140,377 research outputs found
Validating adequacy and suitability of business-IT alignment criteria in an inter-enterprise maturity model
Aligning requirements of a business with its information technology is currently a major issue in enterprise computing. Existing literature indicates important criteria to judge the level of alignment between business and IT within a single enterprise. However, identifying such criteria in an inter-enterprise setting â or re-thinking the existing ones â is hardly addressed at all. Business-IT alignment in such settings poses new challenges, as in inter-enterprise collaborations, alignment is driven by economic processes instead of centralized decision-making processes. In our research, we develop a maturity model for business-IT alignment in inter-enterprise settings that takes this difference into account. In this paper, we report on a multi-method approach we devised to confront the validation of the business-IT alignment criteria that we included in the maturity model. As independent feedback is critical for our validation, we used a focus group session and a case study as instruments to take the first step in validating the business-IT alignment criteria. We present how we applied our approach, what we learnt, and what the implications were for our model
Measuring social, economic and environmental sustainability at the enterprise level: a case study of an Australian Utility Corporationâs Sustainability Report
The debate on a sustainable future for Australia has focused enterprises on developing triple bottom line or sustainability reports. Enterprises now commonly provide reports to their stakeholders on sustainability. However it is argued in this paper that shortcomings in current reporting practices are limiting the measurement of sustainability. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the most commonly applied consistent framework for enterprises, recommends the application of indicators that consider the inter-relations between the economy, society and the environment. However, these recommendations are not generally being translated into practice by firms. The environmental aspects of enterprise sustainability reports tend to be privileged over the social and economic components. Indicators of the social and economic impact of an enterprise generally draw upon productivity and human relation measurements rather than measures directly relevant to the impact of enterprise actions on the community. To illustrate these arguments we offer a case study of the Australian Gas Light Company, (AGL), 2004 Sustainability Report, and a critique of the GRI. AGL is a large Australian energy company. We argue that inter-related indicators tend not to be considered within enterprise sustainability reports. It is argued that social and economic externalities of enterprises have an impact on surrounding communities and hence should be measured and reported in conjunction with environmental factors. Moreover, these reports should to be developed in a manner that enables the context of sustainability to be adequately explored
Tackling concentrated worklessness: integrating governance and policy across and within spatial scales
Spatial concentrations of worklessness remained a key characteristic of labour markets in advanced industrial economies, even during the period of decline in aggregate levels of unemployment and economic inactivity evident from the late 1990s to the economic downturn in 2008. The failure of certain localities to benefit from wider improvements in regional and national labour markets points to a lack of effectiveness in adopted policy approaches, not least in relation to the governance arrangements and policy delivery mechanisms that seek to integrate residents of deprived areas into wider local labour markets. Through analysis of practice in the British context, we explore the difficulties of integrating economic and social policy agendas within and across spatial scales to tackle problems of concentrated worklessness. We present analysis of a number of selected case studies aimed at reducing localised worklessness and identify the possibilities and constraints for effective action given existing governance arrangements and policy priorities to promote economic competitiveness and inclusion
Toward Semantics-aware Representation of Digital Business Processes
An extended enterprise (EE) can be described by a set of models each representing a specific aspect of the EE.
Aspects can for example be the process flow or the value description. However, different models are done by different
people, which may use different terminology, which prevents relating the models. Therefore, we propose a framework
consisting of process flow and value aspects and in addition a static domain model with structural and relational
components. Further, we outline the usage of the static domain model to enable relating the different aspects
Everyone is Different! Exploring the Issues and Problems with ERP Enabled Shared Service Initiatives
In todayâs increasingly competitive environment, there is constant pressure for corporate leaders to add value to their organizations. These contemporary organizations are increasingly moving into business models that attempt to reduce duplicate supporting processes and staff by streamlining business processes that are not central to the organizationâs operations and concentrating on strategies on strategic or core, business processes. This concept, known as Shared Services, attempts to bundle some of the supporting processes and non-strategic activities into a separate organization, which in turn treats those processes and activities as the core of its own business. Shared Services consolidate and support redundant functions, such as accounts payable and procurement, for disparate business units. By leveraging economies of scale from a common IT infrastructure, such a group is able to market specific services to business units. Many organizations are employing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, for example SAP, to facilitate Shared Service initiatives by aggregating backroom functionality across departments. This research-in-progress paper investigates issues and problems with ERP enabled Shared Services in 19 organizations. The results reveal five main issues that organizations face in implementing a Shared Services initiative
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From CSR to ESR?: exploring the entrepreneurial dimensions of corporate social responsibility
Planning strategically, designing architecturally : a framework for digital library services
In an era of unprecedented technological innovation and evolving user expectations and information seeking behaviour, we are arguably now an online society, with digital services increasingly common and increasingly preferred. As a trusted information provider, libraries are in an advantageous position to respond, but this requires integrated strategic and enterprise architecture planning, for information technology (IT) has evolved from a support role to a strategic role, providing the core management systems, communication networks, and delivery channels of the modern library. Further, IT components do not function in isolation from one another, but are interdependent elements of distributed and multidimensional systems encompassing people, processes, and technologies, which must consider social, economic, legal, organisational, and ergonomic requirements and relationships, as well as being logically sound from a technical perspective. Strategic planning provides direction, while enterprise architecture strategically aligns and holistically integrates business and information system architectures. While challenging, such integrated planning should be regarded as an opportunity for the library to evolve as an enterprise in the digital age, or at minimum, to simply keep pace with societal change and alternative service providers. Without strategy, a library risks being directed by outside forces with independent motivations and inadequate understanding of its broader societal role. Without enterprise architecture, it risks technological disparity, redundancy, and obsolescence. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this conceptual paper provides an integrated framework for strategic and architectural planning of digital library services. The concept of the library as an enterprise is also introduced
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