Implementing inter-organisational information systems for the integration of construction supply chains

Two trends are currently driving the need for supply chain firms to form closely integrated relationships: collaboration and digitisation. One of the ways to achieve digitisation of supply chain operations is to implement Inter-Organisational Information Systems (IOIS) with selected supply chain partners for a much more efficient, streamlined and orchestrated supply chain operations. Whilst IOIS can be implemented to support various cross-functional business processes (ranging from operational information exchange to pursuing strategic initiatives such as sharing ideas, identifying new market opportunities, and pursing a continuous improvement approach), in the context of this thesis, the purpose of IOIS implementation is to facilitate the inter-firm procurement-related operations with downstream supply chain firms. The study undertaken in this research project was initiated in response to an industry requirement to investigate the implementation of IOIS against a backdrop of improved Supply Chain Management and integration practices by large contractor organisations. A case study research strategy was adopted to investigate the IOIS project related, IOIS (system) related issues encountered in ex-ante and ex-post implementation stages of the IOIS. The study concludes that it is the non-technical factors that are critical to the successful delivery of IOIS projects and provides a guideline on IOIS implementation by large contractor organisations. The findings of this research project have been published in a number of peer-reviewed papers

Post-implementation analysis of a B2B e-marketplace

The advent of Business-to-Business (B2B) e-Marketplaces gave the AEC (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) firms the opportunity to conduct more efficient and effective commercial interaction with their supply chain partners. Despite the large body of literature in generic Information Systems (IS) domain, there has been a very little work done to-date to investigate the B2B e-Marketplace systems implementation by AEC firms. By adopting a case study research method with a longitudinal approach to data collection, the study on which this paper is based explored the challenges in the adoption and on-going use of a large UK contractor firm’s eMarketplace systems from the perspective of end-users. Utilising a well-established theoretical model from the IS body of knowledge, the analysis revealed several important challenges related to system (functionality and usability), information (content quality) and service (training and support) dimensions of e-Marketplace systems implementation. Through incorporating the case study findings to the conceptual model, the study offers several suggestions for AEC firms to take on board during implementation of the B2B e-Marketplace systems