Unleashing the Effectiveness of Process-oriented Information Systems: Problem Analysis, Critical Success Factors, Implications

Process-oriented information systems (IS) aim at the computerized support of business processes. So far, contemporary IS have often fail to meet this goal. To better understand this drawback, to systematically identify its rationales, and to derive critical success factors for business process support, we conducted three empirical studies: an exploratory case study in the automotive domain, an online survey among 79 IT professionals, and another online survey among 70 business process management (BPM) experts. This paper summarizes the findings of these studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that "process-orientation" is scarce and "process-awareness" is needed in IS engineering

A Process Modelling Success Model: Insights from a Case Study

Contemporary concepts such as Business Pro cess Re-engineering and Process Innovation emphasize the importance of process-oriented management concepts as a businesses paradigm. Large scaled multimillion-dollar implementations of Enterpri se Systems explicitly and implicitly state the importance of process modeling and its contribution to the success of these project. While there has been much research and publications on alterna tive process modeling techniques and tools, little attention has focused on post-hoc evaluation of actual process modeling activities or on deriving comprehensive guidelines on ‘how-to’ conduct process modeling effectively. This study aims at addressing this gap. A comprehensive a priori pro cess modeling success model has been derived and this paper reports on the results obtained from a detailed case study at a leading Australian logistics service provider, which was conducted with the aim of testing and re-specifying the model

Critical Success Factors ofService Orientation inInformation Systems Engineering: Derivation and Empirical Evaluation ofaCausal Model

Service orientation has been a major buzz-word in recent years. While the buzz is on a decline, organizations are slowly, but steadily moving towards service oriented designs. However, service orientation turns out to be as much of a managerial challenge as of a technical one. The most important complexity drivers in the service oriented design of information systems seem to be (a) inconsistent design goals of stakeholders and (b) the pursuit of exhaustive service orientation coverage. This research focuses on the following two questions: (1)What are the characteristics of successful implementations of service oriented information systems, and (2)what are the critical success factors influencing, driving and/or, determining these characteristics? Data of an empirical analysis is used to test a set of cause-effect relationship hypotheses based on nine latent variables. In the core of this model we differentiate the variables "overall service orientation infrastructure success” and "service orientation project success”. The hypothesized interrelationships between the nine variables lead to a causal model which is proven to hol

Critical Success Factors of Service Orientation in Information Systems Engineering

Service orientation has been a majorbuzz-word in recent years. While thebuzz is on a decline, organizations areslowly, but steadily moving towardsservice oriented designs. However, serviceorientation turns out to be as muchof a managerial challenge as of a technicalone. The most important complexitydrivers in the service orienteddesign of information systems seemto be (a) inconsistent design goals ofstakeholders and (b) the pursuit of exhaustiveservice orientation coverage.This research focuses on the followingtwo questions: (1) What are the characteristicsof successful implementationsof service oriented informationsystems, and (2) what are the criticalsuccess factors influencing, drivingand/or, determining these characteristics?Data of an empirical analysis isused to test a set of cause-effect relationshiphypotheses based on nine latentvariables. In the core of this modelwe differentiate the variables “overallservice orientation infrastructure success”and “service orientation projectsuccess”. The hypothesized interrelationshipsbetween the nine variableslead to a causal model which is provento hold

Measuring Process Modelling Success

Process-modelling has seen widespread acceptance, par ticularly on large IT-enabled Business Process Reengineering projects. It is applied, as a process design and management technique, across all life-cycle phases of a system. While there has been much research on aspects of process-modelling, little attention has focused on post-hoc evaluation of process-modelling success. This paper addresses this gap, and presents a process-modelling success measurement (PMS) framework, which includes the dimensions: process-model quality; model use; user satisfaction; and process modelling impact. Measurement items for each dimension are also suggested

On Modeling and Analyzing Cost Factors in Information Systems Engineering

Introducing enterprise information systems (EIS) is usually associated with high costs. It is therefore crucial to understand those factors that determine or influence these costs. Though software cost estimation has received considerable attention during the last decades, it is difficult to apply existing approaches to EIS. This difficulty particularly stems from the inability of these methods to deal with the dynamic interactions of the many technological, organizational and projectdriven cost factors which specifically arise in the context of EIS. Picking up this problem, we introduce the EcoPOST framework to investigate the complex cost structures of EIS engineering projects through qualitative cost evaluation models. This paper extends previously described concepts and introduces design rules and guidelines for cost evaluation models in order to enhance the development of meaningful and useful EcoPOST cost evaluation models. A case study illustrates the benefits of our approach. Most important, our EcoPOST framework is an important tool supporting EIS engineers in gaining a better understanding of the critical factors determining the costs of EIS engineering projects

Unleashing the Effectiveness of Process-oriented Information Systems: Problem Analysis, Critical Success Factors and Implications

Process-oriented information systems (IS) aim at the computerized support of business processes. So far, contemporary IS have often fail to meet this goal. To better understand this drawback, to systematically identify its rationales, and to derive critical success factors for business process support, we conducted three empirical studies: an exploratory case study in the automotive domain, an online survey among 79 IT professionals, and another online survey among 70 business process management (BPM) experts. This paper summarizes the findings of these studies, puts them in relation with each other, and uses them to show that ”process-orientation” is scarce and ”process-awareness” is needed in IS engineering

Modeling and Simulating Causal Dependencies on Process-aware Information Systems from a Cost Perspective

Providing effective IT support for business processes has become crucial for enterprises to stay competitive in their market. Business processes must be defined, implemented, enacted, monitored, and continuously adapted to changing situations. Process life cycle support and continuous process improvement become critical success factors in contemporary and future enterprise computing. In this context, process-aware information systems (PAISs) adopt a key role. Thereby, organization-specific and generic process support systems are distinguished. In the former case, the PAIS is build "from scratch" and incorporates organization-specific information about the structure and processes to be supported. In the latter case, the PAIS does not contain any information about the structure and processes of a particular organization. Instead, an organization needs to configure the PAIS by specifying processes, organizational entities, and business objects. To enable the realization of PAISs, numerous process support paradigms, process modeling standards, and business process management tools have been introduced. The application of these approaches in PAIS engineering projects is not only influenced by technological, but also by organizational and project-specific factors. Between these factors there exist numerous causal dependencies, which, in turn, often lead to complex and unexpected effects in PAIS engineering projects. In particular, the costs of PAIS engineering projects are significantly influenced by these causal dependencies. What is therefore needed is a comprehensive approach enabling PAIS engineers to systematically investigate these causal dependencies as well as their impact on the costs of PAIS engineering projects. Existing economic-driven IT evaluation and software cost estimation approaches, however, are unable to take into account causal dependencies and resulting effects. In response, this thesis introduces the EcoPOST framework. This framework utilizes evaluation models to describe the interplay of technological, organizational, and project-specific evaluation factors, and simulation concepts to unfold the dynamic behavior of PAIS engineering projects. In this context, the EcoPOST framework also supports the reuse of evaluation models based on a library of generic, predefined evaluation patterns and also provides governing guidelines (e.g., model design guidelines) which enhance the transfer of the EcoPOST framework into practice. Tool support is available as well. Finally, we present the results of two online surveys, three case studies, and one controlled software experiment. Based on these empirical and experimental research activities, we are able to validate evaluation concepts underlying the EcoPOST framework and additionally demonstrate its practical applicability

Business Process Management and the Need for Measurements - including an empirical study about operating figures

Problem: Since business process management (BPM) is a very spacious concept, it is influenced from many other concepts, standards and methods that determine its constancy. Companies are asked to restructure their organisation in order to meet internal and external customer demands. The term quality comes to the fore. Organisations such as ISO and the EFQM try to certify or assess companies in terms of the course of their qualitative business processes but do not provide them with helpful implementation tools. One task will be to look at these approaches in a critical perspective in order to assess them with regard to BPM. Further, a company’s performance has to be assessed not only from a one-dimensional perspective. Hence operating figures have to be derived that cover a multi-dimensional assessment perspective in order to show if they meet internal as well as external customer demands. Thus, another task is to assess existing measurement systems with regard to BPM and to show how companies can control and monitor their business process in a better, more effective way. Purpose: The purpose is seen in a processing and comparison of different management concepts and methods in order to present an embracing picture within the area of BPM. The need for measurements will be emphasized, existing performance measurement systems towards BPM analysed and the concept of process controlling presented. In the end a rather practical guideline for the derivation of operating figures will be conceived to overcome acceptance problems SME might have. Several strategic and organisational related hypotheses in the field of operating figures will be investigated that support this approach. The evaluation takes place on the basis of empirical findings within a study of SME but also with help of existing theories. Methodology: This research is based on a combination of the systems and actors approach supplied with quantitative as well as qualitative data, which is collected in form of a questionnaire and via participation on a workshop within the so-called be.st (benchmarking for sustainability) project. This master thesis is conducted as an abductive study. As a consequence, reliability and validity are provided. Conclusions: References and adaptabilities of existing management approaches and measurement systems are pointed out. The further focus lies in an efficient and effective monitoring of business processes in the sense of BPM. On the hypotheses it is dwelled on, most notably on the re-use of operating figures and the most effective derivation method for operating figures- the top-down approach. The role of the management comes hereby to the fore. Findings of the empirical study are presented as well, in relation to the theory. A practical guideline for the derivation and re-use of operating figures and an embracing picture of BPM, its related areas and investigated companies is conceived in the end