7,871 research outputs found

    Participative enterprise modelling for balanced scorecard implementation

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    Balanced Scorecards (BSC) have been established as a valuable and practicable instrument addressing major management problems in organisations. BSC are commonly IT-supported and found a conceptual basis for management information systems. They are often applied to IT-Controlling, and they are also repeatedly applied to specify requirements towards the corporate IT architecture. However, BSC implementation often struggles when it comes to discovering and documenting organisational knowledge that is not easily accessible or not of sufficient quality. On the other hand, Enterprise modelling (EM) seeks to solve organisational design problems in, for instance, business process reengineering, strategy planning, enterprise integration, and information systems development. Here, participative EM methods lead to improved quality as well as to consensus and to increased acceptance of the business decisions. At this juncture, participative EM can support BSC implementation projects that comprise activities requiring the discovery and documentation of organisational knowledge that is not easily accessible or not of sufficient quality. For that reason, the aim of this paper is to integrate participative EM approaches, taking Enterprise Knowledge Development (EKD) as an example, and BSC implementation. In order to operationalise this conceptual improvement, we will perform a stepwise analysis of BSC implementation processes and identify shortcomings that are able to be addressed with the help of participative enterprise modelling

    Investigating the usability and utility of tangible modelling of socio-technical architectures

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    Socio-technical models are models that represent social as well as technical elements of the modeling subject, where the technical part consists of both physical and digital elements. Examples are enterprise models and models of the target of assessment used in risk assessment. Constructing and validating these models often implies a challenging task of extracting and integrating information from a multitude of stakeholders which are rarely modelling experts and don’t usually have the time or desire to engage in modelling activities.\ud We investigate a promising approach to overcome this challenge by using physical tokens to represent the model. We call the resulting models tangible models.\ud In this paper we illustrate this idea by creating a tangible representations of a socio-technical modelling language used in Risk Assessment and provide an initial validation of the relative usability and utility of tangible versus abstract modelling by an experiment and a focus group, respectively. We discuss possible psychological and social mechanisms that could explain the enhanced usability and utility of tangible modelling approaches for domain experts. Finally, we discuss the generalizability of this approach to other languages and modelling purposes

    Aligning operational and corporate goals: a case study in cultivating a whole-of-business approach using a supply chain simulation game

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    This paper outlines the development and use of an interactive computer-based supply chain game to facilitate the alignment of disconnected operational and corporate goals. A multi-enterprise internal cattle supply chain was simulated targeting the operational property managers and the overall impacts of their decision making on corporate goals A three stage multidisciplinary approach was used. A case study based financial analysis was undertaken across the internal cattle supply chain, a participative action research component (developing the game to simulate the flow of product and associated decisions and financial transactions through the internal supply chain of the company for different operational scenarios using measurable and familiar operational and financial criteria as tracking tools), and a qualitative analysis of organisational learning through player debriefing following playing the game. Evaluation of the managers' learning around the need for a change in general practice to address goal incongruence was positive evidenced by changes in practice and the game regarded by the users as a useful form of organisational training. The game provided property managers with practical insights into the strategic implications of their enterprise level decisions on the internal supply chain and on overall corporate performance. The game is unique and is a tool that can be used to help address an endemic problem across multi-enterprise industries in the agrifood sector in Australia

    Model-Driven Information Security Risk Assessment of Socio-Technical Systems

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    Building knowledge repositories with enterprise modelling and patterns – from theory to practice

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    An approach to building knowledge repositories, Enterprise Knowledge Patterns (EKP), has been developed and applied throughout a number of research projects, most recently in the ELEKTRA, HyperKnowledge1 and EKLĂ€r projects. The EKP approach combines Enterprise Modelling with organisational patterns. Systematic evaluations of applying the approach have been carried out in two of the projects, while the third project is currently running. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the evaluation results and to share practical experiences from building knowledge repositories with Enterprise Modelling and organisational patterns. We discuss issues concerning the knowledge content of pattern based knowledge repositories, the language used to express knowledge in organisational patterns and technology support for storing and retrieving knowledge components.

    Digital Business Engineering: Methodological Foundations and First Experiences from the Field

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    Digitization is affecting almost all areas of business and society. It brings about opportunities for enterprises to design a digital business model. While a significant amount of research exist examining the conceptual foundation of business models in general, no comprehensive approach is available that helps enterprises in designing a digital business model. This paper addresses this gap and proposes Digital Business Engineering as a method for digital business model design. The activities are structured into six phases, namely End-to-End Customer Design, Business Ecosystem Design, Digital Product/Service Design, Digital Capability Design, Data Mapping, and Digital Technology Architecture Design. The method development follows principles of design-oriented research. Five case studies are used to analyse method requirements and evaluate it within is natural context

    The role of supply chain integration in achieving competitive advantage: A study of UK automobile manufacturers

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    The competitive nature of the global automobile industry has resulted in a battle for efficiency and consistency in supply chain management (SCM). For manufacturers, the diversified network of suppliers represents more than just a production system; it is a strategic asset that must be managed, evaluated, and revised in order to attain competitive advantage. One capability that has become an increasingly essential means of alignment and assessment is supply chain integration (SCI). Through such practices, manufacturers create informational capital that is inimitable, yet transferrable, allowing suppliers to participate in a mutually-beneficial system of performance-centred outcomes. From cost reduction to time improvements to quality control, the benefits of SCI extend throughout the supply chain lifecycle, providing firms with improved predictability, flexibility, and responsiveness. Yet in spite of such benefits, key limitations including exposure to risks, supplier failures, or changing competitive conditions may expose manufacturers to a vulnerable position that can severely impact value and performance. The current study summarizes the perspectives and predictions of managers within the automobile industry in the UK, highlighting a dynamic model of interdependency and interpolation that embraces SCI as a strategic resource. Full commitment to integration is critical to achieving improved outcomes and performance; therefore, firms seeking to integrate throughout their extended supply chain must be willing to embrace a less centralized locus of control

    Business Architecture: The Basis for a Design-Oriented Approach to Business Process Outsourcing

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    This paper presents an approach to business process outsourcing (BPO) based on the development of a business architecture. The paper argues that business architecture can form the basis for the effective planning, design and negotiation of a BPO initiative. The approach comprises the following steps: business problem analysis; determination of the required performance standards; in-house versus market capability assessment; business service provider engagement; joint service architecture design; and service contract negotiation. A key feature of the approach is that the client organisation and the outsourcing business service provider jointly develop the business architecture. The authors make the claim that such an approach to BPO incorporates a design attitude, rather than the decision attitude that is common to other BPO methods and approaches

    Prospective system analysis of stationary battery systems under the frame of Constructive Technology Assessment

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    Based on the report for the unit “Project IV” of the PhD programme on Technology Assessment under the supervision of Dr.-Ing. Marcel Weil and Prof. Dr. António Brandão Moniz. The report was presented and discussed at the Doctorate Conference on Technologogy Assessment in July 2013 at the University Nova Lisboa, Caparica campus.The ongoing German energy transition causes a higher demand for reliable energy storage in the future. This increasing demand for sustainable, cheap, safe and efficient energy storage systems has caused a stronger public debate about the potential benefits of grid battery storage according to sustainability. This circumstance led to the preposition that there is a need for the development of a proper ex-ante assessment strategy to support technology uptake. The developed approach represents a framework for prospective system analysis (PSA) using the heuristics of constructive technology assessment to identify consequences, application possibilities or threats in the technological trajectory of grid battery storage. Within this framework PSA is used to quantitatively assess economic, environmental and social aspects along the entire life cycle of electrochemical energy storage technologies in order to identify hotspots according to sustainability. The Analytic Hierarchic Process (AHP) supports multiple methods in data collection and enables the analyst to combine results from PSA with qualitative actor notions about technology according to the “world” where it is embodied. In this sense AHP enables to achieve an optimum construct of technology from a stakeholder view point. The developed approach represents an efficient research strategy to shape technology in a sustainable way in frame of „Responsible Research and Innovation“.Marcel Weil; António Brandão Moni
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