Improving Surveys with Paradata. Analytic Uses of Process Information

Praise For Business Process Mapping: Improving Customer Satisfaction, Second Edition «A must-read for anyone performing business process mapping! This treasure shares step-by-stepapproaches and critical success factors, based on years of practical, customer-focused experience.A real winner!» —Timothy R. Holmes, CPA former General Auditor, American Red Cross «Paulette and Mike make extensive use of anecdotes and real-life examples to bring alive the topic ofbusiness process mapping. From the outset, this book will engage you and draw you into the worldof business process mapping. Who would have thought that reading about business process mapping could make you smile? Well, Mike and Paulette can make it happen! Within each chapter, theauthors provide detailed examples and exhibits used to document a process. Each chapter also includes a 'Recap' and 'Key Analysis Points' which enable the reader to distill the highlights of the chapter.» —Barbara J. Muller, CPA, CFE, Senior Lecturer, School of Accountancy W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University «Keller and Jacka cut through the drudgery of process mapping with a path-breaking approach thatenables the reader to better understand processes, how they work and how they work together toward successful achievement of business objectives. With great style and flair, this book will provide youwith a different way of thinking and new tools to assist you in process analysis and improvement. This book is a must-read for auditors, risk managers, quality improvement management, and businessprocess engineers.» —Dean Bahrman, VP and Internal Audit Director (Retired) Global Financial Services Companies «Mike Jacka and Paulette Keller show their expertise with the application of business process mappingin increasing customer service and satisfaction in this updated and expanded edition of this popular book. With clear, practical examples and applications, this book shows the writing talents of bothauthors, and it will be used over and over by those from all lines of industries and professions. Kudos for a job well done!» —Joan Pastor, PhD, Founding Partner, Licensed Industrial-Organizational Psychologist JPA International, Inc., Beverly Hills, California

While emphasizing conservation and sustainable strategies, this book provides steps to improve the manufacturing technologies used in creating products. By simplifying the chemistry, process development, manufacturing practices and processes, the book provides a structured approach to producing quality products with little waste, making the process not only efficient but environmentally friendly. Illustrated with case studies, this is an essential resource for chemical engineers, chemists, plant engineers, and operating personnel in any chemical related businesses.

Down to earth, real answers on how to manage technology—from renowned IT leaders Filled with over thirty contributions from practitioners who handle both the day-to-day and longer term challenges that Information Technology (IT) departments and their parent businesses face, this hands-on, practical IT desk reference is written in lay terms for business people and IT personnel alike. Without jargon and lofty theories, this resource will help you assist your organization in addressing project risks in a global and interconnected world. Provides guidance on how business people and IT can work together to maximize business value Insights from more than thirty leading IT experts Commonsense, rational solutions for issues such as managing outsourcing relationships and operating IT as a business Offering solutions for many of the problems CIOs face, this unique book addresses the Chief Information Officer's role in managing and running IT as a business, so the IT department may become a full strategic partner in the organization's crucial decisions.

Uses of Literature bridges the gap between literary theory and common-sense beliefs about why we read literature. Explores the diverse motives and mysteries of why we read Offers four different ways of thinking about why we read literature – for recognition, enchantment, knowledge, and shock Argues for a new “phenomenology” in literary studies that incorporates the historical and social dimensions of reading Includes examples of literature from a wide range of national literary traditions

One of the only books on this subject to focus on XML's value as a business tool rather than the technology. This book deals with important management issues and focuses on demonstrating XML's value as a business tool. It emphasizes processes and business logic, and will show you how to go about introducing this technology and what must be done to achieve a smooth implementation. * Offers a management driven approach to XML-based information systems architecture * Discusses important related standards such as RDF, topic maps, and XML * Schema * Describes the building blocks of an XML-based architecture * Provides a blueprint for an organizational model of the roles and responsibilities of those involved in setting up an XML-based architecture * Presents a management framework and methodology for developing XML-based information systems

Theories and practices to assess critical information in a complex adaptive system Organized for readers to follow along easily, The Fitness of Information: Quantitative Assessments of Critical Evidence provides a structured outline of the key challenges in assessing crucial information in a complex adaptive system. Illustrating a variety of computational and explanatory challenges, the book demonstrates principles and practical implications of exploring and assessing the fitness of information in an extensible framework of adaptive landscapes. The book’s first three chapters introduce fundamental principles and practical examples in connection to the nature of aesthetics, mental models, and the subjectivity of evidence. In particular, the underlying question is how these issues can be addressed quantitatively, not only computationally but also explanatorily. The next chapter illustrates how one can reduce the level of complexity in understanding the structure and dynamics of scientific knowledge through the design and use of the CiteSpace system for visualizing and analyzing emerging trends in scientific literature. The following two chapters explain the concepts of structural variation and the fitness of information in a framework that builds on the idea of fitness landscape originally introduced to study population evolution. The final chapter presents a dual-map overlay technique and demonstrates how it supports a variety of analytic tasks for a new type of portfolio analysis. The Fitness of Information: Quantitative Assessments of Critical Evidence also features: In-depth case studies and examples that characterize far-reaching concepts, illustrate underlying principles, and demonstrate profound challenges and complexities at various levels of analytic reasoning Wide-ranging topics that underline the common theme, from the subjectivity of evidence in criminal trials to detecting early signs of critical transitions and mechanisms behind radical patents An extensible and unifying framework for visual analytics by transforming analytic reasoning tasks to the assessment of critical evidence The Fitness of Information: Quantitative Assessments of Critical Evidence is a suitable reference for researchers, analysts, and practitioners who are interested in analyzing evidence and making decisions with incomplete, uncertain, and even conflicting information. The book is also an excellent textbook for upper-undergraduate and graduate-level courses on visual analytics, information visualization, and business analytics and decision support systems.

An integrated approach that combines essential GIS background with a practical workbook on applying the principles in ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1 Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGISintegrates a broad introduction to GIS with a software-specific workbook for Esri's ArcGIS. Where most courses make do using two separate texts, one covering GIS and another the software, this book enables students and instructors to use a single text with an integrated approach covering both in one volume with a common vocabulary and instructional style. This revised edition focuses on the latest software updates—ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1. In addition to its already successful coverage, the book allows students to experience publishing maps on the Internet through new exercises, and introduces the idea of programming in the language Esri has chosen for applications (i.e., Python). A DVD is packaged with the book, as in prior editions, containing data for working out all of the exercises. This complete, user-friendly coursebook: Is updated for the latest ArcGIS releases—ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1 Introduces the central concepts of GIS and topics needed to understand spatial information analysis Provides a considerable ability to operate important tools in ArcGIS Demonstrates new capabilities of ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1 Provides a basis for the advanced study of GIS and the study of the newly emerging field of GIScience Introducing Geographic Information Systems with ArcGIS, Third Edition is the ideal guide for undergraduate students taking courses such as Introduction to GIS, Fundamentals of GIS, and Introduction to ArcGIS Desktop. It is also an important guide for professionals looking to update their skills for ArcGIS 10.0 and 10.1.

In this path-breaking work, Mark Poster highlights the nature of the newly emerging forms of social life, in the current era. The flexibility of language which the computer allows makes the written word less certain and less concrete. The result of these changes, Poster argues, is a new communication experience, an interaction between humankind and a new kind of reality. Poster discusses the addictive properties of television and arcade video games, as well as the surveillance possibilities which the new communication technologies offer the state. His wide-ranging analysis incorporates the new language-based theories of mathematics, philosophy and literature in Wiener, Derrida and Barthes, among others. This work is a major new contribution to the debate surrounding the future of electronically mediated-experiences.

This book will provide the fundamentals of business process outsourcing for the busy executive who needs to get up to speed. It will have such features as checklists, tips and techniques, and case studies. * Written in a user friendly style that allows senior level financial executives to get a solid foundation of what business process outsourcing is and how it can benefit their companies. * Provides managers with the tools to analyse the BPO opportunities for their own firms, as well as techniques and strategies for managing a BPO initiative. * Shows managers how a BPO strategy can save the company money and create jobs domestically. * Both authors are consultants and advisers to industry-leading companies and frequent speakers at business forums and conferences.

This advanced textbook covering the fundamentals and industry applications of process intensification (PI) discusses both the theoretical and conceptual basis of the discipline. Since interdisciplinarity is a key feature of PI, the material contained in the book reaches far beyond the classical area of chemical engineering. Developments in other relevant disciplines, such as chemistry, catalysis, energy technology, applied physics, electronics and materials science, are extensively described and discussed, while maintaining a chemical engineering perspective. Divided into three major parts, the first introduces the PI principles in detail and illustrates them using practical examples. The second part is entirely devoted to fundamental approaches of PI in four domains: spatial, thermodynamic, functional and temporal. The third and final part explores the methodology for applying fundamental PI approaches in practice. As well as detailing technologies, the book focuses on safety, energy and environmental issues, giving guidance on how to incorporate PI in plant design and operation – safely, efficiently and effectively.