Key Performance Indicator

The story of Perbadanan Bekalan Air Pulau Pinang Sdn Bhd (PBAPP), a privatized water company in Penang, Malaysia, show-cases how privatization can be successful. More importantly, PBAPP is undoubtedly one of the most successful privatized water companies in the country, both in terms of its annual profits as well as its key performance indicators and its commitments towards corporate social responsibility.

EVA is a use ful tool for as sess ing com pany per for mance. It com bines fac tors, such as econ omy, ac count ing and mar ket in for ma tion in its as sess ment. This study em ployed EVA in an at tempt to com pare the com pa nies' per for mances of GLCs (gov ern ment-linked com pa nies) and non-GLCs. Based on a 4-year pooled panel data of 37 GLCs and 208 non-GLCs, the re sults show that com pa nies with gov ern ment as their stake holders tend to ex hibit lower EVA scores than the com pa nies with out gov ern ment stake holders in Ma lay sia. Larger size com pa nies were found to have lower EVA val ues. Com pa nies which have both the char ac ter is tics -which are si mul ta neously large in size and gov ern ment-owned, tend to be most ad versely af fected. Thus, any in cre ment in the size of com pany for GLCs would de crease or de stroy the value of the com pany, and to a greater degree, than companies without government holding.

Nowadays, the obligations of a company is not only restricted to its shareholders but also to other parties who have interest in the company, i.e. the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the term most often used to describe an evolving dialogue that seeks to expand the role of the corporation beyond the economic frame to include social and environmental aspects of community. Many studies argued that companies benefit from adopting CSR either in the monetary form or good reputation. This paper is an exploratory research on the perceptions of CSR on Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia. It is an attempt to investigate the factors influencing the CSR practices, whether there is any significant difference for students who know about CSR and those who do not know and to identify the attitude of male and female students towards CSR. The study used 61matriculation accounting students in a public university as samples. Two analyses were conducted based on structured questionnaires. The study indicates that male and female students have different perceptions towards CSR and four factors are important in determining the CSR practices among the GLCs.

Nowadays, the obligations of a company is not only restricted to its shareholders but also to other parties who have interest in the company, i.e. the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the term most often used to describe an evolving dialogue that seeks to expand the role of the corporation beyond the economic frame to include social and environmental aspects of community. Many studies argued that companies benefit from adopting CSR either in the monetary form or good reputation. This paper is an exploratory research on the perceptions of CSR on Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia. It is an attempt to investigate the factors influencing the CSR practices, whether there is any significant difference for students who know about CSR and those who do not know and to identify the attitude of male and female students towards CSR. The study used 61matriculation accounting students in a public university as samples. Two analyses were conducted based on structured questionnaires. The study indicates that male and female students have different perceptions towards CSR and four factors are important in determining the CSR practices among the GLCs.

Open source tools have recently reached a level of maturity which makes them suitable for building large-scale real-world systems. At the same time, the field of machine learning has developed a large body of powerful learning algorithms for diverse applications. However, the true potential of these methods is not used, since existing implementations are not openly shared, resulting in software with low usability, and weak interoperability. We argue that this situation can be significantly improved by increasing incentives for researchers to publish their software under an open source model. Additionally, we outline the problems authors are faced with when trying to publish algorithmic implementations of machine learning methods. We believe that a resource of peer reviewed software accompanied by short articles would be highly valuable to both the machine learning and the general scientific community.

The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (referred to as Hong Kong from here onwards) is an international leading commercial hub particularly in Asia. In order to keep up its reputation a number of large public works projects have been considered. Public Private Partnership (PPP) has increasingly been suggested for these projects, but the suitability of using this procurement method in Hong Kong is yet to be studied empirically. The findings presented in this paper will specifically consider whether PPPs should be used to procure public works projects in Hong Kong by studying the attractive and negative factors for adopting PPP. Design/methodology/approach As part of this study a questionnaire survey was conducted with industrial practitioners. The respondents were requested to rank the importance of fifteen attractive factors and thirteen negative factors for adopting PPP.

Using data from a sample of 145 UK call centres, the authors test the core propositions of the strategic human resource management (SHRM) approach that: (a) there are coherent links through the SHRM chain from strategy, through operational requirements, to work design and human resource management, and (b) the fit between the human resource practices and market factors determines organizational performance. Little support for these hypotheses is found as only (a) a few direct relationships between the elements of the SHRM chain are found, and (b) direct relationships, rather than those moderated by market factors, are found between human resource practices and performance. But key operational requirements are linked to work design, which is itself related to a limited number of human resource practices. The direct effects of work design on key performance indicators are more pronounced than those of human resource practices.

Nowadays, the obligations of a company is not only restricted to its shareholders but also to other parties who have interest in the company, i.e. the stakeholders. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the term most often used to describe an evolving dialogue that seeks to expand the role of the corporation beyond the economic frame to include social and environmental aspects of community. Many studies argued that companies benefit from adopting CSR either in the monetary form or good reputation. This paper is an exploratory research on the perceptions of CSR on Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia. It is an attempt to investigate the factors influencing the CSR practices, whether there is any significant difference for students who know about CSR and those who do not know and to identify the attitude of male and female students towards CSR. The study used 61matriculation accounting students in a public university as samples. Two analyses were conducted based on structured questionnaires. The study indicates that male and female students have different perceptions towards CSR and four factors are important in determining the CSR practices among the GLCs.

This paper describes a methodology for the development of a proactive balanced scorecard (PBSCM). The balanced scorecard is one of the most popular approaches developed in the field of performance measurement. However, in spite of its reputation, there are issues that require further research. The present research addresses the problems of the balanced scorecard by utilizing the soft computing characteristics of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs). By using FCMs, the proposed methodology generates a dynamic network of interconnected key performance indicators (KPIs), simulates each KPI with imprecise relationships and quantifies the impact of each KPI to other KPIs in order to adjust targets of performance.

This paper addresses the problem of designing a knowledge management methodology tool to act as a decision support mechanism for geographically dispersed financial enterprises. The underlying research addresses the problem of information capture and representation in financial institutions in order to provide an implementation of the virtuous cycle of knowledge flow. The proposed methodology tool utilizes the fuzzy causal characteristics of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to generate a hierarchical and dynamic network of interconnected financial performance concepts. By using FCMs, the proposed mechanism simulates the operational efficiency of distributed organizational models with imprecise relationships and quantifies the impact of the geographically dispersed activities to the overall business model. Generic adaptive maps that supplement the decision-making process present a roadmap for integrating hierarchical FCMs into the business model of typical financial sector enterprises.

E-business has a significant impact on managers and academics. Despite the rhetoric surrounding e-business strategy formulation mechanisms, which support reasoning of the effect of strategic change activities to the maturity of the e-business models, are still emerging. This paper describes an attempt to build and operate such a reasoning mechanism as a novel supplement to e-business strategy formulation exercises. This new approach proposes the utilization of the fuzzy causal characteristics of Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) as the underlying methodology in order to generate a hierarchical and dynamic network of interconnected maturity indicators. By using FCMs, this research aims at simulating complex strategic models with imprecise relationships while quantifying the impact of strategic changes to the overall e-business efficiency. This research establishes generic adaptive domains -maps in order to implement the integration of hierarchical FCMs into e-business strategy formulation activities. Finally, this paper discusses experiments with the proposed mechanism and comments on its usability.

Business process reengineering (BPR) has made a significant impact on managers and academics. Despite the rhetoric surrounding BPR, articulated mechanisms, which support reasoning on the effect of the redesign activities to the performance of the business model, are still emerging. This paper describes an attempt to build and operate such a reasoning mechanism as a novel supplement to performance-driven change (PDC) exercises. This new approach proposes the utilization of the fuzzy causal characteristics of fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs) as the underlying methodology in order to generate a hierarchical and dynamic network of interconnected performance indicators. By using FCMs, the proposed mechanism aims at simulating the operational efficiency of complex process models with imprecise relationships to quantify the impact of performance-driven reengineering activities. This research also establishes generic maps that supplement the strategic planning and business analysis phases of typical redesign projects in order to implement the integration of hierarchical FCMs into PDC activities. Finally, this paper discusses experiments with the proposed mechanism and comments on its usability.

PFI is a public service delivery type of public-private partnership. The public sector PFI has been driven by a centrally adopted policy to transfer risk to the private sector. The scale and duration of PFI deals are significant, because it is the responsibility of the public sector to ensure that substantial amounts of taxpayers' money are not put at risk. Public and private sector bodies must exercise diligent care in the procurement process while negotiating contracts for PFI to ensure that project risks are fairly allocated between them. The construction industry in general has a poor reputation for managing risk and many projects fail to meet targeted schedules and cost. Systematic risk management allows an early detection of risks and encourages the PFI stakeholders to identify, analyze, quantify and respond to the risks and take measures to introduce risk reduction policies throughout the life of a PFI project. This paper will review systematic management of PFI risks and suggest that risks need to be identified and managed in all phases of the PFI procurement process.

Study of success factors in large-scale construction projects is increasingly relevant. Underlying relationships among the factors that contribute to project success can provide important insights for success on future projects. Therefore, major objective of this paper is to explore such underlying relationships and examine how these relationships can be useful to further explain success in large-scale construction projects. In order to elicit the perception of critical success factors for large-scale construction projects, questionnaire and interview surveys were employed with construction professionals. Factor analysis was used to examine the underlying relationships of success factors which resulted in formulation of four factor groupings which were together called critical COMs of success and were labeled as COMprehension, COMpetence, COMmitment, and COMmunication, respectively. Critical COMs provide a very simple understanding of success in large-scale construction projects. These factor groupings can be easily understood and remembered by all project stakeholders. Project managers can also use the critical COMs to evaluate their current project and compare the perceived and real success factors for knowledge management exercise.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) has become an essential business strategic alternative to face competitive business environment as a results of increasing demands for consumer satisfactions and substitutes products and services in tandem with the rapid changes in technology and globalization. However many firms are reluctant or slow in adopting BPO despite many evidences on the advantages of implementing BPO. The study was to investigate BPO awareness among the managers and decision makers of State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) or widely known in Malaysia as the Government Linked Companies (GLCs) which lead to assessing the level of BPO adoption within their organization. The study was also to unearth the primary drivers and barriers to consider in implementing BPO in their organization. A total of 38 managers or decision makers were responding to the study. Those managers were from three main functions which have been classified as the support and back end processes namely the managers or head or Human Resources, Finance and Customer Services. The study has found that majority of the SOEs managers were aware of BPO will become more prevalent in the future years. Focus on core competency and lowering costs and maximizing efficiency were the primary motivations to adopt BPO, whilst the cultural resistance to change and managing risks were thee main barrier to implement BPO. The study has also found that the drivers behind the increasing uses of BPO were lower price and improve of technology to support BPO

Today's dynamic competitiveness requires an organization to improve its performance measurement and management. Quality Management Systems (QMS) abound, the main ones being: ISO series, Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award (MBNQA), European Forum for Quality Management (EFQM), Six Sigma Business Scorecard and the Balanced Scorecard. Based on the literature, the IPMMM (Integrated Performance Measurement and Management Model) identified 7 key synthesized factors: leadership, strategy management and policy, customer and market, learning and growth, partnership and resources, internal processes and business results that are employed to investigate the key performance indicators of a car assembler using the Delphi methodology. In the 2 rounds of Delphi panels consisting of 20 senior management personnel, the 1 st round of 198 indicators in the IPMMM yielded 90 indicators. The 2 nd round yielded 43 performance indicators with 18 rated as critical based on the % assigned in the 1 st and 2 nd priority rating of "very important factor" and "key performance indicator" that must be ranked high on both of the priorities. The very critical indicators appeared to be: defect percentage and first time capability (tie in 1 st place) and revenue, goal setting, customer satisfaction index, on-time delivery, brand image, return on investment, Claim Occurrence Ratio, and debt being ranked from 3 rd to 10. th It can be surmised that an organization can identify and develop an appropriate set of performance indicators through the Delphi methodology and implement and manage them based on the Balanced Scorecard. Figure 1. The Integrated Performance Measurement and Management System (IPMMS) framework and its consolidated factors.

Following a significant fire event in Goobang National Park, in the Central West of NSW in 2001/2002, the local fire management community reviewed its risk management plan. The Goobang Fire highlighted many shortcomings in the plan including a lack of practical on-ground fire management solutions, poor integration across land tenures and limited community support due to a lack of understanding and input during its formulation. Through the local Bush Fire Management Committee (Canobolas BFMC) a new approach to risk planning has been developed that helps solve these issues.

Using data from a sample of 145 UK call centres, the authors test the core propositions of the strategic human resource management (SHRM) approach that: (a) there are coherent links through the SHRM chain from strategy, through operational requirements, to work design and human resource management, and (b) the fit between the human resource practices and market factors determines organizational performance. Little support for these hypotheses is found as only (a) a few direct relationships between the elements of the SHRM chain are found, and (b) direct relationships, rather than those moderated by market factors, are found between human resource practices and performance. But key operational requirements are linked to work design, which is itself related to a limited number of human resource practices. The direct effects of work design on key performance indicators are more pronounced than those of human resource practices.

This research presents an empirical study of the relationship between project health and project performance in the project delivery context. Based on an existing Project Health Check (PHC) framework, the relationship has been tested in terms of a set of predefined indicators through the use of case study approach. The Swiss Cheese model was employed as a guiding principle to represent the links between PHC indicators and project Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Three cases of construction projects in Saudi Arabia were investigated through a comprehensive review of the project performance history, using current performance indicators to establish the first slice of the Swiss Cheese model. PHC assessments were then conducted to shape the second slice of the model, which represent the maturity level of the project management. The relationships between the two slices were obtained from semi-structured interviews with the project managers. These relationships were analysed qualitatively by tracking patterns across the three cases. The result was used to develop the Swiss Cheese Performance Management Framework, which can potentially serve to help project managers identify the root causes of any shortcomings at the early stage in the project delivery process. This in turn can assist project managers in managing the overall project performance more effectively.

In order to achieve resilient multipath routing we introduce the concept of Independent Directed Acyclic Graphs (IDAGs) in this study. Link-independent (Node-independent) DAGs satisfy the property that any path from a source to the root on one DAG is link-disjoint (node-disjoint) with any path from the source to the root on the other DAG. Given a network, we develop polynomial time algorithms to compute link-independent and node-independent DAGs. The algorithm developed in this paper: (1) provides multipath routing; (2) utilizes all possible edges; (3) guarantees recovery from single link failure; and (4) achieves all these with at most one bit per packet as overhead when routing is based on destination address and incoming edge. We show the effectiveness of the proposed IDAGs approach by comparing key performance indices to that of the independent trees and multiple pairs of independent trees techniques through extensive simulations.

This paper develops a new resilient multipath routing technique, referred to as SPT-DAG, that has the following characteristics: (1) provides multipath routing over directed acyclic graphs (DAG); (2) the shortest path tree is guaranteed to be part of the DAG; and (3) provides guaranteed recovery from single link failures. We develop a polynomial time algorithm to compute the SPT-DAG and a routing protocol to forward packets over the SPT-DAG using one overhead bit in the packet. We consider different load-balancing approaches for forwarding a packet when the packet has not encountered a failure. Through extensive flow-based simulations, we show that SPT-DAG performs significantly better than those approaches that exclusively target load balancing or resiliency.

In this paper, we introduce the concept of Independent Directed Acyclic Graphs (IDAGs) to achieve resilient multipath routing. Link-independent (Node-independent) DAGs satisfy the property that any path from a source to the root on one DAG is link-disjoint (node-disjoint) with any path from the source to the root on the other DAG. Given a network, we develop polynomial time algorithms to compute link-independent and node-independent DAGs. The algorithm developed in this paper: (1) achieves multipath routing; (2) guarantees recovery from single link failure; (3) utilizes all possible edges; and (4) achieves all these with at most one bit per packet as overhead when routing is based on destination address and incoming link. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed IDAGs approach by comparing key performance indices to that of the independent trees technique.

This paper presents research findings about the process of upgrading from an old to a new version of a pre-packaged enterprise system in a software ecosys-tem of independent software vendors (ISVs) and value added resellers (VARs). Empirical data was collected from documents, observations and interviews with practitioners. Grounded theory was used to analyze the data. The resulting theory illustrates the upgrade decision process from the perspective of ISVs and VARs respectively and from the perspective of the software ecosystem as a whole. The findings suggest that the interdependence of the actors in the ecosystem may cause inertia in the diffusion of new versions.

A key performance indicator of mobile wireless networks is failure probability of handover calls. In this paper, we propose a Call Admission Control policy which prioritizes handover calls over new calls in WCDMA systems. The OVSF code occupancy of the system is modeled by a Markov chain and the differentiation between handover and new calls is performed at the code level by introducing a ''guard code'' scheme. The scheme belongs to the wellknown family of guard channel schemes and reserves some code capacity to favor the continuation of handover calls over the new calls. As the management of the general case is intractable, we solve certain numerical instances of the problem and manage to calculate several performance metrics like new call blocking and handover failure probabilities and code utilization. We complete our study with simulation results in the case of higher OVSF code tree capacity.

Riding the technology wave, we are awash in data. Attempts to stem the tide, or at least to manage its flow, have led to a proliferation of dashboards. With data dashboards, organizations consolidate important data in a single place, typically accessed via web browser. Dashboard contents may be tables, graphics, or visual key performance indicators (KPIs). While dashboards proliferate, displaying actionable data to support decisions, they are often developed by technical professionals inexperienced in human-computer interaction design. Research abounds on visual perception, but typically this is in the context of individual entities rather than composites. This research will survey corporate and institutional dashboards and their use of particular methods of data visualization. Building on existing research into effectiveness of interactivity in diagrams, the authors seek to identify which types of data are best represented in what types of visualizations and best practices for displaying multiple visualizations in a single view.

Recent trends in the provision of infrastructure development indicate that the private sector is playing an increasingly important role in the procurement process. This trend has partly arisen out of a necessity for the development of infrastructure to be undertaken at a rate that maintains and allows growth. This has become a major challenge for many countries where it is evident that these provisions cannot be met by government alone. The emergence of Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) schemes as a response to this challenge provides a means for developing the infrastructure of a country without directly impacting upon the government's budgetary constraints. The concepts of BOOT are without doubt extremely complex arrangements, which bring to the construction sector risks not experienced previously. This paper examines perceptions of BOOT schemes in order to develop a framework of critical success factors. The developed framework is then tested against a case study of Stadium Australia, and the outcomes of the comparison are discussed.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine the current state and utilisation of user evaluation consultation adopted by Wales Air Ambulance (WAA) within the policy context. It is intended to provide a baseline for further evaluative research in the field and to highlight existing practices and resources. Gaps in strategic planning and service delivery are identified, with local recommendations proposed. Design/methodology/approach -Semi-structured, in-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted with ten participants drawn from a convenient sample representative of stakeholders including practitioners, fundraisers and operational staff. These groups represent primary actors involved in the delivery of services and policy implementation and also secondary actors involved in the delivery as users. Documentary analysis of WAA dispatch policy and protocols combined with secondary quantitative data of key performance indicators was undertaken. Findings -In total, 80 per cent of the sample stated their satisfaction with WAA dispatch policy with no perceived need or benefit to further development of policy or local agreements. About 70 per cent of participants had received direct comments that were 100 per cent positive from primary users/patients. All organisations shared the same concerns regarding lack of appropriate present communication.

Supply Chain Integration is widely advocated as one of the important factors to attain superior supply chain performance. The evidence from studies examining the relationship between the level of integration and performance is mixed. While firms are able to achieve supply chain integration they find it is hard to sustain integration. We argue that to sustain integration, firms need to establish both integration capabilities and system wide performance evaluation capabilities. We develop and test a research model for sustaining supply chain integration. The results gathered from 57 firms show that firms can sustain integration by developing both integration and performance evaluation capabilities.

Business Process Management is a discipline which maps human tasks and non human tasks according to a predefined workflow in a way that technical and non technical people in the organization can administrate, monitor and communicate effectively and efficiently. A number of BPM software is available to automate business processes. When businesses become more complex and need to expand, single BPM server may not be significantly sufficient to tackle all client requests. Therefore we propose a novel approach by extending some existing patterns and introducing some new patterns to allocate existing resources within the organization optimally among a BPM cluster to satisfy dynamically changing requirements and organizational policies. Focusing on that objective, our work surveys on workflow patterns, limitations of existing patterns to fit with a BPM cluster, distributed nature of BPM architecture and a utilization of Rule based solution via patterns to the prevailing issue. By implementing a Distributed Resource Management System (DRMS), we show both the availability of a global view of all BPM systems and a dynamic rule based pattern execution which adds more management capability than that can be done by managing individual BPM Systems separately.

Purpose -This paper aims to explore current management attitudes towards benchmarking and its implementation within small business-to-business service firms in order to enhance a deeper understanding of benchmarking within such contexts. Design/methodology/approach -The paper uses in-depth case analysis of small architectural services to collect empirical data on benchmarking initiatives, attitudes, key characteristics and constraints on benchmarking.

The paper describes shortly the architecture of a complex system for managing back office activities and store management including MRP, Demand forecasting, stock evaluation system from the logistics and financial point of view, integrated in a company ERP. Simulation was the way to properly define the most suitable algorithm for demand forecasting among the many complex combinations proposed by default in the ERP Central Component plus the ones proposed by key users. This architecture was applied in a complex retail chain involving different classes/clusters of point of sales and selling many different sorts of goods (grocery, food, clothing, electronics, home goods etc.)

This paper addresses the problem of access control in the context of unified distributed architectures, in which a local authorization policy is not able to recognize all the terms applicable to the authorization decision requests. The approach is based on semantic interoperability between the different services of the architecture. More specifically, we present the ontology based interoperation service (OBIS), which calculates the matching of security concepts extracted from access requests and local authorization policies. This service is then validated in an employability use case scenario.

One of the key challenges of Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is to build applications, services and processes that truly meet business requirements. Model-Driven Architecture (MDA) promotes the creation of models and code through model transformation. We argue in this paper that the same principle can be used to drive the development of
SOA applications, using a Business Process Modelling (BPM) approach, supported by Business Process Modelling Notation (BPMN). We present an approach that allows the SOA application to be aligned with the business requirements, by offering guidelines for a systematic transformation of a business process model from requirements analysis into a working implementation.