Computing and Information Systems - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemUnderstanding the business benefits of ERP system use( 2006)ERP systems are large, complex, integrated software packages used for business transaction processing by thousands of major organizations worldwide. Yet outcomes from ERP system implementation and use can be very different, and current understanding of how and why such variation exists is limited. Since most studies of ERP systems to date have focused on ERP implementation, this research focused on the post-implementation period. The aim was to better understand the 'what', 'how' and 'why' of achieving business benefits from ERP systems during ERP use. Achieving business benefits from ERP systems was considered as a process of organizational change occurring over time within various societal and organizational contexts. A retrospective, interpretive case study approach was used to study this process. The post-implementation periods of four Australian manufacturing organizations that had implemented ERP systems were studied. This study makes three important contributions to the information systems research literature. First, a new framework was developed to explain 'how' and 'why' business benefits were achieved from ERP systems. This explanatory framework is theoretically based and is firmly grounded in the empirical data. Three types of themes, along with the interrelationships between them, were identified as influencing the business benefits achieved from ERP systems. The first group of themes, the process themes, are 'Education, training and support', 'Technochange management' and 'People resources'. The second group of themes, the outcome themes, are 'Efficient and effective use of the ERP system', 'Business process improvement' and 'New projects to leverage off the ERP system'. The third group of themes, the contextual themes, are the 'External context', the 'Internal context' and the 'ERP planning and implementation phases'. This new framework makes a significant contribution to understanding how and why some organizations achieve more business benefits from ERP systems than others. Second, the case studies provide a rich description of four manufacturing organizations that have implemented and used ERP systems. Examining the 'what' of business benefits from ERP systems in these four manufacturing organizations resulted in a confirmed, amended and improved Shang and Seddon (2000) ERP business benefits framework. This replication and extension of previous research is the third contribution of this study. The results of this research are of interest not only to information systems researchers, but also to information systems practitioners and senior management in organizations that either plan to, or have implemented ERP systems. Overall this research provides an improved understanding of business benefits from ERP systems and a sound foundation for future studies of ERP system use.
-
ItemMaximizing benefits from enterprise systems( 2001)This study investigates how organizations can maximize benefits from their Enterprise Systems (ES). The results suggest that making optimal use of an Enterprise System is an on-going challenge best managed by successive cycles of system exploration, redesign, and use. Each cycle results in successively better configured software and enhanced organizational processes. Each cycle requires core process managers' commitment and management initiatives to explore and control the positive and negative effects caused by the four distinctive characteristics of Enterprise Systems: pre-packaged features, evolving functionality, sophisticated knowledge, and application infrastructure. The study was conducted over three connected phases that sought answers to three research questions: • What business benefits can be realized from the use of Enterprise Systems? • How and when do organizations realize net benefits from Enterprise Systems? • How can organizations manage the use of Enterprise Systems to maximize net benefits? Phase one answers question one, by developing a comprehensive framework of ES benefits organized around five business dimensions: operational, managerial, strategic, IT infrastructure, and organizational. This framework was synthesized from the literature on ES and IT effectiveness, enhanced by analyzing benefits identified from 233 Web cases, and tested in 34 confirmatory cases. This phase established the basis for further analysis of ES benefits. Phase two applies the ES business benefit framework from phase one to answer question two. Business benefit realization processes are tracked over three to four years in in-depth case studies of four Australian utilities. Patterns of Perceived Net Benefit Flow are identified and graphed in each of the five benefit dimensions. The results show that ES benefit realization is a life-long process, with different benefits being developed in different patterns in the five different dimensions, with results possibly varying across core processes within the one organization. The duration and intensity of benefits also varied among the companies. Using cross-case analysis, the types of ES benefit and the interrelationships between different benefit dimensions are explained. Moreover, various causes of benefit variation were analyzed, with the finding that benefits are mainly driven by management of the four ES-specific characteristics of ES use identified above. Following from the case analysis in phase two, phase three answers question three by further exploring ES management in the four case-study organizations. Six propositions are induced from the four case studies and tested for reasonableness with seven additional ES adopters in different industries. Based on this in-depth case exploration, four different strategies for ES management are identified: process replication, system modification, process modification, and system exploration. By comparing business conditions and the implications of the different ES management strategies, the study suggests that the most effective strategy is system exploration. System exploration involves results in a series of business-led initiatives involving changes to both the ES software and business processes that lead to incremental improvements to the Enterprise System.