Search Results (48)

Artificial Intelligence is a disruptive technology that is revolutionizing the accounting sector, e.g., by reducing costs, detecting fraud, and generating reports. However, the manual maintenance of booking ledgers remains a significant challenge, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. The usage of AI technologies in this area is rarely considered in the literature depite a significant interest in using AI for other acounting-related activities. Our study, which was conducted during 2023–2024, utilizes natural language processing and machine learning to construct a predictive model that accurately matches bank transaction statements with accounting records. The study employs Feedforward Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines with various settings and compares their performance with that of previous models embedded in similar predictive tasks. Additionally, as a baseline model, a software called Contofox, a rule-based system capable of classifying accounting records by manually creating rules to match bank statements with accounting records, is used. Furthermore, this study evaluates the business value of the model through an interview with an accounting expert, highlighting the potential benefits of artifacts in enhancing accounting processes. Full article

Common practice in agile delivery planning is based on user requirements-related artifacts. However, an aspect of business process alignment to software product functions comes into focus in the phase of inception of enterprise-aware disciplined agile software projects. This research proposes a method for mapping business process model elements to sets of semantically coupled and prioritized software functions to obtain ordered software product backlog, i.e., work items list. These software functions are derived from primitive business processes and software functional patterns. The mapping table enables assignment of primitive business processes to categorized software functions. Derived and prioritized software functions are related to a work item list pattern according to selected technology implementation. This way, a prioritized work items list is formulated, which enables development iteration planning. This method could be useful in software functional design alternatives comparison, change management, multi-project integration of software modules to support business processes in information systems, etc. Feasibility of the proposed method has been demonstrated with a case study, related to the development of a billing and reporting software utilized in a private hospital. This case study shows usability of the proposed method in the case of two related development projects that enable software functionality enhancement. Full article

The microservices architectural style has gained widespread adoption in recent years thanks to its ability to deliver high scalability and maintainability. However, the development process for microservices-based applications can be complex and challenging. Indeed, it often requires developers to manage a large number of distributed components with the burden of handling low-level, recurring needs, such as inter-service communication, brokering, event management, and data replication. In this article, we present Microhooks: a novel framework designed to streamline the development of microservices by allowing developers to focus on their business logic while declaratively expressing the so-called low-level needs. Based on the inversion of control and the materialized view patterns, among others, our framework automatically generates and injects the corresponding artifacts, leveraging 100% build time code introspection and instrumentation, as well as context building, for optimized runtime performance. We provide the first implementation for the Java world, supporting the most popular containers and brokers, and adhering to the standard Java/Jakarta Persistence API. From the user perspective, Microhooks exposes an intuitive, container-agnostic, broker-neutral, and ORM framework-independent API. Microhooks evaluation against state-of-the-art practices has demonstrated its effectiveness in drastically reducing code size and complexity, without incurring any considerable cost on performance. Based on such promising results, we believe that Microhooks has the potential to become an essential component of the microservices development ecosystem. Full article

The paper presents business models (BMs) for blockchain-based businesses. The paper is a study of IT-aligned BMs categorized by the concepts and possibilities of blockchain business applications. The research aimed to recognize and analyze the extent and directions in which blockchain architectures influence the means of conducting businesses. A set of almost 40,000 decentralized applications is examined to justify the rationale behind the presented analysis. This is an argumentative study that uses the design-oriented approach, as it is suitable for addressing real-world problems, like analyzing business models, while ensuring that artifacts are created and evaluated under methodological standards. Firstly, the concept of a business model is analyzed. Then, a theoretical analysis of different business models is made to identify the ones that are well aligned with the decentralized vision of business and the ones that are obsolete or inoperative from the blockchain business-conducting perspective. In the end, the outcome is applied to examples of existing business startups. Fifteen identified BMs in 7 business sector groups are recognized and 55 cases are detected. Full article

In a technology-driven world, the concepts of digitalization and Industry 4.0 (I4.0) are an ever more present reality for companies. The benefits which these advancements offer, coupled with the market-driven pressure to reduce response times, have placed businesses in a technological “wave”, where it is imperative to adapt to avoid falling behind. While numerous studies focus on technological developments—such as definitions, capabilities, and potential benefits—few provide a systematic approach to best practices and recommendations for accelerating digital transformation while mitigating adverse impacts. In this study, case studies from 10 companies are analyzed to identify and systematize the best practices implemented in their digital transitions. The findings culminate in a best-practice framework for digital transition (DT), highlighting critical aspects such as understanding a company’s current state, acquiring external knowledge, and addressing the importance of cybersecurity and skilled staff. Concerning originality, this work presents an artifact based on manufacturing industry case studies, emphasizing the practical vision concerning DT. Full article

Background/Objectives: Health and social care systems around the globe are currently undergoing a transformation towards personalized, preventive, predictive, participative precision medicine (5PM), considering the individual health status, conditions, genetic and genomic dispositions, etc., in personal, social, occupational, environmental, and behavioral contexts. This transformation is strongly supported by technologies such as micro- and nanotechnologies, advanced computing, artificial intelligence, edge computing, etc. Methods: To enable communication and cooperation between actors from different domains using different methodologies, languages, and ontologies based on different education, experiences, etc., we have to understand the transformed health ecosystem and all its components in terms of structure, function and relationships in the necessary detail, ranging from elementary particles up to the universe. In this way, we advance design and management of the complex and highly dynamic ecosystem from data to knowledge level. The challenge is the consistent, correct, and formalized representation of the transformed health ecosystem from the perspectives of all domains involved, representing and managing them based on related ontologies. The resulting business viewpoint of the real-world ecosystem must be interrelated using the ISO/IEC 21838 Top Level Ontologies standard. Thereafter, the outcome can be transformed into implementable solutions using the ISO/IEC 10746 Open Distributed Processing Reference Model. Results: The model and framework for this system-oriented, architecture-centric, ontology-based, policy-driven approach have been developed by the first author and meanwhile standardized as ISO 23903 Interoperability and Integration Reference Architecture. The formal representation of any ecosystem and its development process including examples of practical deployment of the approach, are presented in detail. This includes correct systems and standards integration and interoperability solutions. A special issue newly addressed in the paper is the correct and consistent formal representation Conclusions: of all components in the development process, enabling interoperability between and integration of any existing representational artifacts such as models, work products, as well as used terminologies and ontologies. The provided solution is meanwhile mandatory at ISOTC215, CEN/TC251 and many other standards developing organization in health informatics for all projects covering more than just one domain. Full article

The invoicing process is critical to the financial management of organizations. However, modeling this process presents challenges such as data updating, information availability, and aligning planned activities with the actual execution of the process. One difficulty is that designing the invoicing process requires extensive knowledge of the activities involved, and process representations based on organizational repositories are not necessarily aligned with the actual invoicing processes in the organization. Process Mining is complemented by the use of dashboards, which are inherent to business intelligence and allow for visual tracking of process behavior. This paper explores how the combination of process mining and business intelligence can enable a new level of process modeling that addresses specific issues in constructing processes that are aligned with real-world activities. To accomplish this, we first propose the Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, which outlines how a researcher or practitioner should approach the task of modeling a specific process using Process Mining augmented with dashboard resources. The research strategy was to identify the most appropriate methodology to construct the actual billing process, which led to the identification of the DSR methodology. This methodology, with its 12-step plan, allowed the construction of an artifact representing the actual invoicing process. Ultimately, the objective of constructing a real invoicing process in the Colombian pharmaceutical sector is achieved through the development of an artifact, complemented by business intelligence dashboards that ensure the alignment of the execution of activities within the process. Full article

Given its detrimental effect on the brain, alcoholism is a severe disorder that can produce a variety of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral issues. Alcoholism is typically diagnosed using the CAGE assessment approach, which has drawbacks such as being lengthy, prone to mistakes, and biased. To overcome these issues, this paper introduces a novel paradigm for identifying alcoholism by employing electroencephalogram (EEG) signals. The proposed framework is divided into various steps. To begin, interference and artifacts in the EEG data are removed using a multiscale principal component analysis procedure. This cleaning procedure contributes to information quality improvement. Second, an innovative graphical technique based on fast fractional Fourier transform coefficients is devised to visualize the chaotic character and complexities of the EEG signals. This elucidates the properties of regular and alcoholic EEG signals. Third, thirty-four graphical features are extracted to interpret the EEG signals’ haphazard behavior and differentiate between regular and alcoholic trends. Fourth, we propose an ensembled feature selection method for obtaining an effective and reliable feature group. Following that, we study many neural network classifiers to choose the optimal classifier for building an efficient framework. The experimental findings show that the suggested method obtains the best classification performance by employing a recurrent neural network (RNN), with 97.5% accuracy, 96.7% sensitivity, and 98.3% specificity for the sixteen selected features. The proposed framework can aid physicians, businesses, and product designers to develop a real-time system. Full article

In the age of Industry 4.0, competition between companies is becoming increasingly intense, and companies are turning to trends that aim to improve overall performance. Accordingly, the company ITEK decided to create a global gamification mechanism focused on motivating employees and encouraging them to perform their tasks in order to obtain incentives. For the construction and development of this mechanism, design science research and the 6D approach to gamification were used as methodologies, including tools from the aforementioned company that can be adapted to cloud tools in future applications. With this in mind, as a result, a base artifact with potential for future implementation can be shown, having interoperability and integrity for possible changes in companies with similar needs, an architecture related to the matter, and a proof of concept, proving that is possible to implement the solution in a real-world context. This article serves as a beacon to bring practical examples to the scientific and business community that can enrich and give light to new applications related to the themes of gamification, cloud, and human resources. As such, it can be expected that the next steps will include the application of the gamification model in the company ITEK, the documentation of its application, its results for employees, and the overall performance of the company. As a result and as proof of concept, an architecture was developed that allows for the integration of eight tools and 12 rules created for the gamification model. Full article

Cultural intelligence is one’s ability to adapt when confronted with problems arising in interactions with people or artifacts of cultures other than one’s own. In this study, we explored two maximum-performance tests of cultural intelligence. One, used in previous research, measured cultural intelligence in the context of an individual conducting a business trip in another culture. The second, new to this research, measured cultural intelligence in the context of meeting someone from another culture while one is in the context of one’s own culture. So, the difference between the two tests was whether one was in one’s own culture or another and whether the individual who most had to adapt was oneself or someone else. We found that cultural intelligence in the two contexts was essentially the same construct. Cultural intelligence as measured by a typical-performance test is a different construct from cultural intelligence as measured by a maximum-performance test. In this research, general intelligence showed some limited correlation with cultural intelligence as measured by a maximum-performance, but not a typical-performance test. Cultural intelligence as an ability and as a disposition are not the same but rather complement each other. Full article

The utilization of software architectures and designs is widespread in software development, offering conceptual frameworks to address recurring challenges. A transpiler is a tool that automatically converts source code from one high-level programming language to another, ensuring algorithmic equivalence. This study introduces an innovative software architecture design model that integrates transpilers into the back-end layer, enabling the automatic transformation of business logic and back-end components from a single source code (the coding artifact) into diverse equivalent versions using distinct programming languages (the automatically produced code). This work encompasses both abstract and detailed design aspects, covering the proposal, automated processes, layered design, development environment, nest implementations, and cross-cutting components. In addition, it defines the main target audiences, discusses pros and cons, examines their relationships with prevalent design paradigms, addresses considerations about compatibility and debugging, and emphasizes the pivotal role of the transpiler. An empirical experiment involving the practical application of this model was conducted by implementing a collaborative to-do list application. This paper comprehensively outlines the relevant methodological approach, strategic planning, precise execution, observed outcomes, and insightful reflections while underscoring the the model’s pragmatic viability and highlighting its relevance across various software development contexts. Our contribution aims to enrich the field of software architecture design by introducing a new way of designing multi-programming-language software. Full article

A business process is a set of activities executed in a specific sequence involving various actors. This relationship between actors, activities, and sequence is crucial for achieving the goals and objectives of organizations. Business process modeling involves determining the actors, activities, and execution sequence necessary to accomplish the organization’s objectives, permitting analysis of the overall process in order to identify and rectify potential failures, improve operations, or eliminate activities that do not generate value. In this study, Petri nets have been selected as the modeling tool due to their ability to provide graphical and mathematical representations of business processes, which offers a significant advantage over other tools. The objective of this research is to develop a BP modeling algorithm using Petri nets. It aims to simulate the behavior of each activity within a case study in which the mathematical representation of Petri nets is utilized to measure process performance. Additionally, a software artifact is created to assess the algorithm’s functionality and compare the performance of two different business process that share the same goal. Full article

Microservices have emerged as a prevalent architectural style in modern software development, replacing traditional monolithic architectures. The decomposition of business functionality into distributed microservices offers numerous benefits, but introduces increased complexity to the overall application. Consequently, the complexity of authorization in microservice-based applications necessitates a comprehensive approach that integrates authorization as an inherent component from the beginning. This paper presents a systematic approach for achieving fine-grained user authorization using Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC). The proposed approach emphasizes structure preservation, facilitating traceability throughout the various phases of application development. As a result, authorization artifacts can be traced seamlessly from the initial analysis phase to the subsequent implementation phase. One significant contribution is the development of a language to formulate natural language authorization requirements and policies. These natural language authorization policies can subsequently be implemented using the policy language Rego. By leveraging the analysis of software artifacts, the proposed approach enables the creation of comprehensive and tailored authorization policies. Full article

The present research focuses on operational agility in service organizations, which are subject to variability through customers, service providers, suppliers, or unexpected events. As such, their management teams may face challenges in understanding their agility-related assets and success metrics, and furthermore in defining the scope of work for improvement initiatives. Previous research offers quite general insights into agility-related capabilities, practices, obstacles, or (agility-related) information quality evaluation. Yet, management teams need specific practices and techniques in order to improve operational agility capabilities, and thus increase their sustainable performance. We propose a conceptual framework and an artifact-centric algorithm that elicits and prioritizes improvement initiatives by (a) understanding agility-related assets by modelling operational business artifacts, (b) determining agility bottlenecks by identifying quality issues in operational artifacts, and (c) eliciting and prioritizing improvement initiatives to increase artifact quality. The framework application is discussed through a case study in a company operating in the rail freight industry, in which a set of initiatives to improve operational agility capabilities is obtained and prioritized. We conclude that the proposed algorithm is an applicable and relevant tool for management teams in service organizations, in their operational agility improvement endeavors. Full article

The Internet of Things (IoT) has been shown to be very valuable for Business Process Management (BPM), for example, to better track and control process executions. While IoT actuators can automatically trigger actions, IoT sensors can monitor the changes in the environment and the humans involved in the processes. These sensors produce large amounts of discrete and continuous data streams, which hold the key to understanding the quality of the executed processes. However, to enable this understanding, it is needed to have a joint representation of the data generated by the process engine executing the process, and the data generated by the IoT sensors. In this paper, we present an extension of the event log standard format XES called DataStream. DataStream enables the connection of IoT data to process events, preserving the full context required for data analysis, even when scenarios or hardware artifacts are rapidly changing. The DataStream extension is designed based on a set of goals and evaluated by creating two datasets for real-world scenarios from the transportation/logistics and manufacturing domains. Full article