Realising Benefits from Current ERP and CRM Systems Implementations: An Empirical Study

In this study we report on the benefits achieved from enterprise systems implementations. Building on the existing research this paper uses the expectation-benefits framework as an analytical lens to identify and understand realised benefits. The study comprises 14 empirical case studies that focus on projects to extend existing ERP and CRM implementations. The work serves two key objectives. First to gain greater insights into the range and scope of realised benefits and second to further validate the exp-ben framework. Benefits are identifed in all four areas of the exp-ben framework. Most notable is the continued focus on achieving integration and in the improvement of information quality and better business intelligence

Investigating Cloud ERP Adoption in Australian Higher Education Institutions: A Case Study

Background: Some higher education institutions (HEIs) are constantly under pressure to deliver superior quality education services at low costs through deploying traditional on-premise systems. Cloud-based enterprise resource planning (Cloud ERP) presents an ideal opportunity to lower HEI costs in terms of scalability and pay-per-use features. Adoption of Cloud ERP is, however, still low for the context of HEIs. The successful adoption of Cloud ERP depends not only on the support of system providers but also on understanding Cloud ERP adoption from the client organization perspective. This study explores Cloud ERP adoption in the context of Australian HEIs. Method: This study adopted a case study methodology involving the in-depth semi structured interviews of several key stakeholders. Thematic analysis was used to analyze and interpret interview data. Results: Based on the case study, our findings suggest that this particular Australian HEI was subject to strategic, operational, technological, and financial motives originating from either internal or external locus. Most of the expected motives were realized, except the full flexibility of Cloud ERP. Four major challenges of Cloud ERP implementation were found. Conclusion: This study empirically investigates Cloud ERP adoption in HEIs by identifying the motives, realized benefits and challenges of Cloud ERP adoption, which bridges the research gap of this topic. This study could assist Cloud ERP providers to adjust their marketing strategies to promote the adoption rate of Cloud ERP in HEIs. Understanding the motives, challenges and benefits of IT adoption in HEIs facilitates judicious decision-making prior to selection and minimizes the possibility of the failure of Cloud ERP adoption

Using Graph Databases to Address Network Complexity Problems that can Hinder Security Incident Response

The network complexity problem within computer security incident response is an issue pertaining to the complexity of a computer network as it grows in both size and scale. The larger the computer network grows, the more difficult reconnaissance becomes, which is necessary to execute correction and prevention measures that address issues that arise during security incident response. Leveraging graph databases can help solve problems present in relational databases with large, tree-like structures, like those present in computer networks, and along with solving those problems adds flexibility that is needed due to the mutability of computer networks. This paper focuses on using graph databases to discover the blast radius of day zero vulnerabilities on the fly by using the properties of graph databases to find intuitive infection vectors that may be present during a day zero vulnerability. Additionally, options for visualizing security data in ways that make the data more actionable will be explored

THE SYSTEMS APPROACH -- RESEARCH OR RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Automating Vendor Fraud Detection in Enterprise Systems

Fraud is a multi-billion dollar industry that continues to grow annually. Many organizations are poorly prepared to prevent and detect fraud. Fraud detection strategies are intended to quickly and efficiently identify fraudulent activities that circumvent preventative measures. In this paper, we adopt a DesignScience methodological framework to develop a model for detection of vendor fraud based on analysis of patterns or signatures identified in enterprise system audit trails. The concept is demonstrated by developing prototype software. Verification of the prototype is achieved by performing a series of experiments. Validation is achieved by independent reviews from auditing practitioners. Key findings of this study are: (a) automating routine data analytics improves auditor productivity and reduces time taken to identify potential fraud; and (b) visualizations assist in promptly identifying potentially fraudulent user activities. The study makes the following contributions: (a) a model for proactive fraud detection; (b) methods for visualizing user activities in transaction data; and (c) a stand-alone Monitoring and Control Layer (MCL) based prototype

Product information management for complex modular security systems

Um sistema PIM gere toda a informação que possibilita a comercialização dos produtos através de diferentes canais. A sua importância durante o ciclo de vida de um produto aumentou devido à sofisticação técnica dos produtos, a gerir internamente e a publicar externamente. Sistemas, tais como o ERP e o CCMS, deverão integrar-se com um sistema PIM, o qual deve funcionar como a “espinha dorsal” da informação de produto. O presente projeto tem como objetivo principal a criação de uma solução para gerir a informação de produto para sistemas modulares complexos. A proposta de solução inclui a criação de uma ontologia para parte dos inúmeros sistemas disponíveis no catálogo de produtos de uma das maiores organizações multinacionais do setor de engenharia e tecnologia a nível mundial. O processo de criação da solução proposta baseou-se na metodologia de investigação pesquisa-ação e foi dividido em cinco fases. Na fase de diagnóstico descreveu-se e analisou-se a atual situação dos sistemas ERP e CCMS que gerem o catálogo online dos sistemas de produtos comercializados. Levantaram-se ainda as taxonomias de produto atuais e elaborou-se a proposta. Na fase de planeamento da ação descreveram-se a equipa de trabalho, a abordagem inspirada na metodologia Agile usada para desenvolver a solução, as reuniões de planeamento, os parceiros de trabalho, as ferramentas a usar e a sua justificação. Na fase de tomada de ação foi descrito o processo de criação da solução ontológica e o resultado final, incluindo a construção das novas taxonomias e a sua validação pelos especialistas. Propuseram-se exemplos e representações gráficas usando a ferramenta Protégé. Na fase de avaliação, a solução ontológica foi testada, tendo-se validado que os requisitos necessários foram satisfeitos pela estrutura. Na fase de especificação de aprendizagem propuseram-se os próximos passos para a implementação e gestão futura do modelo ontológico. Com esta solução, a organização poderá gerir mais eficientemente a informação de produto e a estrutura de dados. Ela possui versatilidade para gerir produtos individuais ou sistemas modulares complexos e melhorar a sua comunicação com o cliente. Além disso, a ontologia tem ainda um enorme potencial se combinada com técnicas de IA. Algumas limitações do projeto e propostas de trabalhos futuros foram ainda apresentadas

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

Bringing Context Inside Process Research with Digital Trace Data

Context is usually conceptualized as “external” to a theory or model and treated as something to be controlled or eliminated in empirical research. We depart from this tradition and conceptualize context as permeating processual phenomena. This move is possible because digital trace data are now increasingly available, providing rich and fine-grained data about processes mediated or enabled by digital technologies. This paper introduces a novel method for including fine-grained contextual information from digital trace data within the description of process (e.g., who, what, when, where, why). Adding contextual information can result in a very large number of fine-grained categories of events, which are usually considered undesirable. However, we argue that a large number of categories can make process data more informative for theorizing and that including contextual detail enriches the understanding of processes as they unfold. We demonstrate this by analyzing audit trail data of electronic medical records using ThreadNet, an open source software application developed for the qualitative visualization and analysis of process data. The distinctive contribution of our approach is the novel way in which we contextualize events and action in process data. Providing new, usable ways to incorporate context can help researchers ask new questions about the dynamics of processual phenomena

Enterprise Modeling to Support ICT-Enabled Process Change. Context for and consequences of enterprise modeling in initiatives that combine process change and information and communication technology

This thesis presents findings from a multiple case study of enterprise modeling use in initiatives that combine process change and information and communication technology. The study covers initiatives where models are made and used by people as part of a process change process, and an initiative where models are made as input to a business support environment enabling process change in the long run. The research project was motivated by lack of empirical research on enterprise modeling practice and a wish to examine the relevance of the conceptualizations of the Process Modeling Practice model by Eikebrokk, Iden, Olsen and Opdahl (2006) into the wider enterprise modeling setting. The overall research question was formulated as: “How is enterprise modeling used and how can it be used to support information and communication enabled process change in Norwegian companies? Context for and consequences of enterprise modeling”. To help focus the research project, the enterprise modeling practice model was developed. The model was built-up by categories from the Process Modeling Practice model (Eikebrokk et al, 2006) and findings from a pilot and a literature study. To make clear the study objective, an explicit research goal was set: “to validate and elaborate the Enterprise Modeling Practice research model”. Cases were compared by looking for patterns of relationships among constructs within and across cases. The main multiple case research outcomes were: (1) The identification of five different types of modeling initiatives by analyzing how each case combined use of information technology, process change main focus and the main objectives of modeling (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (2) The identification of a broad variety of enterprise modeling benefits (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (3) The identification of barriers to modeling, and findings indicating that the distribution of modeling maturity between project stakeholders affects how the modeling activities are carried out (Karlsen, 2011), (4)A broadly validated and elaborated Enterprise Modeling Practice model (Karlsen, 2008; Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012b). One of the cases was additionally investigated as a single-case study from a longitudinal perspective. This led to the additional research outcomes: (5)A variety of modeling experiences and recommendations contributing to increased understanding of modeling practice. (6) Description of how change happened, at an overarching level, in three stages: (1) Change maturation, (2) Change decision and (3) Process change, where the last stage constituted four steps of modeling supported process change: (1) Increased business understanding by providing a generic model, (2) Identification of TO-BE by process modeling, (3) Process categorization by sorting models into risk zones and (4) Implementation of prioritized change consistent with model artifacts. (7) Identification of Readiness as a precondition both for change and for modeling.Avhandlingen presenterer funn fra en multippel case-studie av virksomhetsmodelleringspraksis. Fokus er initiativer som kombinerer prosessendring med informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi. Både initiativ hvor modellene er laget og brukt av folk som del av en prosessendringsprosess og et initiativ hvor modellene er laget som input til et forretningsstøttesystem for prosessendring i det lange løp, inngår i studien. Motivasjonen for forskningsprosjektet var manglende forskning på modelleringspraksis. I tillegg var studien motivert ut i fra et ønske om å få undersøkt og utviklet konseptualiseringene fra the Process Modeling Practice model, utviklet av Eikebrokk, Iden, Olsen og Opdahl (2006), i en annen setting. Det overordnede forskningsspørsmålet ble formulert som: "Hvordan brukes virksomhetsmodellering og hvordan kan virksomhetsmodellering brukes som støtte i initiativer som kombinerer prosessendring med informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi i norske bedrifter? Kontekst og konsekvenser av virksomhetsmodellering". For å fokusere forskningsprosjektet ble en forskningsmodell utviklet. Modellen bygde på kategoriene fra prosessmodelleringspraksismodellen, the Process Modeling Practice model (Eikebrokk et al, 2006) og funn fra en pilot og en litteraturstudie. For å klargjøre målet med prosjektet, ble et eksplisitt forskningsmål formulert: "å validere og utvikle den initielle forskningsmodellen". Casene ble sammenliknet ved å se etter mønster i sammenhenger mellom konstrukt innen og imellom case. Forskningens hovedresultat knyttet til den multiple case studien er: (1) Identifiseringen av fem forskjellige typer modelleringsinitiativ gjennom å ha analysert hvordan hvert case kombinerte informasjons- og kommunikasjonsteknologi, hovedfokus for prosessending og hovedhensikt med modelleringen (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a), (2) Identifiseringen av en rekke fordeler knyttet til det å virksomhetsmodellere (Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012a) (3) Identifiseringen av modelleringsbarrierer sammen med funn som indikerer at distribusjonen av modelleringsmodenhet mellom prosjektdeltakere påvirker hvordan modelleringsaktivitetene utføres (Karlsen, 2011) (4) En validert og utviklet model av virksomhetsmodelleringspraksis, the Enterprise Modeling Practice model (Karlsen, 2008; Karlsen and Opdahl, 2012b). I tillegg ble ett av casene studert for seg, ut i fra et longitudinelt perspektiv. Dette førte til følgende tilleggsresultat: (5) En rekke modelleringserfaringer og modelleringsanbefalinger for økt forståelse av modelleringspraksis. (6) Beskrivelse av endring som tre stadier: (1) Endringsmodning, (2) Endringsbeslutning og (3) Prosess endring, hvor det siste stadiet bestod av fire trinn som var støttet av modelleringsarbeid: (1) Økt forretningsforståelse gjennom bruk av en generisk modell, (2) Identifisering av TO-BE gjennom prosessmodellering, (3) Prosesskategorisering ved å sortere modeller inn i risikosoner og (4) Implementering av prioriterte endringer konsistent med modellutformingene. (7) Identifisering av Readiness som en forutsetning både for endring og for modelleringsarbeid