All posts by Christine Legner

CC CDQ, News

Open PhD position (100%) in the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality

We invite applications for a

PhD position (100%) at HEC Lausanne
in the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CDQ)

Linked and open data, enterprise information modeling

The PhD position will contribute to the design, implementation and evaluation of a Data App Store for the discovery, integration and use of open data in business environments. The PhD candidate will be employed at HEC Lausanne and work in the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ – cc-cdq.ch). CC CDQ is an industry-funded research consortium that is researching, developing and testing solutions that advance data management in digital and data-driven enterprises. CC CDQ is being conducted between the Universities of Lausanne and St. Gallen and 20 renowned European companies (ABB, Bosch, Nestlé, Otto, SBB, Siemens etc.).

Desired qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or related field
  • Strong interest in one or more of the following topics: data modeling and architecture, linked and open data, semantic Web and ontologies, enterprise information management
  • Relevant internships and/or practical experience (e.g. as consultant)
  • Excellent analytical and communication skills
  • Good writing skills and fluency in English; German and/or French are a plus

Informal inquiries and how to apply:
For any inquiry about the PhD positions, please contact Prof. Christine Legner:

christine.legner@unil.ch or +41 21 692 3432.

Employment rate is 100% with a competitive salary and maximum contract duration is five years. Starting date is negotiable between January and March 2018.

The PhD candidate is expected to enrol in the doctoral school in information systems at HEC Lausanne and will be supervised by Prof. Christine Legner.

Job announcement: UNIL – CDQ-PhD_201710

Related information:
Competence Center CDQ www.cc-cdq.ch
HEC Lausanne, hec.unil.ch
Prof. Christine Legner, www.unil.ch/bisa

 

CC CDQ, News

CTI awards R&D grant for “Open Data to Business – Data App Store”

The partnership between HEC Lausanne, CDQ AG, Nestlé and Swisscom on the project “Open Data to Business – Data App Store for the discovery, integration and use of open data in business environments” has been granted a research & development fund by the Commission of Technology and Innovation (CTI) of the Swiss Confederation. This innovative R&D project starts in January 2018 and will be finalized in December 2019.

For more information about the project, please check out the project description or contact Andreas Lang.

CC CDQ, News

Andreas Lang and Martin Fadler joined the CC CDQ research team

We welcome two new researchers in our team – Andreas Lang and Martin Fadler!

Andreas Lang joined the CC CDQ research team on May 1, 2017. Previously, he worked at the European Research Council of the European Commission in the support to the Scientific Council. Andreas received his M.Sc. in Life Sciences and Technologies at the EPFL and proposed in his Master’s thesis a computational model for explaining the psychological phenomenon of illusory conjunctions. Before, he completed his B.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Geneva with a Bachelor’s thesis on Neuro Evolutionary Meta-Optimization.

Andreas is currently working in the CTI project “Open Data to Business – Data App Store for the discovery, integration and use of open data in business environments”. Its aim is to link heterogeneous open datasets in a knowledge graph in order to increase quality and trust and to unlock the potential of open data for companies.

Martin Fadler started on September 1, 2017 as PhD student in the CC CDQ research team.  Previously, he  worked in a data-driven startup as a Data Scientist where he learned to manage and build data products with advanced analysis methods and technologies. Mr. Fadler received a M.Sc. in ICT Systems and Management from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany, and a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University of Clausthal, Germany.

In his research, Martin Fadler will focus on data management for Big Data and AI. He also investigates machine learning techniques within the data management lifecycle.

 

Collaborators, Conference Attendance, News

Three papers presented at the European Conference on Information Systems

Dana Naous, Kenny Lienhard, Johannes Schwarz and Christine Legner attended the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) which was held from June 5th to 10th in Guimarães, Portugal.

They presented three full papers co-authored by BISA team members:

ECIS is the most prestigious European conference in the Information Systems discipline, and provides a forum for networking and sharing of latest ideas and highest calibre scientific work amongst the IS profession. The ECIS Conference Proceedings are available for download in the AIS Electronic Library.

 

News, Projects

CC CDQ publishes the “Data Excellence Framework”

In a joint effort, comprising more than 15 European companies as well as researchers from three European universities, the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ) has developed a reference model for data management in the digital economy: the Data Excellence Model. It offers support and guidance for practitioners in the implementation of data management by defining major design areas, while at the same time supporting the transformation into a digital and data-driven company.

Given the understanding of data as a strategic resource for the digital economy, the reference model specifies design areas of data management in three categories: goals, enablers, and results, which are interlinked in a continuous improvement cycle.

Basically,

  • goals break down the overall aim and purpose of data management by outlining necessary business capabilities and data management capabilities and explicating them in the form of a data strategy;
  • enablers help to achieve the goals specified with regard to six design areas: people, roles and responsibilities; performance management; processes and methods; data architecture; data lifecycle; and data applications;
  • results indicate to what extent the goals are achieved in terms of two quanti-fiable aspects: data excellence and business value; and
  • continuous improvement allows adjustment of goals and enablers, ensuring the dynamic nature of the model.

More information can be found on the CC CDQ website.

CC CDQ, Collaborators, News

Extended research team for CC CDQ – two open PhD positions in 2017!

We are extending our research team in the
Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ)  and are hiring two PhD students (100% contract, starting data in 2017)

The Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ) is an industry-funded research consortium and expert community for corporate data management. CC CDQ comprises researchers affiliated with the Universities of Lausanne and St. Gallen and data management experts from more than 15 companies (ABB, Beiersdorf, Bosch, Nestlé, Otto, SBB, Siemens etc.).

CC CDQ’s research agenda focusses on data management for the digital age and the following topics:

  • Digitalization and future data management
  • End-to-end information supply chains
  • Open data and data-driven services
  • Collaborative data management, semantic integration and linked data

The PhD candidates will be supervised by Prof. Christine Legner and work in CC CDQ’s research team . They will be employed at HEC Lausanne with a competitive salary. Employment rate is 100% and maximum contract duration is five years. Starting date is negotiable between February 2017 and September 2017.

Desired qualifications:

  • Master’s degree in Information Systems, Computer Science or related field
  • Strong interest in one or more of the following topics: data-driven services and business models, business intelligence and analytics, enterprise / data architecture, data modeling and semantic technologies, open and linked data
  • Relevant internships and/or practical experience (e.g. as consultant, business analyst or data architect)
  • Excellent analytical and communication skills
  • Good writing skills and fluency in English; German or French are a plus

HEC Lausanne is one of the leading European business schools, ranked in the top 30 institutions in the world by the Financial Times. The school received the AMBA and EQUIS accreditations for the overall quality of its programs, research, and teaching. It is situated at the shores of the lake of Geneva in one of the most beautiful places in Switzerland. An excellent public transport network links the university campus in just a few minutes to Lausanne, the capital of Vaud, noted for its varied cultural activities.

Informal inquiries and how to apply:
For any inquiry about the PhD positions, please contact Prof. Christine Legner:

christine.legner@unil.ch or +41 21 692 3432.

Applicants should submit their Curriculum Vitae, their university transcripts (bachelor and master level) and an electronic version of a recent research project (e.g. master thesis, scientific publication) by e-mail.

Job announcement: pdf

Related information:
Competence Center CDQ www.cc-cdq.ch
HEC Lausanne, hec.unil.ch
Prof. Christine Legner, www.unil.ch/bisa

 

CC CDQ, News

Schaeffler receives CDQ Good Practice Award for excellence in data quality management

Schaeffler, the German technology company and automotive
supplier, is the winner of the 2016 CDQ Good Practice Award.

The CDQ Good Practice Award was launched in 2013 as a joint initiative of the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality (CC CDQ) and the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) for acknowledging world-class corporate data management initiatives. The international jury, consisting of data management experts from research and practice, ranked Schaeffler’s good practice top. Joining Schaeffler in this year’s final round of the competition were Emmi, the leading milk processing company in Switzerland, presenting their approach
towards an integrated master data management, and Merck, the German healthcare and life science specialist, showcasing their concept of exploiting the benefits of data analytics for data management.

The good practice presented by Schaeffler illustrates how the company systematically evolved its master data management initiative starting in 2009. A self-assessment conducted two years ago revealed that Schaeffler had successfully built up capabilities and raised the level of maturity in all relevant areas of master data management. Aspects still demanding for substantial improvement were successfully tackled by Schaeffler during the past two years. The company has continued to develop its data management strategy further and communicate this strategy across the entire group. Among other things, Schaeffler uses performance indicators to measure and sustainably improve the quality of its data. Furthermore, the company defined clear roles and processes for data maintenance and implemented appropriate data models and metadata models. All these measures combined have led to a reduction in service processing time and to a continuous improvement of data quality (customer master data processing time has been reduced by 60 %, for example). “Schaeffler is pursuing a strategy of profitable growth, based on key success factors such as quality, technology, and innovation. The mission of our master data management department is to support this endeavor by providing data of high quality in order to ensure efficient business processes,” said Markus Rahm.

News, Projects, Publication, Publications

When Sales Meet Process Mining – Presentation at the International Conference on Information Systems

Gaël Bernard presented results of the CTI-funded research project “Real-Time Sales Planning and Performance Management (SPPM)” at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in Dublin.

G. Bernard, T. Boillat, C. Legner, P. Andritsos:
When Sales Meet Process Mining: A Scientific Approach to Sales Process and Performance Management
Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Dublin, 2016
Abstract:

Selling has long been considered as an ” art ” driven by personal intuition and native sales talent. However, significant changes have occurred over the past 30 years, as a result of technological advances and changing customer expectations. As one answer to these changes, practitioners and scholars have promoted the idea of ” sales as a science ” , relying on documented, repeatable ways of selling that reflect scientific methods. We argue that process mining is a relevant candidate for empowering ” sales as a science ” via its capacity to analyze, discover, and enhance end-to-end processes. Through a design science approach, we propose a framework for applying process mining to sales, comprising a refined notation and seven process mining analysis scenarios. Our study represents a first step towards gaining a better understanding of real-world sales processes based on digital traces from operational systems e.g., customer relationship management (CRM) systems, or emerging technologies e.g., smart watches.

Further information: Article (AIS library, ResearchGate), poster

News, Publications

Article “Designing Business Models for Cloud Platforms” published in the Information Systems Journal (ISJ)

We are proud to announce that the manuscript “Designing Business Models for cloud platforms” co-authored by Andrea Giessmann and Christine Legner has been published in the Information Systems Journal (ISJ). ISJ is one of the top IS management journals and  part of the Senior Scholars’ Basket of Journals.
Abstract: Platform as a service (PaaS) has become a strategic option for software vendors who expect to benefit from value co-creation with partners by developing complementary components and applications. In reality, however, established and new software vendors are battling to redefine their offering to embrace PaaS. They face the challenges of transforming, configuring and calibrating their PaaS business models to align them with existing business models, customer expectations and competitive pressures. This motivates our research question: How can software providers design viable business models for PaaS? Our study develops a design theory for PaaS business models. This theory is grounded on a 12-month action design research study at one of the largest global software companies (here called Alpha) with mixed PaaS experiences in the past. Our primary research contribution is a set of design principles that guide software providers to define a viable PaaS business model in order to create a flourishing software ecosystem for their cloud platform. By synthesizing prescriptive knowledge related to business model design for emerging cloud platforms, our study advances PaaS research towards the existing body of research on software platforms and business models.

The full article is available here.

 

Collaborators, News

Clément Labadie joins the BISA team as doctoral researcher

On March 1, 2016 Clément Labadie joined the BISA team as doctoral researcher.

Clément received a Bachelor of Law from the University of Neuchâtel as well as a Master of Law in Legal Issues, Crime and Security of Information Technologies from the University of Lausanne. He conducted his master thesis on the topic of credit card fraud, using a forensic crime analysis approach to study security measures and their effectiveness.

Clément is working in the Competence Center Corporate Data Quality. His research interests relate to integrating security and privacy concerns into corporate data architecture.