Identification of key process areas in the production on an e-capability maturity model for UK construction organisations

Uptake of e-procurement by construction organisations has been slow (Martin, 2008). Positive e-business achievements in other industries, point towards the potential for the construction industry to accomplish similar results. Since the Modernising Government White paper set targets through best value indicator BV157 for implementation in the public sector, Government has supported many initiatives encouraging e-procurement. These are based on documented efficiency and cost savings (Knudsen, 2003; Minahan and Degan, 2001; McIntosh and Sloan, 2001; Martin, 2008). However, Martin (2003, 2008) demonstrates only a modest increase in the uptake of e-procurement in the UK construction industry. Alshawi et al (2004) identified the significance of possessing a model to sustain the embedment of any business process within an organisation. Saleh and Alshawi (2005) describe a number of model types used to gauge maturity in an organisation. One of these models is the capability maturity model. Paulk et al (1993) released the Software Capability Maturity Model (CMM) in 1991. Since then many CMM’s have evolved. This paper reports on how a CMM based on Drivers and Barriers to e-procurement identified in Eadie et al (2009) can be developed to gauge the maturity of an organisation in relation to e-procurement. This paper presents details of a research project which used factor analysis to produce a set of Key Process Areas (KPA) from the drivers and barriers identified in Eadie et al (2009). These KPAs were then subjected to a mapping process linking them to maturity levels to develop a CMM to analyse the e-procurement capability of construction organisations. The mapping will be reported in a later paper. This termed as e-readiness of organisations will indicate the current state of a construction organisation in terms of its readiness to carry out e-procurement. The paper describes in detail the identification of the KPA’s

A model of quality service management for information systems

Tese de mestrado. Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores (Área de especialização Tecnologias da Informação para Gestão Empresarial). Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 200

Migrating agile methods to standardized development practice

Situated process and quality frame-works offer a way to resolve the tensions that arise when introducing agile methods into standardized software development engineering. For these to be successful, however, organizations must grasp the opportunity to reintegrate software development management, theory, and practice

Effective Systems Engineering Training

The need for systems engineering training is steadily increasing, as both the defense and commercial markets take on more complex "systems of systems" work. A variety of universities and commercial training vendors have assembled courses of various lengths, format, and content to meet this need. This presentation looks at the requirements for systems engineering training, and discusses techniques for increasing its effectiveness. Several format and content options for meeting these requirements are compared and contrasted, and an experience-based curriculum is shown

Major Indian ICT firms and their approaches towards achieving quality

Of the three basic theories of innovation: the entrepreneur theory, the technology-economics theory and the strategic theory, the third one seems to be highly appropriate for the analysis of recent growth of the information and communication technology (ICT) industry in many developing countries including India. The central measure for achieving quality by the various major Indian (ICT) firms is widely agreed to have been the adoption of Six Sigma Methodology and/or its multivariate branches like Total Quality Management (TQM), Supply Chain Management (SCM), and Customer Relationship Management (CRM). It is apparent that the main objective of the firms chosen has been to increase the pace of innovation activities, irrespective of their different area of product specialisation. Its success is believed to depend largely on the overall improvement in infrastructure, besides active market interaction. To enable both the above, a brief highlight has been made on the establishment of interaction and learning sites (ILSs) in every regional State in India. The paper concludes with a mention of the elements observed to be missing among the firms under consideration, and, thereby, delineating the scope for their further improvement

Iterative Development of Professional Knowledge Intensive Business Processes

Knowledge related aspects of businesses processes are often ignored or referred to as a black box in process improvement projects. As a result they remain untouched and it is left to the knowledge workers to establish routines and workflows that deliver results needed to fulfill the business processes needs. This often results in lowered efficiency, redundancy of knowledge related activities, lack of systematic knowledge sharing and maintaining and insufficient support for knowledge workers. In this paper we introduce goals and practices as well as criteria to monitor the degree of achievement for such processes. We connect these to a maturity model for knowledge intensive business processes, which is used to assess and improve quality of knowledge intensive processes. It can be used during process improvement projects as well as for a self assessment

IT Governance Maturity: Developing a Maturity Model Using the Delphi Method

To advance in maturity, organizations should pay attention to both the hard and soft sides of IT governance (ITG). The hard side is related to processes and structure, the soft side to social aspects like behavior and organizational culture. This paper describes a study to develop an ITG maturity model (MM) that includes both. Our research method is based on literature study, the Delphi method and makes use of a Group Decision Support System. We chose to design a focus area MM. In this type of MM maturity is determined by a set of focus areas. The study reveals one MM as being appropriate for hard ITG. For soft ITG we found no single model appropriate. Soft governance needs more specific capabilities defined for each focus area individually. Based on knowledge from literature and experts we selected models for each focus area. Three alternatives for informal organization need further research

Maturity Models in Information Systems Research: Literature Search and Analysis

This article collects and analyzes seventy-six maturity model articles that have been published in leading Information Systems (IS) journals and conference proceedings during the past fifteen years. We study the IS literature on maturity models from three different perspectives: a research perspective, which is particularly relevant for scholars who are interested in the design and adoption of maturity models; a publication perspective, which reflects the interests of authors and reviewers of maturity model articles; and a practitioner’s perspective, which is especially relevant for maturity model users and consultants. The results are interesting in several respects. From the research perspective, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is the most dominant foundation of past IS research on maturity models. In contrast, theories on the design and adoption of maturity models are distinctly rare in our sample. The publication outlets that are considered feature quantitative and qualitative empirical research alike, but―with a decreasing number―purely conceptual research as well. Of late, past maturity model research can mainly be located in the area of IT and organizations, while the formerly very popular domain of IS development is of less interest today. As for the publication perspective, we find that the level of publication activity in the field has generally been increasing over the last fifteen years, with North American and European researchers dominating the academic discussion. Finally, with regard to the practitioner’s perspective, we compile advice on the practical application of maturity models from a critical analysis of the literature. It is hoped that the results can stimulate and guide future research in the field and inform the development and usage of theoretically sound maturity models in practice