Executive Information Systems Research Articles

Using executive information systems as a business management tool in listed Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) companies: An exploratory study

Purpose: The aim of the study is to investigate the extent and use of Executive Information Systems (EISs) as a business management tool in listed Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) companies. Problem: This study is important in order to establish the existence of EISs in these companies and whether it is being used as a business management tool to analyse and measure companies' performances.Research Methodolog:The research methods were both quantitative and qualitative in nature and are based on the literature study, questionnaire and interviews. Findings and conclusion: The findings of the study provide evidence that companies with an EIS or planning to implement an EIS view it as an excellent business management tool. This tool has built-in features, is critical for real-time decision-making, solves problems and creates a competitive edge. Value of the research: The value of the study adds to the current understanding and awareness of EISs. EISs create an environment in which business and management can enhance sustainability and strategic competitiveness.

Driving IT Architecture Innovation

The spotlight on business innovation in growth-oriented organizations has never been hotter. Information systems (IS) innovation, in particular, has become the main focus for many businesses and their CIOs because of its potential for business agility and competitiveness. However, creating a culture that can effectively exploit the innovative forces of an organization is challenging, and no shared guidelines exist. The purpose here is to examine empirically how the competing forces of organizational cultures in tandem with senior executives constructively influence the innovative efforts of organizations. Central to this investigation is the adoption of an IS architecture (SOA) whose implementation may entail radical transformation of traditional business patterns. Data were collected from U.S. top IS executives, and the results suggest that the adopters of SOA (45%) are organizations whose executives embrace certain collaborative behavior, which, in people and progress-oriented cultures, seems to be a catalyst for change and adoption of transformational IS architecture.

Data mining for health executive decision support: an imperative with a daunting future!

Data mining is highly profiled. It has the potential to enhance executive information systems. Such enhancement would mean better decision-making by management, which in turn would mean better services for customers. While the future of data mining as technology should be exciting, some are worried about privacy concerns, which make the future of data mining daunting. This paper examines why data mining is highly profiled - the imperative toward data mining, data mining models and processes. Additionally, the paper examines some of the benefits and challenges of using data mining processes within the health-care arena. We cast the future of data mining by highlighting two of the many data mining tools available - one commercial and one freely available. Subsequently, we discuss a number of social and technical factors that may thwart the extensive deployment of data mining, especially when the intent is to know more about the people that organizations have to serve and cast a view of what the future holds for data mining. This component is especially important when attempting to determine the longevity of data mining within health-care organizations. It is hoped that our discussions would be useful to organizations as they engage data mining, strategies for executive information systems and information policy issues.

Framework for the analysis of executive information systems based on the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use

The acquisition and use of information are key factors in successful executive performance. Although there are various and different media that executives use to obtain information, in the last decade the academic research has emphasised computer-based systems. Inside this group of systems, we can find the Executive Information Systems (EIS), which are tools that can help executives to obtain relevant informationmore efficiently.Recently, EIS have been analyzed through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with significant results. A deeper review of these results, the existing literature, as well as our own experience, suggest there are some factors that affect to the use of EIS indirectly or as moderating variables, instead of directly as recent studies suggest. The objective of our research is to propose a framework based on the TAM, which shows the different types of factors that affect to the Perceived Usefulness (U) and Perceived Ease of Use(EOU) of EIS, as well as how the kind of influence of these factors on U and EOU.

Framework for the analysis of executive information systems based on the perceived usefulness and the perceived ease of use

The acquisition and use of information are key factors in successful executive performance. Although there are various and different media that executives use to obtain information, in the last decade the academic research has emphasised computer-based systems. Inside this group of systems, we can find the Executive Information Systems (EIS), which are tools that can help executives to obtain relevant information more efficiently. Recently, EIS have been analyzed through the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with significant results. A deeper review of these results, the existing literature, as well as our own experience, suggest there are some factors that affect to the use of EIS indirectly or as moderating variables, instead of directly as recent studies suggest. The objective of our research is to propose a framework based on the TAM, which shows the different types of factors that affect to the Perceived Usefulness (PU) and Perceived Ease of Use (PEU) of EIS, as well as how the kind of influence of these factors on PU and PEU.

Measurement of meteorological data based on wireless data acquisition system monitoring

Estimation of solar energy potential of a region requires detailed solar radiation climatology, and it is necessary to collect extensive radiation data of high accuracy covering all climatic zones of the region. In this regard, a wireless data acquisition system (WDAS) would help to estimate solar energy potential considering the remote region’s energy requirement. This article explains the design and implementation of WDAS for assessment of solar energy. The proposed system consists of a set of sensors for measuring meteorological parameters. The collected data are first conditioned using precision electronic circuits and then interfaced to a PC using RS232 connection via wireless unit. The LabVIEW program is used to further process, display and store the collected data in the PC disk. The proposed architecture permits the rapid system development and has the advantage of flexibility and it can be easily extended for controlling the renewable energy systems like photovoltaic system. The WDAS with executive information systems and reporting tools helps to tap vast data resources and deliver information.

Rapid business and IT change: drivers for strategic information systems planning?

Today's organizations increasingly plan new information systems (IS) to better compete. Through such planning, they attempt to align their IS strategy and their business strategy. This study tested the impact of business and information technology (IT) change on strategic information systems planning (SISP) horizon, of horizon on the planning itself, and of the planning on the alignment of IS strategy and business strategy. A questionnaire defined business change, IT change, and alignment as multi-item scaled questions, and planning horizon as a single, nonscaled one. It defined a multi-item scaled SISP measure as both a second-order construct and as single-order constructs for its individual phases. A postal survey collected data from 161 IS executives. Constructs were extensively validated. The analysis used structural equation modeling, and surprisingly found that business change predicted longer SISP horizons, but IT change predicted neither longer nor shorter ones. Planning horizon predicted SISP itself (as a second-order construct and as all of its phases), and such planning (as a second-order construct, and as strategic awareness and strategy conception phases) predicted alignment of IS strategy and business strategy. These findings suggest that practitioners more carefully assess their own degree of caution in setting planning horizons in response to business and IT change. In fact, the findings suggest it may not be necessary for practitioners to shorten planning horizons in a rapidly changing environment.

Editorial

Editorial

Building an Executive Information System for Maintenance Efficiency in Petrochemical Plants—An Evaluation

This study used the manufacturing process in the petrochemical industries as an example and developed a dedicated maintenance programme and executive information system (EIS) for this industry. The software for EIS was established on a CMMS platform, with logical and extractive analysis used to store the information in a KPI databank. The system developed can provide plant managers and engineers with a complete summary of information and keep them updated regarding the present status of their maintenance efforts. The objective of this study was to establish a management system for maintaining knowledge in the petrochemical industries, such as the management of standard operating procedures (SOPs), historical records and the analysis of data for the facility. To design the software, a review of petrochemical facility was purposed to enhance the maintenance efforts and facilitate the decision-making process. The main functions of the system include asset reliability analysis, failure analysis and maintenance benefit cost analysis. For the petrochemical industry, the impact of safety and environment caused by equipment malfunction is more substantial than that of other industries. If executives can manage essential points effectively and make decisions according to a key performance index, risks to safety and environment, which result from equipment malfunction, can be decreased and safety can be enhanced for petrochemical refineries.

Lessons from Mission-Critical Spreadsheets

We present eighteen examples of mission-critical spreadsheets used by diverse people and organizations for application software development, financial risk management, executive information systems, sales and marketing business processes, business operations, and complex analytics. We argue the spreadsheet is a Rapid Development Language, an Integrated Development Environment, and a Fourth Generation Language, and has unusual challenges regarding source code protection. We note that intentional spreadsheet applications are largely absent from the error literature. We explain why people might prefer a spreadsheet to an application developed by the IT department, and show how some spreadsheet programmers choose to avoid—or do not have—an IT department. We find that 1) Spreadsheets are widely used for mission-critical functions; 2) Spreadsheets are an effective application development platform; 3) There is diversity of development skill in creators of mission-critical spreadsheets; 4) Sophisticated programmers sometimes choose spreadsheets over other languages; 5) Spreadsheets are amenable to formal development practices, but such practices seem rare; 6) Spreadsheets play a central role in the evolution of business processes and work systems; and 7) Spreadsheets are a source of “accidental legacy systems”. We provide the Skill-User Programming Paradigm to help interpret and explain our observations. We conclude that spreadsheets are vitally important to business, and merit sustained research to discover techniques to enhance quality, productivity, and maintainability.

The Dynamic Structure of Management Support Systems: Theory Development, Research Focus, and Direction

Using a systems perspective, a conceptual model is developed that encompasses a broad class of systems whose fundamental purpose is the support of managerial actions and decision making. The term management support systems (MSS) is used to label this broad class. This model is based on an extensive review of the relevant literature and available research. The result provides an integrated systems model of the phenomena involved and points to gaps in the research that arise largely from the attempts to examine various classes of MSS as separate entities. The research presented here is based on the premise that there are fundamental core consistencies or similarities among various types of systems that have evolved in the past several decades to support decision making. It presents a conceptual, theoretical model drawn from findings about various types of support systems described in the literature such as decision support systems (DSS), executive information systems (EIS), knowledge management systems (KMS), and business intelligence (BI). Pragmatic insights are provided by the conceptual model and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Experiences in Building and Using Decision-Support Systems in Postgraduate University Courses

Introduction The concept of Decision Support Systems (DSS) has been around since the late 1960s (Power, 2003) and in recent years these systems have become increasingly important in business. As would be expected, a great deal has been written about Decision Support Systems--a Google search in February 2007 revealed over 242,000,000 pages of information, and a great deal of support material is also available. Unfortunately, for our purposes not much of this material is particularly useful. Our interest is in introducing the basic concepts of Decision Support Systems in two postgraduate subjects that are part of business Masters' programs at Victoria University in Melbourne. These are not subjects about Decision Support Systems, but Information Systems subjects that introduce, amongst other things, concepts of decision support. Many of our students are general business students who have little background in computing or information systems. What we need is thus a 'light' treatment of this topic, preferably with some concrete examples that the students can view, manipulate and customise. In this paper we will relate our experiences in building and using such simple Decision Support Systems. In the subject Executive and Mobile Computing we also introduce the concept of an Executive Information System (EIS), which Power (2003) notes evolved from relational database products and model-driven Decision Support Systems. In the subject Small Business Internet and Information Systems we introduce the DSS within the framework of investigating only such systems that are suitable for and affordable to small business. We make use of a simple programming language, available within Microsoft Office to do this. Although there are many teaching resources available for Decision Support Systems (such as, Holsapple and Whinston (2005), Power and Kaparthi (2002) and Monash University (2005)), for our subjects we have encountered three significant problems in sourcing suitable DSS examples: 1) Difficulty in learning to use the DSS--many of the available systems are too complex for our students to learn and use successfully within the short time that we have available. This is, of course, counter-intuitive to the notion that DSS are meant to be easy for managers to use. 2) Inability to examine the logic of the system: a) A business that uses a DSS will want this to be transparent in its operation, but in teaching about DSS we want the students to be able to see and understand how the system operates. It is difficult to understand what is going on unless you can understand the logic behind decisions recommended by the system. b) Need to customise--we would like students to be able not just to see how the system works, but to be able to alter assumptions, to customise it, to make changes and to observe their affect. 3) Cost--with a small budget available to support the purchase of software for teaching purposes we need a system that is free, or at least inexpensive. The way we have attempted to solve these problems is to build our own simple systems for use by the students. To do this we have made use of Microsoft Office (especially Excel), Visual Basic (VB) and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In the future we will probably make use also of the facilities available in VB.Net. Although others have reported on use of VBA and Excel for building decision support systems by students (Palocsay & Markham, 2002; Ragsdale, 2001), most of these are typically working with students majoring in some form of computing rather than with general business students. The remainder of this paper will describe how we have attempted to solve this problem with our students, and discuss some of the consequences. [FIGURE 1 OMITTED] Decision Support Systems Based on a Spreadsheet The goal of Executive and Mobile Computing is, as its name suggests, simply to examine how business executives can benefit from the use of computing (and especially mobile computing) technologies. …

Strategic decision making and support systems: Comparing American, Japanese and Chinese management

Internationalization creates a need to know how managers in different parts of the world make decisions, and how computer-based information systems (IS) can support decision making. Business leaders from the United States, Japan and China were each found to have a distinctive prevailing decision style that reflects differences in cultural values and the relative needs for achievement, affiliation, power and information. This paper examines the IS issues that arise from the discovery of the distinctively American, Japanese and Chinese styles of strategic decision making. The existence of international differences in analyzing and conceptualizing strategic decisions raises doubts about the global applicability of IS such as decision support systems and executive information systems. The success of knowledge management and information systems in different countries and cultures will depend critically on how well IT applications are adapted to the decision styles of their users.

The IS–business relationship and its implications for performance: An empirical study of South African and Australian organisations

Lack of a close ‘Information systems (IS)–business relationship’ has been described as a potential inhibitor to improving the contribution that information systems (IS) make to business performance. Yet the value of specific attributes of an enduring relationship between IS and business remains to be demonstrated by empirically confirming their link to IS performance. Using data collected from 167 South African and Australian companies, this study examined the effect of three relational attributes, namely commitment, mutual understanding and shared vision, on the contribution of IS to business performance. The study also examines the interrelationship amongst the relational attributes. Results revealed that a strong IS–business relationship is a significant determinant of IS performance. Organisations more successful in their use of IS are characterised by strong commitment on the part of the business to IS efforts, higher levels of IS understanding of the business, and a long-term agreement, between business and IS executives, on IS priorities. Results have important implications for organisations looking to improve the contribution of IS to organisational performance.

The antecedents of CIO role effectiveness in Organizations:An empirical study in the healthcare sector

How should the effectiveness of Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in organizations be assessed? What are the primary antecedents of their role effectiveness, particularly as assessed by their top management teams (TMTs)? Despite a wealth of normative and prescriptive writings about what roles CIOs should play in contemporary firms, there has been limited empirical research on the above two questions. This study addresses the above questions, particularly with respect to the effectiveness of the CIOs in the healthcare sector. Based on survey data from CIOs and members of the TMTs, we find that there are six salient CIO roles: business strategist, integrator, relationship architect, utility provider, information steward, and educator. Further, CIO capabilities, in the form of business and strategic information technology knowledge, political savvy, and interpersonal communication makes CIOs effective, particularly in the roles of business strategist, integrator, and relationship architect. High levels of engagements between the CIOs and TMTs do not directly impact CIO's role effectiveness, but are mediated by the effects of CIO capabilities. These findings have significant implications for researchers and senior information systems (IS) executives.

A metadatabase-enabled executive information system (Part A): A flexible and adaptable architecture

Executive information systems (EIS) that are capable of accessing multiple data sources (both online and offline) for on-demand, ad hoc analysis are needed to support the changing needs of corporate executives. A major shortcoming of existing EISs is that their database schema and data content are predetermined, fixed, and hard-coded, which leads to predefined data analysis patterns. In this paper, we propose a new EIS architecture that takes advantage of a knowledge-based mechanism known as the Metadatabase. The architecture enables executives to discover new informational structures, such as critical successful factors and perspectives from which to analyze these factors, that are useful for the analysis of an enterprise's business performance. The novel and on-demand data analysis needs of executives are supported by the online capability of the new EIS architecture, and we argue that the new architecture has better system flexibility and adaptability compared to existing EISs.

A metadatabase-enabled executive information system (Part B): Methods for dynamic multidimensional data analysis

In tandem with the growth of the Internet and e-business, the number of digital data sources has increased immensely. These data sources contain important transactional data and are generally interconnected via a network. This has created a pressing need for a suitable executive information system (EIS) that is capable of extracting data from internal and external data sources and providing data analysis on demand for business executives. On-demand data analysis requires an information integration approach that can manage rapid changes in data sources. Existing EISs commonly adopt data warehousing technology to consolidate data from multiple sources in a tailor-made fashion, and support predefined multidimensional data analysis. However, this architecture is neither adaptable to changes in local sources nor flexible enough for ad hoc analyses. This paper develops methods and algorithms for a new EIS architecture that takes advantage of a metadatabase to achieve adaptability and flexibility. A PC-based prototype is built to prove the concept.

Solar energy decision support system

Energy plays a prominent role in human society. As a result of technological and industrial developments, the demand for energy is rapidly increasing. Existing power sources that are mainly fossil fuel based are leaving an unacceptable legacy of waste and pollution apart from diminishing stock of fuels. Hence, the focus is now shifted to large-scale propagation of renewable energy. Renewable energy technologies are clean sources of energy that have a much lower environmental impact than conventional energy technologies. Solar energy is one such renewable energy. Most renewable energy comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Estimation of solar energy potential of a region requires detailed solar radiation climatology, and it is necessary to collect extensive radiation data of high accuracy covering all climatic zones of the region. In this regard, a decision support system (DSS) would help to estimate solar energy potential considering the regions’ energy requirement. This article explains the design and implementation of DSS for assessment of solar energy. The DSS with executive information systems and reporting tools helps to tap vast data resources and deliver information. The main hypothesis is that this tool can be used to form a core of practical methodology that is resilient and can be used by decision-making bodies to assess various scenarios. It also offers means of entering, accessing and interpreting the information for the purpose of sound decision-making.

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Survey of executive information systems in well-established organizations in KwaZulu-Natal

The South African Journal of Information Management explores the latest developments and trends in information and knowledge management to offer research that can be used to further the application of sound information and knowledge management practice.