This page contains links to just a few of the documents and other materials we've produced.
Business Process Modeling: Part I
This document introduces the concept of business modeling: an approach to describe organizational business processes using SAP and other software. The first section outlines some of the tools currently available to clarify the "what, how, who, when and why" of the business process. The second section gives the reasons and requirements for business modeling. Finally, the third section maps out the business model from its highest to the lowest level.
Business Process Modeling: Part II
The second document in this series proposes to explain the process of customer order management from a purely business focus. It introduces the documentation and templates for the "people" component in the business process documentation: business activity overviews, business activity flows and work task lists. Separate examples serve as template proposals for activities within the "customer order life cycle" business scenario.
This six-page reference document summarizes customized features available in the IBM Notes (formerly Lotus Notes) enterprise collaboration application. The features include enhanced calendar printing, calendar management, detaching and removing files from messages, server-based password checking, the Microsoft Office document viewer and dictionary standardization.
This 14-page guide describes the features of the WorkPad, an early personal digital assistant (PDA) or small handheld computing device. The WorkPad allows management of calendar appointments, to-do lists, personal address books, laptop synchronization, e-mail and other features.
Iron Age Anglo-Scottish Border
This map uses geographical information system (GIS) datasets to plot archaeological monuments on a map of Great Britain. The existing map shows scheduled monuments from all time periods and types of settlements. The goal is to refine the dataset to show zones of differing settlement types. The dataset should also pinpoint specifically identified settlements, which will then allow a comparison with ancient place-names to determine the possible language and ethnicity of the inhabitants.
Place-names can reveal how language evolved over time. Traditional theory claims English is a relatively new language. Apparently, it did not exist before the Anglo-Saxon “invasion” around AD 450. Prior to the Roman conquest in AD 43, all Britons supposedly spoke some form of Celtic (e.g. Smith 1997; Coates 1998; Price 2000). This study uses ancient British place-names to suggest the English language may be far older than traditionally assumed.
Initial Settlement of the Americas
The peopling of the Americas is a field riddled with controversy. This essay provides an orientation to the field and outlines various population models. The nature of the archaeological evidence follows in some detail, with a summary of genetic and linguistic evidence. Due to the diversity of Native Americans, it seems far likelier that American settlement took place at different times from different areas than at a single point in time.
This funding proposal describes a project that aims to explores the past and present connections between spirituality and science. Its goal is to reach beyond the traditional boundaries that separate religion, academia, science and technology. By doing so, the project expects to find new applications for ideas of the "sacred." The links between the spiritual and the technical realms can broaden academic and professional disciplines.
This procedure describes how to record a usage decision in the SAP system. Usage decisions record how a business will use inspected materials. This takes place after recording results for an inspection and completing the inspection lot. The usage decision supports functions in the Quality Management (QM) module and areas in the Materials Management (MM) module such as stock transfers, vendor evaluation and goods issues.
A return on investment (ROI) analysis can show how efficient planning can reduce costs in an organization. This example illustrates an average enterprise resource planning (ERP) support pack upgrade on an SAP system in the Cross-Application area alone. Becoming current on support packs in all SAP areas would increase the workload. However, an automated solution would save even more money, by reducing duplicate analyses and limiting the scope to just those objects in use.
This document lists SAP graphical navigation buttons and keyboard shortcuts associated with them. It also lists the codes you may enter in the command field at any time to execute or terminate SAP transactions.
This procedure generates a list of all transaction codes in the SAP system. This is useful for viewing the shortcut codes for commonly used transactions (example: ME51 = Create purchase requisition).
The World Ages in Myth and Science
The concept that time is cyclical in nature pervades the beliefs of most cultures worldwide. This paper analyzes the concept of “world ages” in ancient Sumerian, Judeo-Christian, Greek, Irish, Norse and Indian accounts. In addition, it asks whether there is a possible scientific basis for these views, such as a connection with the precession of the equinoxes, an astronomical cycle of the earth’s axis lasting approximately 26,000 years.
The Real Antagonist in Northanger Abbey
Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey is so loaded with irony that its main antagonist is someone we would never suspect. This hidden adversary maneuvers Catherine Morland into a conflict. The conflict seems a creation of the protagonist’s overactive imagination. However, the novel drops enough clues to indicate Henry Tilney willfully manipulates Catherine to produce the conflict. Finally, several hints in the novel suggest this same person also narrates it, thus sealing the novel’s irony.