IT investment management based on Information Technology Portfolio Management (ITPM): a study in Brazilian companies

The objective of this research is to analyze some Brazilian companies\u27 use of ITPM technique as an aid to their IT investments management. It was carried out in five case studies in different Brazilian companies from several economic sectors which were using the technique or were in the initial implementation phase. Eight interviews were conducted. The persons interviewed were high-level executives working in the IT department in the studied companies. Different levels of ITPM use was found regarding IT investment management (planning, control and evaluation). It was observed, in the analyzed cases, that ITPM is used most frequently in IT investment planning, which is the process most discussed and used in analyzed companies. The ITPM technique is used more frequently in Company 2 than in the other cases because the organization of the IT area in the company is structured according to ITPM dimensions. The technique has received little attention in IT research and ITPM research is still very limited in the information systems literature, a possible reflection of its academic importance. To highlight its practical use, ITPM has been considered a useful and accessible tool which aid IT executives in better managing and justifying investments in technology

The dimensions of IT portfolio management (ITPM) : an analysis involving managers in brazilian companies

The aim of this study is to explore and validate the dimensions of IT Portfolio Management (ITPM) in Brazilian companies, based on three different models. Five case studies were carried out in Brazilian companies that invest more than nine million reals per year in IT. Eight top IT executives from those organizations who had knowledge of the dimensions of ITPM were interviewed. Items were modified and new items included within the dimensions, while examples of equipment or systems applicable to each of the four dimensions were also identified. Research that helps managers to better understand and structure their IT investments by using the dimensions of ITPM is important to assist in the management of such resources

The dimensions of it portfolio management (ITPM): an analysis involving it managers in Brazilian companies

The aim of this study is to explore and validate the dimensions of IT Portfolio Management (ITPM) in Brazilian companies, based on three different models. Five case studies were carried out in Brazilian companies that invest more than nine million reals per year in IT. Eight top IT executives from those organizations who had knowledge of the dimensions of ITPM were interviewed. Items were modified and new items included within the dimensions, while examples of equipment or systems applicable to each of the four dimensions were also identified. Research that helps managers to better understand and structure their IT investments by using the dimensions of ITPM is important to assist in the management of such resources

Examination of Urwin’s Framework in Information Technology Project Management Practices

Information Technology (IT) projects are organizational investments that require time, money, and other resources such as people and technology. In order to ensure the success of these projects, organizations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices. In spite of this, projects still ended in partial or total failure. Despite the availability of frameworks in IT project management organizations still practice informal and ad hoc development in their project management causing additional costs and project delays or even failures. This study was done to examine the practice of Information Technology Project Management (ITPM) in organizations. The objectives of the study was first to review the existing frameworks in ITPM and then to propose a framework that is appropriate and that could be easily adopted by organizations. The study found that although there are many frameworks that can be adopted these existing frameworks are heavy in documentation and to adopt them required skilled or certified project managers which are not within the means of small and medium size organizations. Based on the review, the study had proposed Urwin’s framework as the most appropriate and practical project management approach for this study. This is because Urwin had created his framework of 12 themes after a long and intense study of information systems, information technology and project management literature. The 12 themes are strategy, leadership, scope, participation and commitment, project planning, project team, communication, risk management, training and resources, test management, organization structure and data. Urwin’s framework seemed most appropriate and practical because no certification is required and it can be implemented throughout the project life cycle. Also Urwin had showed how to implement each theme by providing a checklist under each theme. To examine Urwin’s framework interviews were conducted in two large organizations with two project managers of 15 and 17 years of experience each. Also a survey was conducted in 104 organizations. The respondents are project managers, IT executives, senior level employees and middle level employees with range of experience between two to 15 years. The results showed that all the 12 themes are well implemented in the two large organizations. Results of the survey showed that only three out of the 12 themes are well implemented. Findings from the study suggest that all 12 themes from Urwin’s framework must be well implemented to effectively managed ITPM. The study also put forth four recommendations to be practiced together with Urwin’s framework. They are executive focus and commitment; effective staffing; learning incrementally from experience; and baseline management. (Abstract by Author

Procurement Strategies in Nigerian Ceramics Manufacturing

Some developing nations struggle with a diminishing manufacturing output market share because of a lack of appropriate procurement strategies. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the procurement strategies that managers successfully developed and deployed to improve company performance. The strategic alignment model was the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews of 6 members of a Nigerian ceramics manufacturing company, as well as from a review of publicly available documents related to the performance of the company. A thematic analysis of the data was conducted to identify codes, extract subthemes and themes from the codes, and develop a thematic map. The 5 themes that emerged from data analysis included the procurement strategies needed for cross-functional collaboration, emergencies and downturns, alternatives and competition, applications of information technologies in procurement functions, and control of stock level and vendors\u27 performance. The results of the data analysis confirmed empirical evidence that linked strategic procurement alignment to organizational performance. The implementation of the findings of this study may be beneficial to individuals, communities, organizations, institutions, cultures, and society through employment creation, costs savings, waste reduction, value creation, crime reduction, and local development

Governança de ti em organizações públicas : como a efetividade percebida se relaciona com três mecanismos clássicos

A Governança de TI é uma área de estudos recente que tem despertado muito interesse devido à importância cada vez maior da Tecnologia da Informação (TI) para as organizações, sejam elas públicas ou privadas. Isso justifica a existência de uma literatura científica sobre o tema governança de TI na qual este estudo se enquadra e para cujo desenvolvimento busca contribuir. Para tanto, realizou-se pesquisa empírica envolvendo 57 organizações públicas integrantes do governo federal brasileiro na qual foram examinadas as relações entre três mecanismos de governança – Comitê de TI, Gestores da Solução de TI e Processo de Portfólio de Investimento em TI – e a Efetividade da Governança de TI. Com base na literatura revisada, um modelo conceitual foi proposto para expressar as relações que esses construtos deveriam ter uns com os outros. Um questionário foi desenvolvido com base nesse modelo e aplicado a mais de 180 servidores públicos federais. As relações Causais foram testadas com análise de mediação e detectadas, em sua maioria, de acordo com o modelo. Os resultados indicam que o desempenho do Processo de Portfólio deveria sempre ser considerado em análises que tenham por objetivo avaliar os efeitos de Comitê de TI e de Gestores da Solução na efetividade da governança de TI. Isso significa que a não existência ou o baixo desempenho do Processo de Portfólio pode reduzir ou anular a contribuição positiva dos outros dois mecanismos para a efetividade da governança de TI. Por informar tomadores de decisão e gestores dos resultados em algumas das principais organizações da administração federal brasileira no planejamento e utilização TI em busca de efetividade da governança, as conclusões apresentadas neste artigo preenchem um vazio de conhecimento sobre as complementaridades e os efeitos de três mecanismos de governança na dinâmica dessas organizações. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACTInformation technology (IT) governance has received a lot of attention lately, with a growing strategic importance currently being given to IT by both public and private organizations. This justifies the existence of a body of scientific literature on IT governance, to which this paper belongs and makes an attempt to contribute to. Towards that end, an empirical study was performed involving 57 public organizations of the Brazilian federal administration, examining the relationship between three governance mechanisms – IT steering committee, IT solution manager, and IT investment portfolio management process and IT governance effectiveness. Based on the literature review, a conceptual model was developed to express the causal relations that these constructs were expected to hold with one another. Through a custom-designed questionnaire submitted to over 180 federal public employees, the causal model was tested using mediation analysis and mostly confirmed. Results indicate that Portfolio Management should always be taken into account for analyses that aim to evaluate the effects of IT steering committees and solution managers on IT governance effectiveness. This means that a nonexistent or an underperforming Portfolio Management Process can lead to a reduction or cancellation of the potential positive contributions of the other two mechanisms to IT governance. By informing decision makers and public managers at some of the main federal public organizations in the country on how to plan and deploy IT to promote a more effective governance, the conclusions presented herein fill a previous knowledge gap in the complementarity and the joint effectiveness of three IT governance mechanisms on the IT dynamics of key public organizations

PENGARUH BUDAYA BAPAKISM DAN KEMATANGAN MANAJEMEN PORTFOLIO TEKNOLOGI INFORMASI (MPTI) TERHADAP KINERJA PERUSAHAAN

Penelitian ini membahas pengaruh budaya lokal terhadap kinerja perusahaan di Indonesia. Patern bapakism merupakan budaya lokal di Asia yang menjadi karakter kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia. Bapakism tidak hanya berlaku di lingkungan keluarga, tapi juga diberlakukan di kebanyakan perusahaan. Paper ini melakukan percobaan secara natural di perusahaan profit dan non-profit. Bapakism akan menjadi penelitian teoritis pertama yang menarik untuk dikaji, karena budaya tersebut telah dirasakan seluruh karyawan perusahaan sejak peninggalan sejarah Indonesia. Melalui penelitian ini diharapkan, bapakism dipertimbangkan sebagai faktor yang berpengaruh pada kinerja perusahaan. Pengumpulan data menggunakan metode kuisioner yang kemudian diolah menggunakan aplikasi SEM – GSCA. Temuan yang didapat adalah budaya bapakism mempunyai pengaruh pada perusahaan profit dan nonprofit pada proses pengambilan keputusan secara rasionalitas dalam melakukan investasi TI. Sehingga budaya bapakism perlu dipertimbangkan perusahaan untuk meningkatkan produktifitas karyawan dalam mencapai target perusahaan

Impact of Big Data Analytics on Banking: A Case Study

Purpose – The paper aims to help enterprises gain valuable knowledge about big data implementation in practice and improve their information management ability, as they accumulate experience, to reuse or adapt the proposed method to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – Guided by the theory of technological frames of reference (TFR) and transaction cost theory (TCT), this paper describes a real-world case study in the banking industry to explain how to help enterprises leverage big data analytics for changes. Through close integration with bank\u27s daily operations and strategic planning, the case study shows how the analytics team frame the challenge and analyze the data with two analytic models – customer segmentation (unsupervised) and product affinity prediction (supervised), to initiate the adoption of big data analytics in precise marketing. Findings – The study reported relevant findings from a longitudinal data analysis and identified some key success factors. First, non-technical factors, for example intuitive analytics results, appropriate evaluation baseline, multiple-wave implementation and selection of marketing channels critically influence big data implementation progress in organizations. Second, a successful campaign also relies on technical factors. For example, the clustering analytics could promote customers\u27 response rates, and the product affinity prediction model could boost efficient transaction and lower time costs. Originality/value – For theoretical contribution, this paper verified that the outstanding characteristics of online mutual fund platforms brought up by Nagle, Seamans and Tadelis (2010) could not guarantee organizations\u27 competitive advantages from the aspect of TCT

Exploring Information Technology Return on Investment Reports for Planning, Budgeting, and Implementation

The failure rate of new government information technology (IT) projects in developing countries is high, with 35% classified as total failures and approximately 50% as partial failures. The population for this study was 10 senior managers of a public sector organization in Uganda selected because of high IT project successes achieved through leveraging IT return on investment (ROI) reports. The purpose of this qualitative single-case study was to explore the strategies Ugandan senior public sector officials used to leverage IT ROI reports during planning, budgeting, and implementation of IT projects to reduce failure rates. The conceptual frameworks were the strategic IT alignment model and framework for success. Qualitative data were collected through face-to-face interviews and review of the organization performance reports. Member checking of interview and document review data were used to strengthen credibility of the findings. The following themes emerged: involve senior managers in IT ROI reporting; use previous IT performance reports during planning, budgeting, and implementation; empower project teams to undertake IT ROI performance assessment; ensure completeness of the IT ROI reports; ensure comprehensive monitoring and evaluation indicators for IT projects; ensure availability of periodic IT ROI reports; and implement a change management program. The findings may contribute to social change by providing key strategies senior public sector officials might leverage during planning, budgeting, and implementation of IT projects to reduce failures, lead to increased citizen access to e-government services, and promote transparent government

Avaliação da Produção científica sobre o Alinhamento entre a TI e o Negócio e o Gerenciamento de Portfólio de Projetos

The aim of this study is to identify scientifically relevant research in the last five years on the alignment between Information Technology - IT and Business in organizations, and also on Project Portfolio Management - PPM as a possible mechanism for promoting this alignment. The methodology used was the implementation of systematic exploratory search in databases associated with the CAPES Journals Portal, the Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations - BDTD of IBICT, and the selection and analysis of articles from the Web of Knowledge portal. Based on the set of selected publications, the main approaches to IT - Business alignment and Project Portfolio Management were determined. The results also indicated a tiny current scientific production directly related to specific topics and their correlation.  O objetivo do presente estudo é identificar referências cientificamente relevantes dos últimos cinco anos sobre o Alinhamento entre a Tecnologia da Informação – TI e o Negócio nas organizações, e também sobre a Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos – GPP como possível mecanismo para promoção deste alinhamento. A metodologia utilizada foi a realização de pesquisas exploratórias sistemáticas em bases de dados associados ao Portal de Periódicos da CAPES, a Biblioteca Digital Brasileira de Dissertações e Teses – BDTD do IBICT, e a seleção e análise de artigos do portal Web of Knowledge. Com base no conjunto de publicações localizadas, foram determinadas as principais abordagens sobre alinhamento TI - Negócio e Gestão de Portfólio de Projetos. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam ainda uma diminuta produção científica atual diretamente relacionada aos temas pesquisados e à sua correlação