Academic literature on the topic 'Transactional requirements'

In Service-Oriented Computing (SOC), a business transaction comprises of several web services provided by multiple enterprises. The transactional behaviour of individual web services must be considered for service selection so that the composition of web services results in a reliable execution. It is difficult for a business analyst to envisage the desired business policies of a process in terms of transactional properties of the corresponding service. Hence, an abstract mechanism that enables the business analyst to specify the transactional properties in a simple manner must be introduced. Towards this objective, it is proposed to express the transactional properties in terms of the recoverability of services. The transactional web services are grouped into different levels of recoverability based on their recovery cost. The estimated recovery costs are empirically verified and validated.

The proposed techniques for wireless environments during the last decade have limited support for dynamically changing environments. Due to its nature, the mobile computing environment is extremely dynamic and subject to rapid and unpredictable changes. Similarly, the characteristics of mobile applications affect their transactional requirements. The challenge is to reflect on solutions offering more flexibility and adaptability. In this article, the contribution was focused mainly on the problem of atomic commit that ensures the atomicity property. The trail of adapting mobile transaction commit protocols to context changes has been explored. This has led to the formalization of a flexible transaction model CATSM that supports adaptable properties and a commit protocol CA-TCP that enables adaptation to application requirements and mobile context in terms of transactional properties and execution cost. An architecture based on the concept of adaptation policy has also been designed for the implementation of the proposed solution.

Purpose To highlight pertinent points in the frequently-asked questions (FAQs) issued on April 3, 2018 by the US Treasury Department Financial Crimes Enforcement Network concerning its Customer Due Diligence Requirements for Financial Institutions (“CDD Rule”), which were published on May 11, 2016 and became effective on May 11, 2018. Design/methodology/approach Discusses clarification and guidance in the FAQs concerning beneficial ownership requirements for administrative and internal accounts, claims for exclusion from the definition of legal entity customer, information requirements for pooled investment vehicles, the requirement for beneficial ownership information from foreign publicly-traded companies, information requirements for existing customers, certification of beneficial ownership information when existing accounts are renewed, requirements for refreshing existing beneficial ownership information, retention of beneficial ownership records, aggregation for currency transaction reporting, and requirements to understand the nature and purpose of a customer relationship. Findings Covered financial institutions and industry associations have sought clarification and guidance on a range of topics, several of which have been addressed in the FAQs. Originality/value Expert guidance from lawyers focused on regulatory, compliance and transactional issues for financial institutions.

Designing online transaction scheduling algorithms is challenging because one needs to reconcile three opposing requirements: (i) they should be fast, (ii) they should minimize make span and maximize throughput, and (iii) they should produce conflict-free transaction schedules. In this paper we present four online transaction scheduling algorithms, namely, RR, ETLB, AC, and AAC algorithm, we prove their correctness and time bounds, and we conduct a theoretical analysis of the transaction schedules they produce, using three different workloads (RDW, CFW, and WDW). Finally, we compare various features of the four algorithms. The results are as expected, as we go from RR, over ETLB and AC, to AAC algorithms, the quality of the resulting schedules increases at the cost of increase of algorithm?s time complexity.

Web services are defined independently of any execution context. Due to their inherent autonomy and heterogeneity, it is difficult to examine the behaviour of composite services, especially in case of failures. This paper is interested in ensuring composite services reliability. Reliable composition is defined as a composition where all instance executions are correct from a transactional and business point of view. In this paper, the authors propose a transactional approach for ensuring reliable Web service compositions. The approach integrates the expressivity power of workflow models and the reliability of Advanced Transactional Models (ATM). This method offers flexibility for designers to specify their requirements in terms of control structure, using workflow patterns, and execution correctness. Contrary to ATM, the authors start from the designers’ specifications to define the appropriate transactional mechanisms that ensure correct executions according to their requirements.

This paper is an adaptation of a longer report commissioned by the UK Data Service. The longer report contributes to on-going support for the Big Data Network – a programme funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The longer report can be found at doi:10.7207/twr16-02. This paper discusses requirements for preserving transactional data and the accompanying challenges facing the companies and institutions who aim to re-use these data for analysis or research. It presents a range of use cases – examples of transactional data – in order to describe the characteristics and difficulties of these ‘big’ data for long-term access. Based on the overarching trends discerned in these use cases, the paper will define the challenges facing the preservation of these data early in the curation lifecycle. It will point to potential solutions within current legal and ethical frameworks, but will focus on positioning the problem of re-using these data from a preservation perspective. In some contexts, these data could be fiscal in nature, deriving from business ‘transactions’. This paper, however, considers transactional data more broadly, addressing any data generated through interactions with a database system. Administrative data, for instance, is one important form of transactional data collected primarily for operational purposes, not for research. Examples of administrative data include information collected by government departments and other organisations when delivering a service (e.g. tax, health, or education) and can entail significant legal and ethical challenges for re-use. Transactional data, whether created by interactions between government database systems and citizens or by automatic sensors or machines, hold potential for future developments in academic research and consumer analytics. Re-use of reliable transactional data in research has the power to improve services and investments by organisations in many different sectors. Ultimately, however, these data will only lead to new discoveries and insights if they are effectively curated and preserved to ensure appropriate reproducibility. This paper explores challenges to this undertaking and approaches to ensuring long-term access.

Blockchain has peculiar characteristics among various digital technologies due to its decentralised and cryptographic properties. The combination of intelligent energy systems and blockchain can innovate new forms of transactive energy and navigate the digital journey to transform the future of renewable energy systems. This review studies various blockchain implementations in the smart energy domain and presents the findings on operational and transactional challenges in a blockchain-based smart renewable energy system. We also identify the differences between operations and transactions in smart energy systems. Furthermore, we identify the most pronounced cryptocurrencies in different studies. The findings highlighted various challenges concerning the implementation of blockchain-based smart energy systems. We identified how these challenges spawn across operational and transactional deliverables. Building on these findings, we discuss various challenges impacting the operational and transactional domains, which we believe have significant value for researchers, practitioners, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and start-ups. It will provide long-term benefits to humankind in fulfilling energy requirements, promoting sustainable energy use by developing countermeasures to combat identified challenges and leveraging the optimal use of blockchain technology.

Requirements elicitation is a key concern in information technology (IT) projects. Busi-ness intelligence systems (BI) have emerged and are now used widely in organizations. These systems are designed to support manager's decision-making in their business performance moni-toring activities and their requirements are very different from those of transactional systems. But past research did not consider these differences. Therefore, this paper relies on a comparative approach to assess differences in the level of use and perceived effectiveness of requirements analysis techniques in both business intelligence and transactional contexts. An exploratory quali-tative study was conducted with two phases of semi-structured interviews with experienced practitioners. Our results show that 28% of the techniques differ in their level of use or perceived effectiveness, thus demonstrating the specificity of decision makers' needs. Our results reveal the importance of using techniques appropriate to the context to adequately define requirements and improve projects’ success.

A key challenge in B2B and B2C applications involving dynamic composition of workflow activities is to ensure their reliable execution, in view of frequent failures in the internet environment where a composed service is executed. Existing approaches for transactional coordination of composite web services, consider forward and backward recovery alone, in order to maintain consistency in the case of failures. However, while achieving reliable execution, service cancellability is important due to the predominance of long running processes in business applications and frequently changing user requirements and business policies. If the execution of a long running process is not cancelled in the case of a changed requirement, the completion of the process results in wastage of resources and the outcome may no longer be useful. Hence, a transactional coordination framework named as Tx-FAITH is proposed to handle the cancellation recovery under the external interruption and cancellation of transactions. Tx-FAITH considers hierarchically composed web services whose components are recursively nested to form a composition and adapts a coordination approach based on context information. The proposed coordination and recovery approach when tested with 200 simultaneous users and with a database size of 0.35 million records, incurs only 10 seconds to process a request.

This study tested the relationship of the personality variable of hardiness to the organisational outcomes of job satisfaction, performance and intention to turnover. These relationships were also tested via two alternative transactional models, with a sequential and simultaneous structure for the appraisal and coping processes. Employees (N = 297) from a range of large New Zealand organisations completed a questionnaire on hardiness, appraisal, coping, affect and the three distal outcomes. Bivariate correlations revealed significant positive relationships between hardiness and job satisfaction, hardiness and performance, and a significant negative relationship with intention to turnover. Structural equation modelling results revealed that the direct relationship between hardiness and job satisfaction was the strongest path, which indicates that the higher an employees level of hardiness the higher their likely level of job satisfaction. The simultaneous model provided best fit to the data, revealing a positive path from hardiness through challenge appraisals to positive affect, and a negative path through threat appraisal and emotion-focused coping. This study concludes that higher levels of hardiness are associated with more positive situational appraisals and more effective coping responses.

It is a settled principle in our tax law that a court will not be deceived by the form of a transaction, but that effect will be given to the true substance thereof. This principle, embodied in the common law doctrine of substance over form, has been affirmed and applied by the judiciary for well over a century, especially in matters where taxpayers avoid the imposition of potential tax through simulating their transactions. If a court was satisfied that the parties subjectively intended to give effect to some other agreement between them, the court would only have regard to the actual rights and obligations created by the parties and impose tax on their real transactions in accordance with the provisions of a taxing statute. The law in respect of simulated transactions was clear. However, in Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service v NWK Ltd [2011 (2) SA 67 (SCA)] the court ostensibly introduced the requirement of commercial substance as a criterion to determine simulation. The requirement postulates that a transaction which lacks commercial substance will be regarded as simulated, irrespective of the parties’ genuine intention to give effect to the agreement between them. The requirement appears to overrule the entrenched test under the common law doctrine of substance over form and ostensibly established a new objective, independent common law criterion to determine simulation. The NWK requirement invariably ventures into the sphere of legitimate tax planning by virtue of its wide-ranging nature. Taxpayers need to understand the boundaries within which they may legitimately structure their affairs to reduce a potential tax burden as this advances the predictability of the law and respects the rule of law. NWK has, however, rendered the law on this subject rather uncertain and it is therefore crucial to establish the effect and applicability of the requirement to provide guidance to taxpayers on how to structure their affairs to legitimately avoid tax. The question, therefore, is whether the requirement is capable of independent application to determine simulation, or whether the requirement is only indicative of the presence of simulation in a transaction? If the latter, the common law position prior to the judgment will continue to prevail. In this dissertation, compelling arguments which illustrate the incapability of the requirement to function independently to determine simulation is researched, analysed and advanced. These arguments support the view that from a legal and logical point of view, the requirement cannot constitute an independent criterion to determine simulation. In the premise, it is submitted that the established common law doctrine of substance over form, as enunciated in Zandberg v Van Zyl [1910 AD 302], remains reflective of the law on simulated transactions and that the commercial substance requirement is only indicative of the presence of possible simulation in a transaction.
Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2013.
am2014
Mercantile Law
unrestricted

This thesis seeks to contribute to decision support for policy makers in the transport sector. In order to frame the papers and to relate them to the broad field of “policy analysis”, I have structured the papers around a simple framework with three decision levels: responsibility, policy gap, and policy measure. The thesis contains five papers. “Transaction and transition costs during the deregulation of the Swedish Railway market” is a paper in the transaction cost school. We studied the costs associated with the shift from monopoly to competition in the Swedish railway market, and we found that the change resulted in comparatively small transaction costs, but that transition and misalignment costs seem to be larger.  In “Parking policy under strategic interaction”, I examined the effect of strategic interaction between jurisdictions using an analytical model based on Hotelling’s linear city model. I conclude that the procedure for setting supply in most municipalities has a strong downward effect on municipal parking fees and that resource flow competition implies that the fees are higher than the efficient prices (but that the effect of the supply procedures makes this effect incongruous). In “Validation of aggregate reference forecasts for passenger transport”, we followed up the Swedish national forecasts for passenger transport produced from 1975 to 2009 and tried to explain the deviations. We found that the forecasts during the last decades have overestimated car traffic, and that this is due to input errors. The potential problem of using cross-sectional models for forecasting intertemporal changes seems to have been limited. In “The kilometer tax and Swedish industry - effects on sectors and regions”, we estimated factor demand elasticities in the Swedish manufacturing industry and used these to analyze the effects of a kilometer tax for heavy goods vehicles. We found that the kilometer tax leads to factor substitution in that it decreases transport demand and increases labor demand. The effects on output are less pronounced.   In “The effect of minimum parking requirements on the housing stock”, we used a model of the rental, asset, and construction markets. We quality-assured our assumptions and our results through interviews with market actors. In our example suburb, we found that parking norms reduced the housing stock by 1.2% and increased rents by 2.4%.

QC 20171026

The industrial rise of Web services and cloud services provides ample opportunities for business processes to be implemented with third-party components in a way that is rapid to develop, low-cost, and with reduced start-up risk. Service-oriented processes are business processes implemented by remotely provisioning third-party services: autonomous black box implementations of common software or hardware requirements. However, executing a workflow structure of these distributed and heterogeneous components creates several transactional concerns. These include ensuring an acceptable level of atomicity over long-running executions, handling a diverse range of potential fault types, and considering the various transactional properties of component services. In this thesis, we present three related approaches towards ensuring well-formed transactional behavior in service-oriented processes. We address the problem of identifying issues in the transactional behavior of service-oriented processes at design-time, to prevent costly issues or redevelopment at later stages. We adapt an expressive service-oriented process modeling approach that allows for developers to specify detailed transactional behavior. A set of rules can be applied to this model in order to identify transactional issues such as deadlock and invalid termination. Furthermore, developers can elicit complex and varied transactional requirements for the process with ease using our set of temporal logic templates. Model checking is used to ensure that process designs satisfy these rules and requirements. Recent innovations in cloud services have led to the proposal of Business Process as a Service (BPaaS). BPaaS offers common business processes as configurable cloud services, enabling clients to perform complex or resource expensive business operations in a simple pay-be-use manner. Both service providers and clients have concerns to be satisfied during BPaaS configuration. Providers must enforce domain constraints to restrict the service to valid configurations, while the client has their own application-dependent requirements for the service to meet. Using Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) analysis and model checking as formal methods, we devise a multi-step process that identifies a BPaaS configuration satisfying the requirements of both parties. These verification and configuration techniques have been implemented in a prototype tool called TL-VIEWS. We include six validation scenarios to demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods, using real Web and cloud services. An extensive performance analysis is performed for each model checking feature used by TL-VIEWS and the results indicate that our state-space reduction measures can decrease verification time for complex models by up to 98.63%.
Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Computer Science, 2016.

Functional requirements and the involved user interaction are dependent on the chosen concurrency management strategy of the encompassing business transaction. Use cases are the specification technique of choice for functional requirements documentation. Unfortunately, the current state of the art in use case writing does not provide a proper means to express business transaction specifications. In order to overcome this shortcoming we adapt the use case notation to allow business transactions to be defined in terms of its boundaries, affected resources and the chosen concurrency management strategy. The practicality of our extension is illustrated by a comprehensive case study. Lessons learnt from the case study are presented in the form of a set of heuristics and practical guidelines.

碩士
遠東科技大學
創新設計與創業管理研究所
103
Different users have their own special demand of information system. Unfortunately, these requirements of different roles usually conflict with one another. Therefore, how to solve users' demand conflicting is an important problem in the system development. The UML notations usually are applied to analyze and design information systems, but it is limited that the UML analysis and resolve the conflicts of different roles requirement. In the past, the TRIZ methodology often was applied to industrial design and product development. TRIZ methodology could improve one or more characteristics without prejudice to other features. In this study, the application of TRIZ rules would be addressed to the contradictions of the different users’ requirements in system development combined with the Use case notation of UML system analysis and design methods. The results were found that TRIZ contradiction matrix in which parameters were mapped to system characteristics could propose solutions for users. These solutions combined with design patterns could effectively be used to solve demand conflicts and as reference for system development.

The diploma thesis "The Payment services and their legal regulation" deals with payment services, their definition and description of the legislation. Furthermore it treats payment services contract and focuses further on payment transactions (transfer of funds), in particular payment orders and their requirements. The aim of the paper is analysis of various payment services and related institutions, including a short presentation of persons authorized to provide a payment service. The paper itself consists of introduction, three chapters and conclusion. The author presents the topic and his motives along with short example of literature in the introduction. First chapter deals with a theoretical introduction to the topic and explains key concepts and relations, including specific notion of payment (contact). Furthermore, the first chapter includes description of the persons authorized to provide payment services and introduces legislation dealing with payment services, including European legislation and its comparison with the preceding regulation covering payments. In the second part, the author presents, defines and describes the various payment services, including examples. Also so-called negative list of payment services, as results from the Payment Act, is presented. The second chapter also...

The textbook is devoted to accounting financial accounting in agriculture. For each chapter, tests and tasks are given to determine the correspondence of invoices for business transactions and, conversely, the content of business transactions for a given correspondence of invoices. Meets the requirements of the federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. For students and teachers of economic specialties and students of advanced training courses.

The textbook deals with the main issues of setting up accounting of commodity transactions in wholesale and retail organizations, public catering enterprises, including the system of consumer cooperation. This takes into account the features of the organization of inventory accounting in the book and magazine form. Meets the requirements of the Federal state educational standards of secondary vocational education. Recommended for students of the specialty Economics and accounting (by industry)" to study the discipline "Features of accounting in organizations of various types of activity". It can be useful for practitioners of trade and public catering."

The textbook describes the procedure of maintenance of accounting and tax accounting transactions with underlying securities (shares, bonds, bills of exchange) to organizations that are not professional participants of the securities market. Describes the methodology and fundamental analysis of the stock and methods used to estimate their fair value. It considers the basic tools of technical analysis of the securities market. Disclosed method of analysis of debt securities. The method of audit of operations with securities. Meets the requirements of Federal state educational standards of higher education of the last generation. For students studying in field of study 38.03.01 "Economics", practitioners in the field of accounting and analysis, as well as individuals interested in the analysis of debt and equity financial tools to create a personal investment portfolio.

The textbook deals with a set of issues related to the organization of foreign economic activity of a modern Russian enterprise. The article covers the basics of foreign economic activity, organization of international commercial operations, customs and international transportation, reveals the essence and features of international marketing, and shows the role of the state in managing foreign economic activity. The features of entering the world market, choosing a foreign partner, pricing, preparation and execution of foreign trade transactions are shown. Various aspects of insurance of foreign economic activity are revealed. Meets the requirements of Federal state educational standards of higher education of the latest generation. For bachelors and masters of higher education institutions studying in economic areas, as well as for students of the system of professional development and retraining, specialists in Economics, managers of various levels.

Over the past fifty years, (financial) capitalism has brought about an enormous growth in wealth. Millions around the world have been lifted out of poverty. However, the downsides of the present global economic constitution are rapidly becoming evident as well. Rising inequality, soaring debt levels, and repeated cycles of boom and bust have proven to be some of its key characteristics. After the 2008 crisis brought the financial system to the brink of collapse, new regulations, stricter supervision, higher capital requirements, and ethical codes were introduced to the sector. Today we find ourselves in the middle of another economic boom. Yet one pressing question remains: has anything changed? Have the (necessary) repairs fixed the flaws in the system? Or do we require even more fundamental reforms? This volume builds on the observation that society has co-evolved with the financial sector. We cannot simply claim that 'finance' was the sole instigator of the 2008 crisis. Society itself has become financialized; the process of replacing relations, structures of trust and reciprocity, by anonymous and systemic transactions. The volume poses vital questions with regard to this societal development. How did this happen? And more importantly: is change possible? If yes, how? This volume contains 21 essays on the themes mentioned above. Authors include Jan Peter Balkenende, Wouter Bos, Lans Bovenberg, Govert Buijs, and Herman Van Rompuy. A recommendation by Dutch Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra is also included.

This chapter deals with the seven general duties of directors as spelled out in the Companies Act 2006: duty to act within powers; duty to promote the success of the company; duty to exercise independent judgement; duty to exercise reasonable care, skill, and diligence; duty to avoid conflicts of interest; duty not to accept benefits from third parties; and duty to declare interest in proposed transaction or arrangement. After providing a background on the codification of directors’ general duties, the chapter turns to the fiduciary duty of directors, including shadow and de facto directors. It also examines statutory requirements involving property transactions; loans, quasi-loans, and credit transactions; associated companies and persons ‘connected’ with a director; equitable remedies for breach of duty; the ways in which directors can be relieved of liability; and secondary liability with regards to property.

AbstractMergers and acquisitions (M&A) involve transactional risks, no matter how extensive and accurate the due diligence process is. This raises the question as to how transacting parties can be protected. Representations and warranties and indemnification provisions as well as escrow requirements, typically included in the acquisition agreement, may often prove to be inefficient and inadequate to this end. When negotiating these terms, transacting parties clearly have contrasting interests, and there could also be cases, especially in public company transactions or distressed sales, where the buyer may have no effective remedies against the seller after the closing.To overcome problems associated with seller’s indemnities, transacting parties increasingly avail themselves of some innovative insurance products, generally known under the catch-all name of “transactional insurance,” that provide coverage for risks arising out of extraordinary corporate transactions, including risks related to breaches of representations and warranties, tax liabilities, pending or potential litigation and other contingent liabilities.This chapter explores the role that insurance can play in managing transactional risk, discussing whether it may represent an efficient alternative to more traditional, contractual solutions like indemnity and escrow requirements. The discussion suggests that transactional insurance can serve as an effective risk-transfer tool in M&A, which may act as a supplement or also a substitute for seller indemnity obligations. By spreading transactional risk, insurance can facilitate M&A transactions and enhance the overall social benefit, providing economic security at a fraction of the cost that it would take for transacting parties to protect themselves. No problems of adverse selection or moral hazard peculiar to the M&A context seem to arise and a steadily increasing use of insurance in M&A can be expected.

In current supply chain operations, the transactions among suppliers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are sometimes inefficient and unreliable due to limited information exchange and lack of knowledge about the supplier capabilities. For the OEMs, majority of downstream operations are sequential, requiring the availabilities of all the parts on time to ensure successful executions of production schedules. Therefore, accurate prediction of the delivery times of purchase orders (POs) is critical to satisfying these requirements. However, such prediction is challenging due to the suppliers’ distributed locations, time-varying capabilities and capacities, and unexpected changes in raw materials procurements. We address some of these challenges by developing supervised machine learning models in the form of Random Forests and Quantile Regression Forests that are trained on historical PO transactional data. Further, given the fact that many predictors are categorical variables, we apply a dimension reduction method to identify the most influential category levels. Results on real-world OEM data show effective performance with substantially lower prediction errors than supplier-provided delivery time estimates.

The goal of Quality Engineering is to design quality into every product, service and manufacturing process. In particular a methodology is claimed to be very important for Quality design and management: Quality Function Deployment (QFD). QFD is a structured methodology and mathematical tool used to identify and quantify customer requirements and translate them into key critical parameters of systems and processes. The aim of the paper is to show how a quality management approach can support the increase of the process capability in a global vision of every business. QFD represents one of the most successful tools used in industrial management. By using actual and real cases, the paper shows the effectiveness of the QFD in improving both the management of a process and its capability. Four examples are presented. They take into account different environments: pharmaceutical, mechanical, healthcare and transportation markets. The first case study is deployed in a pharmaceutical company to satisfy the new customer requirements for the introduction of a nasal spray product on the Japanese market. The second example is applied to the automotive market for the production of air-cooling devices for deluxe vehicles. Finally, the other two cases show the implementation of the QFD tool in transactional processes, such as Cargo Center activities and healthcare services.

Сделка выступает волеизъявлением, которое может быть выражено в различных формах. В статье рассматривается проблема гражданско-правовой природы устных сделок. Изучение заключения устной сделки, а также требований, предъявляемых к ней - поможет обозначить «плюсы» и «минусы» данной сделки. A transaction is an expression of will that can be expressed in various forms. The article deals with the problem of the civil nature of oral transactions. Studying the conclusion of an oral transaction, as well as the requirements for it, will help identify the «pros» and «cons» of this transaction.

Quality may be defined as a set of requirements a system should satisfy in order to meet customer’s needs. Control of these requirements assures satisfaction of relevant standards, and consequently the performance levels of a manufacturing/transactional stream. In this context it is fundamental to define control procedures and reliable measurement systems adequate for adopting improvement action as soon as anomalies and dysfunctions are detected. This paper deals with a study of measurement variability occurring during practical exploitation of CMMs (Coordinate Measuring Machines). These measurement systems are designed to probe selected points of workpiece surface, and compare the relevant coordinates or derived quantities with specified values; capability and versatility of CMMs justify their widespread use in industry. Evaluation of CMM measurement variability is however often awkward owing to a number of factors, such as e.g. measurement task, environment, operator and measurement procedures. A round robin exercise involving two industrial laboratories was planned in order to address these issues. Three typical machine tool parts were circulated among participants, who were asked to measure linear dimensions as well as tolerances at specified locations, according to an agreed upon schedule. Results of measurements, performed by experienced CMM industrial users, were analyzed in order to bring out discrepancies, and suggest remedial actions in the light of information gathered. Several factors involving metrological as well as other aspects were observed to cause major discrepancies, yielding in turn information on where to look for potential sources of trouble. Conclusions were drawn in terms of operating procedure, leading to improved information on origin and components of variability.

Realities such as the COVID-19 pandemic have expedited the move to online operations, highlighting the undeniable fact that the world is continuing to go digital. This emphasises the need for policymakers to regulate in a manner that allows them to harness digital trade benefits while also avoiding associated risk. However, given that digital trade remains unco-ordinated globally, with countries adopting different approaches to policy issues, national regulatory divergence on the matter continues, placing limits on the benefits that countries can obtain from digital trade. Given these disparities, ahead of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Phase II Negotiations, African countries have been considering the best way to harmonise regulations on issues related to digital trade. To do this effectively, AfCFTA members need to identify where divergencies exist in their domestic regulatory systems. This will allow AfCFTA members to determine where harmonisation is possible, as well as what is needed to achieve such harmonisation. This report analyses the domestic regulations and policies of four focus countries – South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Senegal – comparing their regulatory approaches to five policy issues: i) regulation of online transactions; ii) cross-border data flows, data localisation, and personal data protection; iii) access to source code and technology transfer; iv) intermediary liability; and v) customs duties on electronic transmissions. The study highlights where divergencies exist in adopted approaches, indicating the need for the four countries – and AfCFTA members in general – to carefully consider the implications of the divergences, and determine where it is possible and beneficial to harmonise approaches. This was intended to encourage AfCFTA member states to take ownership of these issues and reflect on the reforms needed. As seen in Table 1 below, the study shows that the four countries diverge on most of the five policy issues. There are differences in how all four countries regulate online transactions – that is, e-signatures and online consumer protection. Nigeria was the only country out of the four to recognise all types of e-signatures as legally equivalent. Kenya and Senegal only recognise specific e-signatures, which are either issued or validated by a recognised institution, while South Africa adopts a mixed approach, where it recognises all e-signatures as legally valid, but provides higher evidentiary weight to certain types of e-signatures. Only South Africa and Senegal have specific regulations relating to online consumer protection, while Nigeria and Kenya do not have any clear rules. With regards to cross border data flows, data localisation, and personal data protection, the study shows that all four focus countries have regulations that consist of elements borrowed from the European Union (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In particular, this was regarding the need for the data subject's consent, and also the adequacy requirement. Interestingly, the study also shows that South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria also adopt data localisation measures, although at different levels of strictness. South Africa’s data localisation laws are mostly imposed on data that is considered critical – which is then required to be processed within South African borders – while Nigeria requires all data to be processed and stored locally, using local servers. Kenya imposes data localisation measures that are mostly linked to its priority for data privacy. Out of the four focus countries, Senegal is the only country that does not impose any data localisation laws. Although the study shows that all four countries share a position on customs duties on electronic transmissions, it is also interesting to note that none of the four countries currently have domestic regulations or policies on the subject. The report concludes by highlighting that, as the AfCFTA Phase II Negotiations aim to arrive at harmonisation and to improve intra-African trade and international trade, AfCFTA members should reflect on their national policies and domestic regulations to determine where harmonisation is needed, and whether AfCFTA is the right platform for achieving this efficiently.

A universal basic income (UBI) is defined as a universal, unconditional cash payment that is made regularly, is sufficient to live on, is not means tested, carries no work requirements and is paid on an individual basis. This study examines the international evidence on universal basic incomes and identifies key issues for consideration in the design of any UBI pilot for Ireland. Despite the mainstream interest in UBI as a potential policy tool, relatively little is known about the associated consequences of such policies. Even the definition of a UBI appears to be poorly understood and is often misused in the public discourse. Several pilot studies have been recently implemented across different countries. However, some pilot studies depart from the accepted definition of UBI. For example, some are not universal, in that they only target a specific subgroup of the population and/or have eligibility restrictions based on earnings. Others provide a relatively low level of payment, which may fall short of what an individual could reasonably be expected to live on. There are a number of potentially positive impacts associated with a UBI. A universal, unconditional payment could eliminate the stigma associated with welfare receipt. If replacing existing welfare payments, a UBI would also involve lower transaction costs, both on the recipient (in terms of the application procedure) and on Government (in terms of administering the payment). Universal, unconditional payments would also avoid situations where people choose not to work in order to retain means-tested benefits. UBI could give individuals the freedom to turn down or leave insecure, exploitative or low-paid work in pursuit of better or improved work opportunities. In addition, it would mean that persons in informal and often unpaid work, such as childcare and eldercare, which is mostly done by women, receive some compensation for their labour. Empirical results from several pilot studies have found evidence of positive health impacts following the implementation of a UBI. In terms of potential disadvantages, a UBI, by definition, may not target those that are most in need, as a large percentage of recipients will be high-earning individuals. Furthermore, the cost of a UBI is likely to be very expensive, even if other existing benefits (such as unemployment benefits) are no longer required. The net impacts of a UBI on labour supply are unclear, with both positive and negative influences on labour market participation potentially arising as a consequence of a UBI. In this study, we undertake some basic calculations relating to four possible UBI approaches, all of which would involve an unconditional payment to every individual aged over 18 in Ireland.

1.1 Macroeconomic summary Economic recovery has consistently outperformed the technical staff’s expectations following a steep decline in activity in the second quarter of 2020. At the same time, total and core inflation rates have fallen and remain at low levels, suggesting that a significant element of the reactivation of Colombia’s economy has been related to recovery in potential GDP. This would support the technical staff’s diagnosis of weak aggregate demand and ample excess capacity. The most recently available data on 2020 growth suggests a contraction in economic activity of 6.8%, lower than estimates from January’s Monetary Policy Report (-7.2%). High-frequency indicators suggest that economic performance was significantly more dynamic than expected in January, despite mobility restrictions and quarantine measures. This has also come amid declines in total and core inflation, the latter of which was below January projections if controlling for certain relative price changes. This suggests that the unexpected strength of recent growth contains elements of demand, and that excess capacity, while significant, could be lower than previously estimated. Nevertheless, uncertainty over the measurement of excess capacity continues to be unusually high and marked both by variations in the way different economic sectors and spending components have been affected by the pandemic, and by uneven price behavior. The size of excess capacity, and in particular the evolution of the pandemic in forthcoming quarters, constitute substantial risks to the macroeconomic forecast presented in this report. Despite the unexpected strength of the recovery, the technical staff continues to project ample excess capacity that is expected to remain on the forecast horizon, alongside core inflation that will likely remain below the target. Domestic demand remains below 2019 levels amid unusually significant uncertainty over the size of excess capacity in the economy. High national unemployment (14.6% for February 2021) reflects a loose labor market, while observed total and core inflation continue to be below 2%. Inflationary pressures from the exchange rate are expected to continue to be low, with relatively little pass-through on inflation. This would be compatible with a negative output gap. Excess productive capacity and the expectation of core inflation below the 3% target on the forecast horizon provide a basis for an expansive monetary policy posture. The technical staff’s assessment of certain shocks and their expected effects on the economy, as well as the presence of several sources of uncertainty and related assumptions about their potential macroeconomic impacts, remain a feature of this report. The coronavirus pandemic, in particular, continues to affect the public health environment, and the reopening of Colombia’s economy remains incomplete. The technical staff’s assessment is that the COVID-19 shock has affected both aggregate demand and supply, but that the impact on demand has been deeper and more persistent. Given this persistence, the central forecast accounts for a gradual tightening of the output gap in the absence of new waves of contagion, and as vaccination campaigns progress. The central forecast continues to include an expected increase of total and core inflation rates in the second quarter of 2021, alongside the lapse of the temporary price relief measures put in place in 2020. Additional COVID-19 outbreaks (of uncertain duration and intensity) represent a significant risk factor that could affect these projections. Additionally, the forecast continues to include an upward trend in sovereign risk premiums, reflected by higher levels of public debt that in the wake of the pandemic are likely to persist on the forecast horizon, even in the context of a fiscal adjustment. At the same time, the projection accounts for the shortterm effects on private domestic demand from a fiscal adjustment along the lines of the one currently being proposed by the national government. This would be compatible with a gradual recovery of private domestic demand in 2022. The size and characteristics of the fiscal adjustment that is ultimately implemented, as well as the corresponding market response, represent another source of forecast uncertainty. Newly available information offers evidence of the potential for significant changes to the macroeconomic scenario, though without altering the general diagnosis described above. The most recent data on inflation, growth, fiscal policy, and international financial conditions suggests a more dynamic economy than previously expected. However, a third wave of the pandemic has delayed the re-opening of Colombia’s economy and brought with it a deceleration in economic activity. Detailed descriptions of these considerations and subsequent changes to the macroeconomic forecast are presented below. The expected annual decline in GDP (-0.3%) in the first quarter of 2021 appears to have been less pronounced than projected in January (-4.8%). Partial closures in January to address a second wave of COVID-19 appear to have had a less significant negative impact on the economy than previously estimated. This is reflected in figures related to mobility, energy demand, industry and retail sales, foreign trade, commercial transactions from selected banks, and the national statistics agency’s (DANE) economic tracking indicator (ISE). Output is now expected to have declined annually in the first quarter by 0.3%. Private consumption likely continued to recover, registering levels somewhat above those from the previous year, while public consumption likely increased significantly. While a recovery in investment in both housing and in other buildings and structures is expected, overall investment levels in this case likely continued to be low, and gross fixed capital formation is expected to continue to show significant annual declines. Imports likely recovered to again outpace exports, though both are expected to register significant annual declines. Economic activity that outpaced projections, an increase in oil prices and other export products, and an expected increase in public spending this year account for the upward revision to the 2021 growth forecast (from 4.6% with a range between 2% and 6% in January, to 6.0% with a range between 3% and 7% in April). As a result, the output gap is expected to be smaller and to tighten more rapidly than projected in the previous report, though it is still expected to remain in negative territory on the forecast horizon. Wide forecast intervals reflect the fact that the future evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic remains a significant source of uncertainty on these projections. The delay in the recovery of economic activity as a result of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the first quarter appears to have been less significant than projected in the January report. The central forecast scenario expects this improved performance to continue in 2021 alongside increased consumer and business confidence. Low real interest rates and an active credit supply would also support this dynamic, and the overall conditions would be expected to spur a recovery in consumption and investment. Increased growth in public spending and public works based on the national government’s spending plan (Plan Financiero del Gobierno) are other factors to consider. Additionally, an expected recovery in global demand and higher projected prices for oil and coffee would further contribute to improved external revenues and would favor investment, in particular in the oil sector. Given the above, the technical staff’s 2021 growth forecast has been revised upward from 4.6% in January (range from 2% to 6%) to 6.0% in April (range from 3% to 7%). These projections account for the potential for the third wave of COVID-19 to have a larger and more persistent effect on the economy than the previous wave, while also supposing that there will not be any additional significant waves of the pandemic and that mobility restrictions will be relaxed as a result. Economic growth in 2022 is expected to be 3%, with a range between 1% and 5%. This figure would be lower than projected in the January report (3.6% with a range between 2% and 6%), due to a higher base of comparison given the upward revision to expected GDP in 2021. This forecast also takes into account the likely effects on private demand of a fiscal adjustment of the size currently being proposed by the national government, and which would come into effect in 2022. Excess in productive capacity is now expected to be lower than estimated in January but continues to be significant and affected by high levels of uncertainty, as reflected in the wide forecast intervals. The possibility of new waves of the virus (of uncertain intensity and duration) represents a significant downward risk to projected GDP growth, and is signaled by the lower limits of the ranges provided in this report. Inflation (1.51%) and inflation excluding food and regulated items (0.94%) declined in March compared to December, continuing below the 3% target. The decline in inflation in this period was below projections, explained in large part by unanticipated increases in the costs of certain foods (3.92%) and regulated items (1.52%). An increase in international food and shipping prices, increased foreign demand for beef, and specific upward pressures on perishable food supplies appear to explain a lower-than-expected deceleration in the consumer price index (CPI) for foods. An unexpected increase in regulated items prices came amid unanticipated increases in international fuel prices, on some utilities rates, and for regulated education prices. The decline in annual inflation excluding food and regulated items between December and March was in line with projections from January, though this included downward pressure from a significant reduction in telecommunications rates due to the imminent entry of a new operator. When controlling for the effects of this relative price change, inflation excluding food and regulated items exceeds levels forecast in the previous report. Within this indicator of core inflation, the CPI for goods (1.05%) accelerated due to a reversion of the effects of the VAT-free day in November, which was largely accounted for in February, and possibly by the transmission of a recent depreciation of the peso on domestic prices for certain items (electric and household appliances). For their part, services prices decelerated and showed the lowest rate of annual growth (0.89%) among the large consumer baskets in the CPI. Within the services basket, the annual change in rental prices continued to decline, while those services that continue to experience the most significant restrictions on returning to normal operations (tourism, cinemas, nightlife, etc.) continued to register significant price declines. As previously mentioned, telephone rates also fell significantly due to increased competition in the market. Total inflation is expected to continue to be affected by ample excesses in productive capacity for the remainder of 2021 and 2022, though less so than projected in January. As a result, convergence to the inflation target is now expected to be somewhat faster than estimated in the previous report, assuming the absence of significant additional outbreaks of COVID-19. The technical staff’s year-end inflation projections for 2021 and 2022 have increased, suggesting figures around 3% due largely to variation in food and regulated items prices. The projection for inflation excluding food and regulated items also increased, but remains below 3%. Price relief measures on indirect taxes implemented in 2020 are expected to lapse in the second quarter of 2021, generating a one-off effect on prices and temporarily affecting inflation excluding food and regulated items. However, indexation to low levels of past inflation, weak demand, and ample excess productive capacity are expected to keep core inflation below the target, near 2.3% at the end of 2021 (previously 2.1%). The reversion in 2021 of the effects of some price relief measures on utility rates from 2020 should lead to an increase in the CPI for regulated items in the second half of this year. Annual price changes are now expected to be higher than estimated in the January report due to an increased expected path for fuel prices and unanticipated increases in regulated education prices. The projection for the CPI for foods has increased compared to the previous report, taking into account certain factors that were not anticipated in January (a less favorable agricultural cycle, increased pressure from international prices, and transport costs). Given the above, year-end annual inflation for 2021 and 2022 is now expected to be 3% and 2.8%, respectively, which would be above projections from January (2.3% and 2,7%). For its part, expected inflation based on analyst surveys suggests year-end inflation in 2021 and 2022 of 2.8% and 3.1%, respectively. There remains significant uncertainty surrounding the inflation forecasts included in this report due to several factors: 1) the evolution of the pandemic; 2) the difficulty in evaluating the size and persistence of excess productive capacity; 3) the timing and manner in which price relief measures will lapse; and 4) the future behavior of food prices. Projected 2021 growth in foreign demand (4.4% to 5.2%) and the supposed average oil price (USD 53 to USD 61 per Brent benchmark barrel) were both revised upward. An increase in long-term international interest rates has been reflected in a depreciation of the peso and could result in relatively tighter external financial conditions for emerging market economies, including Colombia. Average growth among Colombia’s trade partners was greater than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020. This, together with a sizable fiscal stimulus approved in the United States and the onset of a massive global vaccination campaign, largely explains the projected increase in foreign demand growth in 2021. The resilience of the goods market in the face of global crisis and an expected normalization in international trade are additional factors. These considerations and the expected continuation of a gradual reduction of mobility restrictions abroad suggest that Colombia’s trade partners could grow on average by 5.2% in 2021 and around 3.4% in 2022. The improved prospects for global economic growth have led to an increase in current and expected oil prices. Production interruptions due to a heavy winter, reduced inventories, and increased supply restrictions instituted by producing countries have also contributed to the increase. Meanwhile, market forecasts and recent Federal Reserve pronouncements suggest that the benchmark interest rate in the U.S. will remain stable for the next two years. Nevertheless, a significant increase in public spending in the country has fostered expectations for greater growth and inflation, as well as increased uncertainty over the moment in which a normalization of monetary policy might begin. This has been reflected in an increase in long-term interest rates. In this context, emerging market economies in the region, including Colombia, have registered increases in sovereign risk premiums and long-term domestic interest rates, and a depreciation of local currencies against the dollar. Recent outbreaks of COVID-19 in several of these economies; limits on vaccine supply and the slow pace of immunization campaigns in some countries; a significant increase in public debt; and tensions between the United States and China, among other factors, all add to a high level of uncertainty surrounding interest rate spreads, external financing conditions, and the future performance of risk premiums. The impact that this environment could have on the exchange rate and on domestic financing conditions represent risks to the macroeconomic and monetary policy forecasts. Domestic financial conditions continue to favor recovery in economic activity. The transmission of reductions to the policy interest rate on credit rates has been significant. The banking portfolio continues to recover amid circumstances that have affected both the supply and demand for loans, and in which some credit risks have materialized. Preferential and ordinary commercial interest rates have fallen to a similar degree as the benchmark interest rate. As is generally the case, this transmission has come at a slower pace for consumer credit rates, and has been further delayed in the case of mortgage rates. Commercial credit levels stabilized above pre-pandemic levels in March, following an increase resulting from significant liquidity requirements for businesses in the second quarter of 2020. The consumer credit portfolio continued to recover and has now surpassed February 2020 levels, though overall growth in the portfolio remains low. At the same time, portfolio projections and default indicators have increased, and credit establishment earnings have come down. Despite this, credit disbursements continue to recover and solvency indicators remain well above regulatory minimums. 1.2 Monetary policy decision In its meetings in March and April the BDBR left the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 1.75%.

Banco de la República provides a comprehensive overview of Colombia’s finan¬cial infrastructure in its Payment Systems Report, which is an important product of the work it does to oversee that infrastructure. The figures published in this edition of the report are for the year 2020, a pandemic period in which the con¬tainment measures designed and adopted to alleviate the strain on the health system led to a sharp reduction in economic activity and consumption in Colom¬bia, as was the case in most countries. At the start of the pandemic, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República adopted decisions that were necessary to supply the market with ample liquid¬ity in pesos and US dollars to guarantee market stability, protect the payment system and preserve the supply of credit. The pronounced growth in mone¬tary aggregates reflected an increased preference for liquidity, which Banco de la República addressed at the right time. These decisions were implemented through operations that were cleared and settled via the financial infrastructure. The second section of this report, following the introduction, offers an analysis of how the various financial infrastructures in Colombia have evolved and per¬formed. One of the highlights is the large-value payment system (CUD), which registered more momentum in 2020 than during the previous year, mainly be¬cause of an increase in average daily remunerated deposits made with Banco de la República by the General Directorate of Public Credit and the National Treasury (DGCPTN), as well as more activity in the sell/buy-back market with sovereign debt. Consequently, with more activity in the CUD, the Central Securi¬ties Depository (DCV) experienced an added impetus sparked by an increase in the money market for bonds and securities placed on the primary market by the national government. The value of operations cleared and settled through the Colombian Central Counterparty (CRCC) continues to grow, propelled largely by peso/dollar non-deliverable forward (NDF) contracts. With respect to the CRCC, it is important to note this clearing house has been in charge of managing risks and clearing and settling operations in the peso/dollar spot market since the end of last year, following its merger with the Foreign Exchange Clearing House of Colombia (CCDC). Since the final quarter of 2020, the CRCC has also been re¬sponsible for clearing and settlement in the equities market, which was former¬ly done by the Colombian Stock Exchange (BVC). The third section of this report provides an all-inclusive view of payments in the market for goods and services; namely, transactions carried out by members of the public and non-financial institutions. During the pandemic, inter- and intra-bank electronic funds transfers, which originate mostly with companies, increased in both the number and value of transactions with respect to 2019. However, debit and credit card payments, which are made largely by private citizens, declined compared to 2019. The incidence of payment by check contin¬ue to drop, exhibiting quite a pronounced downward trend during the past last year. To supplement to the information on electronic funds transfers, section three includes a segment (Box 4) characterizing the population with savings and checking accounts, based on data from a survey by Banco de la República con-cerning the perception of the use of payment instruments in 2019. There also is segment (Box 2) on the growth in transactions with a mobile wallet provided by a company specialized in electronic deposits and payments (Sedpe). It shows the number of users and the value of their transactions have increased since the wallet was introduced in late 2017, particularly during the pandemic. In addition, there is a diagnosis of the effects of the pandemic on the payment patterns of the population, based on data related to the use of cash in circu¬lation, payments with electronic instruments, and consumption and consumer confidence. The conclusion is that the collapse in the consumer confidence in¬dex and the drop in private consumption led to changes in the public’s pay¬ment patterns. Credit and debit card purchases were down, while payments for goods and services through electronic funds transfers increased. These findings, coupled with the considerable increase in cash in circulation, might indicate a possible precautionary cash hoarding by individuals and more use of cash as a payment instrument. There is also a segment (in Focus 3) on the major changes introduced in regulations on the retail-value payment system in Colombia, as provided for in Decree 1692 of December 2020. The fourth section of this report refers to the important innovations and tech¬nological changes that have occurred in the retail-value payment system. Four themes are highlighted in this respect. The first is a key point in building the financial infrastructure for instant payments. It involves of the design and im¬plementation of overlay schemes, a technological development that allows the various participants in the payment chain to communicate openly. The result is a high degree of interoperability among the different payment service providers. The second topic explores developments in the international debate on central bank digital currency (CBDC). The purpose is to understand how it could impact the retail-value payment system and the use of cash if it were to be issued. The third topic is related to new forms of payment initiation, such as QR codes, bio¬metrics or near field communication (NFC) technology. These seemingly small changes can have a major impact on the user’s experience with the retail-value payment system. The fourth theme is the growth in payments via mobile tele¬phone and the internet. The report ends in section five with a review of two papers on applied research done at Banco de la República in 2020. The first analyzes the extent of the CRCC’s capital, acknowledging the relevant role this infrastructure has acquired in pro¬viding clearing and settlement services for various financial markets in Colom¬bia. The capital requirements defined for central counterparties in some jurisdic¬tions are explored, and the risks to be hedged are identified from the standpoint of the service these type of institutions offer to the market and those associated with their corporate activity. The CRCC’s capital levels are analyzed in light of what has been observed in the European Union’s regulations, and the conclusion is that the CRCC has a scheme of security rings very similar to those applied internationally and the extent of its capital exceeds what is stipulated in Colombian regulations, being sufficient to hedge other risks. The second study presents an algorithm used to identify and quantify the liquidity sources that CUD’s participants use under normal conditions to meet their daily obligations in the local financial market. This algorithm can be used as a tool to monitor intraday liquidity. Leonardo Villar Gómez Governor