the healthcare processes.
To be efficient and patient focused, healthcare units need to be process oriented and integrated with the processes and IT systems of other healthcare units. A process manager facilitates integration of different systems by using graphical and executable process models. The process manager also communicates directly with healthcare personnel via desktop computers and mobile devices. This article reports on a Swedish project where a prototype system was developed and tested with several healthcare units. The experience shows several advantages and opportunities. For example, current information about patients can be transferred automatically between healthcare units; resource intensive manual tasks can be replaced with automated tasks; and long-term process monitoring and quality assessment can be enabled. However, introducing a process manager requires attention to issues of security, ethics and legality. Healthcare units may also show differences in security awareness and IT maturity, which could obstruct the introduction of a process manager.
Incorporating external data into data warehouses is a rather unexplored area and deserves more attention, especially if considering the resources organizations spend on acquiring data from specialized data suppliers. Therefore, this paper gives the results of an interview study partly aimed at evaluating, from a general perspective, the outline of such a process and related problems. The results show that trust and cost issues are utmost important characteristics to consider when acquiring external data. In addition, the results also show that the organizations incorporating external data need some type of hands-on support, for being able to fully exploit the potential thereof. Finally, the results also gave the outline of the external data incorporation process.
Data warehouses (DWs) have become one of the major IT-investments during the last decades and in order to fully exploit the potential of data warehouses, more and more organizations are acquiring and integrating external data into their star-schemas. However, the literature covering external data acquisition and integration is limited. Therefore, in this paper the results of an interview study conducted among banking organizations are presented. The study aimed at identifying different approaches for acquiring and integrating external data into DWs. The results show that there are many different approaches for the acquisition and integration, depending on the purpose and structure of the data being acquired. In addition, the most common external data acquisition and integration process is presented and discussed.
The research reported in this paper extends current knowledge of syndicate data incorporation into data warehouses (DWs). It does so by employing an interview study towards syndicate data suppliers (SDSs). The results describe, in detail, a generic work process, with related problems, for how the SDSs work with the data. In addition, the paper also relates the actors that regulate or collaborate with the SDSs, to the process activities. The results show that the SDSs encounter problems like transcending data errors, non-interoperating systems, and a non-tailoring attitude among their sources.
In order to create value for customers efficiently and to avoid unnecessary or redundant activity, organizations need IT support that interacts well with their business processes. In addition, healthcare organizations require transparent communication between the various actors and between IT systems. A new type of process oriented integration architecture has been developed using software devices known as process managers. These use simple graphical models to visualize business process integration and facilitate its management and monitoring. This article discusses the benefits and difficulties of introducing process manager technology into healthcare, based on a project to integrate IT systems over the patient process and across several organizations. Particular problems are caused by communication across organizational boundaries, e.g. due to security issues. However, the technology is able to manage and monitor processes and to make communication simpler and safer.
In this paper we discuss the fact that more and more patients are treated in their homes by a set of organizations, sometimes with different ownership, we explore how this poses new and heavy demands on health care and home service staff to communicate and to collaborate. We investigate the need for improved communication and collaboration on different managerial and operational levels. In particular we point to the need for managers in different organizations to agree on ways of communicating and collaborating between the operational level and the importance of this during procurement of home care services. As a result the paper suggests a number of methodological measures, strategies and IT solutions, to support organizational development, coordination and collaboration.
In this paper we discuss the fact that more and more patients are treated in their homes instead of in a hospital, and by a whole set of organizations, sometimes with different ownership, and how this fact places new and heavy demands on health care and home service staff to communicate and to collaborate. We further discuss the need for communication and collaboration on both managerial and operational levels. In particular we point to the need for managers in different organizations to agree on ways of communicating and collaborating on the operational level and how this aspect has to be taken into account already during procurement of home care services. We finally give a brief account of IT support for collaboration and coordination that may help to improving the situation.
In this paper we discuss the fact that more and more patients are treated in their homes by a set of organizations, sometimes with different ownership. We explore how this poses new and stronger demands on health care and home service staff, as well as on different managerial and operational levels, to improve their communication and collaboration. We emphasize the need for managers in different organizations to agree on ways and forms of communication and collaboration between the operational levels, and the particular importance of this during procurement of home care services. As a result a number of methodological measures, strategies and IT solutions to support organizational development, coordination and collaboration are suggested.
The aim of this paper is to summarize our research and describe our current position in the areas of health care process integration and information security. Security is one of the important non functional aspect of interoperability within the INTEROP NoE. The paper will briefly introduce our work and some findings concerning security issues in process integration within the health care sector.