Center for Organization & Information

Welcome to the Center for Organization & Information

The Center is part of the Department of Information and Computer Sciences at Utrecht University. From a broad perspective, the Center researches aspects of effectiveness of Information Technology, Information System developement an implementation in organizations and society. Secondly, courses are developed and lectured to studentsin the bachelor Information Science (in Dutch) and Master Business Informatics (in English). Thirdly, the center provides services, like business consultancy, facilitating start-ups, and service products.

News

• December 2011: MBI student Robbert Kusters wins NEVI-thesis prize (read more)
• November 2011: Team of MBI students reaches finals in CA’s International Case Competition on Strategic IT Management in Las Vegas (read more)
  

Schedule for colloquium MBI can be found at the MBI-Colloquium website, under website content

N.B.: Send presentation requests to: Inge van de Weerd

About us

What do we do?

The Center for Organisation and Information provides research and education on the usage and deployment of Information Technology in organisations. Research is conducted in the fields of product software enterprises, methodology for development and implementation of software products, adoption of IT in organisations and by users, e-procurement, product life-cycle management, group decision processes and IT entrepreneurship.

Related to those research areas services are provided to organisations in the private as well as public sector. The members of the center give courses and coach students in the bachelor programs Information Science and Computer Science. The Center has an international master program Business Informatics (MBI) with students from all over the world.

People

Staff          

	prof.dr. Sjaak Brinkkemper Chairman of Organisation and Information My research involves Product Software Enterprises: Knowledge infrastructures for products and processes, Organizational structures, Incubation and growth, Diversification and profitability, Student incubation, Financial-economic models. Method Engineering: Methodology for the development and implementation of ICT products, Meta-modelling, Method fragmentation and assembly, Situational methods.
	dr. Ronald Batenburg My research involves how organizations adopt and implement product software applications. Theoretically I apply the perspectives of business/IT-alignment, transaction costs economics and institutional paradigms. Empirically, I conduct large-scale survey research among users, organizations and inter-organizational networks, including cross-national comparisons. Recently my focus is on how IT adoption and implementation can improve health care organizations and professions.
	dr.ir. Remko Helms My research interest involves Knowledge Management and more specifically intra organizational networks for knowledge sharing and learning. The goal of my research is to obtain more insight in the structural characteristics of network so that they result in optimal performance for the individual people, the network and the whole organization. These insights should provide a normative framework for assessing the structure of knowledge networks in organization using knowledge network analysis. Other interests in the domain of knowledge management include knowledge governance and the implementation and application of web 2.0 applications. Crosscutting interests include qualitative research methods and social network analysis.
	dr. Slinger Jansen My research is directed at strategies of software companies to obtain and retain customers. At present I am exploring (1) the possibilities for a feedback management framework that supports the lifecycle of a component and manages relationships between the component and its environment. Secondly, I am exploring the possibilities offered by software ecosystems, the complex networks that are formed around base technologies and from which networks of organizations serve specific customer groups.
	Michiel Kuijper I am the manager of the ICT Innovation Platform Productsoftware Previous activities can be found on my LinkedIn page
	dr. Marco Spruit My research revolves around Knowledge Discovery processes to improve business functions through: (I) Data Mining techniques to discover relevant information from raw data, (II) Business intelligence methods to help understand, implement and monitor processes through actionable information, (III) Linguistic Engineering applications to transform unstructured text into meaningful information, and (IV) Web 2.0 technologies to incorporate the collective knowledge of communities. Refer to my anti-chronological Publications page for more information.

Secretariat

          

	Sandra Verdonk Secretary of the Organisation and Information group

PhD students

          

	drs. Eva Baaren My research focuses on the factors that play a role in the current development and diffusion of High Definition Television (HDTV) in de Netherlands. By looking at the constant interplay of the institutional HDTV development, discourse and factors driving user adoption, the research contributes to an understanding of the way HDTV – and media technology in a broader sense- emerges in Dutch society.
	Marijn Plomp MSc The central question of my PhD research is: what are the technological and organizational determinants for the adoption and implementation of chain information systems, and how can these determinants be aligned in order to achieve successful chain collaboration? Hence, my main research interests comprise interorganizational collaboration, chain computerization and the extended enterprise. Besides my work for the O&I group, which involves teaching as well, I also work at Dialogic innovation &interaction Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor:Ronald Batenburg Funding: Public Defense: March 5th, 2012
	Kevin Vlaanderen For my research, I am trying to determine how process improvement can be facilitated by partitioning new knowledge in a useful manner. The results of my research are constantly applied to the field of Software Product Management, for which we are developping an intelligent knowledge management system. My research in a few keywords: method engineering, software product management, incremental process improvement.

External researchers

          

	drs. Willem Bekkers My research activities are concentrated around the development of a Situational Assessment Method (SAM) for Software Product Management. This assessment method provides Product Software Enterprises of all shapes and sizes with an advice, suited to their specific organisation, on how to incrementally improve their Software Product Management practices. This is achieved by identifying what these practices are, and how they are affected by the Situational Factors that influence the SPM processes.
	dr. Wiel Bruls Wiel Bruls works as an Enterprise architect in IBM’s Global Business Services. His research interest is the application of enterprise architecture in various areas such as the planning and control of major business and IT transformation programs, the development of industry solutions based upon Service oriented frameworks, and the application of innovative technologies that have the potential of transforming the enterprise landscape. The underlying question in all cases is the situational selection and customization of artefacts in such way that the Enterprise architecture method is engineered to meet the specific goals.
	drs. Ralph Foorthuis Ralph Foorthuis studied at the University of Amsterdam, where he obtained master degrees in Communication Science and Informatics (both cum laude). He is currently a senior IT architect at UWV. In the past he has worked at other organizations as a business redesign architect, system analyst, database designer and developer. His PhD research focuses on projects that have to comply with an enterprise architecture (EA) providing constraints and high-level solution guidelines. Research topics include best practices and models for projects conforming to EA, project architecture, EA benefits and drawbacks observed in practice, assessing projects on compliance with EA, and compliance in general. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: Rik Bos Funding: UWV, Statistics Netherlands, University Utrecht Public Defense: 2012
	Eko Handoyo MSc My research focuses on software ecosystems (sECO) modeling. The main research of my PhD research is how the method can portrays all different scope levels (Business modeling, software supply network, and sECO) and enables insightful analysis. Hence, my main research interests compose of scalability in sECO modeling, interaction between sECOs, software & formal modeling of business models Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: slinger Jansen Funding: Higher Education Directorate (Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture) PhD scholarships Public Defense: app. 2016
	MSc Erik Jagroep My PhD research is aimed at exploring the area of sustainable software engineering. Sustainability is still a relatively unknown research area, but with the growing role of IT in todays society many parties have already shown their concern when no measures are taken to (amongst others) reduce the energy consumption of these facilities. With this research I want to provide insight into design decisions and guidelines that software product developers can use to make their software more sustainable. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: ? Funding:Industry Public Defense: 2015
	Arjan de Kok , MBA Arjan's research is directed on the role of information systems in the implementation of the New Way of Working. The main research question is: “What is the impact of the New Way of Working concept on the organization of work, knowledge workers and supporting information technology, and how can organizations benefit from it?” The focus will be on improving communication, networking and knowledge sharing in order to gain maximal benefits from employees’ potentials. The research will involve the role and use of social media. The goal is to develop means for companies to use Information Technology to leverage the benefits of the New Way of Working. Currently, Arjan is Business Consultant and owner of HQ-consult BV. He holds a Master's degree in Business Administration from Liverpool University. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: Remko Helms Funding: Industry (HQ-consult) Public defense: 2016
	Michiel Meulendijk, MSc My research involves the implementation of Business Process Management Systems as a mean to create Service Oriented Architectures. How should such a project be undertaken? What are the critical success factors? How much emphasis should be on organizational and technical aspects? In my PhD research I aim to develop a framework to measure the quality and completeness of BPMS implementation methods. Promotor: prof. dr. Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: dr. Marco Spruit Funding: EPHOR/UMC Utrecht Public Defense :
	drs. Wienand Omta The title of my Ph.D. research is Cell Screening Analysis, Architecture and Knowledge Discovery. The emphasis of this research is on data management efficiency in high throughput processes for drug discovery and functional genomics. In other words, improvements towards enterprise architecture, the effectiveness of data analysis by using advanced data-mining techniques and improving the compatibility and openness of systems to connect external databases and ontologies for enrichment. Promotor: prof. dr. Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: dr. Marco Spruit Funding: UMC Utrecht Public Defense : 2015
	drs. Pascal Ravesteijn My research involves the implementation of Business Process Management Systems as a mean to create Service Oriented Architectures. How should such a project be undertaken? What are the critical success factors? How much emphasis should be on organizational and technical aspects? In my PhD research I aim to develop a framework to measure the quality and completeness of BPMS implementation methods. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor:Ronald Batenburg & Johan Versendaal Public Defense: September 19th 2011
	Jurriaan van Reijsen MSc. My PhD research is an initiative to find enablers for Sustainable Knowledge Management. This may be defined as the practice and management of organizational knowledge processes that target the result of learning and subsequent action to improve organizational sustainability. In my research, I study the effect of formal enablers, in the form of organizational policies, by conducting survey research. Also, I study the effect of informal enablers, in the form of social capital and the organizational network, by performing social network analysis. Hence, I aim to uncover organizational properties and practices that help organizations improve their sustainability. Promotor: Prof.dr. Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: Dr.ir. Remko Helms Funding: Comprehend Public Defense: September 2012 (estimated)
	Henk van der Schuur MSc. My research is directed at the role and utilization of end-user and software feedback, software operation knowledge (SOK), within software vendors. Part of my research is to reveal the potential role of software operation knowledge in the advancement of software engineering processes and tools, and the development of tools and models to increase utilization of SOK. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor:Slinger Jansen Public Defense: November 17th 2011
	drs. Jurriaan Souer Jurriaan's research involves the application of content management principles in Web Engineering processes. Web engineering is a well-established and broad area of research regarding topics concerning technologies, methodologies, tools, and techniques used to develop and maintain web-based applications. The distinguishing focus of this research is the emphasis on Content Management System as the main development platform. It demonstrates that a CMS provides a solid foundation for web engineering that copes with the most identified web engineering challenges. Moreover, it elaborates on Content Management System specific challenges, provides a new Web Engineering method, and shows how a model-driven approach and a product family engineering approach can be applied in the context of Content Management System-based Web Engineering. Currently, Jurriaan is a director at GX Software and holds a Master's degree in computer science from Utrecht University. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: Remko Helms Funding: Industry (GX) Public defense: February 28, 2012
	drs. Marlies van Steenbergen The topic of my research is the effectiveness of different implementations of the architecture practice in relation to organizational characteristics. Organizations are becoming progressively aware that they need an enterprise architecture to manage the complexity of their processes and information technology. However, there are still many questions to be answered as to how to implement and maintain the architectural function. Experiences so far suggest that the key success factors are situation dependent. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor:Rik Bos Public Defense: June 22nd 2011
	drs. ing. Benny de Waal My research focuses on the adoption and success of information systems, especially workflow management systems or in a broader sense Business Process Management Systems. In the research, I investigate the effect of these systems on the quality of work, which design decisions should be taken to improve this quality, and in which way users can participate in the development and implementation process.
	drs. Rogier van de Wetering My research involves the Business/IT-alignment of Enterprise-wide Medical Imaging and Information Management Systems - including Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) and the Electronic Patient Record (EPD) - in hospitals. My PhD research specifically focuses on the successful alignment and governance of PACS in the hospitals enterprise in order to gain an optimum PACS performance. In so doing, I will be developing a evolutionary (maturity) model and an integrated situational alignment framework for PACS. My research interests include Business/IT-alignment, (IT-) governance, Medical imaging, PACS/EPD, hospital (clinical) workflow and performance management. Promotor: Sjaak Brinkkemper Co-promotor: Ronald Batenburg Public Defense: April 14th 2011

If you're interested in working with us, please check out our vacancies page.

Research

An Integrative and Evidence-based Framework for Business-IT Alignment in Enterprise Software Implementations

Ronald Batenburg Abstract: This proposal will first of all extend the concept of alignment or organizational fit by constructing an integrated framework for enterprise software implementations. Both the resource based view of the firm and path dependency theory will be applied to enhance the modeling of business-IT alignment, and to derive new critical success factors that are suitable for empirical testing. Specifically, the integrative framework specifies propositions and hypothesis to disentangle the often-neglected multi-actor and dynamic dimensions of enterprise software implementations. The empirical validation of the framework and testing of these hypotheses are realized by two complementary types of research. Related publications: Batenburg, R. & J.Versendaal (2004). Business alignment in the CRM Domain: Predicting CRM performance. In: T. Leino, T. Saarinen & S. Klein (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Information Sytems. Turku: Turku School of economics and business Administration (CD-ROM) [ISBN 951 564 192 6]. Batenburg, R. & F.J. Bongers (2001). The role of GSS in participatory policy analysis; A field experiment. Information & Management, 39(1), Pp. 15-30.

Product Software: Development Methodology and Entrepreneurship

Sjaak Brinkkemper Abstract: Several research projects on product software are being performed at the ICS in Utrecht. The Overture project aims at defining the core concepts of software products, and will draft the research agenda in this area. Based on method engineering principles we are constructing situational methods and knowledge infrastructures for the product software industry. The education of ICT entrepreneurship is performed and investigated in the student incubator Netherware (www.netherware.nl). Related publications: Johan Natt och Dag, Vincenzo Gervasi, Sjaak Brinkkemper, and Bjšrn Regnell. A Linguistic Engineering Approach to Large-Scale Requirements Management. IEEE Software, Vol. 22, nr.1, pp. 32-39, January 2005. Sjaak Brinkkemper. Requirements Engineering Research the Industry Is (and Is Not) Waiting For. Invited Anniversary Keynote. Proceedings of the 10th Anniversary International Workshop on Requirements Engineering: Foundation of Software Quality, B. Regnell, E. Kamsties, V. Gervasi (Eds.), Series: Essener Informatik Berichte, Volume: 9, pp. 251-264, ISBN 3-922602-91-6, June 2004

Knowledge Entry Maps: structuring method knowledge in the IT industry

Remko W. Helms Abstract: The paper presents a meta-modeling technique for modeling knowledge structures. The technique is called Knowledge Entry Map and supports the design of knowledge repository systems based on topic maps. To validate the technique it has been applied in two case studies in the professional IT industry, a software developer and a service provider. The case studies demonstrate the applicability of the meta-modeling technique for capturing the structure of method knowledge in IT organizations. Related publications: Helms R.W., Brinkkemper S., Oosterum J. van, Nijs F. de. 'Knowledge Entry Maps: structuring of method knowledge in the IT industry. To appear in: Proceedings of European Japanese Conference on Information Modeling and Knowledge Bases from May 16-20 in Tallinn, Estonia, published by IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2005 Edgington, T., Choi, B., Henson, K., Raghu, T.S., Vinze, A.. Adopting ontology to facilitate knowledge sharing. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 47, No. 11, 2004. Benjamins, V. R., Fensel, D., Gomez Perez, A.. Knowledge Management Through Ontologies. In: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Practical Aspects of Knowledge Management (PAKM'98), Basel, Switzerland, 1998.

Deliver: Ease Software Delivery and Deployment Effort by Managing Software Knowledge

Slinger Jansen Abstract: Product software is constantly evolving through extensions, maintenance, changing requirements, changes in configuration settings, and changing licensing information. Managing evolution of released and deployed product software is a complex and often underestimated problem that has been the cause of many difficulties for both software vendors and customers. This paper presents a process model and typology to characterize techniques that support product software update methods. Also, this paper assesses and surveys a variety of existing techniques against the characterization framework and lists unsolved problems related to software product updaters. Related publications: Slinger Jansen and Sjaak Brinkkemper and Gerco Ballintijn. A Process Framework and Typology for Software Product Updaters. European Conference on Software Maintenance and Reuse (CSMR '05). IEEE. 2005. Slinger Jansen, Gerco Ballintijn, Sjaak Brinkkemper and Arco van Nieuwland. Integrated Development and Maintenance of Software Products to Support Efficient Updating of Customer Configurations: A Case Study in Mass Market ERP Software. 2005

Release definition for software intensive systems in a market-driven environment

Johan Versendaal Abstract: Product management workbench to help product managers in determining the scope of an upcoming release. Through linear programming techniques requirement benefits are optimized against development costs. Managerial steering mechanism, like development deadline extension, allow for what-if analysis. Related publications: Marjan van den Akker, Sjaak Brinkkemper, Guido Diepen, Johan Versendaal (2005). Flexible Release Composition using Integer Linear Programming. Technical Report Utrecht University, UU-CS-2004-063.

Business/IT-aligment

Johan Versendaal and Ronald Batenburg Abstract: IT deployement does not necessarily mean that organizations perform better. Through this research we try to explain the success of IT deployment by the degree to which the IT is aligned with the business. Related publications: Batenburg, R.S. and Versendaal, J.M. (2004). Business alignment in the CRM Domain: Predicting CRM performance. In t leino, t saarinen & s klein (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Information Sytems Turku: Turku School of economics and business Administration.

Overture:Defining a Research Agenda for Product Software

Lai Xu Abstract: This poster shows my two main research interests: "product software" and "multi-party business collaboration and contracting". In the Overture project, we try to figure out the core concepts underlying product software development. We do this from the perspective of the research field of software engineering. In other words, we study in particular the engineering of software as a product. In the multi-party business collaboration and contracting field, we discovert how to model multi-party business collaboration? how to apply multi-party contract models into the web service area for the enactment of complex business processes? and how to pre-calculate violation cost for each contractual partner in agent-mediated e-commerce environments? Related publications: Lai Xu and Sjaak Brinkkemper. Concepts of Product Software: Paving the Road for Urgently Needed Research. To be published In: Proceedings of 1st International Workshop on Philosophical Foundations of Information Systems Engineering (PHISE'05) . Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer Verlag, 2005. Lai Xu and Manfred A. Jeusfeld. Detecting Violators of Multi-party Contracts. The 12th International Conference on Cooperative Information Systems (CoopIS), 2004. Also in Lecture Notes of Computer Science, Springer-Verlag. Lai Xu and Manfred A. Jeusfeld.Pro-active Monitoring of Electronic Contracts. The 15th Conference On Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE 2003), 2003. Also in Lecture Notes of Computer Science, Springer-Verlag.

Research Partners

The researchers of the Center for Organisation and Information participate in the Netherlands School for Information and Knowledge Systems (SIKS). Various research projects are done in collaboration with other researchers active at other institutes, departments in private corporations and also public corporations. Our research partners range from academic to non-academic, within the country and also abroad. Non-academic collaborations mostly deal with contract research that has been requested. The following is an overview of our partners in research.

Students are kindly requested to contact the research partners only after permission of one of the members of the Center

Education

Bachelor

The Center for Organisation and Information contributes to the Bachelor Program Information Science at Utrecht Univeristy.

Information science studies different aspects of the application of ICT (Information and Communication Technology). The program focusses on the link between technolgy and people. Our group focusses on all organizational aspects of the application of ICT: adoption, implementation, use and effects.

Courses concerning Information & Organisation are given at different stages of the bachelors Information Science. The following courses are given by members of the center:
- ICT in organisatie beleid en management
- Onderzoeksmethoden 1
- Organisationele Communicatie
- Strategisch management organisationele ontwikkeling en ICT
- Projectmanagement
- Stage

Although many of the materials that are used are in English, the program is basically in Dutch. For more in depth information on Information Science please refer to the Information Science website.

Masters Program

Students who wish to obtain a masters degree concerning matters of information & organisations are more than welcome to enter our Information Science MSc program Business Informatics (MBI). This program is headed by prof dr. Sjaak Brinkkemper and dr. Ronald Batenburg and other members of the center contribute to by giving various courses.

The program is comprised of a two year education at Utrecht University. Upon completion of the MBI program students will obtain the degree Master of Science in Information Science. With this degree you will be eligible to obtain three types of professional positions: (1) as researcher in business, consultancy or at a university, (2) as consultant or project manager with a specialization in IT and business/IT alignment and (3) as an entrepreneur in new IT and ICT products or services.

For more information concerning curriculum, acceptance and general info please refer to the MBI website.

Graduation

This page is the starting point for any MBI student wishing to start the graduation project. If you have any questions after reading this page, please contact the Graduation Coordinator at graduateMBI@cs.uu.nl.

Quicklinks

• Planning and procedure - The Planning and Procedure document helps you avoid overruns and explains the full process of graduation 
• Forms mentioned in the procedure can be found here:
  • Graduation request form - To be sent to the student administration before starting.
  • Evaluation form - To be filled out and given to the supervisor before the thesis defense.
  • Old thesis evaluation criteria - For those of you who are interested, please take a look at the old criteria, still used by some.
• FAQ - The FAQ list is found here 
• Previous theses - See all previous MBI theses here
• Scientific paper - Find more information here on writing a scientific paper
• List of projects - Please note a list of projects can be found (recently migrated to Wordpress)here.
• Reference Contract for Companies - If you wish to provide your company with a contract template, please find it here.

Please note that the "previous theses" is only available from within the university, either through a VPN connection or on a UU workstation. 

MBI Procedure Details

There are several additional remarks in regards to the following subjects:

Project Set-up

In the MBI master, the thesis project counts for 40 ECTS (instead of 45 ECTS); the remaining 5 ECTS consist of the MBI Colloquium (4 ECTS), and the Introduction to Business Informatics (1 ECTS) course.

The thesis project generally consists of a trinity: you need a project idea, a graduation advisor, and a graduation project facilitator. In the MBI the project facilitator usually is a company, but under some circumstances the university acts as your facilitator. The predeveloped project ideas come from either companies or professors, which means you only need one other part to start your project. Your own project idea is welcome too, just contact graduateMBI@cs.uu.nl.

Please note that you can always work in the MBI hallway on your project in rooms B221 & B228. For access to the rooms and computers, please view the instructions on the doors of the rooms.

Constraints -> Scope:

Regarding the scope of the final thesis project, the thesis subject should always fit the interest of the O&I-group. Please see the slides of an introductory thesis meeting held in October of 2011. Be careful in giving commitment to a company for thesis project execution, without consulting the O&I-group for research interest match, specifically the O&I-person that has the thesis subject as research interest.

Constraints -> Admission:

In principle, admission to start the final thesis project officially is permitted when you have passed all you courses and is confirmed by the (likely) supervisor of the student, after the supervisor has approved the thesis proposal document. Prior to writing the thesis proposal document, a graduation request (1 A4) needs to be submitted to the graduation coordinator by sending it to graduatembi@cs.uu.nl.

The graduation request should at least contain the following items: problem statement (trigger), research questions, researh approach, main deliverables (max 2 pag).

(Long) Graduation Proposal:

The work plan should be part of the thesis proposal document. E.g. the thesis project can follow the following cycle on which the workplan can be based.

The problem situation occurs in the real world, and is often triggered through a particular company situation (external thesis project), or research activity (internal thesis project). As an MBI student you will abstract this real world situation using theory and models from literature. You may create your own (extension) of theory/models, or use existing theory in a particular unique situation. From the model domain you will try to solve the particular problem through solution finding. Once you have defined your solution in the model world you will implement the solution in the real world and validate your efforts. Note that validation can also take place in the model world or even both worlds. Whether you apply quantitative, qualitative or design research in you thesis project, you can often apply the above generic thesis execuction process. A good example of a work plan can be found here. Find comments included in the document.

The long proposal should at least contain: the problem statement, research questions, research approach (detailed), main deliverables, evaluation method, relevance, most mportant literature, Planning and Deliverables (short), communication, supervisors, references (max 20 pag).

Finalization

Please take into account that for the final presentation there is 30 minutes time for your presentation. This is in conflict with what is mentioned here. The presentation can be in Dutch, but the slides must be in English, in case an english speaker walks in.

Research Methods

Here several links to common research methods are gathered.

• Systematic Literature Review - There is more info available on SLR through this link.

Sources for literature research

Literature research is an important part of your thesis project and of scientific work in general. At this page you’ll find directions to several on-line sources for scientific literature.

Library

First of all, there is the library of Utrecht University, which can be found at http://www.library.uu.nl/182main.html.

Two important entry points into the literature of the library are:

• UBU, which provides you access to books, conference proceedings and printed journals
• Full-text UBU, which provides you full text access to journals, newspapers, bibliographies, reference works and dissertations that can be downloaded instantly.

The university also provides access to the catalogues of the following institutions, which are relevant in the area of computer and information science. In these catalogues you will mainly find articles that are produced in journals and transactions and in conference proceedings supported by the institution.

• Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
• Springerlink
• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

 

Other resources

Although the University provides access to a wide array of resources, you will not find everything there. Therefore, we would also like to point you at the following on-line sources where additional literature can be found.

With Picarta, you can access the catalogues of all universities in the Netherlands. If you find interesting literature there you can make reservations via the library. If you are interested in journals for which Utrecht University does not have subscriptions you can search these journals via the website of the publisher, some well-known publishers (but there are many more) are:

• Elsevier
• Wiley Interscience
• Taylor & Francis
• Emerald library

If you find interesting literature there you can make reservations via the library. It can also be useful to use the Table of Contents (ToC) alert service that are provided by publishers. Once you subscribe to such a service, you will receive the Table of Contents of new issues of journals that you selected by e-mail.

Search engines

Finally, there are search engines with a focus on scientific material. However, you should realize that these search engines depend on the scientific material that is available via the Internet.

• Citeseer (search results ranked on basis of citations)
• Google Scholar
• Scirus
• DLPB Bibliography

If you find more useful on-line sources please let me know at remko@cs.uu.nl so that we can publish them on this website.

 

Reference management

There are several tools available for managing your references:

• RefWorks (free license via UU)
• Zotero (free Firefox plugin)
• Papers ( Mac OS X tool)
• MS Word 2007 (has an integrated function for managing references)

A commonly used reference format is APA. Here you can find an explanation and some examples of this reference format. Other widely used formats are IEEE, Harvard. and MLA. You can choose your own style, but make sure you use it consistently.

Systematic Literature Review

One method that is commonly applied throughout our research is the Systematic Literature Review. This type of research forces you to focus on the available literature and establishes, in a structured manner, which parts of a research domain have already been covered by literature. There are several tools and papers available (i.e., do not reinvent the wheel with "yet another excel sheet").

An actual tool for SLR can be found here: http://alarcosj.esi.uclm.es/SLRTool/.

There is also a lot of literature available on the topic of SLR:

Analyzing the Past to Prepare for the Future: Writing a Literature Review - J. Webster, R. T. Watson - MIS Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2. (2002), pp. 13-23.

Okoli, C., Schabram, K. (2009). "Protocol for a Systematic Literature Review of Research on the Wikipedia," . Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 9(65). http://sprouts.aisnet.org/9-65 (downloadable)

Services

Services Being both a scientific and professional Center it is possible to contact us for organisational matters in an IT context. Specifically we are able to perform research and make facilities available. Business consultancy and research In the area of product software development, implementation and IT-adoption we can share our knowledge and expertise with you. For example, in 2003/2004 we have carried out a research project for the Dutch 'Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties' concerning future adoption of government enabled IT-based solutions by the elderly, taking into account increased customer-/elderly-orientation (see the resulting report, in Dutch) Facilities The beleidslab is a meeting room located at the Institute of Information and Computing Sciences of Utrecht University. This room has been set up so that various meetings, discussions and presentations can be held. The room is equiped with personal computers and groupware software that enable quick decision making. Technical assistance is available.

Events

Events

Upcoming events

• September 27 - October 1: RE 2010, Sidney, Australia
• June 7 - 11: CAISE 2010, Hammamet, Tunesia
• June 6 - 9: ECIS 2010, Pretoria, South Africa

2009

• October 1 - 2: BIR 2009, Kristianstad, Sweden
• September 27, Workshop on Software Eco Systems, Falls Church, Virginia, USA
• August 31 - September 4: RE 2009 and IWSPM 2009, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• June 8 - 10 : ECIS 2009, Verona, Italy
• June 8 - 12: CAISE 2009 & REFSQ 2009: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

2008

• September 8 - 12: IWSPM 2008 & RE 2008, Barcelona, Spain
• October 31: Symposium "distributed product software development"
• June 16 - 20: CAiSE 2008 & REFSQ 2008, Montpellier, France
• June 9 - 11: ECIS 2008, Galway, Ireland
• May 8: ICT Delta Congres, Jaarbeurs Utrech

2007

• June 11 - 15 : CAiSE 2007, Trondheim, Norway
• June 7 - 9: ECIS 2007, St. Gallen, Switzerland
• May 22 - 23: ICT Delta Congres, Jaarbeurs Utrecht
• January 14 - 16: International expert panel of Product Software, Hotel Spaander, Volendam

2006

• September 11-15, 2006: RE 2006, Minneapolis, USA
• July 5-9, 2006: CAiSE 2006, Luxembourg, Luxembourg
• June 12-14, 2006: ECIS 2006, Gothenburg, Sweden
• April 10-11, 2006: Nationaal Productsoftware Congres, RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Links

Links

Utrecht University related Links

UU - Utrecht University
ICS - Institute of Information and Computing Sciences
Information Science - Bachelor program Information Science
Business Informatics - The Center's MSc program
Content and Knowledge Engineering - The other information science master program
SIU - Stichting Informatiekunde Utrecht (alumni, symposia, activities, promotion, and enquiries of the study)
UU masters - All other international master programs at Utrecht University
Electronic board room - The Center's co-owned decision making room

Useful Links for students

CS Librabry - Library of the Institute for Information and Computing Sciences
CS Education - Course information, exam dates, BAMA information and lots more
CIO.com - Site for information executives (and students)
Student facilities - Spectrum of UU services for students


Communities

Netherware - The product software incubator community
Platform for Product Software - Community of companies building product software
ISWorld - An entry point to resources related to information systems technology
AIS - Association for Information Systems
NEVI - Dutch Purchasing Association
ECP.NL - Dutch E-commerce Society
PDM Platform - Platform on Product Data Management
PLM Interest Group - Special Interest Group on Product Lifecycle Management
Nevat - Dutch Association of Subcontracing Industries


Magazines/Journals

Citeseer - Search for papers
Omega - Online library
LexisNexis - Dutch newspaper archive
AutomatiseringsGids

Other

De Telefoongids - Dutch phone directory
Nederlandse Spoorwegen - Find out train arrival, departure and price

Contact

Contact Information The Center for Organisation and Information is located at: Buys Ballot Laboratorium Princetonplein 5 3584 CH Utrecht phone: +31 - 30 - 253 4040 fax: +31 - 30 - 251 3791 e-mail: oeni@cs.uu.nl Postal adress: Institute of Information and Computing Sciences Utrecht University P.O.Box 80.089 3508 TB Utrecht The Netherlands

How to Reach us

Maps:

Buys Ballot Laboratorium

De Uithof



City of Utrecht, look for 'De Uithof'



By car:

Watch road traffic in the Netherlands and the region of Utrecht in particular.

• motorway A28 from Utrecht in direction Amersfoort,
• exit 2, "De Uithof",
• Universiteitsweg and Leuvenlaan to a parking lot nearby (see map),
• Centrumgebouw Noord: walk to the Padualaan, look for a red brick building built across the road.

Note: The Padualaan is restricted to public transport only.
You have to pay for the parking lot, up to approx 2 Euro per day.

By train:

Consult the Dutch Railways site for schedules and other travel information.

• Take a train to Utrecht Central Station,
• take city bus 11 or 12 to "De Uithof", approx. 15 minutes travelling time
  (from 0800 to 1700: 8 to 10 times hourly, from 0600 to 0800 and from 1500 to 2400: 3 to 6 times hourly)
• Centrumgebouw Noord: bus stop Kruytgebouw; look for a red brick building built across the road.
  

Special tariffs in conjunction with train ticket: with a "train taxi" ticket for 3 Euro per person you can take a "taxi" (dutch for "cab") from the train station to our offices. You may have to wait up to 15 minutes and/or share the cab.

Hotels

There are some hotels in our neighborhood.