Information Systems, Incentives and Workflow Logic: Strategic Implications for Reengineering Business Processes

We use a series of case studies to motivate the analysis of the organizational impact and performance associated with information systems and workflow design topologies. Our study places a special emphasis on processes involving information intensive tasks that require information sharing and extended information access. The role of various information technologies is examined in the light of their effects on process workflows, worker incentives and worker performance. Our analytical research framework incorporates the effects of queuing lead times, incentives, data sharing and the consolidation of tasks. We show that the following task attributes — information intensity, skill requirements, specifications variability, and technology returns — have a critical role in the success of process redesign. We prove that technology that streamlines information flows not only improves job control, but can also reduce the cost of incentive compensation. Our results also explain why, under certain circumstances, information technology investments and enhanced worker incentives are substitutable. We conclude with several managerial guidelines for process redesign

A requirements engineering framework for integrated systems development for the construction industry

Computer Integrated Construction (CIC) systems are computer environments through which collaborative working can be undertaken. Although many CIC systems have been developed to demonstrate the communication and collaboration within the construction projects, the uptake of CICs by the industry is still inadequate. This is mainly due to the fact that research methodologies of the CIC development projects are incomplete to bridge the technology transfer gap. Therefore, defining comprehensive methodologies for the development of these systems and their effective implementation on real construction projects is vital. Requirements Engineering (RE) can contribute to the effective uptake of these systems because it drives the systems development for the targeted audience. This paper proposes a requirements engineering approach for industry driven CIC systems development. While some CIC systems are investigated to build a broad and deep contextual knowledge in the area, the EU funded research project, DIVERCITY (Distributed Virtual Workspace for Enhancing Communication within the Construction Industry), is analysed as the main case study project because its requirements engineering approach has the potential to determine a framework for the adaptation of requirements engineering in order to contribute towards the uptake of CIC systems

Towards the integration of enterprise software: The business manufacturing intelligence

Nowadays, the Information Communication Technology has pervaded literally the companies. In the company circulates an huge amount of information but too much information doesn’t provide any added value. The overload of information exceeds individual processing capacity and slowdowns decision making operations. We must transform the enormous quantity of information in useful knowledge taking in consideration that information becomes obsolete quickly in condition of dynamic market. Companies process this information by specific software for managing, efficiently and effectively, the business processes. In this paper we analyse the myriad of acronyms of software that is used in enterprises with the changes that occurred over the time, from production to decision making until to convergence in an intelligent modular enterprise software, that we named Business Manufacturing Intelligence (BMI), that will manage and support the enterprise in the futurebusiness manufacturing intelligence, enterprise resource planning; business intelligence; management software; automation software; decision making software

Business Process Redesign: IS IT still Revelant in Today\u27s Business Environment?

The concept of business process redesign or reengineering (BPR) has been around for about twenty years, and as technologies used in business and associated business practices have changed over the years, BPR has evolved as well. Reflecting these changes, various definitions and alternative names have been proposed for BPR. In this paper, we investigate the literature on BPR in order ascertain current uses, practices, and relevance of BPR in today’s business environment. Based on this review we classify BPR projects into three types according to business needs: internal, external, and traditional. We propose a simple framework that should help in determining the most appropriate approach in future BPR projects

Pattern-driven Process Design

Prozess , Simulation, Muste

Upstairs downstairs: how introducing computer technology changed skills and pay on two floors of Cabot Bank

Assessing the differing impacts of a new computer technology on skills and pay in two departments of a large bank.Checks ; Check collection systems ; Check float ; Job security ; Employees, Training of

A unified view of data-intensive flows in business intelligence systems : a survey

Data-intensive flows are central processes in today’s business intelligence (BI) systems, deploying different technologies to deliver data, from a multitude of data sources, in user-preferred and analysis-ready formats. To meet complex requirements of next generation BI systems, we often need an effective combination of the traditionally batched extract-transform-load (ETL) processes that populate a data warehouse (DW) from integrated data sources, and more real-time and operational data flows that integrate source data at runtime. Both academia and industry thus must have a clear understanding of the foundations of data-intensive flows and the challenges of moving towards next generation BI environments. In this paper we present a survey of today’s research on data-intensive flows and the related fundamental fields of database theory. The study is based on a proposed set of dimensions describing the important challenges of data-intensive flows in the next generation BI setting. As a result of this survey, we envision an architecture of a system for managing the lifecycle of data-intensive flows. The results further provide a comprehensive understanding of data-intensive flows, recognizing challenges that still are to be addressed, and how the current solutions can be applied for addressing these challenges.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft