In this paper, we address the recognition of similarities and differences in schema integration while applying the notation in the Karlstad Enterprise Modeling approach. In doing so, we describe and present a set of “if -then” rules. In these rules, we make use of both concept name comparison and comparison of concept neighborhoods (their surroundings). Following the classification of schema matching approaches given by [26], the rules are classified as a composite schema-based matching approach. The rules should first of all be viewed as a step towards a semi-automatic method for the recognition of similarities and differences in the integration of structural Karlstad Enterprise Modeling schemata. By applying the proposed rules, several problems, such as homonyms and synonyms, might be recognized that otherwise could pass unnoticed.

In this paper, we describe and discuss a semi-automatic approach for the integration of structural Karlstad Enterprise Modeling (EM) Schemata. The focus is on the implementation-independent level and therefore we treat an EM schema as a high-level description of data for some part of the future information system. Our point of departure is the classic four-phase integration process comprised of pre-integration, comparison of the schemata, conforming the schemata and, merging and restructuring. In relation to the semi-automatic approach described and discussed, we argue that several rules and knowledge repositories should be used to facilitate the whole integration process. However, it is also argued that the domain experts are still a very important source of knowledge and should therefore also be involved during the whole integration process. The research approach is inspired by design science in which the end product should be a useful artifact. In this paper, the artifact is provided in the described semi-automatic approach for the integration of Structural Karlstad EM schemata. As its main contribution, the paper offers a holistic view of the described and discussed semi-automatic approach for the integration of structural Karlstad EM schemata.

In this paper, we address the classification dependency used to illustrate that one concept is an instance-of another concept. In doing so, we present four important aspects of the classification dependency in the integration of implementation-neutral Karlstad Enterprise Modelling schemata. First and second, the classification dependency can be used not only to recognise and resolve power types but also to recognise and resolve homonyms. Third, in inference rules, the classification dependency can be used to deduce both new concepts and dependencies from already existing ones. Fourth, the classification dependency can be used to counter the occurrence of semantic loss and maintain the vocabulary used in the source schemata. The classification dependency can even be used to semantically enrich the integrated conceptual schema. The four aspects of the classification dependency should also be viewed as important aspects to take into account during the development of a semi-automatic method for the integration of implementation-neutral structural EM schemata. Finally, by applying the classification dependency, several problems, such as power types and homonyms, might be recognised that otherwise could pass unnoticed in the integration process.

View integration is a complex, error-prone and time-consuming task.Therefore there is a need to decompose the integration methods into smallerwell defined phases where different techniques are applied. Most of themethods used today is composed of, or at least is a mixture of, the followingfour phases: pre-integration, comparison of the views, conforming the viewsand merging and restructuring, and most of the methods put focus on phase 2and 3. Despite of this there is a gap between these two phases. To bridge thisgap a framework has been developed. In the framework Inference Rules (IR)are used, together with Enterprise Modeling (EM) as the canonical modelinglanguage, to deduce dependencies that are not conflicting from dependenciesthat are or have been identified as an inter-schema property. Three researchquestions regarding why, how and when IR should be applied in viewintegration are analyzed and discussed and it is argued that the framework maynot only improve view integration as such but also improve the applied conflictand inter-schema resolution techniques.

Schema integration is the task of integrating several local schemata into one global database schema. It is a complex, error-prone and time consuming task. Problems arise in recognizing and resolving problems, such as differences and similarities, between two schemata. Problems also arise in integrating static and dynamic schemata. In this thesis, three research topics are addressed: Maintaining Vocabulary in Schema Integration, Integration of Static Schemata and Integration of Static and Dynamic Schemata, while applying the notation in the Enterprise Modeling approach.

In Maintaining Vocabulary in Schema Integration an analysis of what semantic loss is and why it occurs in schema integration is conducted. Semantic loss is a problem that should be avoided because both concepts and dependencies might be lost. In the thesis, it is argued that concepts and dependencies should be retained as long as possible in the schemata. This should facilitate user involvement since the users’ vocabulary is retained even after resolving similarities and differences between two schemata.

In Integration of Static Schemata two methods are developed. These methods facilitate recognition and resolution of similarities and differences between two conceptual database schemata.  By applying the first method, problems between two schemata can be recognized that otherwise could pass unnoticed; by applying the second method, problems can be resolved without causing semantic loss by retaining concepts and dependencies in the schemata.

In Integration of Static and Dynamic Schemata a method on how to integrate static and dynamic schemata is developed. In the method, focus is put on pre- and post-conditions and how to map these to states and state changes in the database. By applying the method, states that are important for the database can be designed and integrated into the conceptual database schema. Also, by applying the method, active database rules can be designed and integrated into the conceptual database schema.

View integration is a complex and time-consuming task because there are several problems that need to be addressed. Two such problems are conflict identification and conflict resolution. Conflicts occur because end users may define concepts on different levels of abstraction and because end users may name concepts differently. Therefore there is a need for methods that can cope with these problems when applying the chosen conceptual modeling language. The aim of this thesis is to develop a method for view integration in conceptual database design in which the dependencies of the Enterprise Modeling approach are applied. For this purpose four research studies have been conducted and each study is presented in one paper. In the first study the problem of semantic loss during view integration is addressed; in the second, the problems of identification and resolution of the homonym conflicts are addressed; in the third, the problem of how to define both databases and software components using Enterprise Modeling as a generic and integrated approach are addressed; and finally, in the fourth study, the problems of applying inference rules for conflict simplification or resolution and for interschema property simplification or resolution are addressed. These research studies together with the five introductory chapters contribute to answering the overall research question: In what way is view integration supported by applying the semantic dependencies of the Enterprise Modeling approach? In this thesis it is argued that using the dependencies of the Enterprise Modeling approach simplifies the view integration process and using the proposed resolution techniques for name conflicts reduces the possibility of semantic loss occurring.

We view the database as a part of a living language and therefore put focus on the dialectical relation between the spoken language and a database represented as a conceptual database schema. We assert that the discrepancy between the spoken language and a database needs to be addressed and minimized. Wealso assert that all concept names need to be retained as long as possible in conceptual database design because otherwise we may end up with a state of concept name compression and semantic loss

In order to design databases and software components that are fulfilling the customers requirements, modeling languages that define them at a high level of abstraction are needed e.g. [2, 12, 15, 18]. Several modeling languages and methods have been proposed but most of them put focus on the implementation level and the technical parts of the future information system [15].

In this chapter we describe a pilot survey on applying problem-based learning (PBL) in an undergraduate programming course. During the course the students have applied PBL as a complement to traditional teaching and learning techniques. The PBL problem in this survey combines both knowledge about programming and knowledge about databases. We argue that to handle programming the students have to learn programming according to the deep approach to learning in order to be able to apply their knowledge in new programming situations and contexts. The result from this pilot survey indicates from both a tutor and a student perspective that PBL could be one method to reach a deeper understanding on how to access databases in a programming language.

In this article, we address quality in the schema integration process. More specifically, we focus on schema quality improving tasks in the schema integration process. In doing so we describe best practices found in literature used for conceptual modeling as such and apply these to schema integration tasks. Particularly, we address five tasks within the integration process that if used with best quality practices should improve the quality of the integrated schema. Within each best practice, we also address the usage of knowledge repositories to aid in the process of creating a high quality integrated schema. The five tasks are as follows: choosing the right integration strategy, choosing the right conflict resolution methods for the chosen level of abstraction, introducing interschema properties to improve and clarify dependencies, combining methods, approaches and guidelines to facilitate recognition of conflicts and finally restructuring. The main contribution is given in the terms of which best practices in conceptual modeling are combined with important integration tasks.

In this paper we analyze and discuss schema quality in the schema integration process. In doing so, we apply a framework for evaluating the quality of a conceptual schema (e.g. conceptual database schema). In our analysis we combine quality factors and quality metrics with the schema integration process, which is often described as having four distinct phases: pre-integration, comparison of the schemata, conforming the schemata and merging and restructuring. As its main contribution, the paper offers not only new insights on how to improve the quality of the integration process but also a suggestion that the definition of a high quality schema differs between the phases in the schema integration process.

In this paper, we address schema pre-integration in the integration of modeling language independent behavioral schemata. In doing so, we propose and present a set of tasks that should be carried out not only to improve and clarify the meaning of a schema, but also to facilitate the resulting time consuming and error-prone phases in the integration process. Due to the complexity of schema pre-integration, domain experts and repositories (e.g. ontologies) are still important sources of knowledge and should therefore be involved during the whole integration process. As its main contribution, the paper offers new tasks to perform in the schema pre-integration process as well as an adjusted and enriched work of previously presented tasks for schema pre-integration.

Crisis preparedness is of great importance to many actors in society. Maintaining crisis preparedness is an arduous task that requires frequent exercises. However, many actors have trouble accomplishing this because planning and conducting exercises are time consuming and involve high costs. Digitalization of crisis training has been suggested as a way to partly overcome these obstacles. In this paper, we present the results of a pilot study on an exercise in a digital crisis training tool. Trainees were interviewed and a content analysis was performed on the data. The analytical categories consisted of requirements for a crisis training tool, developed in our previous work. The results of the analysis show that the pace of an exercise, the number of trainees and the number of asynchronous and synchronous modules are all related to boundaries of digital crisis training. These boundaries need to be further explored.

Övning ger färdighet och det gäller inte bara i traditionell undervisning utan också vid krisledning. Krisledning kännetecknas av att medlemmarna i en krisledningsgrupp ska ansvara för sina respektive verksamhetsområden och genom snabb interaktion och samordning över verksamhetsgränserna mildra effekterna av krisen för organisationen eller samhället som helhet. Det innebär att rollmedvetenhet och kommunikationsförmåga måste tränas för den enskilde så väl som för gruppen som helhet. På gruppnivå är också samverkan och koordinering internt och externt viktigt att öva. Tidigare studier visar att organisationer är intresserade av möjligheten att öva mer via digitala verktyg (Wik et al., 2017). Inom ramen för det till och med 2021 pågående Interregprojektet CriseIT 2 utvecklar vi ett koncept för övningsstöd baserat på lärplattformar. Kapitlet beskriver genom en fallstudie hur en seminarieövning kan genomföras med stöd av lärplattformen Canvas. Data till studien har samlats in genom observationer, enkäter, storgruppsdiskussion och deltagarnas indata till Canvas. Erfarenheter från fallstudien sammanfattas i möjligheter, problem och förbättringsbehov kopplade till Canvas och övningsdesignen, och rekommendationer ges både för krisövning och för undervisning baserad på problematisering och dilemmaövningar i klassrummet.

In this paper, we present a pilot study of page owner comments on page user posts.Analysed data consist of the page user posts on three Swedish municipalities Facebook pages inone month. In general, it can be concluded that all three municipalities comment on page userposts to quite a large or even large extent (92%, 69% and 52%). The 42-page user posts thatwere left uncommented mainly belong to the categories of expressing an opinion, sharinginformation and requesting information. Taken together, these categories were identified in 76percent of the analysed page user posts. Because they are also the top three categories for userposts in general, further questions are prompted as to where municipalities satisfy requests forinformation or if other users provide answers.

Att på bara några dagar tvingas att ställa om en kurs från att haplanerats att genomföras on-campus till att istället genomföras off-campus kräver av alla berörda inte bara eftertanke och kreativitet utanockså engagemang och flexibilitet. I föreliggande kapitel beskriverförfattarna hur de hanterade övergången från on-campus till off-campus i samband med Covid-19 pandemin våren 2020 och det medfokus på kursen JavaScript för webbutveckling. I kapitlet redogörförfattarna för de fem utmaningar som de ställdes inför och hur de togsin an dessa och hittade lösningar. De fem utmaningarna som beskrivsi kapitalet är: 1) minimera antalet avhopp och behålla studenterna, 2)skapa tillräckligt utmanande individuella skriftliga hemtentamens-uppgifter som samtidigt ligger på en rimlig nivå, 3) uppföljnings-möten med återkoppling på inlämnad lösning, 4) avgöra vad som vartillräckligt bra i samband med off-campus och Covid-19 och 5)kommunikation mellan lärare. Bland annat genomfördes följandeaktiviteter för att lösa utmaningarna: föreläsningar spelades in ochpublicerads på Canvas, författarna arbetade iterativt och utveckladeexaminationsuppgifter med små spel, uppföljningsmöten genomfördespå zoom, inga omtagningar av inspelade filmer och avslutningsvisgenomfördes nästan dagliga avstämningsmöten mellan berörda lärare.

Att använda Zoom för distribuerad och synkron laborations-handledning inom programmeringskurser, kan vid en första anblick ses som ett tillvägagångssätt utan några större utmaningar och problem. Men vid en andra anblick har flera utmaningar och problem identifierats. I föreliggande kapitel beskriver författarna därför hur de använt Zoom som plattform för distribuerad och synkron handledning på kursen Serverprogrammering i JavaScript.  I huvudsak har två övergripande erfarenheter utkristalliserat sig ur denna användning vilka i föreliggande kapitel benämns som: 1) Notifikationer för co-host och endast en plats i kön, och 2) Avsaknad av återkoppling.  I kapitlet behandlas dessa två erfarenheter utifrån utmaning och implementation. Som ett förslag på lösning för dessa två utmaningar föreslår författarna att ett kösystem implementeras. En kösystemsprototyp har också utvecklats och beskrivs i detalj i kapitlet. Författarna ser en hög potential i kösystemsprototypen både som den är utvecklad i dag och för framtida förbättringar med ny funktionalitet. För framtida utvecklingsarbete kommer därför också kösystemsprototypen att utvärderas både vad det gäller användbarhet och funktionalitet.

In this paper we present a semi-automatic method for matching schema elements in the integration of structural pre-design schemata. In doing so we describe and present how element level matching (concept), structural level matching (neighborhood) and taxonomy-based matching can be combined into one workflow and method. The matching method is a composite schema-based matching method where several different approaches are used to receive one single matching result. Our contributions facilitate the otherwise complex task of matching schema elements during the integration of pre-design schemata and they also speed up the process due to automation of certain process steps. The research approach used within this work can be characterized as design science and our main contributions as a method and an instantiation (a prototype)

View and schema integration have been a research topic for approximately three decades now. Several integration approaches were developed over the time for dynamic modeling (e.g. integration of state charts, business process models, enterprise models etc.). The integration strategies of these approaches are based on language specific features of a certain modeling language. But what happens if the source schemata are available in different languages? In this paper we research if there are some language independent integration guidelines for behavior modeling. In other words which approaches have been proved to be successful in the past which can be applied on all modeling languages dealing with behavior modeling? Thus our approach will be a first step towards an integration strategy for dynamic schemata independent of modeling languages.

The ubiquitous use of databases (DB) in information systems (IS) today is a direct result of complex and enormous amounts of data processing required in modern businesses. The complexity of the data processing requires software to support the organization in being competitive in an increasingly demanding business climate. The software must support the organization in creating business advantages, thus the need for robust, yet flexible software solutions is increasingly important to maintain or gain effectiveness [1].

Social media is making its way into government agencies as a medium for citizen communication. A recent survey suggests that almost half of the population in Sweden uses Facebook. Consequently, government agencies such as municipalities have started adopting Facebook to ‘be where the users are’. Facebook offers new opportunities for rapid dissemination of information and dialogue with the public that may lead to greater transparency and increased e-democracy. However, relatively few studies exist that have examined the actual content in governments’ Facebook pages. In this exploratory case study of a Swedish municipality’s Facebook page, several categories of information posted on the Facebook wall are identified. While the municipality uses the wall primarily for marketing events, the public members display a diverse usage including requests for information or services, reports of service failure, and making complaints. Both parties also use the wall for community building.

Genomförandet av övningar är en nyckel till stärkt förmåga att agera effektivt i kris. CriseIT-projekten har haft som mål att bidra till detta genom att skapa möjligheter för kommuner och andra aktörer med krisövningsbehov att öva enklare och oftare.

Det finns en önskan om, och en medvetenhet om behoven av, att öva mer än vad som görs i nuläget i många organisationer. Digitala verktyg är ett sätt att göra det möjligt att öva oftare, med lägre resursåtgång och kortare tid för planering och genomförande. Corona-pandemin har ytterligare gjort det tydligt vilka möjligheter digitaliseringen innebär för att effektivisera processer som tidigare varit inramade av tids-och rumsbegränsningar –t.ex. övning.

Denna rapport syftar till att på ett lättillgängligt sätt redogöra för och diskutera utmaningar och möjligheter med den digitala övningsprocessen, så som den kommit till uttryck i CriseIT-projekten, genom att beskriva metodiska arbetssätt för design, genomförande och utvärdering av digitala krisövningar samt några perspektiv på implementering av digital övningsmetodik i organisationer. Målgrupp för rapporten är den som arbetar med krisberedskap i offentlig eller privat verksamhet, och som önskar lära sig mer om möjligheten att digitalisera sin övningsprocess. Arbetsrapporten är del av resultatredovisning för CriseIT2.

In this paper we analyze and present the generic requirements identified for a software aiming at supporting crisis management training in local governments. The generic requirements are divided into overall requirements, requirements connected to the trainer’s role and requirements connected to the trainee’s role. Moreover, the requirements are mapped to problems as well as opportunities. Finally, we present examples of elaborations of the addressed requirements based on software design considerations. In our work we applied a design science approach and the artifact presented in this paper is a list of generic requirement. The presented requirements and the systems development process used, provide guidelines for systems analysts and developers in future systems development projects aiming at constructing new software for crisis management training

In this paper, we identify, analyze and propose generic requirements for software aiming at supporting crisis management training in local governments. The study builds on a Swedish-Norwegian R&D project based on a quadruple helix model. A design science approach was applied and the artifact presented in this paper is a list of generic requirements. The generic requirements are divided into overall requirements, requirements connected to the trainer’s role and requirements connected to the trainee’s role. The requirements are also mapped to the problems and opportunities identified in the project. Finally, we present examples of elaborations of the addressed requirements based on software design considerations. The presented requirements and the systems development process that was used provide guidelines for systems analysts and developers in future systems development projects aiming at constructing new software for crisis management training.

The ongoing digital transformation in government has enabled innovative changes in operational processes and service. However, while e-services and social media are widely adopted, earlier studies indicate that this transformation is still being awaited in other areas, such as crisis or disaster preparedness. Recent events such as the 2018 wildfires in several parts of Europe, as well as empirical research, highlight the need for more (systematic) training of local governments’ crisis management teams. Conventional training methods are time- and space-dependent and require long-term planning, making it complicated to increase the extent of training. In this interdisciplinary study, we report on the results from the Swedish-Norwegian CriseIT project that aimed to develop information systems (IS) for crisis management training. The purpose of the article is to describe information systems designed to support local governments’ crisis management training and to discuss how these artefacts could improve crisis management training practices.

Predesign schemata are an attempt to overcome the communication gap between end users and computer scientists in software development. We argue that by presenting facilitated models to the users, schema interpretation is made easier. The predesign principle is also helpful in areas such as software documentation. Our uses of predesign models share the basic assumption that these models are easier to understand for end users. In this chapter we present a design for an experimental study that aims to evaluate these assumptions