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Technology infrastructure, business process, and managerial issues must be addressed by IT practitioners as they adapt to the business changes associated with the diffusion of RFID technology in the supply chain.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a model of the relative performance of open source software (OSS) projects. Design/methodology/approach -This paper evaluates the relative performance of OSS projects by evaluating multiple project inputs and multiple project outputs by using a data envelopment analysis (DEA) model. The DEA model produces an efficiency score for each project based on project inputs and outputs. The method of producing an efficiency score is based on the convex envelopment technology structure. The efficiency measure quantifies a "distance" to an efficient frontier. Findings -The DEA model produced an index of corresponding intensities linking an inefficient project to its benchmark efficient project(s). The inefficiency measures produced an ordering of inefficient projects. Eight projects were found to be "efficient" and used as benchmarking projects.Research limitations/implications -This research is limited to only security-based OSS projects. Future research on other areas of OSS projects is warranted. Practical implications -The result of this research is a practical model that can be used by OSS project developers to evaluate the relative performance of their projects and make resource decisions. Originality/value -This research extends the work of previous studies that have examined the relative performance of software development projects in a traditional development environment. As a result of this research, OSS projects can now be adequately benchmarked and evaluated according to project performance. An OSS project manger can effectively use these results to critically evaluate resources for their project and judge the relative efficiency of the resources.

Purpose -The literature on software project management is extended into the broader domain of large-scale IS management by studying enterprise-wide system upgrade projects. In particular; examines the role that the intervention of project management practices (formal project methodologies and outsourcing) play in large and/or complex IS projects, which result in good project performance. Design/methodology/approach -A survey instrument was completed by 449 information systems managers about a specific upgrade project. The primary analytical approach used was structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings -It was found that neither project complexity nor project size are good indicators of meeting a project's target date. Large projects that adopted formal project management practices were more probable to meet the project target date. Projects with a high degree of complexity which involved outsourcing and adopted formal project management practices, were more likely to meet the project target date. Practical implications -Clearly, the message to managers of IS projects is to establish a project methodology, especially in large, enterprise-wide projects, and when some degree of outsourcing is required.Research limitations/implications -Future research should consider additional measures of performance such as cost, end-user satisfaction and business value. Originality/value -Much had been written in the literature about how large, complex IT projects have high failure rates. Our study provides conclusive evidence that, the greater the degree of methodology implementation, the greater the chance for meeting the project's target date. Prior to this research, this had not been explicitly shown in the research literature.

Accelerating the process by which new products are introduced to the marketplace has become a strategic imperative in many markets. An emerging precondition for new‐product development success is the integration of information technology with innovative management practices. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the integration of Internet and Intranet applications with the stage‐gate process can support and accelerate new product development. This research provides insight into the key role Internet technology can play in facilitating information dissemination, process improvements, reductions in time and costs, and improved project management.

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The main goal of external beam radiotherapy is the treatment of tumours, while sparing, as much as possible, surrounding healthy tissues. In order to master and optimize the dose distribution within the patient, dosimetric planning has to be carried out. Thus, for determining the most accurate dose distribution during treatment planning, a compromise must be found between the precision and the speed of calculation. Current techniques, using analytic methods, models and databases, are rapid but lack precision. Enhanced precision can be achieved by using calculation codes based, for example, on Monte Carlo methods. However, in spite of all efforts to optimize speed (methods and computer improvements), Monte Carlo based methods remain painfully slow. A newer way to handle all of these problems is to use a new approach in dosimetric calculation by employing neural networks. Neural networks (Wu and Zhu 2000 Phys. Med. Biol. 45 913-22) provide the advantages of those various approaches while avoiding their main inconveniences, i.e., time-consumption calculations. This permits us to obtain quick and accurate results during clinical treatment planning. Currently, results obtained for a single depth-dose calculation using a Monte Carlo based code (such as BEAM (Rogers et al 2003 NRCC Report PIRS-0509(A) rev G)) require hours of computing. By contrast, the practical use of neural networks (Mathieu et al 2003 Proceedings Journees Scientifiques Francophones, SFRP) provides almost instant results and quite low errors (less than 2%) for a two-dimensional dosimetric map.