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.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to apply the concept of organizational ambidexterity as a conceptual lens to increase the understanding of tensions between exploitation (continuity) and exploration (change) in Agile software development (ASD) project teams, and particularly the balancing (ambidextrous) strategies utilized. Design/methodology/approach A conceptual framework was constructed from interdisciplinary sources on ambidexterity. A literature review of publications on ambidexterity in ASD was then performed, and the results from the selected publications were classified according to an extension of the conceptual framework. Findings Contextual ambidexterity in ASD is affected by the four basic coherent concepts: time, task, team and transition. The study found that most ambidextrous factors and strategies were task and team-related. In addition, a mixture of hard (performance) strategies and soft (social) strategies is needed in order for people/teams to (be able to) become ambidextrous. Practical implications To provide a better understanding of ASD, it is important to identify a broader set of ambidextrous factors and strategies that can impact ASD project teams. The expanded conceptual framework can serve as a basis for future empirical research and provide insights to practitioners on how to strengthen ambidexterity in ASD projects. Originality/value The contribution is of great importance for ASD research and practice, as ASD methods are a popular method for managing projects within ASD and in other nonsoftware organizations. In addition, as more and more organizations struggle to deal with rapidly changing environments, interest in the phenomena of paradoxical tensions and the strategy (ambidexterity) to deal with these tensions increase.

E-commerce is far more common in large firms than in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As a result SMEs risk competitive disadvantages. A growing body of research has attended to this problem but few studies examine the adoption of e-commerce from a broader contextual perspective. To be able to understand SMEs adoption of e-commerce it is desirable to study their contextual preconditions, approaches and effects.



The purpose of this study is to contribute to the theory building in the e-commerce area by forming a conceptual framework over SMEs adoption of e-commerce: the ECA (Electronic Commerce Adoption) framework. A central starting point for the study is Pettigrews (1985) contextual framework for strategic changes. The analysis dimensions in Pettigrews framework content, context and process are adapted to adoption of e-commerce. Thus, the ECA framework consists of analysis models that focus on a) the content, b) the context and c) the process of e-commerce adoption in SMEs. Further, the ECA framework includes an analysis model over the interplay between content, context and process and a typology over adoption situations. The SME in its role as a supplier is the unit of analysis. The study uses an abductive approach where results from previous studies in areas such as e-commerce, information systems and decision making are used as sources for forming the ECA framework. The ECA framework is then applied to the collection, interpretation and analyze of empirical data from the case studies of two small and one medium-sized enterprise. The case studies lead to the identification of additional elements that are added to the analysis models.



One contribution from the study is the typology over adoption situations. The typology, which builds on studies of Junghagen (1998) and Engsbo et al. (2001), divides the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs into five categories of adoption situations: proactive adoption situations, adaptive adoption situations, pragmatic adoption situations, forced adoption situations and enabled adoption situations. An adoption situation describes what is being adopted (content), why (context) and how (process).



Another contribution is the so called adoption guides. These are contextual conditions whose states indicate if a SME will adopt e-commerce or not and if so, which adoption situation they are likely to find themselves in. The adoption guides are: the relative dependence on individual customers, the degree of customer pressure, the strategic needs of e-commerce, the information complexity and, the CEOs extent of aversion towards risk taking. Consequently two major conclusions from this study are that SMEs e-commerce adoption can be divided into five different adoption situations and a small number of contextual conditions here called adoption guides determine which of them a SME tend to go through. The typology enables organizations that educate SMEs or support their development of e-commerce to design their efforts more efficiently and researchers to diversify the studied population. As the study is theory building the contributions and conclusions are propositions that need to be tested empirically in future studies.

SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises) nowadays have to deal with the highly complex situation of global competition, fast technology development and extensive business networking. Because of their importance for the economy, it is essential that SMEs embrace new technology and adapt to societal changes such as the increasing use of e-commerce. Few innovations in history offer as much benefits as e-commerce, at least theoretically. However, many SMEs are poor at managing technology as a strategic weapon since their human and financial resources are limited. There is a need in SMEs for elementary conceptual tools for designing and evaluating their e-commerce model. While there are frameworks and methods for business model design and evaluation, earlier research on e-commerce (or e-business) models often focus on business model categories rather than how to design a specific company's plan for e-commerce. Further knowledge of these matters would facilitate for SMEs to gain benefits from e-commerce. The purpose of this theoretical study is to suggest a conceptual framework for the evaluation and design of e-business models in SMEs. The framework integrates e-business model elements from earlier research with a model of organizational change levels. Additionally, a number of variants or values for the e-business model elements are proposed as a tool for design or evaluation together with a set of guiding questions. The importance of IT in an e-business model is acknowledged as technology factors are integrated in the framework. Furthermore, it is proposed that it is valuable to conceptually separate the business model from the e-business model as some companies chose to offer a different value proposition or target other customer segment in the e-commerce endeavor than in their traditional sales and marketing channels

This report discusses the evaluation of e-services, both before the adoption of an e-service and as a way to establish its worth when in usage. A model for evaluation building on existing evaluation models in government and research is presented

During a disaster it is vital that government agencies provide timely and accurate information to the public. Lately, social media such as Facebook have become important channels for crisis communication. The purpose of this study is to identify the types of usage and topics in which users of a local governments’ Facebook page engage, during a flood. A content analysis was carried out on two local governments’ Facebook pages during two floods in 2013; The Bundaberg Regional Council’s (BRC) and the City of Calgary’s (CC). The results show that Facebook is an important channel for spreading information. Users’ engagement is especially high in real-time operational information concerning road or school closures and drinking water. Also, the coordination of relief efforts such as volunteering raises a lot of interest. Important usage types and topics to communicate through a local government’s Facebook page are proposed.

In times of floodings and other natural disasters, timely and adequate information to the concerned public is vital to delimit damages, avoid panic, or sometimes even to save human lives. Lately, social media, such as Facebook, have become a vital and powerful channel for crisis communication, as a result of its remarkable diffusion. Recent disasters have shown that people turn to local government’s Facebook pages for information in a time of crisis. So far, few studies exist about what kind of information citizens seek and share on Facebook when a flood occurs. The purpose of this study is therefore to identify both the citizens’ requests for information from local government during a flooding event as well as the information that they share. An exploratory study of the communication on the City of Calgary’s Facebook page during the flood in June 2013 was performed. Content analysis of user posting was applied in order to identify recurrent topics. The results show that people in the early (acute) phase search for instructive information that would help them decide how, when, and where to evacuate. Information on road closures, preferably in the form of maps, was also a common request. Moreover, there were frequent requests for adjusting and reassuring information on the quality of the drinking water. Throughout the event, many also displayed an altruistic behavior as they wanted to know how they could volunteer or donate utilities to the victims. This was the most predominant theme in the user postings along with expressions of gratitude to the city’s mayor, emergency workers and volunteers. It is also apparent from the number of user postings that people turned to the Facebook page to seek for and share information in the initial stage of the flood.

Few attempts to classify adopters of e-commerce have been published in research, even though such classifications enable adopter profiling for marketing campaigns and governmental intervention projects. Overall, earlier studies of e-commerce adoption have often failed to consider the situation surrounding the adoption. Without information on the contexts in which specific drivers or barriers occur, the usefulness of these findings is limited. In this study, a typology over adoption triggers for e-commerce in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) is assessed and enhanced by the case studies of three SMEs. As a result five, 'adoption situations' are proposed. An adoption situation describes a company's disposition to the adoption of e-commerce and the contextual features that foster them. Five categories are identified; proactive adoption, adaptive adoption, pragmatic adoption, forced adoption and enabled adoption. Moreover, factors that determine which adoption situation a company tend to end up in are proposed. These are the relative dependence on individual trading partners, the degree of customer pressure, the company's strategic and structural needs of e-commerce, and the CEO's attitude towards risk taking. The study is theory-building in its nature and the contributions need to be tested empirically in future studies.

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.

Public eServices have had a fast spread during the last decade. While eServices could enable cost savings and improve customer service, the development may be costly and time-consuming, involving complex challenges such as business process redesign, changes in organisational culture and customer behaviour. Adding to the complexity is the hierarchy of goals for eServices at transnational, national and organisational levels. Earlier research emphasise the importance of alignment between an organisation's use of information technology and its business goals. This complex structure of multi-level goals is often implicit and difficult to handle in practice. The purpose of this study is to examine how goal modelling can be utilised to improve eService development in government by serving as a tool for evaluation of goals. In a case study of a Swedish municipality's eService development project, we found goal modelling to be valuable for evaluating goal alignment between the municipality's local action plan, the national action plan and the project plan for the EU project Smart Cities. Other benefits are e.g. the ability to detect missing or implicit goals and tasks and moreover to improve planning, management and evaluation of eService development. The recommendation is to use goal models and an 'alignment matrix' to improve goal alignment and the overall goal quality.

Societal threats such as global warming and terror attacks make crisis preparedness and crisis training a major priority in governments worldwide. Unfortunately, training is limited, partly due to complex and resource-demanding planning of traditional exercises. Several crisis training software have been developed as a complement. However, reports in research on their usage are rare, which indicates that the diffusion is limited. A potential explanation is that the systems fail to meet important needs in the organizations and/or sound information systems (IS) design principles. This paper describes the first phase of a design science research (DSR) project aiming at developing information systems for disaster management (ISDM) training, and accompanying training methods in local and regional governments. The purpose of this paper is to investigate perceived problems in current crisis training and identify opportunities for ISDM training in the application domain. Another purpose is to outline expected artifacts in the project.

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.

Crisis training exercises play a vital role in preparing local and regional governments for the management of crises and disasters. Unfortunately, conducting sufficient training is demanding, especially in small municipalities, due to constrained time and personnel resources, but also complex planning and scheduling of the dominant on-site training methods. Virtual training has been suggested as a resource-efficient and flexible  complement. However, despite numerous specifications of digital technology for training, research on organisational implementation and usage is lacking, indicating a low uptake. This article presents a cross-border R&D effort to facilitate the digitalisation of crisis management training by developing generic virtual tabletop exercises (VTTXs) to be shared via a repository, and (re-)used in, and adapted for, diverse contexts. The purpose of this article is to identify essential aspects in designing and conducting virtual tabletop exercises (VTTXs) for collaborative crisis management training.

Crisis management training software is gaining researchers’ as well as practitioners’ interest. In order to truly support organizations it is important that such software responds to actual user needs. The aim of this study is to compare existing initiative described in research with the needs of the users and to identify possible research directions for forthcoming studies. The literature review shows that discussions on users’ needs are superficial at best. The software described in research mainly focus on co-located execution of exercises, often in the form of simulations. Furthermore, a “right or wrong” behavior is usually built-in. Empirical data from a web survey indicate that flexibility in time and space during training is a fundamental user need. This is not particularly acknowledged in earlier research. Neither is the users’ wish for better support in designing exercises. We propose that system flexibility, modularity and pedagogy for computer based crisis training are urgent issues for future research.

Inom ramen för projektet CriseIT (www.criseit.org) har en intervjustudie genomförts med norska och svenska krisberedskapsaktörer. 19 respondenter från totalt 16 aktörer intervjuades om deras syn på behovet av krisövning, vad som fungerar bra och dåligt med de övningsmetoder som vanligtvis används, och vilken nytta de kunde se med datorbaserade övningsverktyg. Svaren visar på ett stort behov av att öva mer, gärna i form av mindre och kortare övningar. Det finns en rörelse bort från scenariobaserade övningar till övningar där olika förmågor står i centrum. Flertalet aktörer anser att de planerar och genomför övningar med gott resultat men att det saknas en systematik i hur utvärderingar leds vidare i ett förbättringsarbete. Det finns intresse men också tveksamhet inför att involvera allmänheten i krisövning, men ett sätt att hantera bland annat säkerhetsaspekter vore att gå via frivilligorganisationer som kan bistå med organisering och viss utbildning.

Respondenterna visar stort intresse för datorbaserade övningsverktyg som ett medel för att öka krismedvetenheten och kunskapen som stödjer den egna rollen. De kan också se potentiella problem, t ex att vissa personer har svårt att ta till sig ny teknik och att det kan finnas risk att resurser till andra övningsformer minskas. Bland de fördelar som nämndes var möjlighet att öva oftare, med fler aktörer, och att öva på olika platser vid olika tidpunkter. Man ser också förbättrade möjligheter att öva utdragna kriser. Den målgrupp som lyfts fram som särskild intressant fördatorbaserade övningsverktyg är krisledningsorganisationen, dvs. den strategiskan ivån. Flera nämner också behovet av bättre planeringsstöd för säkerhets-/beredskapssamordnarna.

En slutsats vi dragit är att det är viktigt att digitala krisövningsverktyg är webbaserade och bygger på standarder. Detta för att möjliggöra att verktygen kan användas distribuerat, i samarbete mellan olika organisationer och inte kräver lokala installationer i de olika hårt styrda IT-miljöerna. Det bör också vara verktyg som fungerar på såväl smartphone som surfplatta och PC. I stort bör de system som används under verkliga kriser användas även under övning.