The organizational integrated computer system project management aims at achieving competitiveness by unitary, connected and personalised treatment of the requirements for this type of projects, along with the adequate application of all the basic management, administration and project planning principles, as well as of the basic concepts of the organisational information management development.The paper presents some aspects of organizational computer systems project management competitiveness with the specific reference to some Romanian companies’ projects.competitiveness; management; project management; advanced technologies; organizational integrated computer systems

GHERASIM, Zenovic

English

Research Papers in Economics

215
COMPETITIVENESS IN ORGANIZATIONAL
INTEGRATED COMPUTER SYSTEM PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Zenovic GHERASIM, Assoc. Prof. Ph.D.
Faculty of Financial-Accounting Management, Bucharest
Spiru Haret University
Abstract
The  organizational  integrated  computer system project  management 
aims at  achieving competitiveness  by unitary, connected and  personalised 
treatment  of  the  requirements  for  this  type  of  projects,  along  with  the 
adequate  application  of  all  the  basic  management,  administration  and 
project  planning  principles,  as  well  as  of  the  basic  concepts  of  the 
organisational information management development.
The paper presents some aspects of organizational computer systems 
project  management  competitiveness  with  the  specific  reference  to  some 
Romanian companies’ projects.
Key-words: competitiveness,  management,  project  management, 
advanced technologies, organizational integrated computer systems
JEL Classification: O32, L86
Introduction
The  strategic  management  within  an  economic  organisation  went  though 
profound  changes  regarding  the  business  development  model,  passing  from the 
top-down classic model based on strategy (vision,  mission, purposes, strategies, 
tactics and action plans) to the top-down and bottom-up combined model based on 
new opportunities and competences (where the flow strategic intentions-challenges
of the social-economic  environment-opportunities  is  covered,  depending  on  the 
practical situation emerged at some point, both ways). The project management is 
one of the most important management categories (as divisions of the management 
science) putting into practice the strategic management model.
The  constant  tendencies  in  the  competitive  business  management  clearly 
highlight the competitiveness requirements by providing a rapid reaction time on 
the market in relation to the organisational integrated information systems (SIIO), 
just  like  in  relation  with  the  auto  products,  electronic  or  telecommunications 
products. In order to deal with this requirement referring to the rapid reaction time 
we must use a coherent and efficient set of methods, techniques and instruments, as 
well as applicable technologies for this purpose.
The organisational integrated computer system project management aims at 
obtaining competitiveness by unitary, co-related and personalised treatment of the 
requirements for this type of projects, along with the adequate application of all the 216
basic principles of management and project planning, as well as the basic concepts 
of the information and organisational management development, according to the 
requirements of the organisational strategic management. 
Competitiveness in the integrated computer system project management
The competitiveness of the organisational integrated computer system project 
management involves a technical side and an economic side. The competitiveness 
of  the  organisational  integrated  computer  system  projects  is  a  complex 
characteristic that imposes the simultaneous fulfilment of the conditions specific to 
the  technical  and  economic  sides.  The  technical  competitiveness  of  an 
organisational integrated computer system is defined by that computer system state 
whose technical level is comparable to that of other computer systems with the 
same employment for the satisfaction of certain needs of the clients. A minimal 
technical level is defined in relation with the inferior limit measure of client needs 
satisfaction. The organisational integrated computer system projects that satisfy the 
minimal requirements are part of a competitiveness area. Different methods with a 
greater or smaller degree of objectivity are used for the evaluation of the technical 
level of competitiveness of the organisational integrated computer system projects.
For  instance,  the  DISTECH  method  (Scarlat  C.,  2001)  or  the  technical 
distance  method  was  developed and  tested  in  the laboratories  of  the  industrial 
management  department  within  the  Politehnica  University  of  Bucharest.  The 
DISTECH method is a managerial method for analysis and decision referring to the 
technical  level  of  the  products  or  services  projects,  the  technological  level  of 
fabrication of the products or service delivery and for the competitiveness of the 
products and services. The DISTECH method provides the ranking of the products 
and services  in an ascending sequence  of the absolute technical  distance  of the 
product or service and the forecast of the future directions of product and services 
improvement, by highlighting the characteristics that need improvement.
The  economic  competitiveness  of  an  organisational  integrated  computer 
system  project  is  defined  if  the  set  of  economic  delivery  requirements  as 
contractual provisions (cost, delivery conditions, payment instruments, commercial 
and exchange policy components etc.) is comparable to the one belonging to other 
products  of the same  use  for  the  satisfaction  of  clients’  needs. The  cost  of an 
organisational integrated computer system project has a superior and an inferior 
margin, thus being defined the economic competitiveness area. The inferior margin 
of  the  cost  (the  minimum  cost)  is  determined  by  the  production  cost  of  the 
organisational  integrated  computer  system.  Regardless  of  the  technical  level,  a 
computer system project becomes non-competitive if its cost exceeds the maximum 
cost.
The technical-economic competitiveness field of an organisational integrated 
computer  system  project  can  be  represented  by  the  function  Cost=function 
(technical  distance),  as  a  hyperbole,  like  shown  in  Figure  1.  The  smaller  the 
technical distance is (meaning the technical level is more elevated), the greater the 
unit cost of the organisational integrated computer system project is. 217
Fig. 1. The technical-economic competitiveness area
 of an organisational integrated computer system project
The  establishment  of the technical-economic competitiveness area may be 
effected  on  the set  of  the  organisational  integrated  computer  system  or  on  the 
component modules of these computer systems.
Competitive organisational integrated computer system projects
In compliance with the international standard of evaluation of the software 
products quality – ISO/IEC 9126, the characteristics of a computer product fall into 
three  categories:  1)  technical  and  of  use,  2)  economic  and  3)  social  and 
psychological-sensuous.  The  metrics  of  the  SIIO  projects  are  quantitative, 
qualitative and belonging to the project management. The production model for 
SIIO is a model of production of projects where the activities can be specific to a 
certain phase of the life cycle or can be independent of it.
The  performance characteristics  of the  organisational  integrated  computer 
system projects, used in the evaluation by classification of each characteristic are 
mentioned:  functionality,  reliability,  usability,  efficiency,  maintainability, 
portability,  inter-operability,  complexity,  maturity,  scalability,  cost,  “friendly” 
computer applications, a level of understanding of the computer applications by the 
final users, immediate accessibility of users’ training, the availability of different 
versions  of SIIO projects, the compatibility  with  many  hardware platforms and 
operation systems, the level of security.
For the analysis  of the  organisational integrated computer system projects 
competitiveness  (SIIO)  of  the  Enterprise  type  (table  1)  the  technical  distance 
calculation  method  was  applied  on  basis  of  the  performance  technical  and 
economic characteristics of the computer products. This method was presented in 
the anterior paragraph and was used in a survey made on 42 master candidates, 
graduates  or  persons  who  are  currently  employed  in  the  field  of  integrated 
computer system projects.
Unit cost
Maximum 
unit cost
Minimum 
unit cost
Tehnical distance218
In a downward order of the importance of the performance characteristics of 
the studied SIIO, these correspond to the ISO/IEC 9125 hierarchy: functionality, 
reliability, usability, efficiency, maintainability, portability.
The  higher  the  cost,  the  better  SIIO  is  from  the  point  of  view  of  the 
functionality  characteristics,  security,  easy  usage,  maintainability,  scalability, 
compatibility, level of computer security.
The higher the cost, the better SIIO is from the point of view of the technical 
and  economic  competitiveness,  this  conclusion  confirming  the  variation  in  the 
curve represented in fig. 1.
Table 1
Organisational integrated computer system projects evaluated by the DISTEH 
method
No. Name of the organisational 
integrated computer system 
project
Supplier company Competitiveness 
coefficient
1. WizPro Wizrom 8,22
2. Charisma Enterprise TotalSoft 8,42
3. Socrate Open Enterprise BitSoftware 8,36
4. Enterprise Project Management eData 8,20
5. Enterprise Resource Planning IQUEST 8,38
The higher the competitiveness coefficient is for the five evaluated SIIO (table 1), the 
more competitive SIIO is.
Table 2
Organisational integrated computer system projects evaluated on basis of the 
MAGIQ competitive analysis metrics
Technical performances
0,2500
Economic 
performances
0,7500
Total 
quality No
Name of the 
organisational 
integrated 
computer 
system 
project
Functionality
0,4567
Reliability
0,2567
Usability
0,1567
Maintainability
0,0900
Portability
0,0400
Cost
0,7500
Delivery 
conditions
0,2500
1 Enterprise 
Resource 
Planning
0,4567 0,2567 0,4567 0,4567 0,2567 0,0900 0,4567 0,2356
2 Charisma 
Enterprise
0,2567 0,4567 0,1567 0,2567 0,1567 0,4567 0,1567 0,6963
3 Socrate Open 
Enterprise
0,1567 0,0900 0,0400 0,0900 0,4567 0,2567 0,2567 0,2244
4 WizPro 0,0900 0,0400 0,2567 0,1567 0,0900 0,1567 0,0400 0,1230
5 Enterprise 
Project 
Management
0,0400 0,1567 0,0900 0,0400 0,0400 0,0400 0,0900 0,0588
By applying the decision assistance multi-criteria analysis techniques, similar results 
referring to the SIIO activity can be obtained. Such a technique is represented by James 
McCaffrey’s Multi-Attribute Global Inference of Quality, MAGIQ. In table 2, the ranks of 
the opinion/perception survey presented in the case of DISTECH techniques were pointed 
out.219
Conclusions
Within the  Economic Competitiveness Growth Local Operational Progra-
mme (with projects financed through European Structural funds), the priority axis 3 
referring to IT&C projects includes areas for the IT usage support projects, for the 
development of the electronic public services and for the development of the e-
economy.  Within  these  projects  specific  to  the  above  mentioned  areas,  the 
organisational integrated computer system component represents the architectural 
core whose competitiveness determines the competitiveness of the whole project.
In our country there are preoccupations for the study of self-competitiveness, 
local, regional, national competitiveness, in universities and research units. Such an 
example is Politehnica University of Bucharest and the Chamber of Commerce and 
Industry  and  Agriculture  from  Timisoara.  At  Spiru  Haret  University  there  are 
courses entitled Economic integrated computer systems and Comparative financial 
and accounting computer systems within the Accounting of economic entities and 
public institutions master programme, which develop themes referring to the SIIO 
competitiveness.
REFERENCES
*** IMD World Competitiveness YearsBook, 2009, www.imd.ch. 
Kalady  R.,  Creating  Sustainable  Impact  through  Project  Management,  CII 
Convention on Large Infrastructure Projects Sustainable Development& The 
Law, July 25th 2008, PMI.
Lungu I.; Sabău Gh., Velicanu M.; Muntean M.; Ionescu S.; Posdarie E.; Sandu D.,
Sisteme  informatice,  Analiză,  proiectare  şi  implementare,  Economica 
Publishing House, Bucharest, 2003.
McCaffrey J., Koski N., Competitive Analysis Using MAGIQ, “MSDN Magazine”, 
October 2006 (Vol. 21, No. 11), pp. 35-39.
McCaffrey  J., Multi-Attribute Global  Inference  of  Quality (MAGIQ), “Software 
Test and Performance Magazine”, August 2005 (Vol. 2, No. 7), pp. 28-32.
Naughton  E.,  Project  Management,  A  Key  Contributor  to  National 
Competitiveness,  “PM  World  Today”,  August  2007,  vol.  9,  Issue  8, 
www.pmforum.org. 
O’Neill D., Introducing Global Software Competitiveness, “The Journal of Defense 
Software Engineering”, CrossTalk, October 2003 Issue.
Panico  C.R.,  Project  Management  as  a  Strategic  Tool  Impacting  Business 
Performance,  Profitability  and  Competitiveness,  US  Industry  Today, 
www.ipmcinc.com, 2008.
Scarlat  C., Adult  Training  in  Marketing  Research  within  Romanian  Higher 
Education  Institutions,  Preprints  of  the  INCO  Copernicus  Workshop  on 
“Integrated Control in Manufacturing Systems”, Bucharest, September 26-29, 
2001, Paideia Publishing House, 2001.
Teodorescu  L.;  Ivan  I., Managementul  calităţii  software, INFOREC  Publishing 
House, Bucharest, 2001.220
Turner  J.R., Handbook  of  Project-Based  Management,  McGraw  Hill  T  P&  R, 
2008.
Young T.L., The Handbook of Project Management: A Practical Guide to Effective 
Policies and Procedures with CDROM, Kogan Page, 2007.
Zaman Gh., Gherasim Z., Criterii şi principii ale dezvoltării durabile din punctul 
de vedere al resurselor acesteia, Buletinul AGIR, Nr. 4/2006. 
www.wbcsd.org,  www.wikipedia.org,  www.oracle.com,  www.pmi.org,
cordis.europa.eu,  www.imd.ch,  www.totalsoft.ro,  www.bitsoftware.ro, 
www.edata.ro, www.fondurile-structurale.com/competitivitate.htm, www.centi.ro, 
www. www.wizrom.ro, www.wizcount.ro, www.iso.org, www.stsc.hill.af.mil.

Adult Training in Marketing Research within Romanian

Competitive Analysis Using MAGIQ, “MSDN Magazine”,

Criterii şi principii ale dezvoltării durabile din punctul de vedere al resurselor acesteia,

Introducing Global Software Competitiveness,

Managementul calităţii software,

Multi-Attribute Global Inference of Quality (MAGIQ), “Software Test and Performance Magazine”,

Project Management as a Strategic Tool Impacting Business Performance, Profitability and Competitiveness, US Industry Today,

Project Management, A Key Contributor to National Competitiveness, “PM World Today”,

Sisteme informatice, Analiză, proiectare şi implementare, Economica Publishing House,

The Handbook of Project Management: A Practical Guide to Effective Policies and Procedures with CDROM,

www.imd.ch. Kalady R., Creating Sustainable Impact through Project Management,

COMPETITIVENESS IN ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATED COMPUTER SYSTEM PROJECT MANAGEMENT

http://www.manecognitiva.ro/jurnals/spiru-haret-economics/2010/vol1/issue2/gherasim.pdf

COMPETITIVENESS IN ORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATED COMPUTER SYSTEM PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Research Papers in Economics