Performance indicators play a key role in management practice. The existence of a coherent and consistent set of performance indicators is widely regarded as a prerequisite to making informed decisions in line with set objectives of the firm. Designing such a system of performance indicators requires a profound understanding of the relations between financial and non-financial metrics, organizational goals, aspired decision scenarios, and the relevant organizational context-including subtleties resulting from implicit assumptions and hidden agendas potentially leading to dysfunctional consequences connected with the ill-informed use of performance indicators. In this paper, we investigate whether a domainspecific modeling method can address requirements essential to the reflective design of performance measurement systems, and which structural and procedural features such a method entails. The research follows a design research process in which we describe a research artifact, and evaluate it to assess whether it meets intended goals and domain requirements. In the paper, we specify design goals, requirements and assumptions underlying the method construction, discuss the structural specification of the method and its design rationale, and provide an initial method evaluation.The results indicate that the modeling method satisfies the requirements of the Preliminary results of this research have been discussed in performance measurement domain, and that such a method contributes to the reflective definition and interpretation of performance measurement systems.

ObjectiveTo estimate the rate of combination antiretroviral treatment change and factors associated with combination antiretroviral treatment change among patients recruited in the Australian HIV Observational Database (AHOD). MethodsAnalyses were based on patients in the AHOD who had commenced combination antiretroviral treatment after 1 January 1997. Combination antiretroviral treatment change was de®ned as the addition or change of at least one antiretroviral drug. A random-effect Poisson regression model was used to assess factors associated with increased rates of combination antiretroviral treatment change. ResultsA total of 596 patients in the AHOD were included in the analysis, with a median follow-up of 2.3 years. The overall rate of antiretroviral treatment change in this group was 0.45 combinations per year. In a multivariate analysis, a low CD4 count (, 200 cells/mL) at baseline was associated with an increased rate of treatment change [rate ratio (RR) 1.43; 95% con®dence interval (CI), 1.13, 1.80; P 0.003)]. Combinations including a nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor were also associated with slower rates of change than treatment combinations including a protease inhibitor (RR 0.64, 95% CI, 0.51, 0.80, P , 0.001). ConclusionInitiating combination antiretroviral at a CD4 cell count , 200 cells/mL may be associated with poorer patient outcomes. However, the possibility that clinician or patient concerns about low immunological status led to faster rates of treatment change in this group cannot be discounted.

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Stakeholder involvement and participation are widely recognized as being key success factors for IT risk assessment. A particular challenge facing current IT risk assessment methods is to provide accessible abstractions on matters of IT risk that attend to both managerial and technical perspectives of the stakeholders involved. In this paper, we investigate whether a conceptual modeling method can address essential requirements in the IT risk assessment domain, and which structural and procedural features such a method entails. The research follows a design research process in which we describe a research artifact, and evaluate it to assess whether it meets the intended goals. In the paper, we specify requirements and assumptions underlying the method construction, discuss the structural specification of the method and its design rationale, present a prototypical application scenario, and provide an initial method evaluation. The results indicate that multi-perspective modeling methods satisfy requirements specific to the IT risk assessment domain, and that such methods, in fact, provide abstractions on matters of IT risk accessible to both a technical and a managerial audience.

Existing electronic negotiation systems (ENSs) typically implement a single, fixed negotiation protocol, which restricts their use to negotiation problems that were anticipated and established a priori by the system designers. The single-protocol restriction limits ENSs' applicability in experiments and in many real-life negotiation situations. ENSs that allow for the use of different protocols also allow for the customization to users' needs and abilities. We present theoretical foundations for the design of flexible and highly customizable protocol-driven ENSs. Our design enables researchers and negotiators to map negotiation activities onto system components and to construct their own negotiation protocols by creating a sequence of layout programs invoking components and rules.