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1 – 10 of over 2000Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The purpose of this paper is to find good values of onsite-offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to find good values of onsite-offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and offshore team so as to reduce project cost and improve schedule in a global software development (GSD) environment for software development project.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs system dynamics simulation approach to study software project characteristics in both co-located and distributed development environments. The authors consulted 14 experts from Indian software outsourcing industry during our model construction and validation.
Findings
The study results show that there is a drop in overall team productivity in outsourcing environment by considering the offshore options. But the project cost can be reduced by employing the offshore team for coding and testing work only with minimal training for imparting business knowledge. The research results show that there is a potential to save project cost by being flexible in project schedule.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the study is that the project management team should be careful not to keep high percentage of manpower at offshore location in distributed software environment. A large offshore team can increase project cost and schedule due to higher training overhead, lower productivity and higher error proneness. In GSD, the management effort should be to keep requirement analysis and design work at onsite location and involves the offshore team in coding and testing work.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the model results to divide the software team between onsite and offshore location during various phases of software development in distributed environment.
Originality/value
The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the team distribution between onsite and offshore location in GSD environment.
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Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this paper is to make an attempt to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength; number of hours of communication between business users and onsite team and between onsite and offshore team to reduce cost and improve schedule for re-engineering projects in global software development environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The system dynamics technique is used for simulation model construction and policy run experimentation. The experts from Indian software outsourcing industry were consulted for model construction, validation and analysis of policy run results in both co-located and distributed software development environment.
Findings
The study results show that there is a drop in the overall team productivity in outsourcing environment by considering the offshore options. But the project cost can be reduced by employing the offshore team for coding and testing work only with minimal training for imparting business knowledge. The research results show that there is a potential to save project cost by being flexible in project schedule.
Research limitations/implications
The study found that there could be substantial cost saving for re-engineering projects with a loss of project schedule when an appropriate onsite–offshore combination is used. The quality and productivity drop, however, were rather small for such combinations. The cost savings are high when re-engineering work is sent to offshore location entirely after completion of requirement analysis work at onsite location and providing training to offshore team in business knowledge The research findings show that there is potential to make large cost savings by being flexible in project schedule for re-engineering projects.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the model results to divide the software team between onsite and offshore location during various phases of software development in distributed environment.
Originality/value
The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the team distribution between onsite and offshore location in global software development environment.
Details
Keywords
Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The paper aims to study manpower dynamics at offshore and onsite location for maintenance project, which are transferred to offshore location in a phase-wise manner. The purpose…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to study manpower dynamics at offshore and onsite location for maintenance project, which are transferred to offshore location in a phase-wise manner. The purpose of the paper is to find good values of onsite–offshore team strength, the number of hours of communication between onsite and offshore teams for smooth transfer of software maintenance project to offshore location.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses system dynamics simulation approach to study manpower allocation at onsite and offshore locations to transfer the maintenance work to offshore location in a gradual manner. The authors consulted 13 experts from Indian software outsourcing industry during the model construction and validation.
Findings
The simulation results show that the complexity of maintenance project has an insignificant effect on offshore migration. The maintenance work transfer should start with initial onsite team strength higher than that of required for ticket solving and project. The initial offshore team strength should be based on training capacity available at the onsite location. The higher attrition rate at an offshore is detrimental for offshore migration.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the study is in the development of a broad framework of software maintenance work transfer to offshore locations for Indian software outsourcing projects. As the study is based on expert opinion in the context of India, it cannot be generalized for outsourcing scenarios elsewhere.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the findings to get more insight into maintenance project offshore migration and divide the software team between onsite and offshore location.
Originality/value
The study is novel as there is little attempt at finding the manpower composition at onsite and offshore locations for software maintenance project during the migration phase.
Details
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Debasisha Mishra and Biswajit Mahanty
The purpose of the paper is to find out the knowledge requirements and its effect on both onsite and offshore project work division for development, re-engineering and maintenance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the paper is to find out the knowledge requirements and its effect on both onsite and offshore project work division for development, re-engineering and maintenance projects in Indian outsourcing software industry in different phases of software development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employs an expert interview approach in Indian software industry to find out knowledge requirement for project execution and division of work between onsite and offshore locations. The requisite data were collected through expert interviews and direct observations.
Findings
The study found that the development projects require higher level of domain, strategic, business process and operation process knowledge in comparison to re-engineering and maintenance projects. So there is a need of higher onsite presence in development projects. The maintenance work is taken up at the offshore location in a phase-wise manner.
Research limitations/implications
The implication of the study is in the development of a broad framework of knowledge requirements and work division in on-shore and offshore locations for Indian software outsourcing projects. As the study is based on expert opinion in the context of India, it cannot be generalized for outsourcing scenarios elsewhere.
Practical implications
The software project manager can use the findings to get more insight into the project and divide the software team between onsite and offshore location.
Originality/value
The study is novel, as there is little attempt at finding the knowledge requirement to execute various kinds of business software development in outsourcing environment in the context of India.
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Fathima Nishara Abdeen, Randima Nirmal Gunatilaka, Samad M.E. Sepasgozar and David John Edwards
This study aims to assess the usability of augmented reality (AR) based mobile app for excavation and earthmoving processes using a novel tool entitled Excavator Augmented Reality…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the usability of augmented reality (AR) based mobile app for excavation and earthmoving processes using a novel tool entitled Excavator Augmented Reality (EAR).
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed-methods research approach was used through conducting experimentation to collect qualitative and quantitative data collected from the Sri Lankan construction sector. EAR app was used for experimentation in outdoor areas examining how a 360° tracked hydraulic excavator can be navigated in different physical environments similar to the real prospected job.
Findings
The findings reveal that EAR could make a considerable impact on enhancing productivity, safety and training processes. However, the developed EAR App subjected to assessment demonstrated the highest satisfaction gap for the auditory aspects. Among the remaining criterion, the satisfaction met user expectations for comfortability and no-risk practice. An analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT analysis) conducted revealed that visualising the excavator activities and the requirements of improved features were the highest agreed strengths and weaknesses of the EAR. Among the opportunities for improvement, the necessity of improving emergency and safety reached the highest agreement. Moreover, the study presented the challenges in introducing mobile augmented reality (MAR) to the construction sector under the political, economic, sociocultural, technological, environmental and legal (PESTEL) model along with solutions to be taken.
Originality/value
This study provides a novel approach to addressing the safety, productivity and training concerns in heavy mobile plants and machinery on construction sites which remains to be unexplored to this end.
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Yushiana Mansor and Emilia Ramdzan
This study aims to investigate Malaysian catalogers’ awareness, familiarity and understanding of the new bibliographic content standard, i.e. Resource Description and Access…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate Malaysian catalogers’ awareness, familiarity and understanding of the new bibliographic content standard, i.e. Resource Description and Access (RDA).
Design/methodology/approach
The survey method was adopted in this study. Questionnaires were used to gather data from respondents. The study included catalogers from higher education institutions in the area of Klang Valley, Malaysia. Purposive sampling method was used to identify the respondents.
Findings
The results revealed that, in general, though Malaysian catalogers were aware of the RDA, they were only familiar with the basics of RDA and its related topics. They were mainly aware of topics regarding the overview and development of RDA, and indicated low understanding of other topics, such as Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records (FRBR), related to RDA. The study found that respondents acknowledged the inadequacy of their basic understanding of RDA. The study also identified the catalogers’ needs and preference for RDA training. Most of the catalogers favored learning more about RDA context topics which include FRBR, Functional Requirements for Authority Data and International Cataloging Principles. They indicated willingness to undergo a two- to three-day intensive workshop to learn more about RDA.
Practical implications
Like in other countries, catalogers in Malaysia may also encounter problems when implementing the new RDA. Findings of this study would be useful in designing RDA trainings for catalogers.
Originality/value
No study has been done to investigate Malaysian catalogers’ awareness and understanding of RDA.
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The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to all factors that impact on the cost of an integrated library system (ILS).
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to bring awareness to all factors that impact on the cost of an integrated library system (ILS).
Design/methodology/approach
Using a total cost of ownership approach, a bigger view of all the factors impacting on cost is explored.
Findings
The paper finds that many libraries focus entirely on direct costs when selecting a new ILS, rather than factoring in staff time and other long‐term costs that will be associated with choosing a system.
Originality/value
When the direct and indirect costs are considered, systems that have higher initial costs may be cheaper to own through their entire lifespan than other, seemingly cheaper, products.
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Lyndon Amorin-Woods, Hugo Gonzales, Deisy Amorin-Woods, Barrett Losco and Petra Skeffington
The purpose of this paper is to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ATSI), it is expected that non-ATSI health-care professionals become culturally aware;…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (ATSI), it is expected that non-ATSI health-care professionals become culturally aware; however, participants’ perceptions of the relative merit of cultural awareness training (CAT) formats is uncertain.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors compared undergraduate students’ perceptions of an asynchronous online format with onsite delivery formats of CAT using a mixed-method design. Students from five successive cohorts (n = 64) in an undergraduate programme were invited to complete a post-training survey which gathered quantitative and qualitative data.
Findings
Whilst feedback was positive regarding both formats, the onsite format was preferred qualitatively with several valuable learning outcome themes emerging from the results. These themes included; “perceived benefits of self-evaluation of students’ own culture whilst learning about Aboriginal culture”; “encouraging to be provided with scenarios, examples and exercises to enhance cultural awareness” and “engagement with the interactive facilitator approach”. There were differing views about the benefits of learning the history of oppression which warrant further research.
Research limitations/implications
Results may be applicable to undergraduate allied health students who participate in clinical immersion placements (CIPs) who participate in Aboriginal CAT.
Practical implications
Given the changing dynamic in education forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, more resources may need to be directed to improving online training and possibly combining formats in course delivery.
Social implications
The strength of the study is that the authors achieved a response rate of 100%, thus the results are highly significant for the sample. This sample represents 41.3% of chiropractic students who attended CAT and CIPs at this university over the course of 9 years, thus the results could be generalized to chiropractic students who participated in these types of placements.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to compare student perceptions of different formats of Aboriginal CAT for final year chiropractic undergraduate students in Australia.
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Márton Németh and László Drótos
National Széchényi Library is introducing a new blended learning-based curriculum model on Web archiving for public collection professionals. The purpose of this paper is to…
Abstract
Purpose
National Széchényi Library is introducing a new blended learning-based curriculum model on Web archiving for public collection professionals. The purpose of this paper is to describe this curriculum concept together with its international context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative case study is being offered. The concept of the curriculum applying the results of an international questionnaire of the International Internet Preservation Consortium. A detailed curriculum structure is being presented together with a brief description of the major professional/ methodological concepts. It is based on constructive pedagogical approach. Based on the same general approach, some major methodological differences among the on-site and e-learning elements of curriculum design are also being described.
Findings
There is a high need to offer trainings in Web archiving filed to digital library professionals throughout Europe. A complex curriculum is highly needed to different target groups by various course delivery forms. The course concept offers a solid base; however, the structure of the curriculum has to reflect to the differences of specific methodological requirements in on-site and e–learning environments. A main goal of the study is describing the possibility to build-up that kind of hibrid blended learning-based training structure. Based on the described curriculum trainings are starting on April 2019. Sharing practical experiences about practical training activities based on this course structure can initiate further discussion on web archiving education field in the future.
Research limitations/implications
This paper would like to imitate some further discussions about methodological issues by developing education and training curricula on Web archiving in various European countries. By the framework of the Training Working Group of the International Internet Preservation Consortium, these proposed discussions can be elaborated.
Practical implications
The main practical implications are to encourage other partner libraries by the framework of the Training Working Group of International Internet Preservation Consortium to build-up similar training programmes and to plan various collaborative activities in this field.
Social implications
The proposed curriculum aims to acquire some major skills and competences on web archiving field by librarians from both the research library and public library sectors. The course can be available to museum professionals and archivists […]. The main goal is to learn to build-up small-scale web archiving projects in local, institutional environments in Hungary. It is quite necessary to preserve Web documents and other materials that are reflecting to the life of the local society. The social impact of preserving the local Web history can be overwhelming in the future.
Originality/value
Much untapped potential exists for librarians, archivists and museum professionals to plan and realize Web archiving projects in their own local institutional environments. This paper describes a new type of national model to offer them getting the necessary skills and competences in this field. There is a significant gap of describing education concepts in Web archiving.
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