Models and methods for information systems project success evaluation - A review and directions for research.

Organizations heavily rely on information systems to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. However, on the one hand, information systems projects have often been seen as problematic endeavors. On the other hand, one can ask if this perspective results from subjective perceptions or objective assessments. We cannot find a definitive answer to this question in the literature. Moreover, there is no structured information about the models and methods currently available to assess projects' success in practice. This paper aims to present the results of a literature review carried out on the extant models and methods for evaluating the success of information systems projects. Additionally, it also offers models and methods from other areas that may be suitable for assessing IS projects. Results show that most models and methods found in the literature are, in their essence, theoretical exercises with only a few pieces of evidence of their use in practice, thus urging for more empirically based research.

An exploratory study on the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on water end uses inside buildings.

Any strategy of water demand management needs the collaboration of the population involved and so it is important to know how characteristics as residence area, number of residents, presence/absence of children/elders, income level, and educational level, among others, may influence the use of water. Empirical studies that quantify relationship between socio-demographic factors and the water end use patterns inside buildings are still largely lacking. To help to fill this gap this paper gathers information about the characterization of water end use per domestic device in three regions of north of Portugal with different socio-demographic characteristics. The main research goal was to establish indoor water end use patterns per domestic device and to evaluate possible relations between these patterns with the socio-demographic characteristics of the area where the household is, namely the number of residents, the presence/absence of children/elders, the income level and educational level. The washbasin is in average the domestic device with more number of uses in a day (responsible for 34% of the total use), close followed by the kitchen sink (32%), the toilet flush (23%), the bathtub (6%) and finally the dishwasher (3%) and the washing machine (2%). The results found might reflect differences in rural and urban lifestyles once that, with the exception of the kitchen sink, Valpaços is the city that registers the lowest number of uses in the appliances monitored. Significant correlations were found in the following cases: between the residence area and the number of uses in washbasin and in the toilet flush; between the presence of children in the household and the use in the dishwasher; between the income level and the number of uses in the washbasin, in the bathtub, in the washing machine and in the dishwasher.

Modelo das iniciativas de comércio electrónico em organizações portuguesas / A model of electronic commerce initiatives in portuguese organizations

El comercio electrónico (CE) es hoy un fenómeno mundial, con muchos impactos en los resultados y la evolución de organizaciones en las más variadas áreas de negocio, dadas sus características únicas que simultáneamente desafían y revolucionan el pensamiento empresarial tradicional. No obstante, muchas empresas han tenido problemas con sus iniciativas de CE, debido a la falta de información o por numerosas dificultades en la definición de un plan de acción. Reconociendo la importancia de una comprensión amplia y profunda de los múltiples factores facilitadores y condicionadores del CE, se presenta un modelo teórico explicativo de las iniciativas de esta forma de comercialización, obtenido según el abordaje cualitativo de la “Grounded Theory”, con la intención de ayudar las organizaciones en sus iniciativas de CE. El trabajo condujo a la identificación y descripción de los factores que influencian la adopción y exploración del CE en organizaciones portuguesas.