Managing Business Projects: The Essentials differs from many other project management textbooks. Foremost, it is about business projects as opposed to construction or engineering projects. Although many techniques, like schedule management, apply to both, they are usually applied differently. As its title conveys, the book explains the essential techniques and perspectives needed for business projects to be successful. The focus is on small- and medium-sized projects, up to $20 million, but often below $1 million. Some literature favors large and mega-projects, but for every mega-project, there are many thousands of smaller projects that are vital to the organization and could involve considerable complexity and risk. Nevertheless, the techniques outlined here also apply to mega-projects and their many subprojects; they even apply to some aspects of construction or engineering projects.

This book does not aim to cover all project management techniques. In real life there is simply no time for sophisticated ‘should-dos.' Rather, it covers the essentials that apply to almost all business projects; these are unlikely to change in the future even as technology and methodologies advance. The driving idea, which is stated repeatedly, is to do the essentials and to do them consistently and well.

Strong emphasis is placed on things that happen before, around, and after the project itself. So, while the basic disciplines like engaging with stakeholders, managing scope, schedules, costs, risks, issues, changes, and communication, are thoroughly explained, other important aspects are covered. These include: governance of a project and of a portfolio of projects, project selection with its financial and non-financial aspects, effective use of the business case through to benefits realization, procurement, outsourcing and partnership, and also the agile mindset that is valuable beyond Agile projects.

Besides project managers and sponsors, this book is intended for people who are working in business or government, at any level, or for MBA students. It offers perspectives that enable them to learn more from their everyday experience. It is not aimed at undergraduate students, although many would benefit from the contents.

Intelligent IT Outsourcing enables practitioners to focus in on the essential issues that need to be addressed so that the fundamental structure of their sourcing strategy and its implementation is sound. The authors provide insight into the challenges likely to be faced and give detailed advice on how to pre-empt and manage these.

IT and outsourcing continue to be problematic, not least because fundamental learning about this subject fails to be applied systematically, and because IT is inherently difficult to manage. The economics are not obvious and emerging technologies have to be addressed, therefore IT goes to the heart of many enterprises and interfaces with multiple business units and processes, and there are continuous skills shortages.
Unfortunately complexities are not removed in outsourced situations where additional problems come into play, for example the supplier's capabilities, whether the IT is right for an outsourcing solution, and whether the contract is robust but flexible enough to allow for outsourcing to take place. Objectives need to be realistic, and factors such as whether the internal management is mature and capable enough in this field, and the impact of prohibitive switching costs on behaviour once an outsourcing deal has been signed all have to be taken into account.
The authors have built up over two decades of research, advisory and practitioner experience that enables them to distil the fundamental challenges in IT and outsourcing and demonstrate how these can be addressed.
* Focuses on the fundamentals of what should be done and what should be avoided, based on actual experience applied in major IT outsourcing deals
* Researchfindings and case examples included throughout to support recommended practices
* Written by highly experienced, internationally acknowledged experts in the field

The key parameter that needs to be considered when planning the management of resources in futuristic wireless networks is a balanced approach to resource distribution. A balanced approach is necessary to provide an unbiased working environment for the distribution, sharing, allocation, and supply of resources among the devices of the wireless network. Equal resource distribution also maintains balance and stability between the operations of communication systems and thus improves the performance of wireless networks. Managing Resources for Futuristic Wireless Networks is a pivotal reference source that presents research related to the control and management of key parameters of bandwidth, spectrum sensing, channel selection, resource sharing, and task scheduling, which is necessary to ensure the efficient operation of wireless networks. Featuring topics that include vehicular ad-hoc networks, resource management, and the internet of things, this publication is ideal for professionals and researchers working in the field of networking, information and knowledge management, and communication sciences. Moreover, the book will provide insights and support executives concerned with the management of expertise, knowledge, information, and organizational development in different types of work communities and environments.

Each Student Book and ActiveBook have has clearly laid out pages with a range of supportive features to aid learning and teaching: Getting to know your unit sections ensure learners understand the grading criteria and unit requirements. Getting ready for Assessment sections focus on preparation for external assessment with guidance for learners on what to expect. Hints and tips will help them prepare for assessment and sample answers are provided for a range of question types including, short and long answer questions, all with a supporting commentary. Learners can also prepare for internal assessment using this feature. A case study of a learner completing the internal assessment for that unit covering 'How I got started', 'How I brought it all together' and 'What I got from the experience'. Pause Point feature provide opportunities for learners to self-evaluate their learning at regular intervals. Each Pause Point point feature gives learners a Hint or Extend option to either revisit and reinforce the topic or to encourage independent research or study skills. Case Study and Theory into Practice features enable development of problem-solving skills and place the theory into real life situations learners could encounter. Assessment Activity/Practice provide scaffolded assessment practice activities that help prepare learners for assessment. Within each assessment practice activity, a Plan, Do and Review section supports learners' formative assessment by making sure they fully understand what they are being asked to do, what their goals are and how to evaluate the task and consider how they could improve. Dedicated Think Future pages provide case studies from the industry, with a focus on aspects of skills development that can be put into practice in a real work environment and further study.

Society's growing dependence on information technology for survival has elevated the importance of controlling and evaluating information systems. A sound plan for auditing information systems and the technology that supports them is a necessity for organizations to improve the IS benefits and allow the organization to manage the risks associated with technology. Auditing Information Systems gives a global vision of auditing and control, exposing the major techniques and methods. It provides guidelines for auditing the crucial areas of IT--databases, security, maintenance, quality, and communications.

System administration is about the design, running and maintenance of human-computer systems. Examples of human-computer systems include business enterprises, service institutions and any extensive machinery that is operated by, or interacts with human beings. System administration is often thought of as the technological side of a system: the architecture, construction and optimization of the collaborating parts, but it also occasionally touches on softer factors such as user assistance (help desks), ethical considerations in deploying a system, and the larger implications of its design for others who come into contact with it.
This book summarizes the state of research and practice in this emerging field of network and system administration, in an anthology of chapters written by the top academics in the field. The authors include members of the IST-EMANICS Network of Excellence in Network Management.
This book will be a valuable reference work for researchers and senior system managers wanting to understand the essentials of system administration, whether in practical application of a data center or in the design of new systems and data centers.
- Covers data center planning and design
- Discusses configuration management
- Illustrates business modeling and system administration
- Provides the latest theoretical developments

Since its birth in the late 1970s, the business recovery industry has continued to broaden, moving from original batch application processing on mainframes to include recovery for telecommunications connectivity, distributed processing on mid-range systems, and most recently, network and work area recovery. Whenever accidents, disasters and natural events interrupt business activities, one thing is certain: businesses lose money. How much money often depends on how prepared companies are for dealing with business interruptions. A Primer for Disaster Recovery Planning in an IT Environment is intended to help businesses plan for an occurrence that could mean a business stoppage. It helps you evaluate your business in terms of vulnerability to disaster and guides you through the process of creating a disaster recovery plan.

Systems Engineering for Business Process Change: New Directions is a collection of papers resulting from an EPSRC managed research programme set up to investigate the relationships between Legacy IT Systems and Business Processes. The papers contained in this volume report the results from the projects funded by the programme, which ran between 1997 and 2001. An earlier volume, published in 2000, reported interim results.
Bringing together researchers from diverse backgrounds in Computer Science, Information Systems, Engineering and Business Schools, this book explores the problems experienced by IT-dependent businesses that have to implement changing business processes in the context of their investment in legacy systems. The book presents some of the solutions investigated through the collaborations set up within the research programme.
Whether you are a researcher interested in the ideas that were generated by the research programme, or a user trying to understand the nature of the problems and their solutions, you cannot fail to be inspired by the writings contained in this volume.

Explores the full range of issues - moral, ethical, social, legal, and technological - involved in developing firm controls and best practices to secure the ever growing information infrastructure upon which societies and individuals depend.

In the age of increasing reliance on data and the importance of sensitive information, applications and technologies have arisen to appropriately deal with assuring the security of medical informatics and healthcare administration functions. In order for technology to progress, new systems are being installed globally to address this issue. Governance of Picture Archiving and Communications Systems: Data Security and Quality Management of Filmless Radiology examines information security management systems for the facilitation of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS). This valuable contribution to data security and quality management literature provides a comprehensive guide for all aspects of the implementation of PACS for the enhancement of modern practices in radiology.

Intelligent systems are required to enhance the capacities being made available to us by the internet and other computer based technologies. The theory necessary to help providing solutions to difficult problems in the construction of intelligent systems are discussed. In particular, attention is paid to situations in which the available information and data may be imprecise, uncertain, incomplete or of a linguistic nature. Various methodologies to manage such information are discussed. Among these are the probabilistic, possibilistic, fuzzy, logical, evidential and network-based frameworks.

One purpose of the book is not to consider these methodologies separately, but rather to consider how they can be used cooperatively to better represent the multiplicity of modes of information. Topics in the book include representation of imperfect knowledge, fundamental issues in uncertainty, reasoning, information retrieval, learning and mining, as well as various applications.

Key Features:

Tools for construction of intelligent systems
Contributions by world leading experts
Fundamental issues and applications
New technologies for web searching
Methods for modeling uncertain information
Future directions in web technologies
Transversal to methods and domains

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As new technology continues to emerge, the training and education of learning new skills and strategies become important for professional development. Therefore, technology leadership plays a vital role for the use of technology in organizations by providing guidance in the many aspects of using technologies. Technology Integration and Foundations for Effective Leadership provides detailed information on the aspects of effective technology leadership, highlighting instructions on creating a technology plan as well as the successful integration of technology into the educational environment. This reference source aims to offer a sense of structure and basic information on designing, developing, and evaluating technology projects to ensure maximum success.

Supply Chain Design and Management introduces the concept of a sharing mechanism that will ensure the sustainability of a supply chain by fair distribution of costs and benefits. This book provides a holistic view of the supply chain from product development, purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and storage, to retailing. The presentation of the enabling technologies in supply chain management will help companies better understand their options.
Provides a step-by-step framework for designing supply chains at the strategic level
Written for those who deal with the supply chains on a day-to-day basis as well as those new to the field
Provides a synthesis of best practices for managing supply chains at the tactical level
Provides a review of the state-of-the-art in enabling information technologies and business applications
Explains the concepts with examples from the industry and simple mathematical formulations
Is accessible to graduate students for an excellent understanding of how supply chains work and can join the industry armed with the knowledge of the workings of supply chains
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This resource discusses the management of complex technical projects through systems engineering. Written for a wide spectrum of readers, from novices to experienced practitioners, it explores solutions for delivering projects on time and within budget, avoiding the failures and inefficiencies of past efforts. It provides a framework that encapsulates all areas of systems engineering, showing where the multitude of systems engineering activities fit within the overall effort. The top-down approach introduces the reader to the philosophical aspects of this discipline, and offers an understanding of a plethora of important terms, standards and practices that have been developed independently. Moreover, the authors present key systems engineering issues in a manner that seeks to promote individual thinking and unique approaches to the various projects encountered in the field.

Readers seeking to gain a handle on the internet's global expansion will find this book rich in scholarly foundations combined with cutting-edge discussion of emerging ICTs and services and the complex societal contexts in which they are embedded. To explore possibilities to the fullest extent, a sociotechnical systems approach is employed, focusing on the interplay of technical, social, cultural, political, and economic dynamics to explore alternative futures (ones that are not part of the dominant discourse about the internet). These shared perspectives are not well addressed elsewhere in current discussions. Awareness of these dynamics, and the fluidity of the future, is important, as humankind moves forward into the uncertain future. Due to the sociotechnical complexity of the Internet, policymakers, businesspeople, and academics worldwide have struggled to keep abreast of developments. This volume's approach is intended to stimulate dialogue between academics and practitioners on a topic that will affect most aspects of human life in the near-term future.

This thesis focuses on the problem of optimizing the quality of network multimedia services. This problem spans multiple domains, from subjective perception of multimedia quality to computer networks management. The work done in this thesis approaches the problem at different levels, developing methods for modeling the subjective perception of quality based on objectively measurable parameters of the multimedia coding process as well as the transport over computer networks. The modeling of subjective perception is motivated by work done in psychophysics, while using Machine Learning techniques to map network conditions to the human perception of video services. Furthermore, the work develops models for efficient control of multimedia systems operating in dynamic networked environments with the goal of delivering optimized Quality of Experience. Overall this thesis delivers a set of methods for monitoring and optimizing the quality of multimedia services that adapt to the dynamic environment of computer networks in which they operate.

This book presents emerging trends in the evolution of service-oriented and enterprise architectures. New architectures and methods of both business and IT are integrating services to support mobility systems, Internet of Things, Ubiquitous Computing, collaborative and adaptive business processes, Big Data, and Cloud ecosystems. They inspire current and future digital strategies and create new opportunities for the digital transformation of next digital products and services. Services Oriented Architectures (SOA) and Enterprise Architectures (EA) have emerged as a useful framework for developing interoperable, large-scale systems, typically implementing various standards, like Web Services, REST, and Microservices. Managing the adaptation and evolution of such systems presents a great challenge. Service-Oriented Architecture enables flexibility through loose coupling, both between the services themselves and between the IT organizations that manage them. Enterprises evolve continuously by transforming and extending their services, processes and information systems. Enterprise Architectures provide a holistic blueprint to help define the structure and operation of an organization with the goal of determining how an organization can most effectively achieve its objectives. The book proposes several approaches to address the challenges of the service-oriented evolution of digital enterprise and software architectures.

The ubiquity of modern technologies has allowed for increased connectivity between people and devices across the globe. This connected infrastructure of networks creates numerous opportunities for applications and uses. The Internet of Things: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice is an authoritative reference source for the latest academic material on the interconnectivity of networks and devices in the digital era and examines best practices for integrating this advanced connectivity across multiple fields. Featuring extensive coverage on innovative perspectives, such as secure computing, regulatory standards, and trust management, this book is ideally designed for engineers, researchers, professionals, graduate students, and practitioners seeking scholarly insights on the Internet of Things.

With the massive increase of data and traffic on the Internet within the 5G, IoT and smart cities frameworks, current network classification and analysis techniques are falling short. Novel approaches using machine learning algorithms are needed to cope with and manage real-world network traffic, including supervised, semi-supervised, and unsupervised classification techniques. Accurate and effective classification of network traffic will lead to better quality of service and more secure and manageable networks. This authored book investigates network traffic classification solutions by proposing transport-layer methods to achieve better run and operated enterprise-scale networks. The authors explore novel methods for enhancing network statistics at the transport layer, helping to identify optimal feature selection through a global optimization approach and providing automatic labelling for raw traffic through a SemTra framework to maintain provable privacy on information disclosure properties.

The increased computational power and software tools available to engineers have increased the use and dependence on modeling and computer simulation throughout the design process. These tools have given engineers the capability of designing highly complex systems and computer architectures that were previously unthinkable. Every complex design project, from integrated circuits, to aerospace vehicles, to industrial manufacturing processes requires these new methods. This book fulfills the essential need of system and control engineers at all levels in understanding modeling and simulation. This book, written as a true text/reference has become a standard sr./graduate level course in all EE departments worldwide and all professionals in this area are required to update their skills.
The book provides a rigorous mathematical foundation for modeling and computer simulation. It provides a comprehensive framework for modeling and simulation integrating the various simulation approaches. It covers model formulation, simulation model execution, and the model building process with its key activities model abstraction and model simplification, as well as the organization of model libraries. Emphasis of the book is in particular in integrating discrete event and continuous modeling approaches as well as a new approach for discrete event simulation of continuous processes. The book also discusses simulation execution on parallel and distributed machines and concepts for simulation model realization based on the High Level Architecture (HLA) standard of the Department of Defense.

* Presents a working foundation necessary for compliance with High Level Architecture (HLA) standards
* Provides a comprehensive framework for continuous and discrete event modeling and simulation
* Explores the mathematical foundation of simulation modeling
* Discusses system morphisms for model abstraction and simplification
* Presents a new approach to discrete event simulation of continuous processes
* Includes parallel and distributed simulation of discrete event models
* Presentation of a concept to achieve simulator interoperability in the form of the DEVS-Bus

As ubiquitous multimedia applications benefit from the rapid development of intelligent multimedia technologies, there is an inherent need to present frameworks, techniques and tools that adopt these technologies to a range of networking applications. Intelligent Multimedia Technologies for Networking Applications: Techniques and Tools promotes the discussion of specific solutions for improving the quality of multimedia experience while investigating issues arising from the deployment of techniques for adaptive video streaming. This reference source provides relevant theoretical frameworks and leading empirical research findings and is suitable for practitioners and researchers in the area of multimedia technology.

Intelligent systems are now being used more commonly than in the past. These involve cognitive, evolving and artificial-life, robotic, and decision making systems, to name a few. Due to the tremendous speed of development, on both fundamental and technological levels, it is virtually impossible to offer an up-to-date, yet comprehensive overview of this field. Nevertheless, the need for a volume presenting recent developments and trends in this domain is huge, and the demand for such a volume is continually increasing in industrial and academic engineering 1 communities. Although there are a few volumes devoted to similar issues, none offer a comprehensive coverage of the field; moreover they risk rapidly becoming obsolete. The editors of this volume cannot pretend to fill such a large gap. However, it is the editors' intention to fill a significant part of this gap. A comprehensive coverage of the field should include topics such as neural networks, fuzzy systems, neuro-fuzzy systems, genetic algorithms, evolvable hardware, cellular automata-based systems, and various types of artificial life-system implementations, including autonomous robots. In this volume, we have focused on the first five topics listed above. The volume is composed of four parts, each part being divided into chapters, with the exception of part 4. In Part 1, the topics of "Evolvable Hardware and GAs" are addressed. In Chapter 1, "Automated Design Synthesis and Partitioning for Adaptive Reconfigurable Hardware," Ranga Vemuri and co-authors present state-of-the-art adaptive architectures, their classification, and their applications."