scholarly journals What is the level of influence that may be exercised by income security organisations in facilitating employment outcomes?

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wiltshire
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Employment Outcomes ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Third Party ◽  
List Type ◽  
Income Security ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Leading Position

The primary function of income security organisations is to administer personal injury claims in a commercially viable and cost effective manner, while supporting the receivers of benefits/claimants to achieve a meaningful and durable return to employment. Given the pressures of commercial success in a competitive market measured by effective cost minimisation, to what extent is the level of support offered to individuals claiming benefits impacted by an organisation's purpose to be profitable? The extent of influence exercised by income security organisations in administering claims and driving employment outcomes is limited by jurisdictional legislation and regulations. Furthermore, the requirements to meet compliance requirements can often be detrimental to the quality of management of claims, resulting in a highly administrated framework. This can restrict an organisations capacity to meet individual needs, especially in cases that are not seen as fitting the norm. Considering the conflicting demands imposed by commercial pressures and regulatory frameworks, what is the level of influence that may be exercised by these organisations in facilitating employment outcomes? Employers Mutual have maintained a leading position in the NSW Workers Compensation Scheme, achieving commercial targets, meeting legislative requirements and promoting excellence in employment outcomes through: •Organisational vision – we help people get their lives back;•Focus on support and development of people as front line drivers of performance;•Role design – how we actually do our jobs;•Implementing organisation strategies and designing key support roles aligned to remunerative measures;•Strategic focus on early intervention to facilitate return to work;•Ensuring people receive the full extent of their entitlements, however, are not compensated to excess;•Service level agreements with employers/brokers with a key focus on return to work expectations;•Strong relationships with third party service providers; and•A structured framework that allows flexibility in decision making.

scholarly journals Evaluation and Selection of Nigerian Third-Party Logistics Service Providers Using Multi-Criteria Decision Models

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-146
Author(s):  
E.A. Ejem ◽  
C.M. Uka ◽  
D.N. Dike ◽  
C.C. Ikeogu ◽  
C.C. Igboanusi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Decision Models ◽  
Third Party Logistics ◽  
Logistics Service ◽  
Logistics Service Providers ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract This paper is focused on solving the evaluation and selection of 3PL’s by applying multi-criteria decision-making methods. Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC), AG Leventis, Kobo logistics, and Flour Mills of Nigeria (FMN) were understudied. The main criteria on which evaluation is based were established: Cost, Service level, Financial Capability, Reputation and Long-term relationship. A combination of two quantitative models was adopted in the study. Relevant data were collected through an oral interview with managers and key decision-makers at the companies. SWARA was first applied to the collated data to determine the relative weights of the criteria. Afterwards, the TOPSIS was applied to the weights developed using SWARA and on the performance of the selected service providers. After the analysis, the best service provider was identified as supplier 2 while the worst was supplier 5.

Towards Automated SLA Management for Service Delivery in SOA-based Environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-40
Author(s):  
Elarbi Badidi ◽  
Mohamed El Koutbi
Keyword(s):  
Service Oriented Architecture ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Handheld Devices ◽  
Service Provisioning ◽  
Functional Requirements ◽  
Business Goals ◽  
Sla Negotiation ◽  
Service Oriented

The services landscape is changing with the growing adoption by businesses of the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), the migration of business solutions to the cloud, and the proliferation of smartphones and Internet-enabled handheld devices to consume services. To meet their business goals, organizations increasingly demand services, which can satisfy their functional and non-functional requirements. Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are seen as the means to guarantee the continuity in service provisioning and required levels of service. In this paper, we propose a framework for service provisioning, which aims at providing support for automated SLA negotiation and management. The Service Broker component carries out SLA negotiation with selected service-providers on behalf of service-consumers. Multi-rounds of negotiations are very often required to reach an agreement. In each round, the negotiating parties bargain on multiple SLA parameters by trying to maximize their global utility functions. The monitoring infrastructure is in charge of observing SLA compliance monitoring using measurements obtained from independent third party monitoring services.

scholarly journals Utilisation of digital central supplier database in enabling electronic procurement in the Limpopo provincial departments

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zwelibanzi Mpehle ◽  
Robert M. Mudogwa
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Electronic Procurement ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Compliance Requirements ◽  
Procurement System

Background: The establishment of a digital central supplier database (CSD) in the Limpopo provincial departments was envisaged not only to eliminate the duplication of service provider compliance requirements during procurement processes and payment processing but also to level the playing field amongst service providers so that small and upcoming businesses can have equal competitive bidding opportunities like any other business. This therefore meant that the CSD was to ensure that all registered suppliers have an equal and fair prospect of providing goods and services to government, and that acquiring of goods and services is done in a cost-effective manner. However, the Limpopo provincial departments are persistently underspending their allocated budgets at the end of each financial year.Aim: The aim of this study was to assess whether CSD as an electronic procurement (e-procurement) system adopted by the provincial departments in Limpopo is efficient and cost-effective in enhancing the provisioning of goods and services.Setting: The study focused on the Limpopo provincial departments, South Africa.Methods: The study used a qualitative research approach to assess the use of CSD in enabling e-procurement processes. Purposive sampling was employed to sample 14 participants from 12 provincial departments.Results: The outcome revealed that the technological innovation of centralising the suppliers’ records on the CSD increased transparency and accountability in the process of selecting suppliers who qualify to do business with government, and the system has the potential, if rightly used, to eliminate corrupt activities such as favouritism and collusion.Conclusion: The article concludes that the successful implementation of CSD by provincial departments and public entities may, amongst other things, improve supply chain management performance, particularly in the selection of suppliers, and may also promote economic development of small, medium and micro-enterprises.

scholarly journals OBBP: An Efficient Burst Packing Algorithm for IEEE802.16e Systems

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar M. Eshanta ◽  
M. Ismail ◽  
Kasmiran Jumari
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Communications ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Burst Size ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Medium Access ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Mobile Stations ◽  
High Spectral Efficiency ◽  
Efficient Resource ◽  
Packing Efficiency

Mobile communications have witnessed a phenomenal increase in the amount of users, services, and applications. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) targets to provide broadband connectivity to wide area coverage, in mobile environments, for Next Generation Networks (NGNs), which results in significant design challenges in the MAC (Medium Access Control) layer to provide an efficient resource allocation in a cost-effective manner. This paper proposes a two-dimensional (2D) Burst Packing (BP) algorithm for OFDMA downlink (DL) subframe that can provide the service providers with an efficient, fast, flexible, and high-spectral efficiency method to allocate system resources among the Mobile Stations (MSs). The proposed Orientation-Based Burst Packing (OBBP) algorithm uses the Orientation Factors (OFs) of the bursts as a criteria to achieve the challenging issues in the BP problem. The simulation results show that OBBP algorithm can achieve a high packing efficiency up to 99.2% when the burst size ratio (BSR) is 50%.

DESIGN OF ROBUST DISTRIBUTION NETWORKS RUN BY THIRD PARTY LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 1150024 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. P. M. HENDRIKS ◽  
D. ARMBRUSTER ◽  
M. LAUMANNS ◽  
E. LEFEBER ◽  
J. T. UDDING
Keyword(s):  
Network Topology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Distribution Networks ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Third Party Logistics ◽  
Logistics Service ◽  
Set Up

We consider a third party logistics service provider (LSP), who faces the problem of distributing different products from suppliers to consumers having no control on supply and demand. In a third party set-up, the operations of transport and storage are run as a black box for a fixed price. Thus the incentive for an LSP is to reduce its operational costs. The objective of this paper is to find an efficient network topology on a tactical level, which still satisfies the service level agreements on the operational level. We develop an optimization method, which constructs a tactical network topology based on the operational decisions resulting from a given model predictive control (MPC) policy. Experiments suggest that such a topology typically requires only a small fraction of all possible links. As expected, the found topology is sensitive to changes in supply and demand averages. Interestingly, the found topology appears to be robust to changes in second order moments of supply and demand distributions.

scholarly journals Do return to work interventions for workers with disabilities and health conditions achieve employment outcomes and are they cost effective? A systematic narrative review

2018 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 999-1014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Dibben ◽  
Geoffrey Wood ◽  
Rachel O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Return To Work ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Employment Outcomes ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Musculoskeletal Conditions ◽  
Mental Health Conditions ◽  
Lower Back

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate existing evidence on whether return to work interventions achieve employment outcomes and are cost effective in order to better inform those needing accommodations at work, as well as their line managers and trade union representatives, occupational health specialists and HR managers. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a systematic narrative review to evaluate the evidence on the employment outcomes and cost effectiveness of return to work initiatives. Findings Evidence on interventions for musculoskeletal conditions such as lower back pain indicates that certain forms of intervention such as vocational rehabilitation and workplace-based rehabilitation facilitate outcomes such as employment, reduced sick leave and effective return to work. However, there is very little evidence on whether these interventions are cost effective. More generally there are glaring gaps in evidence on cardio-respiratory (heart and breathing) and mental health conditions with regard to both employment outcomes and the cost of interventions. Research limitations/implications This systematic review has critical and timely implications for both knowledge development and practice. While highlighting methodological limitations in the existing research base, it also presents avenues for further research on return work strategies and the factors inhibiting and facilitating their adoption and effective operation. Originality/value Although there is much existent literature on the return to work process, far less attention has been paid to the employment outcomes and cost effectiveness of interventions. This paper highlights the interventions for musculoskeletal conditions such as lower back conditions that may result in positive employment outcomes, with implications for practice. However, it also highlights gaps in evidence on the employment outcomes and cost effectiveness of interventions for cardio-respiratory (heart and breathing) and mental health conditions.

Scalability Planning for Cloud-Based Manufacturing Systems

2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dazhong Wu ◽  
David W. Rosen ◽  
Dirk Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Resource Sharing ◽  
Material Flow ◽  
Manufacturing Systems ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Stochastic Petri Nets ◽  
Third Party ◽  
System Capacity ◽  
Manufacturing Performance ◽  
Manufacturing Resource

Cloud-based manufacturing (CBM) has recently been proposed as an emerging manufacturing paradigm that may potentially change the way manufacturing services are provided and accessed. In the context of CBM, companies may opt to crowdsource part of their manufacturing tasks that are beyond their existing in-house manufacturing capacity to third-party CBM service providers by renting their manufacturing equipment instead of purchasing additional machines. To plan manufacturing scalability for CBM systems, it is crucial to identify potential manufacturing bottlenecks where the entire manufacturing system capacity is limited. Because of the complexity of manufacturing resource sharing behaviors, it is challenging to model and analyze the material flow of CBM systems in which sequential, concurrent, conflicting, cyclic, and mutually exclusive manufacturing processes typically occur. To address and further study this issue, we develop a stochastic Petri nets (SPNs) model to formally represent a CBM system, model and analyze the uncertainties in the complex material flow of the CBM system, evaluate manufacturing performance, and plan manufacturing scalability. We validate this approach by means of a delivery drone example that is used to demonstrate how manufacturers can indeed achieve rapid and cost-effective manufacturing scalability in practice by combining in-house manufacturing and crowdsourcing in a CBM setting.

An Efficient Framework for a Third Party Auditor in Cloud Computing Environments

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (9) ◽  
pp. 1285-1297 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Mahdavi-Hezavehi ◽  
Y Alimardani ◽  
R Rahmani
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Cloud Service ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Cloud Environment ◽  
Cloud Service Providers ◽  
Cloud Environments ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Monitoring Service

Abstract Cloud Service Providers supply services to clients in terms of their demands. They need to be constantly under monitoring for their services with respect to consensus agreements between clients and service providers. A Third Party Auditor or TPA as a trusted organization appears to be necessary to monitor executing agreements of cloud services. Using a third party as an extra component creates cost overheads for clients in a cloud environment. Thus, introducing a cost efficient framework for a cloud environment which includes a third party is an eminent achievement to make a TPA feasible and practical in cloud environments. In this paper, we propose a TPA framework for monitoring service level agreements between cloud service providers and cloud clients using several cloud resources. This framework employs different types of service deployments from various cloud service providers excluding the cloud service provider which is being monitored. Then, we demonstrate that the framework can mitigate costs of a third party auditor in a cloud environment. Simulations of trends for costs exhibits cost efficiency of at least forty percent over ten years when a TPA follows our proposed framework in comparison to other frameworks. Finally, we provide an analysis to compare characteristics of our framework with other frameworks and discuss the advantages of our proposed framework. Our results indicate that TPA as a component of the framework not only reduces overall costs of its presentation in a cloud environment but additionally improves management efficiency and security.

scholarly journals The impact of psychosocial factors on claims outcomes in the group income protection market: findings from a prospective pilot study

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carly Van Den Akker
Keyword(s):  
Return To Work ◽  
Psychosocial Factors ◽  
Normal Population ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Income Insurance ◽  
Effective Manner ◽  
Disability Income ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Research suggests that psychosocial factors predict recovery better than biomedical factors alone in the normal population. However, no studies have been carried out in the disability income insurance setting, where the availability of financial cover is usually perceived as the main detractor of recovery and return to work.Swiss Re's clinical claims team in collaboration with the Research & Development team, conducted a 3 year prospective study to evaluate the role of psychosocial factors in recovery within a group income protection sample. Predictors of return to work were: beliefs about recovery and work, work ethic, coping, and self-efficacy. Interestingly, medical diagnosis alone and treatment did not predict recovery and return to work in this sample.Our objective was to conduct research to gain an understanding of psychosocial predictors in the insurance setting, and additionally to develop specific claims management strategies for our claims assessors to manage their claims more effectively through exploring the psychosocial barriers influencing on a claimant's absence, and providing adequate support at the right time, in a cost-effective manner.

scholarly journals Deployment of virtual machines for tiered applications in cloud systems with optimized resource allocation based on availability SLAS

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Praneeth Sakhamuri
Keyword(s):  
Response Time ◽  
Virtual Machine ◽  
Virtual Machines ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Service Level Agreement ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Service Level ◽  
Single Type ◽  
Application Service Providers ◽  
Application Service

Deploying and managing high availability-tiered application in the cloud is challenging, as it requires providing necessary virtual machines to make the application available. An application is available if it works and responds in a timely manner for varying workloads. Application service providers need to allocate specified number of working virtual machine copies for each server with at least a given minimum computing power, to meet the response time requirement. Otherwise, we may end up with response time failures. This thesis formulates an optimization problem that determines the number and type of virtual machines needed for each server to minimize the cost and at the same time guarantees the availability SLA (Service-Level Agreement) for different workloads. The results demonstrate that a diverse approach is more cost-effective than running on a single type of virtual machine, and buying only the cheapest virtual machines for an application is not always economical.

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