Patterns to Enable Mass-Customized Business Process Monitoring

Mass-customization challenges the one-size-fits-all assumption of mass production, allowing customers to specify the options that best fit their requirements when choosing a product or a service. In business process management, to achieve mass-customization, providers offer to their customers the opportunity to customize the way in which a process will be enacted. We focus on monitoring as a specific customization aspect. We propose a multidimensional classification of modeling patterns for customized monitoring infrastructures. Patterns enable the provider to offer a set of customizable options to customers and design a monitoring infrastructure that fits the preferences specified by customers on such options. An example in the online advertising industry demonstrates how our framework can improve the services currently offered by providers

E-procurement Adoption and the impact of culture mediator towards the assessment of accepting a new technology in organisations

This research project is concerned with the development of a realistic model for e-procurement adoption by organisations and groups observing Rules of Islamic Sharia (RIS). This model is intended to be based on the behavioural control, subjective norms, and the recognition of the benefits and risks of e-procurement adoption. The developed model, “E-Procurement Adoption Model” (E-PAM), combined and extended two existing models previously used for information technology adoption. Central to the design of the E-PAM is the principle that a realistic model should take into account all relevant psychological, social, cultural, demographic and religious factors. The mediating components “mediators” that determine the final model are thus determined by the specific aforementioned factors pertaining to the development of an e-procurement approach in the context of the Rules of Islamic Sharia. Therefore, in the design of the research model, factors including perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, organisational facilitators, organisational leadership, critical success factors, challenges, barriers and benefits were taken into account. These factors in turn gave rise to the two mediating components of ‘Attitude’ and ‘Rules of Islamic Sharia’. A number of hypotheses were made in order to establish links between the contributing factors, the mediators and the adoption of e-procurement as the final dependent variable output of the model. An online questionnaire survey was conducted to validate the hypotheses using a structural equation model. The descriptive analysis of the survey data provided demographic details of the questionnaire participants and their employers and statistical analysis methods were used to correlate the contributing factors and mediators. The analysis of the survey data confirmed the existence of positive relationships between Benefits and Rules of Islamic Sharia, Organisational Facilitators and the Adoption of e-procurement, Organisational Facilitators and Organisational Leadership, and Rules of Islamic Sharia and the Adoption of e-procurement. It was observed that Perceived Usefulness and Organisational Leadership do not influence the adoption of e-procurement. Furthermore, the analysis suggested that Rules of Islamic Sharia is not influenced by Critical Success Factors. This model successfully validated most of the initial hypotheses made regarding e-procurement adoption. The results of this research strongly encourage organisations observing Rules of Islamic Sharia to adopt e-procurement practices

Supporting the diversity of B2B E-contracting processes

In business relations, contracts specify the rights and obligations of the contracting parties. The processes of contract establishment and its enactment are often expensive and time-consuming. E-contracting aims at improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the contracting process. Additionally, it offers new opportunities to the contracting parties. For the design of an information system for support of e-contracting, a clear description of the e-contracting process is required. In this paper, we introduce a process model for flexible B2B e-contracting. To separate concerns, we distinguish structured function and communication perspectives of e-contracting processes supplemented with consistency rules. Using the defined model we propose an approach for elaboration of concrete e-contracting process specifications and their implementation in real-life business scenarios. The approach is a basis for complete and detailed functional e-contracting process specifications, with coherent communication between contracting parties and seamless coupling between the internal and external activities of a company

Supporting the Diversity of B2B e-Contracting Processes

Contracts specify the rights and obligations of the contracting parties. Information technologies can make e-contracting more efficient and effective. A process model for flexible B2B e-contracting is proposed that separates concerns by distinguishing function and communication perspectives of e-contracting processes supplemented with activity constraints. The model supports the elaboration of fully detailed e-contracting process specifications, coherent communication between contracting parties, and seamless coupling between the internal and external activities of a company