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

Variety Management in Assemble-to-Order Supply Chains

Assemble-to-order refers to a supply chain strategy in which products are not assembled until customer order arrives. It is based on the so-called form postponement that is to hold components at a generic form and to delay the point of product differentiation. The performance of an assem-ble-to-order supply chain depends on two main dimensions, which are responsiveness and achievement level of scale economies. Responsiveness refers to the capability of fulfilling customer requirements in a fast-paced manner, whereas the achievement of scale economies reflects the degree of operations efficiency. Assemble-to-order supply chains induce high product variety, which has adverse effects on performance. We use demand volumes as a proxy for scale economies and lead times as a proxy for responsiveness. A matrix that consists of both dimensions can be defined, in which we distinguish between short/long lead times and low/high demand volumes. This matrix is called performance matrix. On the other hand, the consequence that results from product variety is a high demand variability of end products, which also affects the demand variability of components. An analysis of component demand variability enables one to identify the components with low/high demand variability. These components can further be classified into supplied and in-house made components. Thus, a second matrix (called component matrix) with two dimensions, namely variability (low/high) and supply source (in-house/supplier) can be defined. Due to the supply source dimension in the component matrix, the supply chain perspective is also taken into ac-count. The combination of both matrixes into a single one provides the performance/component matrix for assemble-to-order supply chains. To use the final matrix, it is necessary to compute lead times, demand volumes and demand variability of the supplied and in-house made components. By plotting the components in the matrix, one can determine the problems induced by variety. In order to improve the performance of the assemble-to-order supply chain, the implementation of variety management strategies is necessary. The identified strategies are: commonality, component families, modularity, and platforms. Based on the performance/component matrix, we discuss how these strategies or a combination of them can contribute to derive recommendations that aim to alleviate variety impacts on the as-semble-to-order supply chain.Assemble-to-order; Supply Chain Management; Variety Management

Engineering Crowdsourced Stream Processing Systems

A crowdsourced stream processing system (CSP) is a system that incorporates crowdsourced tasks in the processing of a data stream. This can be seen as enabling crowdsourcing work to be applied on a sample of large-scale data at high speed, or equivalently, enabling stream processing to employ human intelligence. It also leads to a substantial expansion of the capabilities of data processing systems. Engineering a CSP system requires the combination of human and machine computation elements. From a general systems theory perspective, this means taking into account inherited as well as emerging properties from both these elements. In this paper, we position CSP systems within a broader taxonomy, outline a series of design principles and evaluation metrics, present an extensible framework for their design, and describe several design patterns. We showcase the capabilities of CSP systems by performing a case study that applies our proposed framework to the design and analysis of a real system (AIDR) that classifies social media messages during time-critical crisis events. Results show that compared to a pure stream processing system, AIDR can achieve a higher data classification accuracy, while compared to a pure crowdsourcing solution, the system makes better use of human workers by requiring much less manual work effort

The development of service provider's BPO-IT framework

Purpose The decision to operate BPO-IT organisational model by a business process outsourcing (BPO) service provider has far reaching benefits. The purpose of this paper is to develop a service provider’s BPO-IT framework that provides in-house IT function (software) required to process client services. Design/methodology/approach The multi-case study adopted an exploratory sequential mixed method research approach. In the first instance, seven BPO service provider organisations were investigated in the qualitative phase and 156 in the quantitative phase, respectively. Findings The adoption of the developed framework indicates that it could reduce failures in BPO relationships through reduced turnaround time in processing client services, improved quality of service, reduced cost, improved client and provider’s competitiveness, and confidentiality of client operations. Outsourcing clients could lay the foundation for a successful relationship by adopting a selection process that could choose the right provider. Originality/value The paper reveals BPO-IT organisation’s operation towards in-house provision of software required to process client services. A research exploring BPO service providers from a top outsourcing destination like India could provide offshore outsourcing clients the information to move towards onshore outsourcing. </jats:sec

Managing multi-tiered suppliers in the high-tech industry

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-135).This thesis presents a roadmap for companies to follow as they manage multi-tiered suppliers in the high-tech industry. Our research covered a host of sources including interviews and publications from various companies, consulting companies, software companies, the computer industry, trade associations, and analyst firms among others. While our review found that many companies begin supplier relationship management after sourcing events, we show that managing suppliers should start as companies form their competitive strategy. Our five step roadmap provides a deliberate approach for companies as they build the foundation for effective and successful multi-tiered supplier relationship management.by Charles E. Frantz and Jimin Lee.M.Eng.in Logistic

Green sourcing strategy challenges faced by Automotive Component Manufacturers in Durban, South Africa.

Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2019.There is a growing need to protect the environment mainly because a clean environment is of essence for healthy living. One of the means by which automotive component manufacturers (ACMs) may protect the environment is by implementing green supply chains. Demand for motor vehicles has been intensified by continued increase in the world’s overall population. Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are producing more vehicles to meet demand and ACMs are in turn required to produce more component parts to meet OEMs’ demand. The significance of making sustainable sourcing strategy decisions cannot be overstressed. This is because sourcing is the backbone of any organisation, with its main aim being to procure critical components at the lowest possible cost from consistent and reliable suppliers at the best quality. The adoption of Kraljic’s (1983) purchasing portfolio model is presumed to be used as a sourcing strategy. The main aim of this research is to understand how ACMs incorporate green elements in sourcing and to identify drivers and barriers to the implementation of green supply chain. This cross-sectional study made use of mixed method and data were collected using personally administered questionnaires to purchasing and logistics employees as well as managers in ACMs in Prospecton, Durban. Qualitative and quantitative data was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23 and Nvivo 11, respectively. Participation in the study was voluntary and anonymity of participants was maintained. Green sourcing is not yet a priority to ACMs and those that are practicing it confirmed that greening requirements have influenced sourcing. Kraljic’s (1983) model is used extensively by ACMs in Durban and the model is considered crucial when conducting sourcing. Recommendations based on findings include; a thorough understanding of the consequences of the deteriorating environment and contributions ACMs make, ACMs providing trainings and courses to educate employees on green sourcing and its significance, mitigating barriers to implementing green sourcing by involving suppliers, customers and government when conducting sourcing

Towards Open Smart Services Platform

The landscape of services in the enterprise has changed significantly for both service providers and service clients over the last few years. In the IT services domain, the mega IT outsourcing service deals with a sole provider are diminishing fast. A typical service client is now consuming multiple IT services, from specialized providers, and services contracts has become smaller in size and duration. More importantly the line of business, not the IT, owns the decisions and the relationship for consuming services. This has also shifted the service consumption input from IT requirements into the business requirements. This new world is posing a new and unique set of opportunities and challenges for service providers in offering services, which include third party providers, to their clients, and for service clients to consume services from multiple providers. To facilitate offering and consuming such multi-vendor services, in this paper, we present a conceptual architecture for an open services platform which enables a given server provider (a service integrator) to offer services to its clients that are a mixture of its own and other services from third party providers. It also enables service clients to look for and choose services from multiple vendors in a seamless, integrated and consistent manner