Wolfgang Alfred Molnar. Luxembourg Institute of Science, Technology – LIST, Avenue des Hauts-Fourneaux, L- Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg Researcher

Entanglement in practice is a particular perspective on technology and perceives human practices and IT interrelated. How business-IT alignment is perceived from this research perspective is explored with this interpretive case-study within the financial sector. Employees from different departments and different hierarchy levels in one company were interviewed. The amassed qualitative data was analyzed through a coding approach and conceptualizations were derived. The study identified institutionalized features, change legacies and communication as influential for business-IT alignment. Researchers perceive a tripartite formation composed of human, business and IT, when they explore business-IT alignment. Aligned business and IT may serve as scaffolding. The paper indicates that the organizational state of business-IT alignment is important to distinguish the respective need of reflexive capabilities of human actors. Large tensions between business and IT require extensive reflexive capabilities, when actors need to elicit more carefully the respective requirements in a given situation.

Driss Benhaddou, Mohamed Riduan Abid#, Ouidad Achahbar#, Nacer Khalil, Tajjeeddine Rachidi#, Maen Al Assaf

Smart Grids (SGs) are emerging as a promising technology meant to cope with the energy efficiency issue, currently witnessed in legacy electrical grids, by disseminating relevant information in a real-time mode among the different SG components. The SG Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) form s a central SG component, and consists basically of meters/sensors that are regularly communicating data towards the Control Plane. Much of these communicated data emanates from wireless sensors, and falls in the realm of Big Data. The latter needs substantial high-performance compute (HPC) power for processing and mining. In this paper, we shed further light into a syne rgetic interface between SGs and the Cloud. We propose the use of Cloud computing to provide HPCaaS fo r SG Big Data processing, and delineate a suitable architecture. We present the blue print for deployi ng a real world private cloud testbed using OpenStack, Hadoop, and the MapReduce progra mming model. To assess the test bed functionalities, we run extensive experiments using benchmarked Big Data sets.

Heiko Kern, Fred Stefan. University of Leipzig, Business Information Systems, Leipzig Researcher, Germany. Researcher

This peer-reviewed paper presents original scientific research in computer science and information systems, addressing "Intelligent and Self-adapting Integration Between Machines and Information Systems". The authors discuss theoretical foundations, system architectures, empirical evaluations, and practical implications for modern digital ecosystems. Published in IJCSIS Vol. 10 No. 1 (2015).

Hanife Rexhepi, University of Skövde, Informatics Research Centre, P.O. Box, SE-, Skövde Researcher, Sweden Researcher

The primary and basic component of healthcare is information. Being a healthcare practitioner involves using medical knowledge and patient information to deliver the best possible care. When decisions about the care of the patient are made they must as far as possible be based on research-derived evidence rather than on clinical skills and experience alone. This decision process is complex as evidence is infrequently available in a form that can be acted upon at the time decisions must be made. The aim of this paper is to present and illustrate how a prototype visualization of a process support system can support the availability of relevant medical knowledge in a way which seamlessly integrates with healthcare practitioners work practice, and thereby enable s healthcare practitioners to work in accordance with EBM. An important conclusion from this research is that a process support as the one described in this paper can reshape the practice of EBM.

Hanife Rexhepi, Rose-Mharie Åhlfeldt, Anne Persson. University of Skövde

Healthcare processes require the cooperation of different healthcare providers and medical disciplines. In such an environment, the quality and safety of care rely heavily on the ability to exchange information from one software t o another, and from one person to another. However, information systems that support a seamless flow of information along healthcare processes are not broadly used in healthcare environments. Usually, healthcare organizations have their own autonomously de veloped information systems that do not support the cooperation of different organizational units and medical disciplines. This has led to the fragmentation of the patients’ information in proprietary heterogeneous systems across healthcare organizations. The aim of this paper is to: (1) explore how healthcare practitioners´ in Sweden experience information system support in their daily work activities, and (2) present and illustrate how key design principles of a process support system prototype can suppor t healthcare practitioners in their work practice. An important conclusion from this research is that a process support as the one described in this paper creates new opportunities to organize and coordinate healthcare.

Diana Wilson, Denise Leahy. Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Dudley Dolan. Q-Validus, Dublin Researcher, Ireland Researcher

This paper is a case study of the creation of a skills framework for ICT practitioners. A short history describes the development of the use of technology in business, and discusses the need for a framework to define the skills required by those who develop and manage systems . The European e-Competence Framework (e-CF) for ICT practitioners was developed by the CEN Workshop for ICT Skills, this workshop being part of the European Standards body. The paper discusses the development of the framework and describes how the need for skills in using technology has progressed, as the business landscape has become more complex with ICT becoming an important part of every organisation. It examines the current situation in ICT skill requirements and how the changing landscape of work will necessitate continuous review of these skills.

Pedro Isaías

Editorial preface for Volume 10, Issue 1 of the IADIS International Journal on Computer Science and Information Systems (IJCSIS). This issue brings together peer-reviewed original research contributions covering the wide spectrum of Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence, Software Engineering, and Digital Transformation.