Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Enterprise resource planning post-implementation assimilation challenge : an integrative framework for a better post-implementation assimilation

Cette étude s'inscrit dans la recherche émergente sur la post-implémentation des TI et vise à contribuer à la discussion sur l'impact des facteurs contextuels sur le niveau d'assimilation des technologies complexes telles que les systèmes ERP. Compte tenu de la rareté des recherches, cette étude vise aussi à enrichir ce champ de recherche qui a été considérablement négligé lors de l'examen des initiatives d'ERP d'entreprises dans un pays en développement. Comme la plus-value d'une TI ne peut être réalisée que lorsque le système est véritablement assimilé dans l'organisation, cette recherche examine les facteurs qui entraînent des niveaux d'assimilation variés entre les entreprises malgré leur utilisation d'une technologie de base similaire. En adoptant une méthodologie de recherche qualitative recourant à une approche de cas multiples, on explore les déterminants de l'assimilation efficace de l'ERP et ses défis ultérieurs. En outre, on développe un modèle intégrateur qui décrit les relations entre les facteurs identités. L'analyse des données a révélé un ensemble de facteurs organisationnels, technologiques et environnementaux ayant un impact direct et indirect sur l'assimilation de l'ERP. Cela est surtout vrai pour le soutien de la haute direction, ses stratégies, ses interventions et ses perceptions, qui se sont avérés les facteurs sous-jacents influant directement et indirectement sur le processus d'assimilation dans une entreprise. De même, les différences entre les deux groupes d'entreprises sont liées plus à leur contexte organisationnel qu'aux différences culturelles. Ces résultats sont communs pour toutes les entreprises étudiées dans les deux contextes. Fondé sur les résultats de l'analyse, un modèle intégrateur est suggéré dans le but de décrire les relations entre les différents facteurs. Ainsi, cette étude offre une feuille de route structurée pour mieux comprendre l'assimilation et met en relief plusieurs problèmes critiques et des déterminants cruciaux qui devraient être attentivement gérés et minutieusement .considérés afin de réaliser une valeur ajoutée importante de l'ERP

Modelling the Effects of Intangible Capabilities on ERP Implementation

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is well recognised as a key technological infrastructure that facilitates business operations and growth in a dynamic business environment. Implementation of ERP system however is mirrored by numerous problems, a fact well cited in many academic studies. Research addressing the reasons for ERP implementation problems has identified a plethora of success factors. Following a similar research direction, we leveraged on the resource based view (RBV) to investigate the effects of firms’ capacity to deploy intangible resources with valuable and inimitable characteristics (termed as intangible capabilities) on successful ERP implementation. Three intangible capabilities were assessed, i.e. governance, knowledge and relationships. Using data collected from a survey with service firms in Malaysia, we found evidence that relationships capability effect towards successful ERP implementation was direct and significant. Further analysis revealed that governance capability reinforces the effects of knowledge and relationship capabilities toward successful ERP implementation. The empirical findings suggest that successful ERP implementation lie at the firms’ capacity to deploy and reconfigure their intangible capabilities of valuable and inimitable characteristics to create reinforcing superseding effects. We conclude that governance capability plays the antecedent platform role to strengthen the effects of knowledge and relationships capabilities on ERP project’s success

A Model of Knowledge-sharing for the 21st Century Organizations

Organizations’ survival ability is increasingly constrained by their innovation possibilities, that is, by their capacity to create and share knowledge in order to cope with new and more complex challenges. Aiming for the three axes on which new organizational models must be based (economic, technological, and social innovation), this article carries out a systematic review among five databases on the variables related to innovation in organizations. After applying exclusion criteria, 132 papers out of the 1,215 originally found were analyzed. As a result, an integrating theoretical model was proposed from the organizational psychology perspective: the model of knowledge-sharing organizations. The model allows for cultural, psychosocial, and technological aspects and proposes three levels of analysis: 1) innovative culture and governance (that groups together the characteristics of a culture oriented towards innovation, and the organizational policies into which it is translated); 2) leadership, teams, and people (that includes variables that impact people’s innovative capacity, leadership styles, and forms of teamwork); and 3) technological tools for innovation (that focus on how technology can be used, specifically ICT, to enhance the organization’s innovative capacity). Future directions as well as limitations are addressed at the end of the article. La capacidad de supervivencia de las organizaciones está cada vez más condicionada por sus posibilidades de innovación, es decir, por su capacidad de crear y compartir conocimiento para hacer frente a nuevos y más complejos retos. Atendiendo a los tres ejes en los que deben basarse los nuevos modelos organizativos (innovación económica, tecnológica y social), el artículo realiza una revisión sistemática en cinco bases de datos sobre las variables relacionadas con la innovación en las organizaciones. Tras aplicar criterios de exclusión, se analizaron 132 trabajos de los 1,215 encontrados inicialmente. Como resultado, se propuso un modelo teórico integrador desde la perspectiva de la psicología organizacional: el modelo de organizaciones creadoras de conocimiento compartido. El modelo contempla aspectos culturales, psicosociales y tecnológicos, y propone tres niveles de análisis: 1) cultura innovadora y gobernanza (que agrupa las características de una cultura orientada a la innovación y las políticas organizativas en las que se traduce); 2) liderazgo, equipos y personas (que incluye las variables que inciden en la capacidad innovadora de las personas, los estilos de liderazgo y las formas de trabajo en equipo); 3) herramientas tecnológicas para la innovación (que se centra en cómo se puede utilizar la tecnología, concretamente las TIC, para potenciar la capacidad innovadora de la organización). Finalmente, se abordan las limitaciones del estudio y se proponen futuras líneas de investigación

ERP Solution Acceptance by Students

ERP acceptance by its users in companies has been researched by several authors while ERP acceptance by students within study programmes has not been researched so often. For teachers should be important to know which factors have influence on student ERP acceptance. Our study researches student acceptance of ERP solutions while they are exposed to ERP solution and they are involved in ERP actual use. Our research is based on TAM which provides a basis for tracing impact of external factors on internal beliefs (perceived usefulness – PU and perceived ease of use – PEOU), attitudes (AT), intentions (behavioural intention – BI) and actual use. Research model includes additional external factors such as: experience with computer, computer self-efficiency, personal innovativeness toward IT, computer anxiety, user manuals (help), system quality, social influence (environment), training and education etc. Research was conduct within a group of 121 students after short interaction with Microsoft Dynamics NAV ERP solution. Results show that most important external factors for student ERP acceptance are: individual benefits, training and education on ERP system and quality of ERP system