IgniteWorx: Design and evaluation of a system-supported methodology for IIoT project setup
Dirk Slama · DepositOnce · 2019
The challenges that a project manager in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) must potentially face are manifold. These include new and unproven business models, new or changing business processes, complex internal and external stakeholder networks, and frequently changing or partly ill-defined requirements. Further challenges are related to a broad range of technical topics including embedded hardware and software, local connectivity, global communication networks, new IIoT backend applications, and integration with existing applications. This thesis is based on information systems research. Initial research has shown that there is a lack of proven, IIoT-specific project management methodologies available to support a project manager in addressing these challenges. As a first step toward the development of such a methodology, this thesis is addressing the problem of IIoT project setup. As can be derived from existing research on traditional IT projects, the initial setup shapes the entire project and has a strong impact on its success. An important goal of this thesis is to combine a sound academic foundation with practical applications. It is following the principles of design science as an outcome-oriented research methodology. The thesis answers the question of how a system-supported methodology should be designed, which supports project managers in finding a suitable setup for their IIoT projects. The research is done in close collaboration with an industry consortium to leverage a strong industrial network for best practices and feedback. The underlying research project includes the initial iteration, plus one incremental iteration. In the first iteration, the focus is on designing and evaluating such a systembased methodology. The name IgniteWorx was chosen; “Ignite” refers to an existing IIoT methodology, which was co-authored by the author of this thesis, and “Worx” refers to the fact that the result is not an abstract one but is specifically designed for support by an online system. IgniteWorx supports the IIoT project manager by guiding him or her through a project assessment, which is then used to generate recommendations for the project setup. For this, the thesis examines both the content side as well as the system support side. On the content side, the main focus is on how to structure the IIoT project assessment, the recommendations for the project setup, and the required mappings between these two perspectives. A concrete demonstration of the resulting design is introduced, based on the IIC online Project Explorer tool. In the second, incremental iteration, the focus is on extending IgniteWorx to allow for incorporation of user feedback on the recommendations, effectively creating a built-in quality improvement process. The evaluation is based on a case study that includes four industrial projects from manufacturing, automotive, and building management. The cross-case findings conclude that IgniteWorx can be applied in practice and delivers relevant results. This means that the research question has been adequately answered.