Contributions published at Information Management (Gerhard Schwabe)

Organizations face many challenges in executing offshore-outsourced software development (OOSD) projects involving several countries. In such contexts, complex software development efforts are exposed to a greater number of risks, which make OOSD projects prone to failures. We analyzed 19 cases of OOSD project failures to explore the concept of early warning signs (EWS) in OOSD projects at the team level. Using the grounded theory methodology, we studied the EWSs specific to OOSD project failures. We classified the EWSs of failure into early signals of failure and early warning issues in order to help project managers notice the early failing indications. Further, we identified and characterized EWSs of failure and divided them into six broad categories. An OOSD project failure model incorporating the EWSs of failure was developed to understand the initial stages of OOSD project failure. Our research has shed more light on project development failures in outsourcing, a rare topic of investigation in information systems research.

This thesis deals with a comparison of known financial advice and IT-supported advice. According to the problems financial counsel has to face today, the idea of supporting this advice giving sessions with IT has been developed. Because of the fact that IT-supported conversations need more time, this thesis concentrates on the needed time to perform different actions to provide good counsel. The analysis is based on "Activity Theory", in which video data can be ordered by a scheme of activities. These activites will be compared according to the time aspect. The results will be discussed in the way if IT-supported advice is being worthwile and effective or if this attempt just needs more time and therefore more costs.

The challenge of knowledge transfer in distributed team settings is often underestimated and ineffective or failed knowledge transfer is a major cause of project delay or failure. Globally distributed teams can face difficulties overcoming the challenges of physical and cultural distance and can struggle to develop systems that support the effective identification andtransfer of knowledge that is critical to project success. In the case of offshore outsourced software development, the commonly ad-hoc nature of project teams compounds thesechallenges, since team members are often unknown to each other ahead of projectcommencement.Despite knowledge transfer being recognized simultaneously as critical and problematic, theliterature provides little guidance for developing solutions. This paper builds on existing research into the problem of ineffective or failed knowledge transfer in the transition phase of offshore outsourced software development projects. Following a Design Science Research approach, we seek to establish design elements, including an instantiation of a method structure, which will provide a sound basis from which to develop a method for knowledgetransfer in globally distributed projects.

With the increase in the expectations of citizens against the state regarding the quality of service, there were improvements from the state. However, almost all regarding the online services, but this is not sufficient, especially for citizens with complex issues. The city of Mannheim, together with the University of Zurich and University of Ludwigsburg initiated a project to improve the advisory service for newcomers, whose goal is to modernize the citizen’s advice site for new residents. In the framework of this project, a first prototype of the system under development is designed and implemented. It should be evaluated whether the IT tool helps to increase the empowerment of the consultant compared to the earlier advisory service in a face-to-face manner. In the first part of this thesis an analysis of the work environment is done, followed by elicitating the requirements for the software system and determining the requirements specification. The second part consists of creating a structured design concept, which has been used to implement a prototype of a citizen advisory tool. This tool has been evaluated thereafter. Based on the results of the evaluation, the prototype has been improved. Afterwards, a re-evaluation is conducted in order to see, whether the improvements were beneficial. The evaluation has shown that the citizens get more satisfied with the consultation in the cases where such an IT-tool is used. The advisors are more self-confident when they use such a tool in their work. However, a raise of the advisor’s empowerment through the use of the developed tool could not be proven.

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This paper contributes to the field by applying the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) for building a model,which improves the understanding of the role of project set-up and communication in the transitionphase of projects involving global virtual teams.Although research has highlighted the importance of knowledge transfer in offshore outsourced projects, the literature says little about real-world knowledgetransfer problems experienced by project managers and provides little guidance for developing solutions. In this paper, we investigate knowledge transfer problems in the transition phase of offshore outsourcedsoftware projects and how set-up of the phaseinfluences unstructured knowledge transfer. Using the SSM, we identify relevant constructs and relationships and build a conceptual model. This highlights the importance of an appropriate communication inception as a basis for relationship building and defines a new construct, ‘knowledge discourse’, whichsignifies the importance of two-way interaction for the transfer of unstructured knowledge.

This article reports on the concept of electronic data safes for managing personal data and describes the landscape of existing services. Using an exploratory research approach, a model of hierarchical service layers is developed. It serves as a structure for orientation in this emerging field of tools and services. Furthermore, we identify factors and areas of interest that are relevant for the adoption of electronic data safes in e-government and e-business using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology as a theoretical lens. We conclude that clearly perceivable benefits are key facilitators for the adoption of electronic data safes by end-users.

In public advisory services, the individual's satisfaction depends less on extrinsic factors (e.g., monetary rewards) than on their inner needs fulfillment. Currently used IT-systems supporting citizen advisory services neglect these intrinsic needs of their users, hence insufficiently fostering their satisfaction. In this article, we aim to close this gap by assessing the design requirements needed to develop value-added IT-systems supporting citizen advisory services. We argue that previous developments of design requirements for correspondent IT-systems neglect the users' motives and focus merely on their actions. We thus refer to self-determination theory as a theoretical lens to analyze current literature on how to design adequate IT-systems fostering users' basic needs. In doing so, we introduce design goals and demonstrate to what extent they are fulfilled when these design requirements are implemented in a real-world IT-system that supports citizen advisory services. We follow a design science approach, in which the previously elaborated requirements are implemented in a software prototype, and are then evaluated qualitatively in two user studies with real-world advisors and citizens to assess their suitability relative to the design goals. Our results show that this approach promises to reveal the design requirements that matter in citizen counseling, signifying an important step toward developing a conceptual IT systems design theory.

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The aim of this work is the design of an IT platform to support doctoral students in networking in their research. Using an extensive literature research, a model of the doctoral studentsí research process will be developed. This model serves as the basis for a study that is designed and performed in 12 subjects. On the base of the analysis of the results requirements for the IT platform will be developed. These requirements will be assigned to the various modules of the IT platform, to create a prototype in form of mock-ups. It has been shown that an IT platform can create an additional value for doctoral students. Nevertheless, there are arguments both for an IT platform as well as against an IT platform.

In this bachelor thesis, an existing prototype, which is used for counseling of foreign interns by AIESEC, will be enhanced. The aim of this thesis is to encourage the users of the prototype, so that they are able to solve problems in the future (for example, problems occurring in the "New in Zurich" situation) independently. They thus become empowered. I will achieve that by developing designsolutions which are based on pre-defined designrequirements. The developed designsolutions are being implemented and then evaluated using a user test with realistic, physically separated counseling sessions. It was determined that by an underpinned range of design requirements, the users during the consultation can be quite empowered. However it is important that the consultant must be skilled to carry out the consultation on a rather poor communication medium.

In Beratungssituationen, besonders in komplexen Domänen, wie beispielsweise der Finanzbranche, ist ein effektiver Wissenstransfer vom Dienstleister zum Kunden heute zwingend notwendig. Bis heute wird dieser Wissensaustausch aber weder strukturiert forciert, noch durch die heute eingesetzten (IT)-Tools unterstützt. Aufbauend auf dem Konzept des situierten und erfahrungsbasierten Lernens leiten wir Design-Richtlinien für kollaborative, in der Beratung genutzten, IT-Systeme ab um das genannte Ziel zu erreichen. Wir zeigen, wie diese Design-Richtlinien in einem aktuellen System prototypisch umgesetzt wurden. Anhand der Erkenntnisse aus einer realitätsnahen Evaluation des Prototypen, zeigen wir Schwächen und Potentiale auf.

The objective of my thesis is to develop a scheme to categorize open innovation platforms in supporting the rollout in a corporation. Based on a fundamental search of the existing literature, nine categories, such as price and complexity of input of innovation-ideas, are developed. These categories are assigned to the following three aspects: software provider and operator, design of the innovation process of the platform and corporation. Bases on the model design, fourteen open innovation platforms are analyzed and categorized. This first practical usage of the model highlights the importance of all categories because each category creates different values for the various platforms.

The local committee AIESEC Zürich has taken it to its own task to prepare foreign interns for their stay in Zürich. By doing a personal consultation, AIESEC Zürich wants to meet all the given needs to the interns satisfaction. Within this work, a co-browsing web application is being developed that supports the process of consulting done by AIESEC. The application allows the users to contribute their problems and concerns during the consultation. It also supports a structured and personalized consulting process. Further, the task of consulting is facilitated by synchronous communication and a clear representation of the information. The design and the consulting concept is being developed based on the complied requirements specifications from the users. A prototype of the web application for the consulting support is being implemented and subsequently evaluated by eight real consultations. The results indicate that the application developed in this work appeals to both user groups.