Section 06: Information-centered systems

This module is concerned with the key enterprise systems that can support the value creation process
in a digital economy.

Course structure

Information flows in enterprises

Domains of enterprise systems

Today’s objectives:

• Learn the key components of a generic BI initiative and their interdependencies.

• Distinguish between the two main knowledge management strategies (codification &
personalization).
• Understand how the SECI model (spiral of knowledge) works.

Business intelligence (BI)

• First mention of the term in the early 1990s (Watson and Wixom 2007)
• Gained traction in practice and academia over the past two decades
• Traditional BI tools rely mostly on structured data (e.g., customer information, market data, etc.)
• Contemporary BI can handle unstructured data (e.g., MS Office documents, social media, mobile
data, productivity applications, etc.)

Def. Business Intelligence BI encompasses the set of techniques, processes, and technologies
designed to gather (typically done through transaction processing systems that handle daily business
operations (e.g., goods movements from wharehouse to stores in the inventory management
system) and interpret data about the business in order to improve decision making and advance the
organization's interests. (Primjeri: SAS, Oracle, IBM, SAP, BusinessObjects, QlikView)

The business intelligence infrastructure

Data mining
(Associations Sequences Anomalies Classification Forecasting)

II Knowledge management

• Set of activities and processes used to create, codify, gather, and disseminate knowledge
• Moving knowledge more rapidly to where it is needed
• Recognized tool by managers all over the world (Bain Consulting)

Def: “ All the value of this company is in its people. If you burned down all our plants, and we just
kept our people and our information files, we should soon be as strong as ever”
Provisioning ( mise a disposition)
Ref. Hansen, M.T., Nohria, N., and Tierney, T. 1999. "What's Your Strategy for Managing
Knowledge?," Harvard Business Review (77:2), pp. 106-116.

Strategies for Managing Knowledge

1. Codification Strategy (Centers on computers, Knowledge is codified and stored in databases)

2. Personalization Strategy (Closely tied to the person who developed it, Shared through direct
contact)

Codification Approach (ERNST&YOUNG)

- Provide high-quality, reliable, and fast informationsystems implementation by reusing

codified knowledge • Develop an electronic document system that codifies stores,
disseminates, and allows reuse of knowledge.

Personalization approach (McKinsey &Company)

- Identifies, makes accessible, and channels individual expertise

- Allows for creative, analytically rigorous advice on high-level strategic problems
- Develops networks for linking people so that tacit knowledge can be shared

Key messages from this article

- Companies use both strategies

- Competitive Strategy drives knowledge management strategy
- Do not insulate Knowledge Management from the rest of the organization

III The SECI model

(The spiral of knowledge (SECI model)

Data Management (gestion des données) : Data Warehouse (entredepot de donne :données non
structurées, activité de recherche, communication par mail…) et Data Mart ( question spécifique,
beaucoup plus restrant au type de la volume de donnée). Un point important est notion de GIGO
(GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) is a concept common to computer science and mathematics: the
quality of output is determined by the quality of the input. So, for example, if a mathematical
equation is improperly stated, the answer is unlikely to be correct. Similarly, if incorrect data is input
to a program, the output is unlikely to be informative.)

OLAP (Slicing and dicing data with OLAP)

OLAP (online analytical processing) is a computing method that enables users to easily and
selectively extract and query data in order to analyze it from different points of view. OLAP business
intelligence queries often aid in trends analysis, financial reporting, sales forecasting, budgeting and
other planning purposes. For example, a user can request that data be analyzed to display a
spreadsheet showing all of a company's beach ball products sold in Florida in the month of July,
compare revenue figures with those for the same products in September and then see a comparison
of other product sales in Florida in the same time period.

To facilitate this kind of analysis, data is collected from multiple data sources and stored in data
warehouses then cleansed and organized into data cubes. Each OLAP cube contains data categorized
by dimensions (such as customers, geographic sales region and time period) derived by dimensional
tables in the data warehouses. Dimensions are then populated by members (such as customer
names, countries and months) that are organized hierarchically. OLAP cubes are often pre-
summarized across dimensions to drastically improve query time over relational databases.

Analysts can then perform five types of OLAP analytical operations against these multidimensional
databases:

Roll-up. Also known as consolidation, or drill-up, this operation summarizes the data along the
dimension.

Drill-down. This allows analysts to navigate deeper among the dimensions of data, for example
drilling down from "time period" to "years" and "months" to chart sales growth for a product.

Slice. This enables an analyst to take one level of information for display, such as "sales in 2017."

Dice. This allows an analyst to select data from multiple dimensions to analyze, such as "sales of blue
beach balls in Iowa in 2017."

Pivot. Analysts can gain a new view of data by rotating the data axes of the cube.

Data Mining Techniques

(associations, sequences, anomalies, classification, forecasting)

There are several major data mining techniques have been developing and using in data
mining projects recently including association, classification, clustering, prediction, sequential
patterns and decision tree. We will briefly examine those data mining techniques in the following
sections.

Association

Association is one of the best-known data mining technique. In association, a pattern is

discovered based on a relationship between items in the same transaction. That’s is the reason
why association technique is also known as relation technique. The association technique is
used in market basket analysis to identify a set of products that customers frequently purchase
together.
Retailers are using association technique to research customer’s buying habits. Based on
historical sale data, retailers might find out that customers always buy crisps when they buy
beers, and, therefore, they can put beers and crisps next to each other to save time for the
customer and increase sales.

Classification

Classification is a classic data mining technique based on machine learning. Basically,

classification is used to classify each item in a set of data into one of a predefined set of classes
or groups. Classification method makes use of mathematical techniques such as decision trees,
linear programming, neural network, and statistics. In classification, we develop the software that
can learn how to classify the data items into groups. For example, we can apply classification in
the application that “given all records of employees who left the company, predict who will
probably leave the company in a future period.” In this case, we divide the records of employees
into two groups that named “leave” and “stay”. And then we can ask our data mining software to
classify the employees into separate groups.

Clustering

Clustering is a data mining technique that makes a meaningful or useful cluster of objects which
have similar characteristics using the automatic technique. The clustering technique defines the
classes and puts objects in each class, while in the classification techniques, objects are
assigned into predefined classes. To make the concept clearer, we can take book management
in the library as an example. In a library, there is a wide range of books on various topics
available. The challenge is how to keep those books in a way that readers can take several
books on a particular topic without hassle. By using the clustering technique, we can keep books
that have some kinds of similarities in one cluster or one shelf and label it with a meaningful
name. If readers want to grab books in that topic, they would only have to go to that shelf instead
of looking for the entire library.

Prediction

The prediction, as its name implied, is one of a data mining techniques that discovers the
relationship between independent variables and relationship between dependent and
independent variables. For instance, the prediction analysis technique can be used in the sale to
predict profit for the future if we consider the sale is an independent variable, profit could be a
dependent variable. Then based on the historical sale and profit data, we can draw a fitted
regression curve that is used for profit prediction.

Sequential Patterns

Sequential patterns analysis is one of data mining technique that seeks (cherche) to discover or
identify similar patterns, regular events or trends in transaction data over a business period.

In sales, with historical transaction data, businesses can identify a set of items that customers
buy together different times in a year. Then businesses can use this information to recommend
customers buy it with better deals based on their purchasing frequency in the past.
Decision trees

The A decision tree is one of the most commonly

used data mining techniques because its model
is easy to understand for users. In decision tree
technique, the root of the decision tree is a
simple question or condition that has multiple
answers. Each answer then leads to a set of
questions or conditions that help us determine
the data so that we can make the final decision
based on it. For example, We use the following
decision tree to determine whether or not to play
tennis:

Starting at the root node, if the outlook is overcast then we should definitely play tennis. If it
is rainy, we should only play tennis if the wind is the week. And if it is sunny then we should
play tennis in case the humidity is normal.

We often combine two or more of those data mining techniques together to form an
appropriate process that meets the business needs.

Knowledge Management Strategies

Two basic strategies for knowledge management: The codification and the personalization.
An organization has to follow one of those, the one that fits to the competitive strategy best.

Codification
The goal of codification is the re-use of knowledge. The underlying idea is to extract the
knowledge from people and store it somehow. This approach is especially used by process-
driven companies, which focus on documentation. Here, employees are supposed to fill out
forms and create reports about on-going work or intermediate results. The company’s
processes intend to codify the gained knowledge, to constantly build up a knowledge base
with formalized content about specific tasks or problems. This knowledge base should then
be accessed, when similar problems occur in future projects. The target is to learn from the
past and approach current problems in similar ways as in the past (similarity-based). Hansen
et al. call this approach the codified knowledge management strategy or codification.

To utilize codified knowledge two aspects are of high importance. First, it requires a
precisely described problem domain. Without that, finding a fitting report according to the
current needs can get more complicated. Second, pursuing the strict formalisms is a vital
task. The reported results can be difficult to find, if they do not follow the intended structure
sufficiently. This is supported by fine-grained and highly specific input fields. Employees
have to understand where they can find the desired information or enter their experiences
(people-to-documents).

The codification strategy’s goal is to provide scaffolds that lead to standardized reports.
These then are collected in a knowledge base. This standardization makes it easy to search
for the documentation of previous results, which, if similar enough, can help in the current
situation.
Hansen et al. explain that a competitive strategy, which would apply the codified knowledge
management strategy, typically aims to provide high quality solutions that are reliable and
specialized in a certain field. A company that produces high-end solutions to a specific
problem for different customers is an example for that.

The codification process is often executed by higher organizational hierarchies. Creating

reports is in many cases related to responsibilities and act like a communication channel
between the different hierarchy levels. These reports are commonly used as a controlling
tool in crucial and complicated tasks such as project management, where previous reports
act as guidance. So the reports follow two targets at the same time, to communicate
between organizational hierarchies and to build up a knowledge base.

Supporting Knowledge Management System

A knowledge management system in the codified knowledge management strategy has to
take care of managing this form of documentation and providing help for its users to find the
desired information. Hansen et al. specifically state that heavy investment in IT is essential
as “the goal is to connect people with reusable codified knowledge”.

Codified knowledge, e.g., stored in form of reports, has to be comparable and computable to
fulfil its purpose. This is achieved by following a consistent structure, which makes spread
sheet or database applications typical implementations. So called enterprise systems are
applications that also fit into this category, they commonly handle data in forms and support
a company-wide analysis; typical for codification. Today, most companies have an enterprise
system applied for operational support. Employees are able to insert and access information
in a formalized way. Additionally, many enterprise systems have features that verify the data
inputs or automatically create an analysis based on previously entered data.

The experience factory by Basili is a good example for a knowledge management system
supporting codification. Separated from the actual problem solving, the gained experiences
are packaged by employees. These experience packages are then stored in a form of
repository. To make the experience re-usable, the packaging has to fulfil certain standards. It
has to be assured that each package contains all necessary input, in order to provide
assistance for the experience’s consumers. This completeness contains aspects like a
problem definition, a generalization, an analysis and the description of the execution.
Potentially helpful experience packages can then be located by filtering the available ones
for the needed input. The strict formalization here supports the finding, as every user of such
a knowledge management system has an awareness of where to expect what kind of
information. Searching is further simplified through the uniform coding of the packages and
its contained information.

A knowledge management system that supports codification has to follow strict patterns, in
both the way it is used and the way it takes care of the involved knowledge. All employees
are active users and access the system when the company’s processes expect them to.
Guidelines define how to codify knowledge in order to simplify the access.

Personalization
The focus of personalization is on people and their direct communication among each other.
Especially in companies, that follow flat organizational structures, the internal communication
is important. Encouraging the employees to exchange ideas and experiences is the main
principle here. Thus, the employees continuously build up and improve their social network
within the company, which they utilize to localize desired knowledge or experts in the case of
need (goal-oriented). Hansen et al. call this approach the personalized knowledge
management strategy or personalization.

A company, which is following a personalization strategy, typically tries to support creative

and individual approaches to unique tasks. It faces only very special problems, embracing
the difference of each project and customer in order to provide a specialized solution, where
different levels and areas of expertise are important. Therefore, the knowledge management
is more focussed on connecting the employees (person to person). This is often supported
by an open company culture that aids personal communication and provides circumstances
to share knowledge (e.g., in form of meetings). Especially tacit knowledge plays an important
role here.

A competitive strategy that applies the personalized knowledge management strategy

typically concentrates on customized solutions of high complexity and quality. It is very
common for this kind of companies to have different customers in different domains. Hansen
et al. point out that the corporate network is then used to find people with expertise (e.g.,
knowledge, experience, interest, etc.), who then share their knowledge. The result is that
specialists work on solutions and share their knowledge, which increases the company-wide
expertise.

Supporting Knowledge Management System

A knowledge management system in personalization has the purpose to organize direct
communication. Hansen et al. state that moderate investment into IT is sufficient, as “the
goal is to facilitate conversations and the exchange of tacit knowledge”. The authors explain
further that “Knowledge is shared not only face-to-face but also over the telephone, by e-
mail, and via video-conferences”. It becomes clear that the focus is on direct communication
between two parties, the knowledge-owner and the knowledge-seeker.

The major task in this strategy is the establishment of networks that help spotting a knowing
person, who could help solving a problem. The communication itself is considered a minor
aspect, technologically. This could be solved by simple e-mail, instant messaging or other
peer-to-peer solutions. But IT can support the networking as well. The internet is heavily
used to connect to people and establish and deepen the contacts nowadays. Good
examples for that are LinkedIn or Facebook. Both connect people and provide different
features to communicate, however, Facebook focuses on personal life and LinkedIn focuses
on business contacts. Either system allows you to insert personal information, like in a
curriculum vitae, after registration. Then you can connect to other people, see their
information and contact them directly. These systems are thus implementations of the
personalization strategy, as people build networks and can contact the person of interest.

Systems like these are called social web or web 2.0 and rose in the first decade of the 21st
century. Before that, Hansen et al. published their article in 1999, they could therefore not
foresee the impact on enterprises and their knowledge management approaches. Different
forms of social web applications provide different possibilities. Not all of them have a focus
on the networking aspect, like LinkedIn or Facebook. Others emphasize the communication,
like wikis.

Contrary to the statements by Hansen et al., a higher investment in knowledge management

systems can improve the communication between employees. Social software was not
considered in their article. Its influence on communication increased in the recent decade
and the use of tools in communication changed a great deal through systems of the social
web.
Combination of Strategies
Researchers show in different examples and case studies, that the coexistence of both
strategies in an equal share is counterproductive and would do harm. A company should find
the one that suits its needs best. Hansen et al. argue though, that choosing a primary
strategy, supported by the other one can be a successful blend. They suggest realizing that
in an 80-20 split: 80% of one, the main knowledge management strategy, and 20% of the
other, the supporting knowledge management strategy. A 50-50 share is counterproductive
as none of the characteristics of a company is suitably supported or emphasized.

While Hansen et al. suggest one corporate strategy to be followed throughout the whole
company, a study by other researchers took a different route. They dealt with a unit in a
company, which provides seven different services. The authors assigned four of these
services to follow a codification strategy and the other three of them to follow a
personalization strategy. They successfully showed that differentiation in different areas
within the same company is feasible and makes sense, because the different services
followed different aims and an overall strategy for all of them would diminish some of the
services.

Finally, it has to be mentioned, that there is not one strategy generally better than the other.
One might fit the company better than the other or the employees of a specific company
might relate better to one than the other. A general statement however cannot be made; it
differs from case to case. Researchers particularly state that formalized knowledge is equally
relevant as other types of knowledge. Choosing one over the other is an important choice
and has to be made wisely as a wrong decision can confuse employees or lower the quality
of results.

[1] Morten T. Hansen, Nitin Nohria, and Thomas Tierney. »What’s Your Strategy for
Managing Knowledge?«, Harward Business Review, Vol. 77, No. 2, Pages 106-116,
1999
 SECI model
Nonaka and Takeuchi introduced the SECI model (Nonaka & Takeuchi 1996) which has become
the cornerstone of knowledge creation and transfer theory. They proposed four ways that
knowledge types can be combined and converted, showing how knowledge is shared and created
in the organization. The model is based on the two types of knowledge: tacit , explicit.

The SECI Model of Knowledge Dimensions is based on two types of knowledge, explicit
knowledge and tactic knowledge. Explicit knowledge refers to knowledge that can easily be
transferred to others and can easily
be codified, assessed, and verbalized.
An example is information derived
from books, papers, documents, and
databases. This type of knowledge
can easily be retrieved, stored,
verbalized and transferred to others.
Tactic knowledge is the opposite of
Explicit Knowledge. It refers to
knowledge that is difficult to transfer
to others, and that is difficult to
codify, assess, and verbalize. It is
many times experience based and
include values, skills, and capabilities.
An example is the ability to speak a
language. Due to the rules of languages, learning a language is demanding and requires time
to reach a certain level to speak and write. It is for this reason almost impossible to transfer
this knowledge to other people without practicing.
1. Tacit to Tacit (Socialization) – This dimension explains Social interaction as tacit to
tacit knowledge transfer,sharing tacit knowledge through face-to-face or share
knowledge through experiences. For example, meetings and brainstorm can support
this kind of interaction. Since tacit knowledge is difficult to formalize and often time
and space specific, tacit knowledge can be acquired only through shared experience,
such as spending time together or living in the same environment. Socialization
typically occurs in a traditional apprenticeship, where apprentices learn the tacit
knowledge needed in their craft through hands-on experience, rather than from
written manuals or textbooks

2. Tacit to Explicit (Externalization) – Between tacit and explicit knowledge by

Externalization (publishing, articulating knowledge),developing factors, which embed
the combined tacit knowledge which enable its communication. For example, concepts,
images, and written documents can support this kind of interaction.When tacit
knowledge is made explicit, knowledge is crystallized, thus allowing it to be shared by
others, and it becomes the basis of new knowledge. Concept creation in new product
development is an example of this conversion process
3. Explicit to Explicit (Combination) – Explicit to explicit by Combination (organizing,
integrating knowledge), combining different types of explicit knowledge, for example
building prototypes. The creative use of computerized communication networks and
large-scale databases can support this mode of knowledge conversion. Explicit
knowledge is collected from inside or outside the organisation and then combined,
 edited or processed to form new knowledge. The new explicit knowledge is then
disseminated among the members of the organization

4. Explicit to Tacit (Internalization) – Explicit to tacit by Internalization (knowledge

receiving and application by an individual), enclosed by learning by doing; on the other
hand, explicit knowledge becomes part of an individual’s knowledge and will be assets
for an organization. Internalization is also a process of continuous individual and
collective reflection and the ability to see connections and recognize patterns and the
capacity to make sense between fields, ideas, and concepts

Practical example of the SECI Model of Knowledge Dimensions

As described, knowledge sharing occurs continuously at all levels and different types of
organizations. Consider the following example of Katherine, an intern at a Michelin star restaurant.

Socialization

Katherine works next to the best chefs. She is guided and directed by experienced cooks,
and thus, continually receives feedback on how to improve. Katherine learns by listening,
observing, and doing. All information is transferred by interaction, and hence, tactic to tactic
knowledge sharing is realized.

Externalization

After several months working as an intern, Katherine now learned specific cooking
techniques and how to make several dishes. She is for example specialized in appetizers
and received positive feedback of her cooking. Katherine decides to design a mini-cookbook
for appetizers. She writes down the recipes she learned and include the necessary
ingredients and steps involved to make the dishes. She next shares her mini-cookbook with
her class at school to receive feedback on her work. Katherine’s tactic knowledge is now
codified in her book which she has shared with her class.

Combination

Katherine later received feedback from her class who argue that the cookbook lack
information on how particular machinery works to create some dishes successfully. She
decided to compare online manuals of different machinery that were needed to make the
dishes. She next standardized the texts and icons and made a summary to include in her
mini-cookbook so that people do not have to read all the manuals of different type of
machines. Katherine’s usage of online databases enabled her to edit her book. Thus, explicit
to explicit knowledge conversion has occurred because she is used existing knowledge to
create a summary to add in her book.

Internalization

Katherine received recognition for her work at and after her placement. She was next
requested to lecture and assisting first-year students at her school. The knowledge she
obtained in her study, research, and experience, could now be shared with other students
Katherine currently converses her explicit knowledge into tactic knowledge by lecturing the
new students.
 Section 07: Process-centered systems (PCSs)

I Process-centric systems

Motivation

• Fragmented information in functional systems

• Hand-overs time consuming and error prone
• High maintenance effort and cost
 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
✓ Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) ERP systems automate and integrate many or most of a
firm’s business processes
✓ An ERP system is an integrated software solution that spans the range of business processes
that enable companies to gain a holistic view on the business.
✓ The ERP system is an integrated set of programs that provides support for core organizational
activities […] and helps the different parts of the organization share data and knowledge,
reduce costs, and improve management of business processes

System architecture

Example: SAP’s NetWeaver

Beyond ERP

• Other traditional enterprise systems:

– Customer relationship management systems (CRM)
– Supplier relationship management systems (SRM)
– Supply chain management systems (SCM)
– Product lifecycle management system (PLM) – etc.
• Contemporary systems:
– – Workflow management systems
– – Process analytics and visibility
– – Process automation

Process digitalization (EX. Robotic process automation (RPA)

• Analysis of processes (both as designed and actual)

• System capable of carrying out standard procedures
• Reduces need for ‘swivel’ work or QA checkpoints
• Allow addition of valueadded tasks

Key challenge

How to ensure consistency / fit between the business process as designed by the organization and the
workflows as implemented in the system?

II Process modelling
Basic BPMN elements
Pizza case

The process begins when customers are feeling hungry for pizza. They then go to the restaurant’s
website and select the pizza of their liking. They then order that pizza, which is automatically sent to
the restaurant. At the restaurant, a clerk receives the order and simultaneously schedules delivery
while also printing out the order stub for the kitchen, which is then handed to the chef. While the clerk
prepares the invoice for the customer, the chef will review the order stub and select the ingredients
corresponding to the customer’s order. This is followed by the preparation of the pizza. When the
pizza is ready, the pizza and the corresponding invoice are handed to a delivery person who then
delivers the pizza to the customer. Once the customer has received the pizza, money is handed to the
delivery person who, in exchange, hands the customer the receipt. All that is left to do for the
customer is to eat the pizza.

III Implementation challenges

The ‘plain vanilla’ challenge:

• Enterprise software paradigm: ( Efficiency through standardization , Enablement of best practices ,

Economies of scale for developers

• Recommendation to reduce risk : (Implement ‘out of the box’, But mixed experiences after adoption

Lack of fit

• Mismatch of processes as designed, as implemented, and as executed ( as observed)

• Standard way of doing this might not be best way

Process changes

• Erosion of unique practices important to unique position

• Should be thought in tandem with process improvement (e.g., Six Sigma)

Culture change to overcome misfit : ( Differentiated system introduction cf. Olympus case, ,
Technology introduction needs to be complemented with changes in structures, processes, roles, etc)
 Section 08: people-centered systems

I Enterprise 2.0

Ref. McAfee, A. P. (2006). Enterprise 2.0: The dawn of emergent collaboration. Sloan MIT Review, 2,
15-26

Trends driving Enterprise 2.0 Principles underlying the Enterprise 2.0

Unfiltered user input to support interactions and discussions

Generativity

Def : Generativity is a system’s capacity to produce unanticipated change through unfiltered

contributions from broad and varied audiences. (Internet, Wikipedia)

Generative architecture enables repurposing ( cards & dice vs. board games)

Leveraging people-centric systems (Video Scot Monty)

Community types

II Digital Workplace
Def: The digital workplace strategically unifies an organization’s employees and the technologies
they use in an ecosystem that strives to facilitate agile ways of working, improve employee
engagement and deliver an exceptional experience for its users.

Key features of a digital workplace Ref : Dery, K., Sebastian, I.

M., & van der Meulen, N.
# Employee self-service # Task-oriented interface (2017). The Digital
# Dashboard & priorities # # Inherently social Workplace is Key to Digital
Innovation. MIS Quarterly
# An integrated toolset è Intranet 2.0? Executive, 16(2).
Digital workplace initiatives (Audi, Deloitte, DBS)

• Company-wide approaches
• Sponsored by senior executives
• Focus on cross-functional teams
• Technology drives cultural change

Effective digital workplaces

III Use case modeling

Disclaimer: process vs use case modeling

Use case modeling approach

The two components of a use case

Basic Use Case Diagram components

Use case example: enroll student in a seminar

Use case example: enroll student in seminar

Zadatak .

Goal: define the functional requirements of a people-centric system supporting the production and
diffusion of team deliverables

Recommended steps: 1. Form small teams to discuss the various activities that you performed as
part of the group assignment for this class. 2. Describe the basic flow of activities that were
performed and by which actors. 3. Draw the activity flow in a use case diagram (i.e., actors, use
cases, relationships). 4. Derive the main functional requirements of your collaboration system for
group deliverables.

Sample solution: use case description Sample solution: use case diagram

Actors: team leader, team members, instructor.

• Instructor shares assignment guidelines.

• Team leader raises questions about the assignment.
• Instructor answer student questions.
• Team leader prepares a response template.
• Team members find a suitable date to meet.
• Team members brainstorm and share notes during
meeting.
• Team members produce content and improve version.
• Team members collectively validate the latest version.
• Team leader performs final quality checks (i.e., layout).
• Team leader transforms file from .doc to .pdf
• Team leader uploads the assignments.
• Instructor downloads files and grades.

Corresponding functional requirements : discussion forum, coordination (date finding, online

conferencing, note sharing), production (versioning), publication