Enterprise-level Systems Research Articles

Critical Role of Manufacturing Execution Systems in Digital Transformation of Manufacturing Industry

The manufacturing industry is undergoing a significant digital transformation, propelled by advancements in technology. Central to this evolution is the implementation of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), which act as a vital link between the shop floor and enterprise-level systems. This paper explores the critical role of MES in the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry, focusing on how it enhances operational efficiency, improves product quality, and enables real-time decision-making. Manufacturing Execution Systems are software platforms designed to monitor, control, and optimize production processes from the initiation of orders to the delivery of finished goods. MES provides real-time data on production activities, enabling manufacturers to make informed decisions, reduce production costs, and increase overall productivity. The integration of MES with advanced technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analytics, and cloud computing has further amplified its impact, leading to smarter and more agile manufacturing processes. One of the key benefits of MES is its ability to improve operational efficiency. MES offers real-time visibility into the production process, allowing manufacturers to identify and resolve bottlenecks, minimize downtime, and optimize resource utilization. Predictive maintenance capabilities, enabled by IoT integration, prevent unexpected equipment failures and reduce maintenance costs. MES also plays a crucial role in enhancing product quality. By monitoring each stage of production, MES ensures adherence to quality standards and facilitates traceability. In the event of a quality issue, MES allows for quick identification of the root cause and implementation of corrective actions. Real-time quality checks at critical points in the production process help detect and address defects promptly. Moreover, MES supports real-time decision-making by providing up-to-date data that allows production managers to respond swiftly to changes in demand or production conditions. This agility is essential in today's fast-paced manufacturing environment. In conclusion, Manufacturing Execution Systems are indispensable in the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. By improving efficiency, product quality, and decision-making capabilities, MES equips manufacturers to succeed in the era of Industry 4.0. This paper highlights the benefits and challenges of MES implementation, offering valuable insights for manufacturers aiming to leverage MES in their digital transformation efforts

Integration of aspect-oriented approach means in object-oriented programming language

The problem of complexity of developing and supporting the software cross-cutting concern and its solution using the aspect-oriented approach is examined. The complexity of aspect-oriented programming application in object-oriented programming languages is described. The problem of dependency of the declaration syntax of aspects and the method of their integration is investigated. The architecture that will provide the independence of the syntax of declaration and introduction of aspects in object-oriented programs is proposed. For separation, an urban design pattern that unites declaration of the aspect and its integration method is used. The system displays the classical entities of AOP in the object structure, which facilitates syntax mastering. Three methods for declaring aspects are developed, namely declaration using inheritance from a base class, template class generalization and flexible aspect creation at run time. For integration at compile time, a special integration module and the Roslyn compiler modification, which ensures implementation of the aspect configuration system and introduces advice invocation points in a code are developed. For integration at run time without using the dependency injection container, helper methods for creating proxy classes are designed. Also, modules for popular dependency injection containers, which allow integration by means of these containers are developed. Testing of the developed system, which showed a significant reduction in the size of a source code is carried out. The most pronounced reduction was in large enterprise-level systems. When using introduction at compile time, performance drop of programs is not observed. When using integration at run time, performance losses do not exceed those when using a similar proxy class.

Organizational Size and Operation Scope in Company of Using Shared Service Model

It is clear that the benefits of shared service model used by many international companies could be exploited only at a certain company size because the cost advantages are highly dependent on the economy of scale. According to SunGard global research from 2010 54% of companies with shared service centers have the annual gross turnover of a billion dollars or above. The reason for this is mainly the larger a company is, the greater the likelihood that use different enterprise level systems and non-standardized processes. After all, the model benefits not only be achieved through the utilization of large volumes, but removing the redundancies. In this research, 75% of companies had global presence and 89% of them already had or planned to set up a shared service center. The global function has also an advantage, because it can handle larger transaction volumes and reduced by the model of costly duplicate transaction processing efforts. The global service environment allows the introduction of global standards and uniform access to global information scattered in different subsidiaries. In this part of my research I am focusing on the Hungarian business service sector. I made a broad empirical research with online questionnaires to analyze the shared service centers in the Hungarian shared service market and to discover the organizational characteristics of them and their parent companies.

A Set of Best Practices to Design Face-to-face Teaching Sessions for Technology-centered University-level Computing Courses

Since more than a decade, all kinds of businesses and organisations are intensively exploring enterprise-level information systems to better integrate their business processes, information flows and people. Consequently, the industry demands for technically skilled, but also “business-savvy” IT professionals are permanently growing. To meet this need, more and more computing education programs try to incorporate enterprise-level information systems into their curricula. While there is some computing education research done to investigate the need for this new type of IT-business professional and to analyse general implications for higher education, only very few research works or practice papers exist which report on concrete attempts to design and deliver higher education computing courses which intensively use enterprise-level systems. In this paper, the author reports on a series of experiences made within the Bachelor of Science (Information Systems Management) degree program offered by the School of Information Systems (SIS) at the Singapore Management University (SMU). The primary focus of this paper is put on establishing a working set of best practices for the design of an effective structure of the face-to-face teaching sessions for courses which use enterprise-level systems and applications in their curricula. While this paper is principally based on education experiences made within the frame of an Information Systems program, the best practices presented in this paper are equally applicable to any other computing education field or even to the engineering education in general.

Postrelease Testing and Software Release Policy for Enterprise-Level Systems

Prior work on software release policy implicitly assumes that testing stops at the time of software release. In this research, we propose an alternative release policy for custom-built enterprise-level software projects that allows testing to continue for an additional period after the software product is released. Our analytical results show that the software release policy with postrelease testing has several important advantages over the policy without postrelease testing. First, the total expected cost is lower. Second, even though the optimal time to release the software is shortened, the reliability of the software is improved throughout its lifecycle. Third, although the expected number of undetected bugs is higher at the time of release, the expected number of software failures in the field is reduced. We also analyze the impact of market uncertainty on the release policy and find that all our prior findings remain valid. Finally, we examine a comprehensive scenario where in addition to uncertain market opportunity cost, testing resources allocated to the focal project can change before the end of testing. Interestingly, the software should be released earlier when testing resources are to be reduced after release.

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When users are IT experts too: the effects of joint IT competence and partnership on satisfaction with enterprise-level systems implementation

Enterprise-level information systems (IS) are fundamental to businesses. Unfortunately, implementing these large-scale systems is a complex and risky endeavor. As a result, these initiatives must tap the expertise and active involvement of both the IS department and the enterprise's functional areas. Past studies focusing on IS implementation teams consistently identify the IS department as the source of technical expertise and leadership, while functional department team members are typically relegated to the role of business experts. However, unlike the past, many business professionals are knowledgeable about information technology (IT) and are increasingly capable of contributing to IS implementations from a technical perspective as well as a business perspective. This study examines how IT competence held by both the IS department and the user department stakeholders contributes to user satisfaction with the enterprise-level system implementation. Specifically, this research introduces a theoretically grounded construct, joint IT competence, which emerges when the IS department and user department stakeholders integrate their individually held IT competences. The study's results empirically demonstrate that joint IT competence is a key driver of user satisfaction in enterprise-level IS implementations. Although not as significant as joint IT competence, results show that partner-based leadership between the IS department and user stakeholders also influences user satisfaction with IS implementations.

A security evaluation approach for information systems in telecommunication enterprises

In recent years, information systems in telecommunication enterprises have been characterised by boundary expansion and increase of departmental-level applications. These changes increase the complexity of security evaluation and pose new challenges to enterprises' information security. Taking into account the behaviour characters of system users, we put forward a system security evaluation approach based on access paths. This approach can help evaluators and users find out potential security risks without figuring out the boundary of systems explicitly. It has no special requirements for system scale and can be used in the evaluation of enterprise-level and departmental-level systems. This paper also presents the formal definition of access path and related evaluation rules.

Mandates and technology acceptance: A tale of two enterprise technologies

Enterprise information systems are usually mandatory. However, surprisingly little research has been directed to the nature and operation of mandates in research on enterprise systems and on information technology implementation. This study takes a closer look at mandates and their role in the implementation and acceptance of enterprise technologies. Our analysis focuses on the implementation of two enterprise level systems in a major state-funded university system in the US: (1) a state-wide financial management information system that is mandated for use by a large university system; and (2) a system-wide financial and administrative information system that is designed at the university system level and mandated for the individual units of the university system. The analysis offers a deeper look at mandates and is intended to surface features not evident when mandates are regarded simply as another type of directive or order from top management. It also illuminates the politics of enterprise system implementation from the perspective of the negotiation of meaning and responsibilities.

Mobile Commerce

This paper investigates current developments in Mobile Commerce (M-Commerce) and proposes an integrated architecture to successfully implement M-Commerce business processes. It provides a description of mobile commerce and examines its current state-of-theart, opportunities, challenges and future trends. Based on an analysis of the current situation, an integrated architecture for M-Commerce is developed that supports both business and consumer needs in an optimal way. The architectures' key components are described in detail and their integration into one another will be discussed. The key line of thought is based on the heuristic observation that customers will not want to receive M-Commerce offerings to their mobile phones. A pull as opposed to a push approach becomes a necessary requirement to conduct M-Commerce. In addition, M-Commerce has to rely on local, regional, demographic and many other variables to be truly effective. Both observations necessitate an M-Com-merce architecture that allows the coherent integration of enterprise-level systems as well as the aggregation of product and service offerings from many different and partially competing parties into a collaborative M-Commerce platform. The key software component within this integrated architecture is an event management engine to monitor, detect, store, process and measure information about outside events that are relevant to all participants in M-Commerce. Following a definition of M-Commerce will provide the starting point for our discussion of the integrated M-Commerce architecture and its components.