Key Decision-making Phases And Tasks For Outsourcing Information Technology

Outsourcing has become an attractive option for today\u27s organisation. Since outsourcing Information Technology (IT) is a relatively new phenomenon in Australia, little research has been conducted as to IT management strategies needed when considering outsourcing. To guide management in the decision whether or not to outsource IT, the study developed and tested a decision-making model comprising the phases of intelligence, analysis and planning, strategy selection, action, and evaluation and monitoring. The significance of decision phases and tasks contained in the model was established through a survey of major Australian organisations. The sample included Australia\u27s top 390 companies. Such organisations would be likely to have large IT installation and therefore would have greater knowledge of IT outsourcing. The model was also applied in four major case studies to contribute to the survey and to help in interpreting the survey results. Respondent experiences in making IT outsourcing decisions were discussed. The study found that the \u27action\u27 phase of IT outsourcing is the most important decision-making phase. It is largely determined by the track record and the ability of the potential vendor to provide high service levels for the client. The need for an acceptable level of service is also strongly apparent when management evaluates and monitors the outcome of IT outsourcing. In recognition of the importance of the action phase the study presented an expanded model. It shows an expanded representation of the activities, presented in life eyrie form, related to selecting a suitable vendor and entering into an outsourcing contract. The study concluded that the proposed model was sufficiently comprehensive and structured to be a useful guide for IS outsourcing decision making. It enabled decision makers to consider complex, wide ranging and interrelated decision criteria concerning IS outsourcing for their particular circumstances and needs. Knowledge of the above findings should provide the following benefits: *The identification and description of phases, tasks and subtasks provides a checklist of what needs to be taken into account during IT outsourcing decision-making; *The identification of key phases, tasks and sub tasks will help management and others to focus on critical areas that need to be managed well in order for IT outsourcing to be successful; *The identification of the action phase as the most important phase enables management attention to be particularly focussed; *The framework can be used on a \u27as needed\u27 basis thereby making it useful for different outsourcing decision scenarios and situations. The study concludes with the research limitations and suggestions for future research

Same Words, Different Meanings: Are Basic IS/IT Concepts Our Self-Imposed Tower Of Babel?

This article began as a response to an exchange of letters concerning the need for more vs. less user participation in IS projects. It grew into an exploration of whether and how ten 1999 CAIS articles use basic IS/IT terms with different meanings and connotations related to the different perspectives of their authors. The article characterizes differences between an IT perspective and a business perspective and categorizes the ten articles accordingly. It then presents numerous quotes from the articles to illustrate differences across the articles in terms of their use of eight basic concepts: system, user, stakeholder, IS project, implementation, reengineering, requirements, and solution. To help understand the differences and their significance, the article makes extensive use of distinctions between work systems, information systems, and projects. When applied to the articles these distinctions raise questions such as whether the term system refers to a work system, information system, or software, and whether the term user refers to hands-on users, people who receive information, or managers whose organizations use information systems. An underlying theme throughout is that the lack of conscious attention to the meaning of basic terms and points of reference may be a significant impediment to effective communication and to our ability to make sense out of research findings and even journalistic anecdotes about what seemed to work or not work in particular situations. NOTE: THIS ARTICLE IS A FOLLOW UP TO ALTER\u27S ARTICLE 13 IN VOLUME 1 OF CAIS ON THE THEORY OF I

Development and integration of a decision support system for electronic outsourcing into telemanufacturing service provider

The use of computers and Information Technology enables manufacturers, especially small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) to improve productivity and increase manufactuning flexibility. Telemanufactuning or manufacturing in virtual environment is one of the infrastructures that facilitate the use of information superhighways and computer technology to attain these goals. Broadly defined, Telemanufactuning is the utilization of services accessed via communication networks and across information superhighways to perform in real time, operations and processes essential to the design and production of items. It can be a key enabler for decentralized manufacturing using global resources and expert design teams. In addition to updating several of the existing modules of the Telemanufacturing infrastructure developed earlier, in this work an Electronic Outsourcing Decision Support System (DSS) is developed to aid manufacturers in establishing first cut outsourcing policies. The development of this DSS is motivated by the increasing use of outsourcing in businesses today to accomplish improvements in critical success factors such as quality, productivity, customer satisfaction, time to market, and to focus on one\u27s core competencies. The salient features of the DSS are cost analysis and engineening economy procedures to aid users in Telemanufactuning decisions as well as for appraising the value of capital investment alternatives. Further, the user-friendly environment inherent to the DSS makes analytical decision making simpler

Reengineering the coporation--a study at a semiconductor company

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 164-176).by Mark Ming-Hsun Lee.M.S

Process improvement in the Greek public agencies

The purpose of this research is to explore process improvement in the Greek public agencies. This research is of particular interest because the Greek public sector context has some unique characteristics compared to the public sector of other countries. Firstly, the use of BPR, as a process improvement method to achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase, is politically enforced. This means that it may not be an appropriate process improvement method for the Greek public sector. Secondly, the changes that are taking place in the Greek public sector due to the Troika support mechanism may have an impact on process improvement in the Greek public agencies. These characteristics pave the way for exploring process improvement in the Greek public agencies. The abovementioned characteristics influenced the current research as follows. Given that the research started in January 2009, Document 1 was a research proposal about developing a BPR method for the needs of the Greek public agencies. This idea originated from the fact that Greek Public Administration had announced in 2007 Request for Proposals during the 4th CSF for reengineering its processes and services using BPR method. Greece signed on 6th May 2010 the agreement with Troika in order to fund its liabilities for the period 2010 – 2014

Tailoring the prototyping process to achieve customer value

Thesis (M.B.A.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management; and, (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering; in conjunction with the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT, 2008.Includes bibliographical references (p. 61).The main objective for prototyping is to get the most value out of the opportunity. Value may take the form of information, performance, displaying production readiness or proving capability for the amount of resources consumed and time required. The extents to which the aforementioned variables add customer value differ from project to project. Therefore, it is important to understand what the customer values most in the effort and modify the process to best achieve the prioritized results. Achieving customer value in the prototyping process is critical to Raytheon's Advanced Products Center (APC) business because it is likely that the customer will bring production into the facility. Misalignment with customer expectations will be avoided by tailoring the process around the metrics that the customer prioritizes. Confusion and inconsistency will be limited by having a clear and understood process. The intent of this thesis is to provide a means of tailoring the process to best achieve customer value given the characteristics of the project.by Brian Lane Jordan.S.M.M.B.A