Enterprise-wide Information Systems Research Articles

LINKING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO THE DIGITAL ENTERPRISE PLATFORM

Effective business management is based on the use of relevant information. To be useful, information must be available in the right quantity, quality, place and time. In an enterprise, this function is often provided by an information system. The enterprise information system is one of the key factors for the competitiveness of not only large and multinational companies but also small and medium-sized enterprises. The information system gives the management of the enterprise access to various output reports and statistics, which are a source of information needed for flexible decision-making. However, flexibility requires timeliness, regularity and speed. Timeliness is understood as the actual input of information, regularity is understood as the flow of information at regular intervals to give an idea of developments in a given area, and speed means the time in which the necessary information can be obtained. However, in addition to flexible decision-making, the management has also set a long-term goal for which the most valuable information is also important. In order to be competitive today, a company must be able to react flexibly to changes in the external environment in response to customer demands and competitor behaviour. In general, there are two ways to adapt to these changes. The first is short-term, one-off or transitional measures. The second option is long-term action in the form of changes in the company's processes, its structure, or intervention in the corporate culture. An example of such a change can be the introduction of an enterprise-wide information system [Gala 2009].

Mechanisms for successful management of enterprise resource planning from user information processing and system quality perspective

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are now ubiquitous in modern organizations. A number of previous studies have focused only on system factors and perceptions, there is a noticeable shortfall in research that concurrently addresses technological factors and human roles in explaining user satisfaction. This study aimed to identify these variables from the perspectives of information systems, technology, and human participation, thereby addressing this knowledge gap. The focus of the study was a large shipbuilding and marine company utilizing an ERP system. The participants, a sample of 234 ERP users, were carefully selected by the company’s executives and practitioners, and data was collected through online questionnaires. They were selected through purposive sampling from among employees who use ERP systems in large-scale shipbuilding and marine engineering companies. The study aimed to clarify the relationships between user satisfaction and perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, system quality, service quality, participation, and information quality. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyze the collected data. The results indicated that perceived ease of use, system quality, service quality, and participation positively influenced user satisfaction, whereas perceived usefulness did not have a significant impact. Interestingly, participation was found to lessen the effects of perceived usefulness on satisfaction. The findings of this study suggest that to enhance ERP user satisfaction, managers should strive to make the ERP system easy-to-use and stable, encourage employee participation in the decision-making process, and bolster the role of the support team. It should be noted, however, that the study has limitations as it did not consider all possible factors, such as training and support. Future research should take a broader view of the variables involved in the operation of an enterprise-wide information system.

On the Enteprise-Wide Accounting System Adoption: Study of the Information System Successfulness Case of Indonesia

Organizations expecting the benefits of information system (IS) should effectively anticipate any detrimental challenges that may emerge from various dimensions by virtue of organizational transformation. Missaliance between the intended goal of an information system development and users’ requirements may create significant user dissatisfaction and eventually lead to system abandonment. In light of prior research in IS adoption, it is essential to look into factors that play explainable role on users satisfaction and in turn, IS successful adoption. Prior research has addressed many contingency aspects of IS success, mainly of the recent evidences are from enterprise-wide information system viewpoint, such as enterprise resources planning. Despite many studies having been conducted, finding from studies focusing on enteprise-wide accounting module have largely been unsubstantiated. This research builds on DeLone and McLean IS success model to examine the factors related to system that contribute to user satisfaction. Using Covariance Based – Structural Equation Modeling, the research investigates the relationship between three latent variables, namely system quality, information quality and service quality with user satisfaction, system use, and individual impact. System quality perception was included to add up more theoretical explanation power. Outcome from 200 data extracted from Indonesia corporations showed that the majority of our hypotheses were significantly supported. Among them were the relationships between system quality and user perception on system quality; between information quality and system use and end-user satisfaction, whereas the effect of service quality on system use and the effect of service quality perception on end-user satisfaction showed non significant causal relationship.

Decision-Making Intellectual Support in the Theory of the Active Connect

<p>Effective control of innovative resources at the enterprise requires new and creative interaction mechanisms (active connect) between decision-makers, and enterprise-wide information systems. The essence of innovation self-organizing business forming technologies is revealed for the first time in the research work, which reveals the authoring theory of active connect basics. The article proves the maximum value of Choquet integral application demand by the decision-making process modeling for the disparity elimination in innovative resources distribution. The method proposed by the author has been tested at the enterprises of the Moscow Industrial Concern "Agat".</p>

The assimilation of enterprise information system: An interpretation systems perspective

This research addresses the question of why enterprise-wide information systems are so difficult to assimilate. Conceptualizing organizations as interpretation systems, we posit that the internal scanning of emerging organizational needs will have a direct positive effect on a firm's level of enterprise IT assimilation, moderated by the extent of technology evaluation activities. In this model, we introduce the concept of information systems (IS) mindfulness, an elevated state of collective alertness toward IS clients’ needs. Our findings suggest that the presence of IS mindfulness increases an IS unit's ability to identify and interpret opportunities to assimilate enterprise-wide IT within a firm.

Securing Patient Privacy in E-Health Cloud Using Homomorphic Encryption and Access Control

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a digital record shared across different healthcare settings, by network-connected enterprise-wide information systems called EHR systems. Electronic form of personal health records opens new kind of threats to information leakage because electronic data are easy to copy, especially when the records are online. Cloud computing paradigm is one of the popular Health information Technology infrastructures for facilitating Electronic Health Record (EHR) sharing and EHR integration. Healthcare clouds offer new possibilities such as easy and ubiquitous access to medical data, and opportunities for new business models. However, they also bear new risks and raise challenges with respect to security and privacy aspects. Ensuring the security and privacy is a major factor in the cloud computing environment. A secured Cloud based aided medical system is a program designed to aid standard and effective use and access of patient records anytime it is required by medical practitioners. In this work, a system called Secured e-Health in the cloud using Homomorphic Encryption and Access Control (SECHA) was designed. SECHA comprises of five basic component namely; patient, PHR/Object, Access Control Module, User/Subject and Cloud. This system ensure the security of electronic health records stored in the cloud using Homomorphic encryption to secure patient medical records and Bilayer Access Control (BLAC) to give access right to the records. The implemented was carried out using Netbeans IDE. The result obtained also shows that the practice of electronic health record in the cloud will be easily accessible and well secured.

Emergent cultural change: unintended consequences of a Strategic Information Technology Services implementation in a United Kingdom university

Over the past 20 years, universities in the United Kingdom have been undergoing a dramatic period of transformation and change which can be attributed to the expansion of the higher education sector, the growth in student numbers and the development of an ideological approach to public service management referred to as ‘new managerialism’. The growth in student numbers has provided a challenge for universities, and many have adopted enterprise-wide information systems such as Strategic Information Technology Services (SITS) to support the management of student data in all areas of the university. This article explores through a three-year case study in a UK university how the introduction of SITS, an enterprise-wide student administration system, intended to deliver better quality student information, has had some unintended consequences for organisational culture, which include the expansion of new managerialism and the further weakening of academic status within the university.

A Framework for Assessing Enterprise-Wide SOA Implementation Readiness

Many vendors have acclaimed Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) as a better way to design and build enterprise-wide information systems (EWIS). While these claims may be true in the private sector, there is scant evidence in the literature for the same success in the public sector. The adoption of Enterprise-wide SOA (ESOA) as the dominant development paradigm within an organization often requires significant organizational changes, which are difficult to achieve in the public sector, with its strict hierarchies and departmental independence. Although many government departments are beginning to adopt this new paradigm, the literature does not provide a suitable ESOA implementation readiness framework for use in the public sector. This research proposes a framework based on Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and a CSF scorecard to evaluate an organisation’s ESOA implementation readiness. The framework and scorecard were tested in a test case in the Malaysian government, and the results validate the accuracy and usefulness of both the CSF Framework and the CSF Scorecard.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems for Project-Based Firms: Benefits, Costs & Implementation Challenges

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are configurable enterprise-wide information system packages that integrate information and information-based processes within and across functional areas in an organization. They have been widely adopted in many organizations and accepted as a de facto industry standard for the replacement of legacy systems. This paper analyzes and presents the costs and benefits of ERP systems for project-based industries, which have lagged behind other major industries in adopting ERP systems due to their project-centric nature and the high stakes involved in ERP implementation. The challenges during the process of ERP implementations are also identified as part of the effort to understand the implied costs of an ERP system. The evidence of the costs and benefits are drawn from previous studies and the analysis of the prevailing working practices in project-based firms. The classification of the costs and benefits constitutes a cost and benefit taxonomy which can be used to enable executives in project-based firms to make informed decisions on their ERP system investments.

A Fuzzy-MOORA approach for ERP system selection

Article history: Received June 9, 2012 Accepted 5 July 2012 Available online July 6 2012 In today’s global and dynamic business environment, manufacturing organizations face the tremendous challenge of expanding markets and meeting the customer expectations. It compels them to lower total cost in the entire supply chain, shorten throughput time, reduce inventory, expand product choice, provide more reliable delivery dates and better customer service, improve quality, and efficiently coordinate demand, supply and production. In order to accomplish these objectives, the manufacturing organizations are turning to enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which is an enterprise-wide information system to interlace all the necessary business functions, such as product planning, purchasing, inventory control, sales, financial and human resources into a single system having a shared database. Thus to survive in the global competitive environment, implementation of a suitable ERP system is mandatory. However, selecting a wrong ERP system may adversely affect the manufacturing organization’s overall performance. Due to limitations in available resources, complexity of ERP systems and diversity of alternatives, it is often difficult for a manufacturing organization to select and install the most suitable ERP system. In this paper, two ERP system selection problems are solved using fuzzy multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) method and it is observed that in both the cases, SAP is the best solution. © 2012 Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Business Intelligence Excellence: A Company’s Journey to Business Intelligence Maturity

This paper is a case study which describes a company’s Business Intelligence (BI) journey. Although Business Intelligence is seen as priority by many companies the level of benefits achieved varies significantly. Often this is dependent on the level of Business Intelligence maturity. This paper documents a company’s trials and tribulations with their BI implementations. The paper maps and discusses the company’s Business Intelligence best practices. KEYWORDS; Business Intelligence, Business Performance, Case Study INTRODUCTION Companies today have all come to realise the importance of providing accurate, relevant and timely information— information that allows their organisational personnel to engage in effective decision-making practices. Accenture interviewed 163 executives from large enterprises around the world to identify how companies were using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to improve business performance and the specific practices that resulted in sustained value creation (Davenport et al, 2003). They found that the implementation of an enterprise-wide information system resulted in sustained value creation however; some companies realised far more comparable benefits than others. A more extensive follow up study in 2006 involving 450 executives from 370 companies identified the factors that drove value from their ERP system, as well how companies used these systems to enhance competitiveness and differentiation (Harris and Davenport, 2006). One of the key findings from this study was that improved decision making was the most desired benefit. Related to this finding was that the top performing companies aggressively used information and analytics to improve their decision making. These findings are supported by Gartner, a leading business analyst firm, who conducted a worldwide survey of 1,500 Chief Information Officers and identified Business Intelligence (BI) as the number one technology priority for companies, followed by ERP systems (Gartner, 2008). In a Cutter Consortium Report (2003), a survey of 142 companies it was found that 70% of the respondents had implemented data warehousing and Business Intelligence initiatives. The increased focus on BI is reflected in the forecasted BI vendor revenue expected of $7.7 billion by 2012 (Sommer, 2008). Although Business Intelligence is seen as a priority for many companies to survive in a competitive market there is uncertainty as to the path to follow. Researchers have identified that companies utilise Business Intelligence in different ways, with varying levels of success. A review of literature indicates that a number of companies often fail to realise expected benefits of Business Intelligence and sometimes consider the project to be a failure in itself (Chenoweth et. al., 2006; Hwang et al., 2004; Johnson, 2004; Arte 2003; Adelman and Moss 2002). Gartner predicted that more than half of the Global 2000 enterprises would fail to realise the capabilities of Business Intelligence and would lose market share to the companies that did (Dresner et al, 2002). A survey of 142 companies found that 41 percent of the respondents had experienced at least one Business Intelligence project failure and only 15 percent of respondents believed that their Business Intelligence initiative was a major success (Cutter Consortium Report, 2003). Moss and Atre (2003) indicated that 60% of Business Intelligence projects failed due to poor planning, poor project management, undelivered business requirements, or of those that were delivered, many were of poor quality. A number of authors believe that in many Business Intelligence projects the information that is generated is inaccurate or irrelevant to the user’s needs or indeed, delivered too late to be useful (Ballou and Tayi, 1999; Strong et al., 1997). Researchers have attempted to map Business Intelligence usage and best practices to provide a roadmap for companies to move forward in an attempt to maximise the benefits of their Business Intelligence initiatives. One approach for this roadmap has been the development of Business Intelligence Maturity Models (Watson et al, 2001; McDonald, 2004; Hamer, 2005; Eckerson, 2007, ASUG, 2007; Hewlett Packard, 2007). The purpose of these models is to provide companies with a roadmap to improve the management of their corporate data, as well as maximise the benefits obtained from Business Intelligence. Each year Gartner identifies companies for Business Intelligence Awards of Excellence. It would be reasonable to expect that a company which achieved such an award would be very mature as per the model. The remainder of the paper contains a case study documenting a company’s BI journey. This same company was a recent of the Gartner Business Intelligence Award of Excellence, (alias Acme Manufacturing).

Incumbents and Challengers: Conflicting Institutional Logics in SaaS ERP Business Models

With a shift in the architecture for the design and delivery of information systems (IS), new business models are emerging. Professional analysts predict that by the end of 2012, a majority of all enterprise-wide information systems will be delivered by a business model dominated by services rather than by on-site installations. This paper reports on a research project conducted between 2009 and 2011 that involved case studies of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems delivered according to a Software as a Service (SaaS) logic. Using a business model ontology, 10 case studies in the Swedish ERP market were conducted and analyzed. After constructing generic business models that explain two types of vendors in the market—the Incumbents (the traditional ERP vendors) and the Challengers (the new SaaS ERP vendors)—a discussion follows, based on institutional logic, which examines how these two groups of vendors adapt the dominant institutional logic. As the results show, both vendor groups hybridize their business models using the other’s institutional logic. At the same time, the vendors differentiate themselves as they try to establish the dominance of their own logic.

Enterprise-wide information system for construction: A document based approach

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have gained significant popularity in last decade. However, with the growing rate of implementation, we have also heard of growing number of implementation failures and expensive repairs. Construction sector is a unique sector because a big proportion of construction companies can be classified as Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SMEs). This paper evaluates the applicability of ERP to construction sector. It also evaluates a document based enterprise information system and compares it to ERP through a case study of a modular home manufacturer. Based on the analysis, the document based enterprise information system seemed to be smaller, cheaper and more modular in nature. Given that it was assembled using Commercial Off the Shelf Software (COTS), it will also require less training and IT expertise from the users, reducing the training budget significantly as well. Based on the data, the document based system seems like a viable alternative to the ERP for the construction sector.

Understanding information systems infrastructure in engineering SMEs: A case study

The benefits of integrated enterprise-wide information systems (IS), such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, are widely accepted. The implementation of such systems in large organisations is established with many in their second or third generation. However, in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the maturity and extent of their IS infrastructure is less clear. In engineering SMEs, this infrastructure needs to support not only business processes but also the activities of design and manufacture. In this case study, our goal is to provide a better understanding of current IS infrastructure, the functional elements of IS infrastructure, integration and expenditures are explored in ten engineering SMEs. A model of IS functionality is developed and used to identify and classify functional elements within the firms and to compare and contrast the IS infrastructures. The findings are contrasted with the SME literature and conclusions and implications developed.

Why is my sales force automation system failing?

Sales force automation (SFA) is the use of software to automate sales tasks, including sales activities, order processing, customer management, sales forecasting and analysis, sales force management, and information sharing. An SFA system is often part of an enterprise-wide information system that connects and integrates sales activities with the organization's other operations. Therefore, SFA software is not only a tool critical to the success of today's sales force, but is also vital to the entire organization. SFA has the potential to empower companies to more efficiently manage their sales force and sales processes, to automate and standardize sales activities, and to connect the sales force with the rest of the organization. The value of these potential benefits in terms of lower costs or increased revenues has encouraged businesses to adopt SFA. Once adopted, however, SFA systems often fail to deliver anticipated benefits. The leading cause of SFA failures has been revealed as low user acceptance, which can be attributed to such factors as the disruption of established sales routines, sales force perception of the system as a micromanagement tool, differences in sales force and managerial expectations for the system, and lack of managerial support for the system as perceived by the sales force. Given these circumstances, managers who are aware of the major issues surrounding user acceptance of SFA will be more successful in implementing such systems. This article explores the utilization of SFA, the benefits derived from these systems, and user acceptance issues. Herein, we offer suggestions that will help organizations succeed in adopting SFA systems.

An epidemic of pain in an Australian radiology practice

This paper presents findings from a study of an organisationally mandated assimilation process of an enterprise-wide information system in a radiology practice in Australia. A number of interviews with radiologists, radiographers and administrative staff are used to explore the impact of institutional structures on the assimilation process. The case study develops an argument that culture within and outside the Australian Radiology Practice (ARP), social structures within the ARP and organisational-level management mandates have impacted on the assimilation process. The study develops a theoretical framework that integrates elements of social actor theory (Lamb & Kling, 2003) to provide a more fine-grained analysis concentrating on the relationships among the radiology practitioners, the technology (an enterprise-wide Health Information System), and a larger social milieu surrounding its use. This study offers several theoretical and practical implications for technology assimilation in the health and radiology industry regarding the important roles social interactions, individual self-perceptions, organisational mandates and policies can play in assimilating new ICTs.

Enterprise integration of product development data: systems science in action

The work program of complexity (WPOC), stemming from systems science, was applied by a large cross-functional team of Ford engineers and system developers in the mid-1990s as an enabler to create an enterprise-wide information system known as the C3P system. This brief descriptor refers to a CAD/CAE/CAM/PIMS system, applied to design, engineer, and manufacture automobiles; and further to provide product information across and beyond the entire enterprise, extending into the supplier and customer base. The design foundation of the C3P system retains its utility today. The only system changes have arisen from technological upgrades which are independent of the original design strategy.

Enterprise architecture analysis with extended influence diagrams

The discipline of enterprise architecture advocates the use of models to support decision-making on enterprise-wide information system issues. In order to provide such support, enterprise architect...

Reusing Ontological Knowledge about Business Processes in IS Engineering: Process Configuration Problem

Business process engineering is an important part of the advanced enterprise engineering. One of the still open issues is the question how in the enterprise system design to reuse ontological knowledge about business processes. The paper proposes to consider a family of similar business processes as a generic process and to represent knowledge about generic processes in a domain independent way. It describes the main scheme for reuse of such a domain independent knowledge when developing enterprise-wide information systems (IS). The main attention is paid to the process configuration problem. In order to solve this problem, a configurator (human being or machine) must find a set of components that fit together to satisfy the problem specification. An approach based on Description Logics is proposed for this aim. The main contribution of the paper is the proposed process configuration technique.

Retrofitting Information Processes and Content Standardization in Response to Enterprise-Wide System Planning and Development

When a large conglomerate initiated the planning and development of an enterprise-wide electronic database system to form part of its growing e-business systems infrastructure, the resulting action called for the reengineering of information processes coupled with the push towards data content standardization across the entire organization. The objective of the system was to help engineers sift through millions of components offered by various suppliers and component manufacturers, where the end-result was to improved the integration and efficiency of the product development, engineering design, e-sourcing and e-procurement processes. This research paper is a qualitative action research study on how different organizational, social, political, and technical forces influenced the social construction of an enterprise-wide information system. Understanding the dynamics and power of these socio-technical forces in shaping the development environment and change process of enterprise systems is the research contribution of this paper.