Benchmarking performance management systems

The Balanced Scorecard and associated performance management approaches, has become a widely practiced and popular management reporting method in recent times. Moreover, enabling technology, which assists in the delivery and personalisation of corporate performance information, is having a deeper and more rapid impact than ever before. This paper presents a brief comparative benchmarking study of leading enterprise performance management systems. Also, the author discusses the merits of bespoke internet technology development and out-of-the-box portal functionalities. An analysis of key business drivers and implementation risks of such approaches is highlighted via a case study example, and concludes the paper

An ontology framework for developing platform-independent knowledge-based engineering systems in the aerospace industry

This paper presents the development of a novel knowledge-based engineering (KBE) framework for implementing platform-independent knowledge-enabled product design systems within the aerospace industry. The aim of the KBE framework is to strengthen the structure, reuse and portability of knowledge consumed within KBE systems in view of supporting the cost-effective and long-term preservation of knowledge within such systems. The proposed KBE framework uses an ontology-based approach for semantic knowledge management and adopts a model-driven architecture style from the software engineering discipline. Its phases are mainly (1) Capture knowledge required for KBE system; (2) Ontology model construct of KBE system; (3) Platform-independent model (PIM) technology selection and implementation and (4) Integration of PIM KBE knowledge with computer-aided design system. A rigorous methodology is employed which is comprised of five qualitative phases namely, requirement analysis for the KBE framework, identifying software and ontological engineering elements, integration of both elements, proof of concept prototype demonstrator and finally experts validation. A case study investigating four primitive three-dimensional geometry shapes is used to quantify the applicability of the KBE framework in the aerospace industry. Additionally, experts within the aerospace and software engineering sector validated the strengths/benefits and limitations of the KBE framework. The major benefits of the developed approach are in the reduction of man-hours required for developing KBE systems within the aerospace industry and the maintainability and abstraction of the knowledge required for developing KBE systems. This approach strengthens knowledge reuse and eliminates platform-specific approaches to developing KBE systems ensuring the preservation of KBE knowledge for the long term

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Information Security Risk Assessment in the Context of Outsourcing in a Financial Institution

Infoturbe riskihindamine finantsinstitutsioonis on oluline, et mõista ettevõtte varade konfidentsiaalsuse, tervikluse ja käideldavuse riskipositsiooni. Kolmandate osapooltega seotud riskide olulisus on finantsinstitutsioonide jaoks kasvanud. Ettevõtete soov on tagada informatsiooni turvalisus optimeerides samal ajal efektiivselt investeeringuid. Täna on valdavalt kasutusel meetodid, mis tuginevad ekspertide arvamustele ja individuaalsetele hinnangutele, mistõttu kajastavad tulemused vaid limiteeritud vaadet eksisteerivatele riskidele. See on probleem, sest ettevõtted ei soovi teha suure mahulisi investeeringuid turvalisusesse ilma võimalikult täpselt riske hindamata. Käesolevas uurimistöös on käsitletud kahte infoturbe riski hindamise meetodit: ISSRM ja Bayesi võrkudel põhinevat ründepuud. Käsitledes kolmandate osapooltega seotud allhanget kui äriprotsessi, on koostatud süsteemne võrdlus nende meetodite kohta ning hinnatud allhanke korral tekkida võiva riski suurust organisatsioonile. Pakutud on soovitused, kuidas ühendada infoturbe riskijuhtimise metoodika tõenäosusliku riskihindamise metoodikaga. Tulemused on hinnatud valdkonna spetsialistide poolt.Information security risk assessment in a financial institution is important for understanding risk exposure to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of assets. Third-party security is recognized to have a growing importance for financial sector organizations. A financial institution aims for securing information while justifying budgeting decisions. Unfortunately, commonly used methods are dependent on value judgments and individual assurances which limit their reflection of existing uncertainties in reality. This is a problem because organizations do not want to allocate resources into security without accurately estimating their exposure to risks. The paper introduces two information security risk assessment methods: Information System Security Risk Management method and Bayesian Networks Based Attack Graphs. A systematic comparison of the methods is made in the context of third-party outsourcing. A proposition of how to combine a security risk management method together with a probabilistic risk assessment method has been made. Feedback and validation have been given by experts in the field