Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

We describe a web-based architecture to support participation in group decision making. Emphasis is placed on security aspects related with our architecture, designed to enhance trust on the system.

Growing complexity of the data and processes to be managed, as well as the transition from strict governmental regulation towards autonomy make academic institutions a significant consumer of advanced software solutions. Strategic management requires a comprehensive analysis of large data volumes from heterogeneous sources, often imprecise and incomplete. Our aim is to assist university policy-makers in building strategic action plans in the field of resource distribution and teaching capacity utilization through explicit modeling and testing of diverse development strategies. The proposed decision support system (DSS), called UNICAP (acronym for university’s capacity planning), is aimed at optimizing the academic decision making by allowing simulation and evaluation of strategic plans. We conclude by presenting a case study, carried by the planning experts of our university who used UNICAP filled with “real” university’s data.

This paper proposes a structured framework for calculating the cost of e-Government services, based on the complementary application of the IDEF0 modelling tool and the Activity-Based Costing technique. The motivation for this research effort was derived by the need to use an alternative method for the annual cost calculation of the TAXISnet e-Government services, since the relevant report published from the Greek Ministry of Finance in 2003 was based on traditional accounting approaches. The first step of the proposed methodology is the IDEF0-supported identification of the activities corresponding to the e-Government services and their initial classification as value-added or non value-added. Data collection follows, concerning cost elements and their activities using Activity-Based Costing. The paper concludes with a discussion concerning the added value of the proposed methodology framework and further research.

In considering good practice in relation to e-Government, this paper contributes to critical discussion on the value placed on methodologies in implementing e-Government programmes. Assessments are made regarding institutional, technological and organisational factors within the public sector, and the manner in which methodologies have been and are currently being applied. An exploration is made of emergent e-Government driven methodologies, and in drawing on the work of Wastell, Newman and Kawalek (2002) perceptions of e-Government good practice are illustrated by implementing agencies.

We describe a web-based system to support groups in elaborating participatory budgets. Rather than using physical meetings with voting mechanisms, we promote virtual meetings with explicit preference elicitation, guided negotiations and, only if consensus is not reached, voting.

There are many claims about the benefits of Open Source Software (OSS). However, these claims are seldom supported by empirical evidence, while on the other hand there are several impediment factors which might overcome the advantages deriving from the use of OSS in a corporate environment: cost of transition, personnel training and, interoperability and integration with existing technologies. These factors are often used by OSS opponents. In this paper we first report of a small-scale deployment of OSS for office automation in Public Administration bodies. We describe the environment, the process and the problems encountered. Next, we describe a proposal for a future experiment for empirically assessing OSS impediment factors, focusing in particular on personnel productivity. We again propose the deployment of OSS office automation tools in Public Administration bodies and we describe a system for monitoring the effect of the use of OSS on personnel productivity.

This paper examines how abstract governmental eProcurement policies are translated into practice. We adopt a social constructionist perspective on policy and argue that the processes of eProcurement in public sector organizations are interwoven in broader policy processes and heterogeneous networks. Using the case study method we provide an empirical illustration of how this perspective could be drawn upon to make sense of eProcurement in action.

The size and growth of Italian healthcare spending for goods and services ask for prompt rationalization programs, with novel purchasing approaches (e-procurement), capable to provide significant reductions in purchasing and administration costs. If several interventions have not yet delivered the expected results, that’s due to lack of problem segmentation and resistance to change of public structures. Health-related purchases require a segmented approach, to take into account the specific needs of different spending items and foster coherent organizational changes. It is therefore of interest to examine the e-procurement project undertaken by the ASL of Viterbo, for its scope, consistence and brilliant results.