Completed Research Paper. Osnabrück University.

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1 The Further Educatio Maturity Model: Developmet ad Implemetatio of a Maturity Model for the Selectio of Further Educatio Offerigs i the Field of IT Maagemet ad IT Cosultig Completed Research Paper ABSTRACT Matthias Boehm Osabrück Uiversity matthias.boehm@ui-osabrueck.de Oliver Thomas Osabrück Uiversity oliver.thomas@ui-osabrueck.de Michael Jasper Osabrück Uiversity mijasper@ui-osabrueck.de The permaetly chagig iformatio ad commuicatio techology (IT) makes it ievitable for IT professioals to keep up-to-date. However, the market for further educatio presets itself as beig diversified ad opaque at the same time. Especially for youg professioals, the selectio of the right traiig offerig is difficult. This etails the ecessity to develop methods ad models to create the further educatio market i a more comprehesible ad trasparet way. This article describes the developmet of the Further Educatio Maturity Model (FEMM). It eables users to assig IT traiig offerigs to certai maturity levels ad cosequetly to make decisios about the quality of the further educatio offerig. A prove procedure is used to develop the FEMM, implemet it ito a olie tool, ad evaluate it. Results show the appropriateess of the proposed model. Keywords Maturity Models, Cotiuig Educatio, Chief Iformatio Officer, IT Cosultat, Software Tool, Desig Sciece INTRODUCTION The sigificace of iformatio ad commuicatio techologies (IT) has cotiuously icreased durig the last decades. Parallel to the growig diversity ad the acceleratig developmet cycles of iovative techologies, the requiremets ad qualificatio demads o the employees i the compaies grow (Luftma ad Derkse, 2012). Hece, qualified employees workig i the field of IT maagemet ad IT cosultig (ITMC) are permaetly lookig for ew opportuities for further educatio (Boehm, Stolze, Breitschwerdt, Zarvić ad Thomas, 2011). This is ot a trivial task sice the type of skills required to move forward i the career depeds o various career paths available i this field (Joseph, Boh, Ag ad Slaughter, 2012). I literature, there is a comprehesive discussio o this issue by examiatio of existig ad future skills of ITMC professioals, for example (Boehm, Stolze ad Thomas, 2013). Further educatio (cotiuig educatio) ca be uderstood as the resumptio of orgaized learig after completio of a first period of educatio ad subsequet employmet or family busiess activities. I additio to the first educatio of professioals ad uiversity graduates, the permaet traiig ad further educatio is daily routie for qualified persoel i the ITMC field (Agarwal ad Ferratt, 2002). The aim is to icrease competeces coverig a wide rage of fields. Competece describes a perso s capacity which does ot oly cosist of kowledge ad abilities, but also of other skills, like, e.g., social or methodological competeces (Wieriga, va Eck, Steghuis ad Proper, 2009). It is othig more tha waste of fuds if the wrog sort of traiig is doe poorly at the wrog time (Berge, 2008). Results are ofte the questioig of traiig s effectiveess ad subsequetly the reductio of fiacial resources for it. Problems also occur whe selectig further educatioal offerigs because the market is very diversified (Boehm et al., 2011). Nevertheless, attedig useful traiig programs for safeguardig power ad political situatio withi the compay is especially required for ITMC professioals, like for example the Chief Iformatio Officers (CIO) (Gerow, Grover ad Thatcher, 2012). Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

2 A adequate meas i order to avoid the problem of coductig wrog traiig is to categorize traiig offerigs i advace i a more trasparet maer by meas of a maturity model. By doig so, the selectio process becomes more trasparet ad better traiig results will be visible. A maturity model represets a sequece of maturity levels for a class of objects (Becker, Kackstedt ad Pöppelbuß, 2009). It describes a aticipated, requested, or typical developmet process of formerly selected objects. These objects are pictured i cosecutive levels. The smallest level represets a early stage whereas the highest costitutes complete maturity. Although we coducted a extesive literature research, o maturity model helpig to fid a suitable further educatio offerig could be idetified. The followig sectios therefore describe how the Further Educatio Maturity Model (FEMM) has bee systematically developed, implemeted, ad evaluated. METHOD The methodological basis for the developmet of the maturity model is a desig-orieted approach which ecompasses the priciples of artifact desig ad evaluatio (Hever, March, Park ad Ram, 2004). I geeral, the developmet process of maturity models as artifacts follows the phases of problem defiitio, costructio ad evaluatio (Marx, Wortma ad Mayer, 2012). O this basis, de Brui et al. (2005) derived the mai steps Scope, Desig, Populate, Test, Deploy, ad Maitai for the geeral maturity model developmet (MMD). This serves as a basis for quite a umber of detailed procedure models cocerig MMD that ca be foud i literature. Va Steeberge et al. (2010) focus o maturity models for fuctioal areas. Marx et al. (2012) use the Rasch algorithm for the developmet. Based o a comprehesive literature research ad aalysis of existig procedure models, Kackstedt, Pöppelbuß ad Becker (Becker et al., 2009; Kackstedt, Pöppelbuß ad Becker, 2009) have desiged a uiversal but detailed procedure model which has already bee successfully used for MMD several times (cf. for example Hai, 2010; Herz, Hamel, Ueberickel ad Breer, 2011; Stolze, Rah ad Thomas, 2011). For this reaso ad i view of the fact that the procedure model of Kackstedt, Pöppelbuß ad Becker (Becker et al., 2009; Kackstedt et al., 2009) gives detailed ad practically feasible istructios despite its uiversal validity the model has bee used for the developmet of FEMM. Accordig to Kackstedt, Pöppelbuß ad Becker, the startig poit for the MMD is the problem defiitio (cf. Figure 1). Here, the addressed area, its sub-disciplie ad the target group are determied. I the secod phase, already existig models are compared to each other. Deficiecies or a lack of trasferability are ofte cosidered to be the reaso for a ecessary further developmet. I the third phase, it is ecessary to determie the developmet strategy. This ca take differet forms. It is possible to either iitiate a completely ew costructio or to merge several already existig models to oe ew model. A further possibility is to adapt existig structures to the model that shall be developed. Start Yes, ew versio Cotiuatio No, discard model Yes, reevaluatio Problem defiitio Evaluatio Rejectio of maturity model Compariso of existig maturity models Implemetatio of trasfer media Ed Determiatio of developmet strategy Coceptio of trasfer ad evaluatio Approved Iterative maturity model developmet Result Not approved Select desig level Select approach Desig model sectio Test result Figure 1. Procedure Model for the Developmet of Maturity Models (Becker et al., 2009) The cetral phase i developig a maturity model is the iterative maturity model developmet (cf. Figure 1). Here, the followig steps are repeatedly ru through: selectio of desig level, selectio of approach, desig of model sectio, ad test of results. The desig level reflects the determiatio of the maturity model s architecture. Here, methods to be applied ca be literature aalyses, explorative research methods, or creativity techiques. The results that occurred i the course of costructio eed to be evaluated with regard to their cosistecy, their problem adequacy, ad their completeess. These partial steps are ru through repeatedly util the evaluatio shows a positive result. The cetral phase is followed by the phase of the coceptio of trasfer ad evaluatio i which a decisio is take about how the results shall be made available to the target group. This ca be realized by meas of check lists, mauals, or a software tool. I the followig step, the trasfer media has to be implemeted. This phase serves to place the maturity model at the stakeholders disposal i the way it had bee determied i the previous phase. Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

3 I the last phase, the model is evaluated with regard to the questio whether it offers the iteded beefit ad whether it provides a solutio of the deficit described i the first phase. This ca, for example, be doe by offerig the model via the iteret. This kid of evaluatio provides the possibility to declie the model resultig either i a restart of the developmet phase or i a rejectio of the maturity model. DEVELOPMENT OF THE MATURITY MODEL Problem defiitio The market for further educatio i the field of ITMC is hardly trasparet ad there is a wide rage of differet offers (Boehm et al., 2011). Especially youg professioals i the ITMC field are facig difficulties i orietatig i view of the umerous offers (Fuschii, 2006). As a cosequece, problems may occur i the selectio of a suitable further educatio offerig. This issue ca be solved by meas of a maturity model which gives IT maagers, IT cosultats, ad compaies the possibility to distiguish betwee the differet further educatio offerigs ad to classify them. By eablig ITMC professioals to do so, the selectio of more useful traiig programs ca be esured. As o model was foud i a comprehesive literature search that shows the described features, the Further Educatio Maturity Model (FEMM) is developed. It eables ITMC professioals, like for example IT maagers or IT cosultats, to aalyze further educatio offerigs (cf. Figure 2). By meas of a criteria catalogue, the cotet ad basic coditios of a offerig are collected ad weighted. I doig so, the offerig ca be classified ad the maturity level ca be read. The achieved maturity level represets the offerig s added value i competece that is reached i attedig it. IT maager / IT cosultat Selectio 1 2 Offerig 3 Readig of maturity level Classificatio Maturity level Competece Further Educatio Maturity Model Figure 2. Procedure Model for the Usage of the FEMM Systematical literature review ad compariso of existig models Before a completely ew maturity model ca be costructed, it has to be made sure that o similar model exists so far. Furthermore, it has to be checked whether elemets of existig models ca be take over. For this purpose, a literature review followig Webster ad Watso (2002) has bee executed. By meas of the databases JSTOR, EcoBiz, EcoLit EBSCO Host ad Spriger Lik jourals ad coferece proceedigs have bee searched usig combiatios of the followig keywords: maturity model, educatio, further educatio, ad cotiuig educatio. I order to exted the search for suitable models, Google ad Google Scholar also have bee used applyig the same keywords. After idetifyig relevat sources, the literature was scaed for further relevat sources by meas of the so-called reverse search. The subsequet selectio of sources has bee viewed ad idepedetly examied by the authors i terms of their relevace. I literature, may differet maturity models ca be foud. Mettler ad Roher (2009) idetified 138 models i However, there is oe amog these which categorizes further educatio offerigs. A well-kow maturity model is the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). The America Departmet of Defese authorized the Software Egieerig Istitute (SEI) of the Caregie Mello Uiversity i Pittsburgh to develop a model which ca assess software suppliers. After the developmet of the Software Process Maturity Framework, the CMM emerged i the followig years as advacemet (Keuper, 2006). The CMM has had a sigificat ifluece o the software developmet (Herbsleb, Zubrow, Goldeso, Hayes ad Paulk, 1997). It distiguishes the five cosecutive levels Iitial, Repeatable, Defied ad Maaged which serve to reflect the maturity level of the software developmet processes. Each level cotais process objectives ad guidelies through which the ext higher level ca be reached. However, this model is ot suitable for the categorizatio of further educatio offerigs because it cocetrates o aother field. Nevertheless, the desig of the model like i case of may other maturity models (such as Busiess Process Maturity Model, Kowledge Maagemet Maturity Model or Iformatio Techology Ifrastructure Library) ca be take over. Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

4 I literature, oly two maturity models ca be foud which bear a eve vague referece to the field of further educatio. The People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM) (Curtis, Hefley ad Miller, 2009) serves for the process improvemet of the admiistratio ad further educatio of employees. Like the CMM, this model was developed by the SEI ad aims at givig orgaizatios clues about the i-house huma resources i the software developmet process. The E-learig Maturity Model (emm) (Marshall ad Mitchell, 2002) was developed for measurig the developmet, the itroductio, ad the use of e-learig at uiversities. It is a maturity model based o the CMM ad SPICE (Software Process Improvemet ad Capability Determiatio). Both models are ot suitable for our research objective as both cover other areas. Determiatio of developmet strategy The maturity models kow i the relevat literature caot be used i the cotext of this research. For this reaso, a ew costructio is required. Iitially, it has to be determied which cotet ad basic coditios of the further educatio offerigs shall be applied for the calculatio of the maturity levels. I doig so, differet further educatio offerigs have to be systematically aalyzed, documeted, ad summarized. Next, the respective weights for cotet ad basic coditios eed to be calculated. I our case, we decided to derive these weights quatitatively usig a questioaire. This method offers the possibility to reach a broad rage of persos who ca aswer the questios idepedetly (Bryma ad Bell, 2007). This way of data collectio is relatively cost-effective ad practicable. The most importat aspect i the costructio is a exact formulatio of questios. Before dispatch of the questioaire, therefore a pre-test has to be ru through i order to elimiate weakesses or ucertaities. At the ed of the survey, a ratig scheme based o the results is developed. Iterative maturity model developmet So far, two iteratios of FEMM developmet have bee goe through (cf. Figure 1). I its iitial versio, the model cosisted of three maturity levels which had bee derived from the literature. After evaluatio we recogized that followig the fivelevel-structure from models like CMM would be more advatageous also for FEMM. Although the rage of ITMC traiig offerigs is much diversified, these five levels are still usable. The maturity levels determied i the secod iteratio are: Basic course (Amateur), costitutive course (Costitutive), advaced course (Advaced), professioal course (Professioal) ad expert course (Expert). A more detailed descriptio of each maturity level is effected i the ext sectio. However, it caot be executed without a aalysis of the questioaire. I order to set up the questioaire, it is ecessary to get a overview about the topics that are taught i the further educatio offerigs. For this purpose, a structured literature research followig Webster ad Watso (2002) has bee coducted agai. I doig so, the search i the above-metioed databases comprised combiatios of the followig terms: IT, further educatio, cotiuig educatio, ad traiig. The literature search idetified four core cotet blocks for further educatio offerigs i the field of ITMC. These blocks are hardware (e.g. telecommuicatio, computer eviromet, or IT security), software (e.g. busiess applicatio systems, programmig, graphics, or costructio ad visualizatio programs), soft skills (e.g. maagemet techiques, legal aspects, or rhetoric) ad busiess skills (e.g. project maagemet, process maagemet, or IT basic kowledge). Aother (cotet) block comprises the basic coditios of a further educatio offerig (e.g. provider, duratio, type of degree, or type of examiatio). Each of these blocks represets a summary of various mai topics. The basic coditios do ot directly refer to the taught issues. They ca rather be cosidered as secodary features of a further educatio offerig. The questioaire embraces 18 questios, which refer to the five blocks, ad was pre-tested with a group of persos cosistig of both scietists ad practitioers. From util the questioaire was preseted to a selected circle of IT maagers, CIOs, IT cosultats, ad scietists. All participats are prove experts i their respective fields. After this period, the questioaire came back havig bee completely aswered by 34 persos; this correspods to a respose rate of 15.7 %. Amog the respodets were 30 male (88.2 %) ad 4 female persos (11.8 %). The average age was 36.2 years. With respect to their actual jobs, it tured out that most participats of the iterview were professioal IT cosultats (35.3 %). The questioaire has bee aalyzed usig statistical tools of arithmetical mea, mode, media, ad stadard deviatio. The derived values have bee used to set the scorig values of the FEMM. Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

5 THE FURTHER EDUCATION MATURITY MODEL (FEMM) Descriptio of the model The FEMM cosists of five maturity levels. These are described i Figure 3. Maturity level Basic course (Amateur) Costitutive course (Costitutive) Advaced course (Advaced) Professioal course (Professioal) Expert course (Expert) Descriptio The basic course is characterized by a rather arrow cotet framework. Oly few hardware ad software topics are worked o. I additio, the offerig hardly furishes soft skills or busiess skills. The cotet of the IT further educatio offerigs oly have little referece to the educatioal area of IT maagers or cosultats. The basic coditios do ot have a high quality stadard. The maturity level 2 - costitutive course (Costitutive) - is characterized by a higher extet of taught cotet. Soft skills ad busiess skills are coveyed oly to a certai extet. A relatio to the professio of the IT maager or IT cosultat is recogizable. However, the quality of the basic coditios is small. The maturity level 3 - advaced course (Advaced) - is characterized by a higher extet of taught topics. Both soft skills ad busiess skills are part of the course. A relatio to the professio of the IT maager or IT cosultat is recogizable. The quality of the basic coditios is high. The maturity level 4 - professioal course (Professioal) - is characterized by a high extet of professioally relevat topics. Both soft skills ad busiess skills are part of the course. The basic coditios of the further educatio offerig are of high quality. The maturity level 5 - expert course (Expert) - is the highest level i this model. Its basic characteristic features are umerous professioally relevat issues. Furthermore, it furishes ot oly hardware ad software topics, but also soft skills ad busiess skills. The quality of the basic coditios is superior which results i a high- quality teachig. Figure 3. Maturity Levels of the FEMM A further educatio offerig has to achieve a predefied umber of scores i order to reach a certai level. The possible scores rage from 0-20 poits for maturity level 1 (Amateur), poits for level 2 (Costitutive), poits for level 3 (Advaced), poits for level 4 (Professioal) up to more tha 80 poits for level 5 (Expert). For example, a further educatio course which reaches a total score of 27 poits after additio of all poits is assiged to maturity level 2 (Costitutive). The foudatio for this scorig scheme is the statistical aalysis of the questioaire. I each block, respective ratios have bee calculated for each topic. The fial rule for the calculatio of poits was developed by repeated iteratios: ATS = ((' GP HS + ' BP HS )GF HS )Q) + ( i = 1 BP SK GF SK + i = 1 BP BK GF BK ) + ' BC 2 i = 1 i = 1 i = 1 whereas: ATS = Achieved total score servig to classify the offerig ito the maturity model HS = Hardware or software issues SK = Soft skills BK = Busiess skills BC = Basic coditios GP = Basic poits = Selected topics i total BP = Bous poits GF = Geeral factor Q = Factor for the umber of taught hardware ad software topics 0.75 for umber of selected HS > 5 Q = $ 1 for umber of selected HS 5 Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

6 Whe weightig the scores, the blocks hardware ad software are assiged to a basic score (GP) of 3 for each selected topic/subject. This value is take as a basis as hardware ad software are core topics of a further educatio offerig i the field of ITMC. I additio to the basic poits, a certai umber of bous poits ca be achieved. These bous poits result from the fact that a participat who already has comprehesive kowledge of certai hardware or software topics would choose a offerig which suits his persoal kowledge level. I additio to the already reached score, each subject gets further ehacemet which depeds o the professioal iterest gathered from the questioaire. This revaluatio is carried out as these are focal poits which reflect a preset or future relevace due to their actual professio for the target group of the IT maager or IT cosultat. For the calculatio, the sum of basic ad bous poits is multiplied by a factor which based o the relative respose frequecy results from the questioaire. As a example, a topic is multiplied by the factor 1.2 i case the relative importace is betwee 0 % ad 20 %. If the relative value is betwee 80 % ad 100 %, the factor is 2. Every participat of the survey agreed that practical cotets support the quality of the further educatio offerig which proves the sigificace of these cotets. Thus, each offerig that evideces such cotets obtais 10 bous poits. Furthermore, the iterviewees agreed to the view that the quality of a offerig decreases i the way the umber of taught cotet icreases. Therefore, startig with a umber of topics higher tha 5, the total score achieved with the blocks hardware ad software is multiplied by the factor Q = The award of poits withi the soft skill block follows the rakig which refers to the relative importace resultig from the survey. Thus, maagemet techiques, for example, obtai the highest score (5 bous poits) ad IT ethics 2 bous poits. As most of the iterviewed persos (67.5 %) thik that soft skill cotets are importat, each soft skill matter is multiplied by the factor 2.4. The respodets cosider soft skill cotets to be importat, however, they would prefer if they were part of a separate offerig. Based o this respose, the product of soft skill cotets is divided by 2. The calculatio scheme for the busiess skills is similar to the soft skills. The bous poits for each cotet block are determied via rakig. This rakig results from the relative frequecy of aswers i the questioaire. Thus, the topic project maagemet is, for example, credited with 6 bous poits. Sice the iterviewees like i case of the soft skills agai preferred the busiess skills to be part of a separate offerig, the product of basic poits ad the factor is divided by 2. The basic coditios also have ifluece o the calculatio. Based o the results of the questioaire, a rakig showig the quality of executig orgaizatios had bee geerated. If the traiig is, for example, orgaized by a private provider of further educatio, the traiig obtais 5 bous poits. I case of a e-learig provider, oe bous poit is assiged. Factors like the duratio of the further educatio offerig, the kid of degree, structure, orgaizatio as well as lecturer also have ifluece o the calculatio of poits for the basic coditios. Coceptio of trasfer ad evaluatio The coceptio of trasfer ad evaluatio is realized by this article ad a olie tool which make the FEMM available to the geeral public. A cocept for this tool has bee developed ad realized. Implemetatio of trasfer media The olie tool has bee developed o the basis of the script laguage PHP. It is freely accessible for ay user via the URL The home page starts with a explaatio of the tool for the user (cf. Figure 2). Moreover, the user gets the chace to get ito cotact with the authors i case there are questios. Upo startig the tool, the user first has to aswer a umber of questios cocerig the respective further educatio offerig which eeds to be classified. After the user has filled i all fields ad clicked the aalyze butto, the values are delivered via the POST-method. Subsequetly, the values are reviewed by meas of several for-loops (cf. Figure 4). I doig so, a iitial poit value of zero is icreased by the respective poit value of the variable $questio. Fially, the user receives the result with a detailed explaatio. Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

7 $poits=0; $mistake_z=0; $mistake_radio=array(); $aswers_check=0; $aswers_factor=0.75; if(isset($_post["check"])){ for($t=1;$t<=$t_z;$t++){ $ti_z=cout($topic_t[$t]); if($ti_z>0){ for($ti=1;$ti<=$ti_z;$ti++){ if(isset($_post["q".$t."-".$ti])){ if(is_array($_post["q".$t."-".$ti])){ foreach($_post["q".$t."-".$ti] AS $qp){ $qp--; $poits+=$questio[$t][$ti][$qp]["p"]; if($ti==1 AND $t==1){ $aswers_check++; }} if($ti==1 AND $t==1 AND $aswers_check>5){ //If greater tha 5, the reduce $poits*=$aswers_factor; }} else{ $poits+=$questio[$t][$ti][($_post[ "q".$t."-".$ti]-1)]["p"]; } } elseif($t==2 AND (!isset($_post["q".$t."- ".$ti]) OR $_POST["q".$t."-".$ti]==0)){ $mistake_radio[$ti]=1; }}}} Figure 4. Evaluatio of the selected cotet EVALUATION Two ITMC offerigs are categorized by meas of the tool. Afterwards, the offerigs were aalyzed by the authors ad compared to the results from the olie tool. The first offerig is a further educatio traiig which is offered by a major uiversity. Amog others, topics like cloud computig, busiess applicatio systems (hardware ad software block), maagemet techiques (soft skills) as well as process maagemet (busiess skills) are taught. It is a weekly offerig ruig over a total time period of 2 moths. The lecturers are solely experts with practical experiece. The atteded offerigs are supported by meas of a olie platform. A fial examiatio is ot offered. Oly a certificate of attedace is issued. Figure 5 shows the iput of parameters for the cotet key topics. Figure 5. Iput of parameters for the cotet key topics By eterig the parameters ad the resultig calculatio of the maturity level, the maturity level of 4 (Professioal) is the result. This level is characterized by a wide rage of professioally relevat topics. I additio, soft skills ad busiess skills are taught. The basic coditios of the offerig also show high quality (cf. Figure 6). Figure 6. Maturity level of the first further educatio offerig Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

8 I the secod example, a course offered by a private further educatio provider was subject of the ivestigatio. Here, the cotet key topic is IT security. Soft skills ad busiess skills are ot part of the course. The course takes 1-3 days; it is a pure presece offerig. Cotrary to the first further educatio offerig, o practical subjects are taught. However, the course eds with a certificate. Like i case of the first examied offerig, parameters are etered ito the olie tool as well. The evaluatio shows that this offerig reaches the maturity level 2 (Costitutive). This level is characterized by a higher extet of taught cotets. I particular cases, soft ad busiess skills are also part of the course. A relatio to the job descriptio of IT maagers or IT cosultats is recogizable. Nevertheless, the quality of the basic coditios is low. I the maual aalysis, all iformatio has to be summarized to oe maturity level by had. However, this is hardly possible without the support of a tool. This is precisely where the olie tool developed i this paper comes ito play; it supports the user by assigig a certai offer (or course) to the above-metioed scale of maturity levels. This eables the user i a simple way to evaluate the offer ad to compare it with others. Thus, the evaluatio shows that the maturity model ad the resultig olie tool solve the problem of comparig differet offers for further educatio. CONCLUSION, LIMITATIONS, AND OUTLOOK I this paper, a maturity model for further educatio offerigs i the field of ITMC has bee developed ad implemeted. The viability of maturity models ad their developmet has bee explaied. The procedure model of Kackstedt, Pöppelbuß ud Becker (Becker et al., 2009; Kackstedt et al., 2009) was used for costructig it. The FEMM had bee implemeted i a olie tool which all users ca access at ay time ad free of charge. By meas of this maturity model, people ow ca select specific further educatio offerigs which offer them a real added value i term of their professio. The FEMM represets a added value for every IT maager ad IT cosultat ad makes the savig potetials visible for compaies. The target group is give a certai trasparecy which does ot exist o the opaque market of ITMC offerigs. They get the opportuity to compare these offerigs ad thus to differetiate them from each other. Maually, this would hardly be possible. A further advatage is that the categorizatio of the target group also etails a more simple selectio of the further educatio offerig. By simplifyig the selectio, false ivestmets ad costs that may occur whe choosig the wrog further educatio offerig ca be avoided. The most importat advatage of the FEMM is that iterested persos ca udergo traiigs i a more specific way. This meas a higher gai i competece tha without the model. The beefit for the theory is also clearly visible. The process model has bee validated ad applied by the MMD. I additio, a ew artifact is made available to the sciece commuity. The developmet of the model has bee scietifically derived ad documeted i the cotext of this paper. Based o this article, further models ca be developed which, for example, cocetrate o other target groups. A rigorousess cocerig the scietific ad practical relevace is provable. The developmet of the FEMM also has limitatios. Idividual value judgmets of the persos fillig i the questioaires have ifluece o the desig process. Furthermore, it is ecessary to evaluate the model agai withi a determied time period. Sice the IT sector is very fast movig, the requiremets of the participats chage. I future, a permaet further developmet of the FEMM is ecessary. Above all, process aims ad operatig istructios shall be defied by meas of which the ext higher level ca be reached. The possibility to depose persoal prefereces whe calculatig the maturity levels is iteded as well. Nevertheless, the maturity model today already provides a feasible support i selectig further educatio offerigs. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This paper was writte i the cotext of the research projects EMOTEC (Empower Mobile Techical Customer Services), fuded by the Germa Federal Miistry of Educatio ad Research (BMBF), promotioal referece umber 01FL10023 ad IMUCON which is fuded by the Europea Regioal Developmet Fud (ERDF). The authors ackowledge the support by BMBF ad ERDF ad all ivolved project parters as well as the aoymous reviewers. REFERENCES 1. Agarwal, R. ad Ferratt, T. W. (2002) Edurig practices for maagig IT professioals, Commuicatios of the ACM, 45, 9, Becker, J., Kackstedt, R. ad Pöppelbuß, J. (2009) Developig Maturity Models for IT Maagemet, Busiess & Iformatio Systems Egieerig, 1, 3, Berge, Z. L. (2008) Why it is so hard to evaluate traiig i the workplace, Idustrial & Commercial Traiig, 40, 7, Proceedigs of the Nieteeth Americas Coferece o Iformatio Systems, Chicago, Illiois, August 15-17,

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