The Why and the Benefits of Architecture

2012 ◽  
pp. 140-152
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
General Outline ◽  
Levels Of Detail ◽  
Fine Detail ◽  
It Architecture ◽  
Architectural Principles

The advantages of using architecture are examined from the information technology (IT) point of view in order to get a feel for the more general advantages that would apply to other areas of endeavour. Then IT architecture is reviewed in more detail to see in particular the levels of abstraction that are inherent in an architecture, moving from the general outline which shows the whole enterprise, down through progressive levels of detail, to the fine detail of actual implementation instructions. General architectural principles will be identified during the examination of the various architecture definitions.

Up In Smoke

2008 ◽  
pp. 3659-3675
Author(s):  
Steven C. Ross ◽  
Craig K. Tyran ◽  
David J. Auer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
It Architecture ◽  
College Of Business ◽  
Computer Facility

On July 3, 2002, fire destroyed a facility that served as both office and computer server room for a College of Business located in the United States. The fire also caused significant smoke damage to the office building where the computer facility was located. The monetary costs of the disaster were over $4 million. This case, written from the point of view of the chairperson of the College Technology Committee, discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college’s server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college. The reader is challenged to learn from the experiences discussed in the case to develop an IT architecture for the college that will meet operational requirements and take into account the potential threats to the system.

Up In Smoke

2011 ◽  
pp. 159-176
Author(s):  
Steven C. Ross ◽  
Craig K. Tyran ◽  
David J. Auer ◽  
Jon M. Junell ◽  
Terrell G. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
It Architecture ◽  
College Of Business ◽  
Computer Facility

On July 3, 2002, fire destroyed a facility that served as both office and computer server room for a College of Business located in the United States. The fire also caused significant smoke damage to the office building where the computer facility was located. The monetary costs of the disaster were over $4 million. This case, written from the point of view of the chairperson of the College Technology Committee, discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college’s server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college. The reader is challenged to learn from the experiences discussed in the case to develop an IT architecture for the college that will meet operational requirements and take into account the potential threats to the system.

Up in Smoke

2011 ◽  
pp. 29-47
Author(s):  
Steven C. Ross ◽  
Craig K. Tyran ◽  
David J. Auer ◽  
Jon M. Junell ◽  
Terrell G. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Total Destruction ◽  
It Architecture ◽  
College Of Business ◽  
Computer Facility

On July 3, 2002, fire destroyed a facility that served as both office and computer server room for a College of Business located in the United States. The fire also caused significant smoke damage to the office building where the computer facility was located. The monetary costs of the disaster were over $4 million. This case, written from the point of view of the chairperson of the College Technology Committee, discusses the issues faced by the college as they resumed operations and planned for rebuilding their information technology operations. The almost-total destruction of the college’s server assets offered a unique opportunity to rethink the IT architecture for the college. The reader is challenged to learn from the experiences discussed in the case to develop an IT architecture for the college that will meet operational requirements and take into account the potential threats to the system.

A Framework for the Quality Evaluation of MDWE Methodologies and Information Technology Infrastructures

2012 ◽  
pp. 295-307
Author(s):  
Francisco José Domínguez-Mayo ◽  
María José Escalona ◽  
Manuel Mejías ◽  
Isabel Ramos ◽  
Luis Fernández
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Quality Evaluation ◽  
Objective Evaluation ◽  
Specific Model ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Web Engineering ◽  
Technology Infrastructure ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Independent Model

Diverse development web methodologies currently exist in the field of Model-Driven Web Engineering (MDWE), each of which covers different Levels of Abstraction on Model-Driven Architecture (MDA): Computation Independent Model (CIM), Platform Independent Model (PIM), Platform Specific Model (PSM), and Code. Given the high number of methodologies available, it has become necessary to define objective evaluation tools to enable development teams to improve their methodological environment and help designers of web methodologies design new effective and efficient tools, processes and techniques. Since proposals are constantly evolving, the need may arise not only to evaluate the quality but also to find out how it can be improved. This paper presents an approach named QuEF (Quality Evaluation Framework) oriented towards evaluating, through objectives measures, the quality of information technology infrastructure, mainly in MDWE methodology environments.

Introducing Electronic Patient Records to Hospitals

2011 ◽  
pp. 128-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reima Suomi
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Customer Relationship Management ◽  
Relationship Management ◽  
Patient Data ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Healthcare Industry ◽  
Patient Records ◽  
Electronic Patient Records ◽  
Technology Applications

Healthcare is on of the industries that is currently fast adopting information technology (IT) into use. Electronic patient records (EPRs) are at the hearth of healthcare information technology applications. However, patient data is seldom efficiently organized even within one organization, and when patient data is needed in applications covering several organizations, the situation becomes even more complicated. We draw some lessons on how EPR systems should look like from the customer relationship management literature point of view: After all, patients are the customers of healthcare institutions. As a guiding framework for this analysis we use the concepts developed by (Winter, Ammenwerth, et al,. 2001). Then we proceed to discuss how EPR systems diffuse in the healthcare industry and use the Internet standards adoption (ISA) model presented by (Hovav, Patnayakuni, et al., 2004) as a starting point. We apply this model to the diffusion of EPR systems in the healthcare industry. We found big differences between customer relationship management and EPRs management. Customer relationship management aims at long-term relationships and customer profitability, which are not strong goals for EPR systems. Our analysis too resulted to the conclusion that the practical innovation adoption bath for EPRs over paper-based patient records is that of adoption through coexistence.

Linking Business and Application Architectures

2013 ◽  
pp. 209-228
Author(s):  
Suresh Kamath
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Category Theory ◽  
Information Architecture ◽  
Common Language ◽  
It Strategy ◽  
It Investments ◽  
Business Architecture ◽  
It Architecture ◽  
Application Architecture ◽  
Use Category

The development of an IT strategy and ensuring that it is the best possible one for business is a key problem many organizations face. This problem is that of linking business architecture to IT architecture in general and application architecture specifically. Without this linkage it is difficult to manage the changes needed by the business and maximize the benefits from the information technology (IT) investments. Linking the two domains requires defining the two architectures using a “common language.” While the application architecture domain has developed tools and processes to define and represent the architecture, the business architecture domain, however, lacks such processes and tools to be useful for linking of the two. The chapter addresses several questions dealing with the linking of the business and the application architectures. The author proposes to use category theory related constructs and notions to represent the business and information architecture and the linkages.

Institutional Isomorphism and New Technologies

2011 ◽  
pp. 2066-2071 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Amoretti ◽  
Fortunato Musella
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Institutional Isomorphism ◽  
Social Construct ◽  
Cognitive Frames ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Information And Communication

Technological factor is mainly underestimated in the literature on institutions and organizations. Although organizational studies and information technology are disciplines dedicated respectively to studying socio-political and technical aspects of organizing, cross-fertilization among such fields has remained quite limited. Only rarely the variable of technology has been interpreted as a crucial element for explaining institutional uniformity. From a more general point of view, changing technical factors have been considered “relatively unimportant sources of organizational change in a mature organizational field” (Yang, 2003, p. 433). Only after the spread of the information and communication technologies (ICTs), a good number of studies has started to consider the relationships among information technology and organizational structure (Guthrie, 1999). Neo-institutional analysis on the use of information technology was mostly directed at showing how the embeddedness of organizational actors “in cognitive, cultural, social, and institutional structures influences the design, perceptions, and uses of the Internet and related [information technology]” (Fountain, 2001, p. 88). Therefore, it can been argued that most of the literature on this field concerns the way in which technology represents a social construct, because it shows that any technological application is strongly influenced by social aspects, such as cognitive frames, political culture, local traditions and so forth. Yet, a few contributions have been dedicated until now to investigate how institutions change through the introduction of new technologies. Although technological innovation is said to be the source of variation in a given institutional context, as “new technology offers new possibilities for solving problems [and] new practices arise when innovative organizations take advantage of its novel benefits” (Leblebici, 1991, p. 335), little attention is focused on technological variables. Despite such disregard, in the following article some examples of the strategic use of information and communication technologies will be included, with specific reference to pressures exerted by ICTs for producing “institutional isomorphism.”

The Ultimate Value of Information Technology

2006 ◽  
pp. 180-195
Author(s):  
Robert A. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
Modern Technology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Ethical Principles ◽  
Human Consciousness ◽  
The World ◽  
Ecosystem Level ◽  
Positive Feature ◽  
The Impact

In order to conclude our discussion of the value of information technology, we need to answer these questions: What characteristics does IT share with modern technology generally? What is its place with respect to the rest of technology and with respect to the rest of the world? The goal of this chapter is to formulate how information technology might interact with ethical principles required at the species level, ecosystem level, and the level of being as a whole. I also want to consider the impact of these ethical principles on our responsibilities as IT professionals. The most positive feature of information technology is its potential to contribute to the increase in human consciousness by making more knowledge more widely available. Yet it can just as easily enable questionable applications of technology that further our extinction as a species or the destruction of the ecosystem. Let us begin by asking of information technology the questions we asked about technology generally: Is information technology a neutral means? Does it have its own ends and point of view?

The Ultimate Value of Technology

2006 ◽  
pp. 158-179
Author(s):  
Robert A. Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Value Of Information ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Human Group ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Human Attributes

In the previous chapter, we saw how difficult it was to determine the value of information technology, even with a clearly defined point of view from which to assess that value, namely, the interests of the organization utilizing the technology. Over and above the point of view of the organization or even the economy as an aggregate of organizations, there are other perspectives to consider. Is it correct to view technology as another enabling value like health and wealth, an all-purpose means that enables us to achieve any number of our ends?1 Or should technology rather be viewed as an entirely different way of structuring reality? These questions raise broader issues that need to be considered from much wider points of view: What is the value of information technology for humanity as a whole? And finally, what is the value of information technology for being as a whole? In considering these questions, we need also to consider whether the value of information technology is best assessed as a part of technology generally, or whether information technology has its own characteristics relevant for assessing its value. I will examine issues concerning technology as a whole in this chapter, and return to the IT-specific issues in the next chapter. Beyond considering technology and information technology from the point of view of humanity as a whole, it may be necessary to consider technology and information technology from the point of view of being as a whole. One could think of the point of view of being as a whole as God’s point of view, except that many religious conceptions of God assign many different human attributes to God. And so to determine what is valuable from God’s point of view would embroil us in major religious disputes about God’s nature. Trying to take the point of view of being avoids such disputes. Rather, we are asking, what is the value of technology from the point of view of the unfolding or revealing of whatever is, has been, or will come to be?2 Even the point of view of humanity is itself very difficult for many people to embrace. Instead, their highest point of view is that of some limited human group, most typically national or social groups, ethnic groups, or economic groups or organizations. Yet even with these difficulties, it is easier to discuss the value of technology and information technology from the point of view of humanity as a whole than it is to discuss these questions from the point of view of being. So we will start with the point of view of humanity.

Interaction as a Method of Educating Constructivism

2020 ◽  
pp. 170-205
Author(s):  
Stylianos Eyaggelos Gouloudis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Video Games ◽  
Interactive Television ◽  
Learning Objects ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Game Based Learning ◽  
Use Of The Internet

Constructivism allows the student to build knowledge and learning on his own. Through the discovery, experimentation, and tests, the student tries to consolidate the learning objects. Τhis chapter approaches constructivism through the use of methods used by information technology. An advantage of IT tools is the interaction that turns the teaching into experiential and experimental where the student tries to evaluate and improve his abilities. Methods such as robotics, interactive television, and the use of the internet provide forms of interactive learning based on the methodology of game-based learning, which contribute to constructivism. In this chapter, once the construction and importance in education and especially in IT is presented, the importance of game-based learning and video games is presented. The authors show the role of robotics and the internet in relation to the interaction they offer, and also the role of interactive television in the educational process from the point of view of constructivism.

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