Improving Data Quality in Conversion Projects: The Impact of Source Systems and Team Experience

Poor data quality has been shown to have a serious impact on organization performance including increased operational cost and ineffective decision-making. In response to poor data, many organizations take on data cleansing projects as part of ERP and data warehouse implementations. These projects can be extremely difficult and produce less than desired results. This study will examine the data cleanup efforts taken on by an organization specializing in implementing and maintaining benefits modules for an ERP system. In particular this study will build on research in traditional software development and examine the impact of the conversion and cleansing team’s experience with the source systems, the target system and systems within a similar domain on the accuracy of data following the conversion and cleanup effort

Social Traps of Agile methods

Social traps are situations within which individuals or groups face the prospect of adopting seemingly beneficial behaviors that have negative consequences over time or for a larger collective (Platt, 1973). While on the one hand, the Agile manifesto has been welcomed by many in the software developer community who often perceived formal processes as management generated inefficiency that gets in the way of productivity (Anderson, 2005). On the other hand proponents of formal plan-driven approaches argue that in spite of the lofty ideals and claims made, Agile development only postpone costs for the developing organization. Following the threads of this debate through a review of extant literature this conceptual study suggests that there is a real risk of developers using Agile methods falling into social trap\u27 of compromising the long-term goals for short-term gains

Deriving Business Value from Asymmetric Penalty-Reward Perspectives of IS users

When features are added to an existing IS product in response to market demands it is important to assess their business value before implementing them into the product. But how does one estimate the true value of a new feature? Is it sufficient to consider only the customer reward for including a feature into the product or is it also useful to evaluate the customer penalty for not building the feature into the product? The current methods for feature selection capture only the customer inputs for building. The implications of not building the feature are not captured. This study investigates the adequacy of such an approach and discovers that additional business information can be derived by considering both, the reward as well as the penalty perspective of the customer. This information can be utilized by IS developers in adopting the right strategy for product enhancement

Teaching Theories Underlying Agile Systems Development

Presently Agile methods courses taught in universities focus primarily on providing hands-on experience of the process of development but ignore the evolution of, and theories behind, the Agile practices. “Without theory we are just groping in chaos” (Deming, 1986). Knowing the ‘why” in addition to the “how” of Agile methods will help develop reflective skills and give students an edge as they transition to the rapidly evolving real world of IS. In this article a set of relevant theories that can be included as a module in an Agile method course is outlined. An exposure to theories underlying Agile methods help students appreciate the relevance of the principles and practices of the Agile approach and develop authentic problem solving skills

Revisiting Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Needed for Development and Delivery Project Staff

This paper is grounded on the proposition that quality and timeliness of provisioning business information system solutions can be advanced by staffing development projects with personnel based on appropriate task related Knowledge, Skills, Abilities and Personal Characteristics (KSA-P). Defining a standard repeatable process for such staffing decisions requires a consistent classification scheme for the KSA-Ps, which this paper develops through a meta-analysis of the relevant literature. A nominal group of CIOs and consulting principals provide additional support for the validity of the classification scheme. The role of general and specific experience in skill and ability development is explored. Implications and future directions of the research are discussed

Non-Linear Effects of Information Systems Innovation

This study investigates the impact of innovation on users of an evolving Information Systems (IS) product. Building on two different streams of research, Levitts (198) Total Product Concept and the Three Factor theory (Kano. 1984) this study identifies three types of innovation: Basic, Expected and Augmented. The impact of introducing these innovations on user satisfaction was found to be dependent on the level of user satisfaction (performance) before the innovations were introduced and the type of innovation. Basic innovations impacted user satisfaction positively when the current level of performance of the IS product was low but not when the current level of performance was high. Expected and Augmented innovations impacted user satisfaction when the current level of performance was high but not when the current level of performance was low. This finding has interesting implications for practice and future research

The Cohesion-Based Requirements Set Model for Improved Information System Maintainability

The concept of cohesion, which is normally associated with software design, is commonly used to measure the degree to which elements of a module are related. Systems constructed adhering to the principle of cohesion are expected to be more maintainable. It is proposed in this research that it may be more advantageous to apply the principle of cohesion at an earlier phase of the software development life cycle, thus placing more responsibility on the analyst who has a better understanding of the business. This paper proposes the Cohesion-Based Requirements Set (CBRS) model for improved information system maintainability. Using the CBRS technique, one may be able to positively affect the overall maintainability of the resulting system by applying a synthesis or expansion approach when gathering requirements rather than using an approach based on analysis or reduction