Rationality of escalating commitment in information systems project management： An inter-disciplinary perspective

Escalation of commitment has been linked to losses in information systems （IS） projects. Understanding the nature and the rationality of escalation allows the firm to promote optimal project management practices. This study takes an inter-disciplinary approach and draws on research from economics and management to create a model of irrational escalation and a model of rational escalation. The forces that contribute to irrational escalation include the responsibility of the same manager for both the project selection and project continuation decisions that create proneness to self-justification, the potential for negative framing of decision options due to large sunk costs, the proximity of project completion and the presence of organizational inertia. Identifying these irrational escalation factors helps design appropriate de-escalation techniques. The rational escalation model draws on the real option theory and the bandit process theory to identify conditions when project continuation is justified by the value of information and the value of flexibility that the firm receives from continuing the project.

Information Management in Disaster and Humanitarian Response: A Case in United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

To guarantee a unified response to disasters, humanitarian organizations work together via the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Although the OCHA has made great strides to improve its information management and increase the availability of accurate, real-time data for disaster and humanitarian response teams, significant gaps persist. There are inefficiencies in the emergency management of data at every stage of its lifecycle: collection, processing, analysis, distribution, storage, and retrieval. Disaster risk reduction and disaster risk management are the two main tenets of the United Nations’ worldwide plan for disaster management. Information systems are crucial because of the crucial roles they play in capturing, processing, and transmitting data. The management of information is seldom discussed in published works. The goal of this study is to employ qualitative research methods to provide insight by facilitating an expanded comprehension of relevant contexts, phenomena, and individual experiences. Humanitarian workers and OCHA staffers will take part in the research. The study subjects will be chosen using a random selection procedure. Online surveys with both closed- and open-ended questions will be used to compile the data. UN OCHA offers a structure for the handling of information via which all humanitarian actors may contribute to the overall response. This research will enable the UN Office for OCHA better gather, process, analyze, disseminate, store, and retrieve data in the event of a catastrophe or humanitarian crisis.

An Information Systems Project Management Course Using a Service-Learning Model

This paper describes the implementation of an Information Systems （IS） capstone project management course that is a requirement for graduating seniors in an undergraduate Computer Information Systems （CIS） program at a regional university. The description provides a model which includes the culmination of students＇ academic training in an IS curriculum which is part of a Bachelor of Business Administration （BBA） program in an accredited college of business. The course requires an application of technical and business skills, as well as systems development and project management skills--while students are working on an actual IS project for an external sponsoring organization. Rationale for implementing this type of course includes the benefits it provides to the students, the project sponsors, and the IS department providing the course. Feedback from the course is used as integral part of the C1S curriculum assessment process used for accreditation purposes.

Information Network Systems and Information Sharing on Administrative Websites

In Japanese 'e-government' policy, called 'e-Japan', the 'administrative document management system' is functioning as information searching systems. On the other hand, this system has also generated the problem that it is not fully functioning as a means for the information sharing in a governmental agency. So, the purpose of this research is to find how the administrative document management system can function as information sharing in administrative organization. For this purpose, this paper considers the current status and some problems firstly. And secondary, this paper proposes the idea and constructs some information systems using administrative official Website. This is the method and approach of this research. As a conclusion, this proposal information system junctions as information sharing support systems.

Telematics as a Transformative Agent for the Zimbabwean Auto Insurance Ecosystem

Zimbabwe has witnessed the evolution of Information Communication Technology (ICT). The vehicle population soared to above 1.2 million hence rendering the Transport and Insurance domains complex. Therefore, there is a need to look at ways that can augment conventional Vehicular Management Information Systems (VMIS) in transforming business processes through Telematics. This paper aims to contextualise the role that telematics can play in transforming the Insurance Ecosystem in Zimbabwe. The main objective was to investigate the integration of Usage-Based Insurance (UBI) with vehicle tracking solutions provided by technology companies like Econet Wireless in Zimbabwe, aiming to align customer billing with individual risk profiles and enhance the synergy between technology and insurance service providers in the motor insurance ecosystem. A triangulation through structured interviews, questionnaires, and literature review, supported by Information Systems Analysis and Design techniques was conducted. The study adopted a case study approach, qualitatively analyzing the complexities of the Telematics insurance ecosystem in Zimbabwe, informed by the TOGAF framework. A case-study approach was applied to derive themes whilst applying within and cross-case analysis. Data was collected using questionnaires, and interviews. The findings of the research clearly show the importance of Telematics in modern-day insurance and the positive relationship between technology and insurance business performance. The study, therefore revealed how UBI can incentivize positive driver behavior, potentially reducing insurance premiums for safe drivers and lowering the incidence of claims against insurance companies. Future work can be done on studying the role of Telematics in combating highway crime and corruption.

Study on the Source Management and Analysis System

Considering the shortcoming in source management work for a long time, the CaiHong Group corporation propose the concep of Dynamic Consumption Norm. This has increased the enthusiasm of the workers to economize sources and reduce cost. Within a year, the corporation economizes sources for 20 billion yuan and achieves a notable effect in the work of reducing the cost and increasing the economic benefit. In order to assist the implementation of the new method in source management, both the corporation and the Education and Research Center of Plant Engineering in China have developed this 'Source Management And Analysis System '.

New Approach for Information Security Evaluation and Management of IT Systems in Educational Institutions

Security evaluation and management has become increasingly important for Web-based information technology(IT)systems,especially for educational institutions.For the security evaluation and management of IT systems in educational institutions,determining the security level for a single IT system has been well developed.However,it is still dificult to evaluate the information security level of the entire educational institution consid-ering multiple IT systems,because there might be too many different IT systems in one institution,educational institutions can be very different,and there is no standard model or method to provide a just ifable information security evaluation among different educational inst itutions considering their differences.In light of these difi-culties,a security evaluation model of educational institutions'IT systems(SEMEIS)is proposed in this work to facilitate the information security management for the educat ional institutions.Firstly,a simplified educational industry information system security level protection rating(EIISSLPR)with a new weight redistribution strategy for a single IT systern is proposed by choosing important evaluation questions from EIISSLPR and redistributing the weights of these questions.Then for the entire educational institution,analytic hierarchy process(AHP)is used to redistribute the weights of multiple IT systems at different security levels.considering the risk of pos-sible network security vulnerabilities,a risk index is forulated by weighting different factors,normalized by a utility function,and calculated with the real data collected from the institutions under the evaluation.Finally,the information security performance of educational institutions is obtained as the final score from SEMEIS.The results show that SEMEIS can evaluate the security level of the educat ion institutions practically and provide an efficient and effective management tool for the information security management.

Analysis and Visualization of Marketing, Statistical and Macroeconomic Data With GIS

The most common way to analyze economics data is to use statistics software and spreadsheets.The paper presents opportunities of modern Geographical Information System （GIS） for analysis of marketing, statistical, and macroeconomic data. It considers existing tools and models and their applications in various sectors. The advantage is that the statistical data could be combined with geographic views, maps and also additional data derived from the GIS. As a result, a programming system is developed, using GIS for analysis of marketing, statistical, macroeconomic data, and risk assessment in real time and prevention. The system has been successfully implemented as web-based software application designed for use with a variety of hardware platforms （mobile devices, laptops, and desktop computers）. The software is mainly written in the programming language Python, which offers a better structure and supports for the development of large applications. Optimization of the analysis, visualization of macroeconomic, and statistical data by region for different business research are achieved. The system is designed with Geographical Information System for settlements in their respective countries and regions. Information system integration with external software packages for statistical calculations and analysis is implemented in order to share data analyzing, processing, and forecasting. Technologies and processes for loading data from different sources and tools for data analysis are developed. The successfully developed system allows implementation of qualitative data analysis.

Diminutive Usage of Internet Banking： A Malaysian Case Study

As the opportunities offered, most individuals and businesses feel that E-banking energies are great. Thus, threats are unavoidable to banks if they fail to identify consequences and vulnerabilities accompanying e-banking practices. The usage rate of e-banking in a top international commercial bank in Malaysia is rather diminutive compare to its other bases in countries like Singapore, China and India. Interestingly, it is on decreasing mode year by year. This study aimed to offer a good set of information of the factors influencing low usage and possibilities to suggest ways to increase the usage among the bank customers. In this study, a comprehensive survey data gathering were used to collect and analyze the respondents and results indicate that ease of use is the most significant contributor to the low usage. 204 valid feedbacks were obtained from the SCM bank＇s customers, with the research indicating that e-banking still has a gap to fill between customers, the bank and the e-system in maximizing the desire of existing clients to go over the net.