What contributes to auditee satisfaction in external ISO 9001 audits?

PurposeThis study aims to explore factors that contribute to auditee satisfaction in external audit fieldwork of ISO 9001, and relationships between these factors.Design/methodology/approachThe purpose is addressed through a single case study and based upon data collected by a questionnaire. Data were analysed using probabilistic graphical models.FindingsAn auditor's knowledge of operations is shown to be the single most important factor contributing to auditee satisfaction in the study. Furthermore, establishing a co-operative audit atmosphere and focussing on business improvements support the co-creation of value in the interaction between auditor and auditee, while a focus on ISO compliance appears to be more of a hygiene factor.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is based on a study of one company and its interactions with one of the certification bodies for external auditing. Hence, the generalisability of the findings is limited by the case study method.Practical implicationsThis paper identifies that an auditor's knowledge of operations and a focus on improvements and co-creation of value can improve auditee satisfaction and appreciation of the audit process.Originality/valuePrevious research has concluded that audit fieldwork is a key attribute associated with auditee satisfaction. This paper adds to this body of knowledge by empirically examining the specific factors within audit fieldwork that contribute to auditee satisfaction and focuses on value-creation in the audit process. By understanding these factors and moving towards a service perspective on audits with value co-creation as focus, it is possible to enhance the value of external audits.

Path-level interpretation of Gaussian graphical models using the pair-path subscore

Background Construction of networks from cross-sectional biological data is increasingly common. Many recent methods have been based on Gaussian graphical modeling, and prioritize estimation of conditional pairwise dependencies among nodes in the network. However, challenges remain on how specific paths through the resultant network contribute to overall ‘network-level’ correlations. For biological applications, understanding these relationships is particularly relevant for parsing structural information contained in complex subnetworks. Results We propose the pair-path subscore (PPS), a method for interpreting Gaussian graphical models at the level of individual network paths. The scoring is based on the relative importance of such paths in determining the Pearson correlation between their terminal nodes. PPS is validated using human metabolomics data from the Hyperglycemia and adverse pregnancy outcome (HAPO) study, with observations confirming well-documented biological relationships among the metabolites. We also highlight how the PPS can be used in an exploratory fashion to generate new biological hypotheses. Our method is implemented in the R package , available at https://github.com/nathan-gill/pps. Conclusions The PPS can be used to probe network structure on a finer scale by investigating which paths in a potentially intricate topology contribute most substantially to marginal behavior. Adding PPS to the network analysis toolkit may enable researchers to ask new questions about the relationships among nodes in network data.

Digital State Strategy

The purpose of this chapter is to characterize indicators used to advance the computerization of various countries in the European Union (EU) and across the globe. To this end, typical state computerization configurations are classified, and graphical models of critical computerization application systems are presented for each type. Smart city concepts are included in one of the configurations. The chapter begins by examining the history of the development of computerization in the state. It then discusses how, in the 21st century, computerization has changed the relationship between governments and businesses. Next, criteria for assessing computerization are discussed. This is followed by a discussion of different computerization configurations, including the state offline configuration (SOFC), state online configuration (SONC), state integrated configuration (SITC), and others. The chapter concludes by examining Poland's state configuration, which aimed at helping their economic strategy during 2016-2020.

AN APPROACH TO ANALYSIS OF ARCHIMATE APPLICATION ARCHITECTURE MODELS USING THE SOFTWARE COUPLING METRIC

Applications architecture is the baseline of any organizational activity, which main goal is to provide the executional environment for businessprocesses in order to deliver products or services to satisfy customer needs and generate revenue. Nowadays, large software engineering projectsalways begin with the architecture design phase, despite the waterfall or agile methodology is used by a software development team. Applicationsarchitecture design is the most important and, at the same time, error-prone stage of the whole software engineering project. It is well-known thatdesign shortcomings made on the design phase may increase drastically to testing and maintenance phases. Further costs to defects fixing may behundred times higher in the later project stages in compare to the design stage on which applications architecture is defined. Common system designsolutions, which were proven on practice and used in many projects, are known as architectural patterns. Software architecture patterns are consideredas building block for system implementation. The most popular and efficient way to share architectural patterns are graphical models that used as anyother blueprints of engineering solutions. Applications architecture models are built to represent system design, whereas, such models are alreadybased on certain patterns as the industry best practices. Hence, in this paper we consider a relevant problem of applications architecture modelsanalysis, which relevance is defined by those fact that designed blueprints of information systems and other software solutions should be carefullychecked for all presumable inefficiencies in order to avoid extra efforts and related costs for defects fixing in the later project stages. It is proposed touse ArchiMate enterprise architecture modeling language, since it can be used not only to represent applications architecture, but is connection tobusiness and technology layers. In order to evaluate applications architecture models, respective ArchiMate metamodel is considered and representedas labeled directed graph, and coupling software metric is selected for analysis. Sample calculations are demonstrated, obtained results are discussed,conclusion and future work directions are formulated.