ATRIUM Laboratory (Univ. of Southern California)
Working with Processes (Rank Xerox Laboratory, UK)
Workflow Management (Univ. of Twente)
Workflow and Reengineering International Association
Center for Coordination Science (MIT, Sloan School)
The purpose of this project is to provide the basis for a dynamic framework through which to understand the key determinants of the success or failure of quality improvement programs.
The costs and capabilities of information technology are improving by orders of magnitude every decade, but we are only beginning to understand the opportunities these changes provide for new ways of organizing human activity and new kinds of technology to help people work together. The MIT Center for Coordination Science conducts multidisciplinary research to help understand these possibilities better. Research in the center draws upon many parts of MIT and ongoing projects in a variety of fields, including: computer science, organization theory, psychology, information systems, management science, and economics. We believe that a powerful source of intellectual leverage on questions about how groups of people can use computers will result from a better understanding of the nature of coordination. Therefore, work in the center focuses on how coordination can occur, both with and without technology.
This laboratory is focused on establishing a unique world-class facility for faculty and doctoral students to investigate topics in the production, operation, and evolution of large-scale business processes and services, and how advanced information systems and technologies can contribute.
As every large corporation or business is increasingly dependent on the development, use, and upkeep of information systems which support business processesin their daily operations, then such a laboratory is aimed at examining topics of concern to a substantial audience. In this regard, the ATRIUM laboratory represents a new kind of organizational unit that modern businesses will seek to replicate and implement as an in-house organizational testbed for new business processes or services.
Local Holdings of ATRIUM Project Material
The projects on Workflow Management at the University of Twente are conducted by the Department of Computer Science. In this Department a group called Design Methodology Research Group (DMRG) is active in the field of Cooperation Support Systems (CSS) (among others). Further, there is the Centre for Telematics and Information Technology (CTIT), a multidisciplinary research institute of the University of Twente. The CTIT researches the design of complex telematic and information technology systems.
Business success in the global marketplace is mandating that corporations be adaptable on an unprecedented scale. Products and services must have high added value, be rich in features, and be available instantly in response to customer needs. Central to the strategies of those who succeed in this revolution will be rapidly changing new information technologies, increased emphasis on quality, accelerated product development, changing management practices, and stronger linkages between suppliers and customers. Managing the marketplace's requirement for continuous change is the key for business success. Business process reengineering is the key to managing change.
Methodologies:the Design for Competitive Advantage Home Page complex. This is an experiment in real time modular authoring of real time research. The contents are about technology which provides a competitive advantage in the world marketplace. All sections of this complex are updated as I review old material or cover new material. I am participating in the COSTLESS Team effort to change the way NASA performs mission operations and does business in general. My current research foci are designing for cost and the quality culture of the NASA Langley Research Center.
The interoperability of existing and new information systems in an organization has important implications on its competitiveness. Specific items of work in this area include:
The merging of computers and communications with significant advances in networking infrastructure has made millions of information sources with wide varieties of information accessible.
This capability gives us a vision of an information rich society "infocosm", where we expect to have any information any-where we want in (m)any form(s). One of the early challenges is of finding the needed information with reasonable cost and effort if we are to bring forth new capabilities for effective and widespread use. The focus of the work in this area is on:
Comments should be sent to
Richard Upchurch (rupchurch@umassd.edu)
This document
Created: March 8, 1996
by RLU
Modified: March 20, 1998