Investment justification of information systems: A focus on the evaluation of MRPII

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.A review of the normative literature, in the field of Information Technology (IT)/ Information System (IS) justification, examines how organisations evaluate their investments in Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII). This is achieved through investigating the issues surrounding capital budgeting, with a particular focus on investment appraisal. In doing so, a novel taxonomy of generic appraisal techniques is proposed. This taxonomy identifies a number of methods for appraising MRPII investments, and through describing these techniques, a classification is offered that identifies their respective characteristics and limitations. In doing so, it becomes clear that although many of the benefits and savings resulting from MRPII are suitable for inclusion within traditional accountancy frameworks, it is their intangible and non-financial nature, together with a range of indirect project costs that confuse the justification process. These factors, together with a range of human and organisational implications, that further complicate the decision making process are also identified. Hence, it appears through a critical review of the literature that many companies are unable to assess the implications of their MRPII investments, thus amounting to a myopic appraisal process that focuses on the analysis of those benefits and costs that are financially quantifiable. In acknowledging the limitations of traditional appraisal techniques, a conceptual model for IT/IS investment evaluation is proposed, which is underpinned by research hypotheses. To test the validity of the proposed hypotheses, a robust novel research methodology is then developed. In doing so, an interpretivist stance is adopted, which favours the use of qualitative research methods during a multiple case enquiry. Whilst conducting the empirical research, it soon emerged that the hypotheses represented significant factors for consideration within the presented model. As a result, such constructs now establish themselves as integral parts within a structured evaluation process. However, during the empirical research, complementary evaluation criteria also emerged, which resulted in modifications being made to the previously presented conceptual model. In doing so, culminating in the development of descriptive MRPII evaluation criteria and a model, which provides investment decision makers with novel frames of reference during the evaluation of MRPII investment proposals.Department of Manufacturing and Engineering Systems (M&ES), Brunel Universit

The impact of enterprise application integration on information system lifecycles

Information systems (IS) have become the organisational fabric for intra-and inter-organisational collaboration in business. As a result, there is mounting pressure from customers and suppliers for a direct move away from disparate systems operating in parallel towards a more common shared architecture. In part, this has been achieved through the emergence of new technology that is being packaged into a portfolio of technologies known as enterprise application integration (EAI). Its emergence however, is presenting investment decision-makers charged with the evaluation of IS with an interesting challenge. The integration of IS in-line with the needs of the business is extending their identity and lifecycle, making it difficult to evaluate the full impact of the system as it has no definitive start and/or end. Indeed, the argument presented in this paper is that traditional life cycle models are changing as a result of technologies that support their integration with other systems. In this paper, the need for a better understanding of EAI and its impact on IS lifecycles are discussed and a classification framework proposed.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Grant Ref: (GR/R08025) and Australian Research Council (DP0344682)

Smart councils: the evolution of technology in local government

Is local government making sufficient use of technology, and is it using it well? Uthayasankar Sivarajah and Zahir Irani review the implementation of various technologies by local councils, and explain their rewards and risks

Novel Taxonomy For Evaluation Of Strategic Information System Planning (SISP) Techniques

This paper critically reviews the literature relating to the SISP in global organizations. It considers IS strategic benefits, requirements, and drivers as evaluation criteria for SISP process. Classification of the IS strategic benefits will be developed from academic literature and published case studies as well as IS strategic requirements and drivers. With this in mind, the planning team must identify how it can group the requirements and drivers of an organization. One way of doing so may be achieved by understanding the benefits that can be obtained by IS for the organization, thereby leading to a categorization of requirements against benefits being created to understand which requirements are needed for obtaining specific benefits. The result of this paper is taxonomies of SISP benefits, requirements, drivers, and techniques for global organization. This classification can benefit the evaluation of IS strategic planning processes to support decision-makers through the planning process

Information technology and performance management for build-to-order supply chains

En las siguientes líneas se plantea un artículo de reflexión que tiene en cuenta parte del marco teórico que sustenta la investigación titulada “Prácticas pedagógicas que promueven la competencia argumentativa escrita (CAE) en niños campesinos de los grados 4° y 5° del Centro Educativo Municipal La Caldera, Sede Principal de Pasto”, desarrollada en el año 2012. En él se contemplan los aportes de las ciencias del lenguaje y la comunicación, la teoría de la argumentación, la didáctica de la lengua escrita y los géneros discursivos, que dan cuenta de la necesidad de desarrollar la capacidad crítica en los estudiantes a través de la argumentación, lo cual implica transformar las prácticas pedagógicas para que se alejen de la transmisión de conocimientos y den paso a la comunicación, para que la palabra escrita sea apropiada de manera significativa