Papers by balasubramaniam ramesh
Management Information Systems Quarterly, Dec 1, 2006
Her research focuses on productivity and quality improvement in the development and maintenance o... more Her research focuses on productivity and quality improvement in the development and maintenance of information systems and on effective management of information technology professionals. She has published articles in leading research journals including Information Systems Research, Management Science, MIS Quarterly, Communications of the ACM, and IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. She serves as a senior editor for Information Systems Research and Production and Operations Management and serves or has served on the editorial boards of MIS Quarterly, Management Science, Organization Science, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, and the Journal of Database Management. She is a member of the ACM, and is active in ICIS, ICSE, WISE, and the Academy of Management. Linda Levine is a senior member of the technical staff at the Software Engineering Institute. She researches the diffusion of software technologies and change management, knowledge integration and transfer, acquisition of software intensive systems, agile software development and reasoning and communication. Her work has appeared in a wide range of journals such as IEEE Computer,
Use of any trademarks in this report is not intended in any way to infringe on the rights of the ... more Use of any trademarks in this report is not intended in any way to infringe on the rights of the trademark holder. Internal use. Permission to reproduce this document and to prepare derivative works from this document for internal use is granted, provided the copyright and "No Warranty" statements are included with all reproductions and derivative works.
Scandinavian Journal of Information Systems, 2004
This paper compares and contrasts the practices in developing application software for the Intern... more This paper compares and contrasts the practices in developing application software for the Internet in 2000 and 2002. We identify key organizational and technical factors that facilitated or impeded implementation of Internet applications. The identification is done through a grounded theory analysis of data collected from ten companies. A comparison of the 2000 and 2002 data shows how major factors, such as market environment and lack of experience emerged to change the software process and the attitude toward 12 • J. Pries-Heje, R. Baskerville, L. Levine & B. Ramesh quality. The comparative study shows how the interrelationship between the core factors of speed and quality, together with the other major factors, unfolded in a decision process wrought with trade-offs and balancing decisions at multiple levels in the software organization. These trade-offs and balancing decisions -a high speed balancing game -are taking place at three different levels: the market, the portfolio, and the project. Balancing game theory extends existing theories about software development trade-off decisions, providing new insights into how such trade-off decisions are translated into software practices. The paper includes a comparative analysis of the findings from 2000 and 2002.
Proceedings of the 35th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Service family architectures are based on a set of basic building blocks that can be configured a... more Service family architectures are based on a set of basic building blocks that can be configured appropriately to build different services based on the same set of assets. These building blocks should be designed to provide variability so as to facilitate configuration and assembly in order to produce a family of products/services. Such an architectural design for a family of services is recognized as a highly knowledge intensive process. Documenting design decisions associated with these various configurations leading to variability and the capability to trace the life of a variation in both forward and backward directions are key to a flexible development of a service family. In this paper, we discuss the key role played by a traceabilitybased knowledge management system in documenting such design decisions and in tracing variability. Using a case study, we illustrate the importance of using such a knowledge management system in the design and development of service families.
Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Services refers to the emerging area of IS and IT services that are delivered electronicallytypic... more Services refers to the emerging area of IS and IT services that are delivered electronicallytypically through the Internet, wireless or landbased telecommunications networks. Examples of such services include (but are not limited to) software solutions provided by applications service providers (ASPs), ISPs, and supply chain information management networks. eservices must not only be designed, integrated, and delivered on highly compressed schedules, they must also be customized to specific needs of different organizational clients. The development of e-services share characteristics of both information systems development and IT services such as telecommunications and network access. In addition, it poses new challenges for effective, customer-centric delivery. The key objective of this minitrack is to invite original work and provide a forum for emerging research exploring various aspects behind the design, delivery, integration, and management of e-services.
Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Medical diagnosis in spatially and temporally distributed telemedicine teams is a complex process... more Medical diagnosis in spatially and temporally distributed telemedicine teams is a complex process that necessitates application of medical diagnostic skills and experience to data collected from a patient. Medical teams are often brought together from various organizations and specializations on an ad hoc basis to perform diagnoses. When these telemedical teams are disbanded, the process knowledge created during their activities is often lost. In this paper we identify group-level problems associated with such collaborative work. We then propose the initial requirements for a Web-based collaborative system to facilitate such processes while capturing knowledge of processes, decisions, context, and influencing factors in an organizational memory information system.
Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2002
In this paper, we examine the role of knowledge management in the design, customization, and deli... more In this paper, we examine the role of knowledge management in the design, customization, and delivery of a family of electronically delivered products and services, specifically information products and e-services. We suggest that concepts underlying mass customization and product-line engineering can be applied to deliver customized and individualized products, and services, while allowing the provider to operate at mass production levels and simultaneously catering to the needs of individual customers. Further, we propose a framework for a traceability based knowledge management system to support the design, customization and delivery of information product and eservice families.
Decision Support Systems, 1999
Knowledge centric activities of developing new products and services are becoming the primary sou... more Knowledge centric activities of developing new products and services are becoming the primary source of sustainable competitive advantage in an era characterized by short product life cycles, dynamic markets and complex processes. We Ž . view new product development NPD as a knowledge-intensive activity. Based on a case study in the consumer electronics Ž . industry, we identify problems associated with knowledge management KM in the context of NPD by cross-functional collaborative teams. We map these problems to broad Information Technology enabled solutions and subsequently translate these into specific system characteristics and requirements. A prototype system that meets these requirements developed to capture and manage tacit and explicit process knowledge is further discussed. The functionalities of the system include functions for representing context with informal components, easy access to process knowledge, assumption surfacing, review of past knowledge, and management of dependencies. We demonstrate the validity our proposed solutions using scenarios drawn from our case study.
Decision Support Systems, 2001
The Internet has led to the widespread trade of digital information products. These products exhi... more The Internet has led to the widespread trade of digital information products. These products exhibit unusual properties such as high fixed costs and near-zero marginal costs. They need to be developed on compressed time frames by spatially and temporally distributed teams, have short lifecycles, and high perishability. This paper addresses the challenges that Ž . information product development IPD teams face. Drawing on the knowledge intensive nature of IPD tasks, we identify potential solutions to these problems that can be provided by a knowledge management system. We discuss a prototype Ž . Knowledge Management System KMS that supports linking of artifacts to processes, flexible interaction and hypermedia services, distribution annotation and authoring as well as providing visibility to artifacts as they change over time. Using a case from the publishing industry, we illustrate how contextualized decision pathsrtraces provide a rich base of formal and informal knowledge that supports IPD teams.
Decision Support Systems, 2007
New product development (NPD) in the pharmaceutical industry is very knowledge intensive. Knowled... more New product development (NPD) in the pharmaceutical industry is very knowledge intensive. Knowledge generated and used during medical NPD processes is fragmented and distributed across various phases and artifacts. Many challenges in medical NPD can be addressed by the integration of this fragmented knowledge. We propose the creation and use of knowledge networks to address these challenges. Based on a case study conducted in a leading pharmaceutical company, we have developed a knowledge framework that represents knowledge fragments that need to be integrated to support medical NPD. We have also developed a prototype system that supports knowledge integration using knowledge networks. We illustrate the capabilities of the system through scenarios drawn from the case study. Qualitative validation of our approach is also presented.
Communications of the ACM, 2006
Three organizations studied here suggest the answer is "yes," when the unique character... more Three organizations studied here suggest the answer is "yes," when the unique characteristics of both environments are successfully blended.
Managing Cognitive and Mixed-motive Conflicts in Concurrent Engineering
Concurrent Engineering, Sep 1, 1994
In collaborative activities such as concurrent engineering (CE), conflicts anse due to difference... more In collaborative activities such as concurrent engineering (CE), conflicts anse due to differences in goals, information available, and the understanding of the task Such conflicts can be categorized into two types mixed-motive and cognitive Mixed-motive conflicts are essentially due to interest differentials among stakeholders Cognitive conflicts can occur even when the stakeholders do not differ in their respective utilities, but simply because they offer multiple cognitive perspectives on the problem Because conflicts in CE occur under a wider context of cooperative problem solving, the imperative for solving conflicts in such situations is strong This paper argues that mechanisms for managing conflicts in CE should bear a strong conceptual mapping with the nature of the underlying conflict Moreover, since CE activities are performed in collaborative settings, such mechanisms should accommodate information processing at multiple referent levels We discuss the nature of both types of conflicts and the requirements of mechanisms for managing them, The functionalities of an implementation that addresses these requirements are illustrated through an example of a CE task
Information Systems Journal, Jul 1, 2007
Development", [the authors] offer a thoughtful and original perspective on the nature of high-spe... more Development", [the authors] offer a thoughtful and original perspective on the nature of high-speed software development practices. They offer controversy over the degree to which the set of software development practices, variously called agile methodology, Internet speed methodology, and short cycle time development, are different from more traditional or plan-based development approaches. We heartily welcome such published research, and conference debates that reflect the various views on this issue (Glass 2003; Merisalo-Rantanen, Tuunanen et al. 2005
European Journal of Information Systems, Oct 1, 2019
Organisations operate in increasingly dynamic environments, internetworked in cooperative arrange... more Organisations operate in increasingly dynamic environments, internetworked in cooperative arrangements that cocreate value. They pursue the cocreation of value through collaborative networks, rather than in isolation. However, there is insufficient understanding of how networked organisations cocreate value in the network through the innovative use of information systems (IS): existing multi-firm studies are largely concerned with dyadic relationships. In terms of capturing value from the cocreation process, many studies have reported either enhanced organisational efficiencies (exploitative capability) or resulting innovations (explorative capability), but rarely both aspects simultaneously. This study attempts to draw a comprehensive picture of IS-based value leverage by reporting both the value cocreation process (network level) and value capture (organisational level) through a case study of innovative IS use in a large business network. This network links a public hub organisation with a large number of firms in the South Korean broadcast advertising industry. Drawing on Grover and Kohli's framework for value cocreation, the case study investigates the detailed process by which network-level value cocreation occurs in the four layers of relational arrangements. It also highlights, from an organisational ambidexterity perspective, how the cocreated value is appropriated through ambidextrous activities by the networked organisations.
Software processes are critical assets of software development organizations. The knowledge about... more Software processes are critical assets of software development organizations. The knowledge about context in which a process is defined and tailored is typically lost during software development activities, making the processes difficult to understand, reuse and evolve. We present a framework that represents the process knowledge used in defining and tailoring a software process Based on this model, we have developed a prototype tool to support the understanding, reuse and maintenance of this process knowledge.
IT Professional, Nov 1, 2012
Green IT has gained significant attention, but specific guidance on how to implement and manage v... more Green IT has gained significant attention, but specific guidance on how to implement and manage various green IT initiatives is largely underdeveloped. A new framework helps by classifying green IT used in organizations as sustaining or disrupting innovations. Provides company-wide, employee access to 4,300 technical courses, 600 technical and business books, dozens of Brainbench Exams and free or discounted training webinars and software development certifications.
European Journal of Information Systems, Mar 1, 2013
Agile software development that provides software development organizations, the ability to respo... more Agile software development that provides software development organizations, the ability to respond to changes in turbulent business environments, has been gaining wide adoption. Agile software development projects are characterized by 'just enough' planning and lack of upfront commitment to scope, cost, and schedule. These characteristics pose conflicting demands on managers responsible for making funding decisions, because traditional approaches to funding IT projects are often based on well-defined scope, cost, and schedule. These conflicts demand the adaptation of traditional funding processes to suit to agile projects. We draw from Adaptive Structuration Theory to understand the nature of conflicts between traditional IT project funding processes and the dynamic nature of agile projects, and how these conflicts are addressed by practices that are appropriated in the process of social interaction between funding decision makers and development teams. On the basis of a multisite case study, we present a framework that explains how organizations adapt traditional IT funding approaches to accommodate the unique characteristics of agile IT projects.
Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 2001
This paper proposes an inductive data mining technique (named GPR) based on genetic programming. ... more This paper proposes an inductive data mining technique (named GPR) based on genetic programming. Unlike other mining systems, the particularity of our technique is its ability to discover business rules that satisfy multiple (and possibly conflicting) decision or search criteria simultaneously. We present a step-by-step method to implement GPR, and introduce a prototype that generates production rules from real life data. We also report in this article on the use of GPR in an organization that seeks to understand how its employees make decisions in a "voluntary separation" program. Using a personnel database of 12,787 employees with 35 descriptive variables, our technique is able to discover employees' hidden decision making patterns in the form of production rules. As our approach does not require any domain specific knowledge, it can be used without any major modification in different domains.
International Conference on Information Systems, 2002
This research seeks to discover how quality and agility can be achieved in Internet speed softwar... more This research seeks to discover how quality and agility can be achieved in Internet speed software development. The study is being conducted in multiple phases. During phase 1, detailed case studies of Internet software development were conducted with 10 companies. In phase 2, a Discovery Colloquium was held to synthesize knowledge on innovative practices for quality and agility in Internet software development. During phase 3, the objective is to develop a contingency framework that characterizes choice and effectiveness of the practices based upon the insights from the prior two phases and through a second round of interviews with the original companies (still in business) and with selected additional companies from phase 2. This paper reports on findings on the use of agile methodologies that have emerged from phase 2, the Discovery Colloquium, as presented within the larger context of the study.
Are graduate programs offered by IS relevant in the age of digital disruption
Americas Conference on Information Systems, 2018
This panel will discuss the demographics, preparedness, and jobs of recent Masters graduates from... more This panel will discuss the demographics, preparedness, and jobs of recent Masters graduates from IS programs in the United States in the context of digital disruption. First, we will review results from the Information Systems Job Index, a longitudinal national project, which in 2017 assessed more than 2100 recent IS graduates from 58 universities across the nation. Next, the panelists, all of whom have extensive experience managing and developing nationally recognized graduate programs, will discuss implications focusing on placement and salary, demographics, knowledge level and jobs, especially in light of the opportunities and threats posed by digital disruption. The panel is unique because for the first time the discussion will be informed by data from the IS Job Index. The results of the panel will influence the management and teaching of existing graduate programs in IS, analytics, healthcare, and other areas as well as the development of new programs.
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Papers by balasubramaniam ramesh