Extending IT infrastructures in the service sector organisations through enterprise resource planning – a telecom case study

Copyright @ 2012 ISEing.Service Sector Organisations (SSOs) have significantly focused on adopting and implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to automate their prime business processes, enhance organisational productivity with lower costs and prompt service delivery to fulfil consumer demands. Thus, ERP systems are considered as a principal source to provide imperative information vital for strategic decision making process. On the contrary, ERP systems adoption and implementation is also highly considered as a challenging and expensive process that not only requires rigorous efforts but also demands to have an exhaustive investigation of influential factors that are critical to the adoption and implementation of ERP systems. As a result, the authors exhibit that it is of great significance to investigate this area within SSOs. In so doing, this paper thus focuses on the ERP critical success factors from five different categories such as: stakeholders; process; technology; organisation; and project based on the literature analysis. These perspectives comprise of 24 factors that are imperative for a successful ERP adoption and implementation. These factors are validated through an in-depth qualitative single case study based research. The findings from the literature and empirical demonstrate that most of the factors influencing the decision making process for ERP adoption and implementation are highly significant with exception to few that have either low or medium importance

Critical success factors in ERP implementation: A review

ERP systems have become vital strategic tools in today’s competitive business environment. This ongoing research study presents a review of recent research work in ERP systems. It attempts to identify the main benefits of ERP systems, the drawbacks and the critical success factors for implementation discussed in the relevant literature. The findings revealed that despite some organizations have faced challenges undertaking ERP implementations, many others have enjoyed the benefits that the systems have brought to the organizations. ERP system facilitates the smooth flow of common functional information and practices across the entire organization. In addition, it improves the performance of the supply chain and reduces the cycle times. However, without top management support, having appropriate business plan and vision, re-engineering business process, effective project management, user involvement and education and training, organizations can not embrace the full benefits of such complex system and the risk of failure might be at high level

Investigating factors influencing the decision making process for ERP adoption and implementation: An exploratory case study

The rapid developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have resulted into a borderless business environment along with an amplified market competition. Traversing through such a trend globally, organisations have significantly focused on adopting and implementing Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems to automate their prime business processes, enhance organisational productivity with lower costs and prompt service delivery to fulfil consumer demands. Thus, ERP systems are considered as a principal source to provide imperative information vital for strategic decision making process. On the contrary, ERP systems adoption and implementation is also highly considered as a challenging and expensive process that not only requires rigorous efforts but also demands to have an exhaustive investigation of influential factors that are critical to the adoption and implementation of ERP systems. A plethora of research studies have been theorised exploring factors influencing the decision making process for ERP adoption and implementation; however, the authors claim that these studies are not filtered comprehensively in terms of the different perspectives. Notwithstanding, the implications of such research have yet to be assessed, leaving scope for timeliness and novel research. This paper thus focuses on the ERP critical success factors from five different perspectives such as: stakeholders; process; technology; organisation; and project based on the literature analysis. These perspectives comprise of 24 factors that are imperative for a successful ERP adoption and implementation, which are validated through a qualitative single case study based research. The empirical findings illustrate that these factor help realise significant benefits such as reducing costs and saving time or extra effort

Challenges and influential factors in ERP adoption and implementation

The adoption and implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is a challenging and expensive task that not only requires rigorous efforts but also demands to have a detailed analysis of such factors that are critical to the adoption or implementation of ERP systems. Many efforts have been made to identify such influential factors for ERP; however, they are not filtered comprehensively in terms of the different perspectives. This paper focuses on the ERP critical success factors from five different perspectives such as: stakeholders; process; technology; organisation; and project. Results from the literature review are presented and 19 such factors are identified that are imperative for a successful ERP implementation, which are listed in order of their importance. Considering these factors can realize several benefits such as reducing costs and saving time or extra effort

Investigating enterprise resource planning adoption and implementation in service sector organisations

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis thesis investigates Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) adoption and implementation in Service Sector Organisations (SSOs). ERP is a business management system that has emerged to support organisations to use a system of integrated applications to enhance their Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, enhance business processes and deliver high quality of services. Regardless of the fact that several other sector organisations have adopted and implemented ERP systems, its application in SSOs is rather inadequate. Among other reasons, two core rationales can be attributed to the latter fact – firstly, SSOs lack the sufficient knowledge, expertise and training to implement such sophisticated integrated systems and secondly, the top management lacks the ability to take appropriate decisions for ERP adoption and implementation. However, merely focusing on a number of factors influencing ERP adoption and implementation may not be suffice, as there is a need for a systematic decision-making process for adopting and implementing ERP systems in SSOs. The limited number of ERP systems’ applications in SSOs has resulted in inadequate research in this area with many issues, like its adoption and implementation requiring further exploration. Despite, the implications of ERP systems have yet to be assessed in SSOs, leaving ample scope for relevance and producing a unique piece of research work. Thus, the author demonstrates that it is of high importance to investigate this area within SSOs and contribute towards successful ERP adoption and implementation. This thesis makes a step forward and contributes to the body of knowledge as it: investigates factors influencing the decision-making process for ERP adoption and implementation in SSOs, prioritises the importance of factors influencing ERP adoption and implementation, evaluates ERP lifecycle phases and stages, maps the ERP factors on different phases and stages of the ERP lifecycle, and in doing so, to propose a model for ERP adoption and implementation in SSOs. The author claims that such an ERP adoption and implementation process in SSOs is significant and novel as: it extends established norms for ERP adoption and implementation, by including Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique for prioritising the importance of factors, thus, facilitating SSOs to produce more robust proposals for ERP adoption and implementation. The author further assess the proposed ERP adoption and implementation model by using a qualitative, interpretive, multiple case study research strategy. Findings from two case studies demonstrate that such a systematic approach contributes towards more robust decisions for ERP adoption and implementation and indicates that it is acceptable by the case study organisations. The thesis proposes, assesses and presents a novel model for ERP adoption and implementation in SSOs and contributes to the body of knowledge by extending the literature.King Abdulaziz University and Saudi Arabia Cultural Burea

The Impact of Prior Learning Assessment on Student Success and Completion: A Systematic Literature Review

Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) has gained substantial traction within post-secondary institutions across the United States in recent years as a mechanism to enhance accessibility and affordability for adult learners. The increased interest in PLA affirms the notion that learning, and competency gained through experience, training, and certifications acquired outside of post-secondary institutions may meet learning outcomes and competencies established by colleges and universities. Extensive research has been conducted on PLA methods and practices; however, there is a distinct gap in systematic evidence regarding how PLA interventions affect student success and completion in post-secondary education. This study addresses this gap by systematically reviewing the impact of PLA on these outcomes using the PRISMA framework. The search yielded 44 studies from 2010 to 2018. A total of 10 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were selected for full-text review, bibliometric analysis, and chronological review. The findings show a positive impact of PLA, with students benefiting from higher graduation rates, shorter completion periods, and reduced tuition costs. Notably, Black, and Hispanic students experienced the most substantial positive effects. However, the limited number of studies in this area underscores the need for additional research to delve deeper into the factors that contribute to the success and growth of PLA's programs, specifically, the role of college counselors in advising adult students on PLA options needs further study

PERAN KOMITMEN ORGANISASI DAN KEPUASAN KERJA TERHADAP KEINGINAN NIAT KELUAR KERJA KARYAWAN DI PT. DELTA PRIMA STEEL SURABAYA

Tingkat turnover yang terjadi di PT. Delta Prima Steel Surabaya. menimbulkan dampak negatif bagi perusahaan, hal ini seperti menciptakan ketidakstabilan dan ketidakpastian (uncertainity) terhadap kondisi tenaga kerja dan peningkatan biaya sumber daya manusia yakni yang berupa biaya pelatihan yang sudah diinvestasikan pada karyawan sampai biaya rekrutmen dan pelatihan kembali sebab menurut standarisasi dari perusahaan untuk tingkat turnover di perusahaan maksimal sebesar 5%. Turnover yang tinggi juga dapat mengakibatkan organisasi tidak efektif karena perusahaan kehilangan karyawan yang berpengalaman dan perlu melatih kembali karyawan baru. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh karyawan PT. Delta Prima Steel Surabaya yang berjumlah 64 karyawan. Teknik sampel dalam penelitian ini menggunakan sensus sampling.Data yang dipergunakan adalah data primer yaitu data yang berdasarkan kuisioner hasil jawaban responden. Sedangkan analisis yang dipergunakan adalah Partial Least Square (PLS) Berdasarkan dari hasil penelitian yang telah dilakukan :1)Adanya kepuasan kerja yang rendah dan rendahnya tantangan dalam bekerja maka akan menurunkan komitmen oraganisasi di PT. Delta Prima Steel Surabaya.2).Adanya kepuasan kerja yang tinggi dalam bekerja maka akan menurunkann karyawan untuk melakukan keinginan niat keluar kerja di PT. Delta Prima Steel Surabaya 3. Adanya komitmen organisasi yang tinggi dalam karyawan dalam bekerja maka akan menurunkan karyawan untuk melakukan keinginan niat keluar kerja di PT. Delta Prima Steel Surabaya Kata Kunci : Komitmen, Kepuasan Kerja dan Keinginan Untuk Pindah Kerj

Power Allocation and Cooperative Diversity in Two-Way Non-Regenerative Cognitive Radio Networks

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a dual-hop block fading cognitive radio network with underlay spectrum sharing over independent but not necessarily identically distributed (i.n.i.d.) Nakagami-$m$ fading channels. The primary network consists of a source and a destination. Depending on whether the secondary network which consists of two source nodes have a single relay for cooperation or multiple relays thereby employs opportunistic relay selection for cooperation and whether the two source nodes suffer from the primary users' (PU) interference, two cases are considered in this paper, which are referred to as Scenario (a) and Scenario (b), respectively. For the considered underlay spectrum sharing, the transmit power constraint of the proposed system is adjusted by interference limit on the primary network and the interference imposed by primary user (PU). The developed new analysis obtains new analytical results for the outage capacity (OC) and average symbol error probability (ASEP). In particular, for Scenario (a), tight lower bounds on the OC and ASEP of the secondary network are derived in closed-form. In addition, a closed from expression for the end-to-end OC of Scenario (a) is achieved. With regards to Scenario (b), a tight lower bound on the OC of the secondary network is derived in closed-form. All analytical results are corroborated using Monte Carlo simulation method

Production et charactérisation des anticorps monoclonaux contre le cytomegalovirus

L'objectif de ce projet a été la production des anticorps monoclonaux dirigés contre le cytomegalovirus (CMV) pour fin d'utilisation potentielle en diagnostic et/ou l'utilisation comme outil pour etudier les aspects fondamentaux du CMV. Des anticorps monoclonaux ont été obtenus par fusion de lymphocytes de souris (immunisées par quatre injections intrapéritonéales de 500 mg à intervale de deux semaines) et des cellules de mylome de souris (NSO) maintenues en culture exponentielle. Le dépistage des clones sécréteurs a été effectué par ELISA et immunofluorescence (IF). Les hybridomes intéressants ont été clonés par dilution limite puis congelés dans l'azote liquide et injectés par voie intrapéritonéale chez des souris (BALB/c), traitées avec une injection intrapéritonéale de 0.7 ml de pristane (2,4,10,14-Tetramethylpentadecane) dix jours auparavant, pour la production de liquide ascitique. Parmi les clones sélectionnés, un seul s'est révélé d'un grand intérêt. Le clone CLB-1 s'est révélé d'une grande reactivité et d'une grande spécificité contre le CMV. Le liquide ascitique produit par les cellules monoclonales CLB-1 a été testé et les aspects suivants des réactions entre le CLB-1 et le CMV ont été vérifiés: (a) Reactivité et spécificité de l'anticorps contre le CMV. Pour étudier ce phénomène, l'anticorps monoclonal (CLB-1) a été testé par IF (en dilution de 1:100) contre des cellules fibroblastiques infectées par le CMV (AD169) ou par l'Herpès simplex type-1 ou type-2. Les résultats ont montré une réaction positive avec les cellules infectées par le CMV (AD169) et négative avec les cellules non-infectées ou infectées par l'Herpès sipmlex type-1 ou type-2. (b) La capacité de cet anticorps (CLB-1) pour la detection des isolées cliniques de CMV a été vérifié. L'anticorps monoclonal a détecté toutes les isolées cliniques trouvés positives au CMV. (c) Pour étudier la cinétique de la synthèse de la protéine contre lequel l'anticorps monoclonal est dirigé, le CLB-1 a été testé en IF avec des cellules fibroblastiques infectées avec le CMV à des temps différents après l'infection. Les résultats ont montré une réaction positive entre 72 et 96 heures après 11 infection prouvant ainsi que la protéine contre laquelle CLB-1 est dirigé est une protéine tardive. (d) La capacité neutralisante de 11 anticorps a été vérifiée et il a été prouvé que ce derniér neutralise le virus à une dilution de 1:100 comparativement au sérum humain ayant une capacité neutralisante à une dilution de 1:5. (e) Finalement le test d'immunodiffusion double sur gel d1 agarose a montré que 1'anticorps monoclonal CLB-1 est de type IgGl. Plusieurs essais ont été effectués afin de déterminer le poids moléculaire de la (les) protéine(s) contre laquelle 11 anticorps CLB-1 est dirigé. Par immunoblotting, il nous a été impossible d1 identifier cette (ces) protéine (s). La raison probable est la destruction ou la modification de 11 épitope dans le processus de préparation de 11 antigene. Il a été mentionné que la majorité des anticorps monoclonaux ne précipitent pas les antigene contre lesquels ils sont dirigés (Carter and Ter Meulen, In advances in virus research. 1984, 29: 95-130). En conclusion nous avons produit un anticorps monoclonal contre le CMV, cet anticorps peut nous aider pour les diagnostic et probablement pour le traitement de 1'infection virale de CMV.Fusions of spleen cells obtained from mice immunized with human cytomegalovirus (CMV) and a mouse myeloma cell line were performed. One monoclonal antibody, CLB-1 was obtained from the four fusions performed. The following aspects of the reaction of the monocolona1 antibody CLB-1, with CMV were investigated: (a) The reactivity and specificity of CLB-1 with CMV; (b) the ability of the CLB-1 monoclonal antibody to detect clinical isolates of CMV; (c ) the kinetics of synthesis of the protein against which the CLB-1 monoclonal antibody reacts ; (d) the ability of the CLB-1 to neutralize CMV; and (e) some characteristics of this monoclonal antibody. The data obtained showed that the CLB-1 monoclonal antibody detected cells infected with CMV A D16 9 , the strain which was used as the immunizing antigen. The CLB-1 antibody showed a high degree cf specificity for the CMV as it did not react with the herpes simplex type-1, herpes simplex type-2 infected cells nor with uninfected human fibroblasts. From the kinetic experiments, the data obtained showed that this monoclonal antibody was directed against a late protein(s) that appeared between 72h and 96h post-infection. The CLB-1 antibody neutralized the virus completely at a dilution of 1:100 of an acitis fluid preparation. Using the double immunodiffusion method, the CLB-1 antibody was found to belong to the IgGl sub-class of immunoglobulinsMontréal Trigonix inc. 201

The Impact of Dividend Policy on Share Price Volatility: Empirical Evidence from Jordanian Stock Market

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between dividend policy and share price volatility with a focus on companies represent four sectors listed in Jordanian stock market. For this purpose, a sample of 53 companies listed in main market of Bursa Amman were selected and the relationship between share price volatility with two main measurements of dividend policy, dividend yield and payout ,were examined by applying multiple regression for a period of 13 years from 2001 to 2013. The primarily regression model was expanded by adding control variables including size, stock repurchase, and stock dividend. The empirical results of this study showed significant negative relationship between share price volatility with dividend payout and a very weak positive relationship between dividend yield and share price volatility. Moreover, a significant positive relationship between share price volatility and size is found. Based on findings of this study, dividend payout and stock dividend have most impact on share price volatility amongst predictor variables. Keywords: Price volatility, dividend yield, dividend payout ratio, size, stock repurchase, and stock dividend.