^{Award winner Stefanie Tegtmeier with Dean Professor Siegfried Kirsch, prize donor Matthias Mehrtens from Kärcher and her supervising professor André Schekelmann (from left).}

Sponsorship award for contribution to digitization in companies

Mönchengladbach, October 5. This is the first time that a woman has received the coveted sponsorship award for the best degree in business information systems at the Hochschule Niederrhein: Stefanie Tegtmeier convinced the jury with her Bachelor's thesis on requirements processes, which she wrote at the Mönchengladbach utility company NEW AG. Her work not only received a very good grade, but also earned her 1000 euros, donated by Alfred Kärcher SE & Co. KG.

The 24-year-old award winner, who was born in Viersen and now lives in Mönchengladbach, studied business information technology in the dual system. This means that she completed her apprenticeship as an IT specialist in application development in parallel to her studies. She completed this teaching education at NEW AG in the summer of 2015. "During this time, we already developed a future topic for my thesis," says Stefanie Tegtmeier.

This was: redesigning the requirements process at NEW. Tegtmeier analyzed all the steps from the receipt of a requirement to its implementation, and in the end defined a process that will be used as a guide for the more than 100 employees in NEW's IT department. Tegtmeier defined roles and responsibilities, and in the process also developed the role of a requirements manager at NEW. She has held that job herself since summer 2018.

"I am very happy that I can now contribute to implementing the process I developed myself at NEW," said the 24-year-old at the award ceremony on the Mönchengladbach campus. Prof. Dr. André Schekelmann, supervisor of the thesis, praised the work as both scientifically challenging and practical. "I'm always pleased when I see particularly committed students again later, especially when this is the case in the context of an award ceremony."

Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, who is responsible for IT at Kärcher as Vice President Information Systems and is a contract lecturer at the Hochschule Niederrhein, knows the importance of the topic: "In the age of digitalization and start-ups, requirements management is a central challenge for companies. Stefanie Tegtmeier has solved this brilliantly."

Press contact: Dr. Christian Sonntag, University Communications Department, Tel.: 02151 822-3610; Email: christian.sonntag(at)hs-niederrhein.de

^{Award winner Kai Sluiters with Honorary Professor Matthias Mehrtens (left) as well as supervisor Professor René Treibert and Dean Professor Siegfried Kirsch.}

Master's thesis on social engineering awarded distinction

The damage caused to the German economy by data espionage is growing steadily. At last count, it was estimated at 51 billion euros per year. One in five cases is due to social engineering. Social engineering is the use of social manipulation to influence people in order to obtain secret information and data.

Kai Sluiters, a graduate of the Hochschule Niederrhein, studied this topic in his master's thesis and identified countermeasures. He has now been awarded the Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co KG sponsorship distinction for this work. Every year, the company from Winnenden in Baden-Württemberg honors the best graduate in the Business Information Systems Degree programme at the Hochschule Niederrhein. The prize, a check for

The prize, a check for 1,000 euros and a Kärcher appliance, was presented by Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President at Kärcher and honorary professor at the Hochschule Niederrhein.

Prof. René Treibert, professor of business informatics and head of the new information security competence centre at the Hochschule Niederrhein, was particularly pleased to receive the award. "Kai Sluiters is a true homegrown of the university, he did his bachelor's here, his master's and is now a doctoral student at the competence centre." The 29-year-old is doing his doctorate in cooperation with the University of Wuppertal on innovative business models in hazardous goods logistics.

In his master's thesis, the Düsseldorf native dealt with the human risk factor in information security. Right at the beginning of his presentation, he stated, "Humans are one of the main reasons for information loss in companies." Social engineering takes advantage of this: Using psychological tricks to get people to reveal their passwords, for example. Sluiters:
"There is no one hundred percent protection against this."

Which is hardly surprising: Companies have hardly identified social engineering as a threat yet. When it comes to data theft, they tend to think of technical forms of theft such as data hacking. Protection against social manipulation, on the other hand, is conceivably simple: on a technical level, every individual should use secure passwords, encrypt data, and take data protection seriously. At the organizational level, sensitive data in printed form should not simply be thrown in the trash, but shredded before being thrown away. And on a personnel level, employees should be sensitized to the issue. "You should be suspicious of callers who ask for secret data and, if in doubt, don't give any data," says Sluiters.

This spring, the Hochschule Niederrhein launched the Clavis competence centre, which aims to help increase the information security of organizations in the Lower Rhine region through application-oriented research. The work of Kai Sluiters is a step in this direction.

Press contact: Dr. Christian Sonntag, University Communications Department at the Hochschule Niederrhein: Tel.: 02151 822 3610; e-mail: christian.sonntag(at)hs-niederrhein.de

^{Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens presented the prize of 1000 euros to Philipp Schütz. On the left Prof. Dr. René Treibert, on the right Dean Prof. Dr. Siegfried Kirsch.}

27.09.2016
Philipp Schütz receives sponsorship award for contribution to IT security

Mönchengladbach, September 29. The fact that IT security is becoming increasingly important can also be seen in the growing importance of the Business Information Systems Degree programme at the Hochschule Niederrhein. The graduates are in high demand, with many receiving lucrative offers from the business world even after completing their bachelor's degree. Philipp Schütz, 29, completed a consecutive master's degree after his bachelor's and is currently working on his doctorate at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics. He has now been awarded the Kärcher company's sponsorship distinction - for his master's thesis on the subject of the IT Security Act. With the passing of the IT Security Act on July 25, 2015, the clock is ticking for many companies. They need measures to implement the requirements of the law, but in some cases do not know how to proceed conceptually and operationally. "There is a great need for research here now and in the future," says Schütz, who is continuing to investigate the topic in his doctoral thesis. His master's thesis dealt with the
"Conceptualization and implementation of regulatory requirements and standards of the IT Security Act."

For Schütz, it is clear: "Companies are facing critical burdens. For larger organizations, amounts in the millions are incurred, while smaller organizations are faced with almost insurmountable tasks. This is where practical orientation and application-oriented research can reveal solutions." Schütz himself demonstrated this in his work using the example of the energy industry, for which IT security is particularly relevant.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, who is responsible for IT at Alfred Kärcher GmbH & Co. KG as Vice President Information Systems and is a contract lecturer at the Hochschule Niederrhein, is also aware of the importance of the topic. "Companies need intelligent concepts to deal with the issue correctly. This is where science is needed." So it was fitting what course director Prof. Dr. René Treibert, who supervised the award-winning work, was able to announce: the founding of a competence centre for information security at the Hochschule Niederrhein.

There, Philipp Schütz is also continuing his cooperative doctorate in close collaboration with the "Methods of Safety Engineering Accident Research" chair at the University of Wuppertal. Schütz dedicates the distinction to his former supervisor Alexander Elsholz, who passed away in 2015 and played a key role in initiating his academic career. (Author: Dr. Christian Sonntag)

^{From left: Prof. Dr. Jürgen Karla, award winner Mirco Kriesten, Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President Information Systems at Kärcher and the vice-dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics Prof. Dr. Schoelen.}

22.09.2015
"Interfaces are a high potential risk in information technology" - that's what Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Vice President Information Systems at Kärcher and responsible for all IT, says. As a contract lecturer at the Hochschule Niederrhein, Mehrtens regularly gives seminars - and once a year, as a representative of the Kärcher company, he awards a prize - namely the one for the best Bachelor's thesis in the subject of business information systems.

This year, the prize of 1000 euros went to Mirco Kriesten from Brüggen, whose thesis deals with integration problems of various software systems. The work "Concept for the integration of SAP ERP with an e-commerce system for the realization of a B2B online store: A generic approach using a case study" was awarded a prize and thus achieved the best grade of the semester.

Supervisor Prof. Dr. Jürgen Karla emphasized the quality of the work in his laudation. "It was fun to read," he said, and held out the prospect of the author publishing it as well. Kriesten is currently studying in the Master's degree programme in Business Information Systems at the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics at the Hochschule Niederrhein. He has also been sponsored by the Deutschlandstipendium scholarship since 2012.

The 28-year-old's work involved connecting two different systems on three different levels. His results can also be implemented by companies in practical application - a kind of guide is therefore now to be added to the work. (Author: Christian Sonntag)

^{From left: Supervisor Prof. Dr. Rene Treibert, award winner Christian Beckers, Kärcher Vice President Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens and Dean Prof. Dr. Siegfried Kirsch.}

19.09.2014
In his master's thesis, Christian Beckers dealt with shopping cart analyses for a retail company using the example of Aldi Süd - and was doubly successful: Yesterday, he accepted the award for the best graduate of 2013 in the subject of business information systems from the Hochschule Niederrhein. And: Following his master's thesis, Beckers was taken on directly by Aldi Süd. Today, the 27-year-old works in Mülheim an der Ruhr as an IT specialist.

Beckers received the €1,000 sponsorship award from the southern German cleaning specialist Kärcher GmbH for his thesis "BI Challenge Big Data - Conception of Shopping Cart Analyses for a Retail Company," which he wrote from March to August 2013 in cooperation with Aldi Süd. In his laudatory speech, Prof. Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, who as Vice President is responsible for all IT at Kärcher, emphasized the topicality of the work. "The topic of shopping cart analysis is currently driving retail companies."

Put simply, this involves the use of data that a company collects. Take shopping receipts, for example: if Aldi Süd, with its 1900 or so stores, each of which has an average of around 1,300 customers shopping every day, generates 2.5 million shopping receipts every day, the company can draw interesting conclusions from this information: Which products are bought more on which days of the week? What is being bought together? "This data can be used to optimize processes within the company, such as staff scheduling," says Beckers.

Out-of-stock analyses, which look for missing items in the assortment, are also helpful. According to studies, around four percent of sales worldwide are lost because certain items are not available.
"Companies are missing out on sales in the hundreds of millions as a result," Beckers calculates and concludes, "Big Data has enormous potential for retail companies. However, investments in IT infrastructure are needed."

For Christian Beckers, whose work was supervised by Prof. Dr. Rene Treibert, his efforts paid off in every respect. He was presented with a check for 1000 euros and a Kärcher product. But he is probably most pleased that he was hired by Aldi Süd immediately after completing his degree last August. As an IT specialist, one of his tasks there is to put the results of his analytical master's thesis into practice. (Author: Christian Sonntag)

^{Picture left: from left to right: Prof. Dr. Treibert (second reviewer), Prof. Dr. Mehrtens, Armin Sturm, Prof. Dr. Abts (first reviewer), Prof. Dr. Kirsch (Dean of FB 08) - Picture right: Prof. Dr. Mehrtens (l.), Armin Sturm (r.).}

04.11.2013
Armin Sturm is the name of the best graduate in business informatics at the Hochschule Niederrhein in 2012, for which the 27-year-old has now been awarded the Kärcher GmbH & Co KG sponsorship prize of 1000 euros. In his Bachelor's thesis "Conception of a software cockpit for decision support in software development projects" Sturm had dealt in detail with key figures in software development. The prize was presented by honorary professor Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, who is also the head of IT at cleaning equipment manufacturer Kärcher.
In his work, the award winner shows how complex software development has become. In addition to the technical and functional requirements for hardware and software, there is also high deadline and budget pressure. Often, development is also spread across different departments. This results in a complex process that is increasingly difficult to control. In order to master the situation, the collection and efficient use of measurement data is necessary.
A large amount of data is generated over the course of a project. In order to provide a uniform overall picture and a holistic view of all relevant data of a software project, Sturm had designed a concept for a software cockpit. This cockpit is a central information point that summarizes relevant project and product information. The focus of the work was on the definition and determination of key figures as well as their measurement and analysis.
The award ceremony took place during the regular lecture "Object-Oriented Program Development I". In doing so, the organizers wanted to show the students in attendance that the learning effort pays off. "Make an effort and one day you will have the chance to win this prize," said Prof. Dr. Siegfried Kirsch, Dean of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, in his address to the students. (Author: Tim Wellbrock, Press and Public Relations Department)

^{Nadja Gail and Hans-Josef Wolber (2nd from right) presented the check to Lutz Heesen (2nd from left). Prof. Dr. Dietmar Abts (right) supervised the thesis.}

11.06.2012
This year's prize for the best thesis in the Business Information Systems Degree programme at the Hochschule Niederrhein goes to Lutz Heesen. The 25-year-old business informatics specialist from Moers created a directory for storing and describing various web services at a large telecommunications company. This year, the prize was awarded for the tenth time. For the sixth time in a row, Stadtwerke Düsseldorf acted as sponsor and presented the award winner with a check for 1,500 euros.
Lutz Heesen, who now works as an IT consultant for a large IT service company in Munich, first completed the Bachelor's degree programme in computer science in Krefeld. He then moved to the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics in Mönchengladbach, where he successfully completed his Master's degree in Business Information Systems in summer 2011. As a working student in the field of software development, he worked at Vodafone, where the idea for his thesis was born.
The Düsseldorf-based telecommunications company has been working with various web services since 2006. Heesen set himself the task of building a database for the increasing number of services in a service-oriented landscape. He analyzed the current situation, recorded the wishes of the department's 20 employees and then carried out a profitability analysis. The service repository he created in this way is scheduled to go live in August.
Prof. Dr. Dietmar Abts, who supervised Heesen's work, called his achievement "outstanding." He had found an application-oriented solution to a pressing problem in a company, he said. Earlier, Faculty Dean Prof. Dr. Martin Wenke had described the cooperation with Stadtwerke Düsseldorf as a "particularly valuable partnership". From Stadtwerke Düsseldorf, Hans-Josef Wolber, Head of Application Systems, and Nadja Gail, Human Resources Development and Change Management, presented the check for 1500 euros. (Author: Dr. Christian Sonntag)

^{Rejoicing with the winner Matthias Schmitz (center): Prof. Dr. Dietmar Abts (left) and Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, Head of IT at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf.}

28.04.2011
The 2010 sponsorship award from Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG for the best graduate in business information technology at the Hochschule Niederrhein goes to Matthias Schmitz. The 27-year-old from Tönisvorst now received the distinction for his Bachelor's thesis with the topic "Development of a Java-based portal application with JavaServer Faces and the portlet container Liferay based on Portlet 1.0".
In computer science, the term portal refers to an application system that is characterized by the integration of applications, processes and services. A portal is a web-based application that provides centralized access to personalized content and enables the handling of processes. The use of such portal servers is state of the art in medium-sized and large companies.
The Bachelor's thesis submitted by the award winner describes how components of a user interface (so-called portlets) and JavaServer Faces - a framework standard for the development of graphical user interfaces for web applications - can be combined and which additional technologies are necessary to achieve this.
Honorary professor Dr. Matthias Mehrtens, who is also the head of IT at Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG, was impressed by the work: "I am looking forward to the benefits of the portal for Stadtwerke Düsseldorf and the energy industry in general". The supervising Professor Dr. Dietmar Abts, Dean of Studies of the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, was also full of praise: "My colleague Prof. Dr. Wirtz and I rated this work as very good." The sponsorship award has been presented since 2004, and since 2007 by Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG. (Author: Tim Wellbrock)

^{Award winner Christian Ternai (third from right)}

15.04.2010
The award of the Stadtwerke Düsseldorf for the best thesis of the academic year 2009 in the field of business informatics was given to Mr. Christian Ternai in appreciation of his outstanding thesis.

In a complex and heterogeneous IT landscape, the various system components generate a vast amount of data on faults and errors. These so-called event streams have to be analyzed in order to track down the causes of errors and to prevent possible problems. The thesis deals with the implementation and evaluation of algorithms for the automatic detection of causes in event streams. The main focus is on the PARIS algorithm (PARIS = Principal Atoms Recognition In Sets). The implementation took place at Hewlett-Packard in Böblingen in an international project environment and in close cooperation with HP research facilities in Israel and the USA. The reviewers Prof. Dr. Dietmar Abts and Prof. Dr. René Treibert are fully convinced of the high quality of this work.

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2016 goes to Ms. Stefanie Bullmann for the master thesis "From free culture to pay culture - How the offer of paid online texts influences the newspaper landscape as well as the German advertising market".

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2014 goes to Ms. Katrin Hocke for the bachelor thesis "Storytelling - A possibility for the conscious and sustainable reception of an advertising message".

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2013 goes to Mr. Fabian A. Geise for the bachelor thesis "New product development in social media through crowdsourcing".

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2012 goes to Ms. Caroline Jenneßen for the diploma thesis "Celebrity Marketing Success Factors for Advertising with Prominent Testimonials".

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2010 goes to Ms. Klaudia Popovic for her diploma thesis "Back to the Future - Success Criteria and Opportunity for Retro-Marketing Concepts". For more information click here

The sponsorship award of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach 2009 goes to Mr. Thomas Reimann for his diploma thesis on the topic "The customer churn process and customer recovery management using the example of the financial services industry".

^{The sponsorship award for Martin Spicker (center) was presented by Club President Guido Dückers, who, together with Prof. Dr. Harald Vergossen, was delighted with the increase in current marketing knowledge.}

30.04.2008
Marketing Promotion Award for Web Marketing Study
The Internet is once again in a gold-rush mood. The new Web 2.0, in which every user can keep his or her personal diary in so-called Web blogs, is increasingly being discovered by business as a buyer's market. Professional web blogs are being used for customer retention. Pioneering work in this field was done by 31-year-old business graduate Martin Spicker from Neuss. In his thesis at The Hochschule Niederrhein, he analyzed how to optimally reach target groups in online marketing in Web 2.0. When he now presented his results to the members of the Marketing Club Mönchengladbach, he was sure to attract the highest attention - not only because the work was awarded the club's sponsorship prize as the best in the field of marketing.

The personal achievement of the learned wholesale and retail salesman is to be valued still more highly, so its supervisor Professor Dr. Harald Vergossen (economics), because he completed the studies career-integrated. When his day's work at Rheinbraun Brennstoff GmbH in Cologne was finished, Martin Spicker still reached for his business administration textbooks in the evenings. The company now rewarded this zeal by entrusting him with a senior position in global hard coal trading. That's another way to make coal into coal.

^{Senate Chair Prof. Dr. Dagmar Ackermann with Senate Prize winners Karoline Günther, Igor Maas and Nika Rams (from left).}

03.02.2016
Senate Prize: 1000 euros for the best theses

Krefeld/Mönchengladbach, February 3. The three most innovative, application and research theses at the Hochschule Niederrhein in the 2014/15 academic year have now been awarded distinctions. Graduates Nika Rams, Karoline Günther and Igor Maas each received 1000 euros for their work. "We want to signal to our students that we as a university are aware of their outstanding achievements and honor them accordingly," said Prof. Dr. Dagmar Ackermann, Chair of the Senate of the Hochschule Niederrhein.

Design graduate Nika Rams had developed the concept "Das gute Leben im Veedel" for the Cologne-Ehrenfeld district. Supported by the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU) and labor gruen, her aim was to strengthen the shared responsibility of Ehrenfeld's citizens for the issue of sustainability through various activities. There were practical activities such as the greening of a central square, a target group-oriented communication of the topic via a specially created magazine "Veedelfunker" and various campaigns for local people. "We wanted to promote sustainable behavior in the neighborhood through creative impulses," said Nika Rams. "That's something design can do."

Igor Maas' master's thesis was particularly application-oriented. The mechanical engineering graduate developed a concept for control arms made of carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) - and for the race car of the Formula Student team at the Hochschule Niederrhein. "Formula Student is always about saving weight somewhere to make the car lighter," Maas explained. The steel wishbone weighed one kilogram, while its CFRP counterpart was 80 percent lighter. "The difficulty is that the wishbone is subjected to forces that are difficult to calculate and that it has to withstand in a race," Maas said. His concept was followed up by the team for all eight wishbones and will be used in the race car for the 2016 season.

Weight reduction was also the subject of Karoline Günther's thesis, the most research-intensive of the year. The student at the Faculty of Textile and Clothing Technology worked on fibers that contain up to 40 percent inorganic particles and could in future replace lead vests for protection against X-rays in the form of a textile. She analyzed the "processability of organic-inorganic composite fibers into staple fiber yarns" with the goal of producing yarns for the manufacture of textiles. These textiles can shield weak X-rays and represent the first step in the development of lead-free X-ray protection. Based on their research, a collection for textile X-ray protection could be realized by the Research Institute for Textile and Clothing (FTB).

Students cannot apply directly for the Senate Prize: their respective examiners propose the work to the Examinations Board in the faculties, which submits one proposal per category to the Senate. The senate then decides on the award winners based on the evaluation by a jury made up of senate members.

Press contact: Dr. Christian Sonntag, University Communications Department, Tel.: 02151 822-3610; Email: christian.sonntag(at)hs-niederrhein.de

^{Honored with distinctions: Christoph Zimmermann (front right) and Ralf Jackels representing his fellow student Peter Pfeifer, flanked by Klaus Palm (l.) from Bofrost and Prof. Dr. Georg Oecking (r.), Faculty of Business Administration and Economics}

13.06.2008
Bofrost awards for excellent young controllers

It's a pity, the 25 year old Peter Pfeifer from Odenthal in the Bergisches Land would have liked to meet the personnel manager of the Bofrost company yesterday at the Hochschule Niederrhein. After all, the student was to be awarded the Bofrost distinction for the second time - following the "Best Start" for the best controlling written examination in the Bachelor's degree programme, now for the "Best Final" in the Master's degree programme in Business Administration. But the award winner is currently continuing his education at the University of Dublin in Ireland, and so Pfeifer's friend Ralf Jackels accepted his certificate and a check for 500 euros from the hand of HR Manager Klaus Palm. The same was given to 25-year-old Christoph Zimmermann from Korschenbroich for an unbeatable 1.0 in the specialist examination in success controlling.

For the market leader in direct sales of frozen foods, based in Straelen on the Lower Rhine, the awarding of the prize, combined with company visits and lectures, is a successful form of campus recruiting. After all, capable controllers who monitor efficiency and effectiveness are rare and in high demand. For a manager from Vodafone, the award was even worth the long journey from Stuttgart to Mönchengladbach, because in the Swabian region, young people are mainly drawn to the automotive industry. This is also the case in the Lower Rhine region, confirmed Prof. Dr. Georg Oecking. André Lüers described how interesting and varied sales controlling is at Bofrost. On Mondays he prepares his "inspections", on Tuesdays to Thursdays he is in one of the 115 branches nationwide, analyzing and advising, and on Fridays he writes his final report. "You can't be shy for this job," he advised the students.
Author: Rudolf Haupt

The 2003 Junior Chamber of Commerce sponsorship award goes to Claudia Schröder. Title of thesis: "Establishment of a complaints management system at a regional pharmaceutical wholesaler". Further information can be found here.