Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have been in existence for over 2 decades yet businesses are still losing billions of dollars annually in the implementation of software designed to reduce costs and increase profitability. The inability to manage risks is an area that contributes to these losses, specifically due to uncertain outcomes when dealing with an interconnected construct such as risk, and a research gap at the tactical and operational levels between risks and controls. A comparative case study approach, encompassing 12 different organisations was adopted to explore emerging patterns at the project implementation level, and from this three contributions emerged. After observing risks behaving in a hierarchical fashion with predictable results, Hierarchy of Risk models representing different implementation stages were constructed. Although these models are still in their formative stages, it may prove useful in furthering our understanding of the close inter-relationship between different risks, where they occur in ERP implementations and the implications of managerial choice when determining risk prioritisation. A second finding is that no direct linear relationship appears to exist between risks and controls. Rather, this counter-intuitive finding suggests that it is additional factors including risk categories, implementation stages, prior control decision making and the hierarchical flow-on effect of impacts as a consequence of identified risks. Finally, by combining the Hierarchy of Risk models and the risk-to-impact-to-control relationship, a method of reverse engineering portfolios of control was discovered. This potentially offers an explanation as to how portfolios of control can be constructed, and why they are essential in ERP implementations.

To compete in the global market, organisations have to ensure that their production is synchronised with their other business activities. To achieve this, companies deploy a variety of solutions known as Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES). These systems provide the bridge between control and business systems and are used by a variety of people across many business functions. Typical users range from production and maintenance personnel to engineers, finance and management. Sectors within the manufacturing industry have their own definitions of MES and these are based on their functional requirements and by the offerings of vendors in that sector. Thus, people differ in their understanding and definition of MES. To ensure common understanding of what functionalities or modules constitute MES, the Manufacturing Execution Systems Association (MESA) has defined MES to cover the following eleven areas: Resource Allocation and Status Operations/Detail Scheduling Dispatching Production Units Document Control Data Collection/Acquisition Labour Management Quality Management Process Management Maintenance Management Product Tracking and Genealogy Performance Analysis On examining the Manufacturing Execution Systems literature, it was realised that functionalities and definitions exist but a standard approach and implementation methodology is lacking. Thus, a framework was developed based on a literature study as well as from experience within the MES environment. To ensure that the framework meets the needs of organisations, two questionnaires were developed and sent to people from various functions within large South African companies (and across divisions). The results of the empirical study showed that for large organisations, i.e. organisations with over 200 employees and an annual turnover in excess of R 40 million, some form of manufacturing execution systems were used in all the companies surveyed. The most common functionality deployed was Data Collection1Acquisition and the payback on these systems was greater than two years. The respondents highlighted that MES governance and an overall company wide strategy for MES implementation was non-existent or not enforced across the group of companies. The respondents also indicated that the implementation was time consuming and that the projects usually exceeded the allocated budget and/or were late. The respondents were not unanimous on who was accountable for MES within the organisation and a quarter felt that this was unclear within the organisation. When asked about the process that was followed in the selection of a vendor and solution, the majority felt that the process was not well defined. However, respondents noted that change management is used on all major projects and the outcome is generally successful. All the companies outsource either some or all of their IT services and the relationship with the vendor seems successful, as the rating received for MES support was very good. The benefits of implementing Manufacturing Execution Systems are also being realised by those companies that responded to the questionnaires. The overall impression is that over 75% of the respondents feel positive about the benefits and state that the benefits are realised. The only major shortcoming is that information is not being shared across business units and sites as half of the respondents felt that this was not happening in their companies. The proposed MES Engagement and Implementation Framework that was tested with the empirical study was subsequently updated. The framework suggests that all MES implementations should begin with a review of the business and ICT strategy as these would assist when defining the business requirements and the criteria for the selection of the technology, vendor, and solution The business requirements should be ascertained and a realistic business case should be developed. The project team should re-confirm the requirements once a vendor is selected, and, with the necessary change management, implement a portion of the solution as a pilot project. Once successful, then only should the entire solution be rolled out. Another parallel process should consider the outsourcing for the support phase. The entire process of implementing MES is cyclical as new requirements, additional functionality, and benefits tracking results in new projects. In conclusion adopting this framework would result in better implementation and ensure that the benefits are realised for all MES projects and that the solution is adequately supported after implementation. A model for the implementation has also been proposed and it should be developed and tested further to guide MES implementation. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

Background: The present study was designed to examine prefrontal cortical processes in anxious children that mediate cognitive regulation in response to emotion-eliciting stimuli, and the changes that occur after anxious children participate in a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program. Methods: Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from clinically anxious children and typically developing children at pre- and post-treatment sessions. Event-related potential components were recorded while children performed a go/no-go task using facial stimuli depicting angry, calm, and happy expressions. Results: At pre-treatment, anxious children had significantly greater posterior P1 and frontal N2 amplitudes than typically developing children, components associated with attention/arousal and cognitive control, respectively. For the anxious group only, there were no differences in neural activation between face (emotion) types or trial (Go vs. No-go) types. Anxious children who did not improve with treatment showed increased cortical activation within the time window of the P1 at pre-treatment relative to comparison and improver children. From pre- to post-treatment, only anxious children who improved with treatment showed increased cortical activation within the time window of the N2. Conclusions: At pre-treatment, anxious children appeared to show increased cortical activation regardless of the emotional content of the stimuli. Anxious children also showed greater medial-frontal activity regardless of task demands and response accuracy. These findings suggest indiscriminate cortical processes that may underlie the hypervigilant regulatory style seen in clinically anxious individuals. Neural activation patterns following treatment suggest that heightened perceptual vigilance, as represented by increased P1 amplitudes for non-improvers, may have prevented these anxious children from learning the treatment strategies, leading to poorer outcomes. Increased cognitive control, as represented by increased N2 amplitudes for improvers, may have enabled these anxious children to implement treatment strategies more effectively, leading to improved treatment outcomes. Hence, P1 activation may serve as a predictor of treatment outcome, while N2 activation may serve as an indicator of treatment-related outcome. These findings point to the cortical processes that maintain maladaptive functioning versus the cortical processes that underlie successful intervention in clinically anxious children.

Background: The present study was designed to examine prefrontal cortical processes in anxious children that mediate cognitive regulation in response to emotion-eliciting stimuli, and the changes that occur after anxious children participate in a cognitive behavioral therapy treatment program. Methods: Electroencephalographic activity was recorded from clinically anxious children and typically developing children at pre- and post-treatment sessions. Event-related potential components were recorded while children performed a go/no-go task using facial stimuli depicting angry, calm, and happy expressions. Results: At pre-treatment, anxious children had significantly greater posterior P1 and frontal N2 amplitudes than typically developing children, components associated with attention/arousal and cognitive control, respectively. For the anxious group only, there were no differences in neural activation between face (emotion) types or trial (Go vs. No-go) types. Anxious children who did not improve with treatment showed increased cortical activation within the time window of the P1 at pre-treatment relative to comparison and improver children. From pre- to post-treatment, only anxious children who improved with treatment showed increased cortical activation within the time window of the N2. Conclusions: At pre-treatment, anxious children appeared to show increased cortical activation regardless of the emotional content of the stimuli. Anxious children also showed greater medial-frontal activity regardless of task demands and response accuracy. These findings suggest indiscriminate cortical processes that may underlie the hypervigilant regulatory style seen in clinically anxious individuals. Neural activation patterns following treatment suggest that heightened perceptual vigilance, as represented by increased P1 amplitudes for non-improvers, may have prevented these anxious children from learning the treatment strategies, leading to poorer outcomes. Increased cognitive control, as represented by increased N2 amplitudes for improvers, may have enabled these anxious children to implement treatment strategies more effectively, leading to improved treatment outcomes. Hence, P1 activation may serve as a predictor of treatment outcome, while N2 activation may serve as an indicator of treatment-related outcome. These findings point to the cortical processes that maintain maladaptive functioning versus the cortical processes that underlie successful intervention in clinically anxious children.

Introduction: Enterprise recourse planning (ERP) is a system that combines software, hardwareand people to manage information The aim of this study is to investigate ERP systems effect onbusiness performance (advertised vs. realized benefits) and user’s complaints. It also aims toidentify the most important issue a company faces after implementing an ERP system and if thisstops potential benefits from happening. This will be viewed from a user’s perspective. Approach/Methodology: This research includes qualitative and quantitative primary data withsecondary data to answer the research questions posed. It is based on a number of semistructuredinterviews of people well versed in ERP systems presented in case study form.Alongside, it also utilizes a series of questionnaires presented in tabular form. The data wasanalyzed and linked with theory to provide answers and test assumptions. Findings: ERP systems provide their advertised benefits to a large extent. The most importantorganizational issue after implementing an ERP system is resistance to change and this issueaffects the benefits realization of the system. Finally, user’s complaints about ERP systems arevaried and include the speed of the system, support in error situations and general complexity. Conclusions: Even though it provides many benefits in business performance, an ERP system,selection and implementation in a company is a critical step. The whole process is complicated,resource consuming, takes a long time and can encounter problems. Mistakes in theimplementation cost a company more resources to fix after they happen. In this case preventionis better than cure and the best medicine.Implications and Value of research: ERP system implementation and use should bemethodically planned from the beginning to get maximum benefits realization. This is especiallyimportant in effectively managing change in an organization. In this issue, top level managersshould be aware and committed to. Suggestion for future studies: A possible research that could correlate user complaintcategories already established with age group of respondents under a global perspective.

Titel: Risk Managements påverkan för utfallet av ERP-projekt Författare: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy och Hanna Maunus Handledare: Pär Vilhelmson Examinator: Sarah Philipson Kurs: Examensarbete företagsekonomi C, 15.0 hp Nyckelord: ERP-projekt, Projekt Management, Risk Management, risker i ERP-projekt, lyckade projekt, misslyckade projekt, The Iron Triangle. Syfte: Att undersöka vilka risker som är mest förekommande vid implementeringen av ERP-system och hur risk management kan reducera dessa. Metod: Kvalitativ metod, hermeneutik, fallstudier, semistrukturerade intervjuer, välgrundad teori. Resultat: Organisationens och projektets ledning hade större kunskaper om vilka risker som ville uppstå och olika risk management strategier än andra anställda och slutanvändarna av systemet.  Standardisering, samordning och automatisering av organisationens kärnprocesser var huvudsyften för att implementera ERP-system i organisationen. God planering av projektet är avgörande för ett lyckat resultat. Det är viktigt med bra kommunikation och tätt samarbete mellan de olika avdelningarna i projektet, och även med externa konsulter som till exempel leverantören av ERP-systemet. Riskanalys var en viktig del av projektens risk management strategi. En skicklig och flexibel projektledning hade stor betydelse för att risk management strategin fungerade. Resursproblem visade sig vara den största risken i de undersökta projekten. Change management visade sig vara en välanvänd metod för att minska organisationens motstånd mot ERP-projekt. Kostnadsbudgeten var inte det viktigaste målet att uppnå och The Iron Triangle visade sig inte vara så avgörande för om projektet ansågs lyckad eller misslyckad. Organisationerna använda sig mycket av upplärning av användarna för att åtgärda de risker som kan uppstå i samband med personalen. Risk management fungerade för projektledningen som ett verktyg för att åtgärda och även kontrollera projektrisker. Slutsatser: De vanligaste riskerna som upptäcktes i undersökningen var olika slags problem med personalen, tekniska problem, samarbetet med leverantören och kommunikationen mellan olika intressenter, att hålla projektets tidsschema och budget, samt tailoring av systemet och att se till att det fungerar i enlighet med syftet. Särskilt personalriskerna var många och utgjorde stora utmaningar för ERP-projekten. Studien visade även att risk management kan påverka utfallet av ERP-projekt positivt och hjälpa ERP-projekt att uppnå sina mål. / Title: Risk Managements influence on the outcome of ERP projects Authors: Ann-Magritt Lindemark Engøy & Hanna Maunus Tutor: Pär Vilhelmson Examiner: Sarah Philipson Course: Bachelor Thesis in Business Administration C, 15.0 hp Keywords: ERP projects, Project Management, Risk Management, risks in ERP projects, successful projects, unsuccessful projects, The Iron Triangle. Purpose: To investigate what risks are most dominant with the implementation of ERP systems and how risk management can reduce these risks. Method: Qualitative method, hermeneutic, case studies, semi-structured interviews, well-grounded theory. Findings: The management had better knowledge about the risks that would arise and different risk management strategies in ERP projects than other employees and end users of the ERP systems. Standardisation, coordination and automation of the organisations core processes were the main purposes for implementing ERP systems in the organisations. Excellent planning of the project is critical for a successful project outcome. It is important to have good communication and close cooperation between the various departments in the projects, as well as with external consultants such as the supplier of the ERP system. Risk analysis was the most important and the most used method of the risk management strategies among our cases. Skilled and flexible project management had a positive impact on the risk management strategy ability to succeed. Resource issues turned out to be the biggest risk in the investigated projects. Change management proved to be a well-used method to reduce the employees resistance against the ERP project. To meet the standards from the cost´ budget was not seen as the most important objective to achieve. It also turned out The Iron Triangle was not a critical factor to determine whether the project in question was seen as a success or a failure. The organisations used training of the end-users to address the risks that may arise in connection with the employees. Risk management worked for the management as a tool to resolve and control the project risks. Conclusions: The most common risks that where discovered in this study was personnel risks, technical issues, the relationship with the supplier and communication between various stakeholders, not to exceed the project budget and schedule, as well as tailoring the system and make sure that it is working as intended. Particularly risks related to the employees constituted major challenges for the ERP projects. Our study showed furthermore that risk management clearly affects the outcome of ERP projects positively and helps ERP projects to achieve their goals.

One mechanism by which spatial attention affects visual perception is through the alteration of the signal-to-noise ratio for a particular stimulus. This is known as sensory gain control. Sensory gain effects can be measured electrophysiologically through changes in the amplitude of the P1 event related potential (ERP) component. Manipulating perceptual load by increasing or decreasing task difficulty can influence spatial attention and can therefore modulate the P1 component. Sensory gain effects are well characterized with peripheral attention, but have rarely been studied at fixation. The few studies that have been conducted that look at sensory gain for foveal stimuli have yielded conflicting results, and sensory gain with centrally presented extrafoveal stimuli has only been found in emotion studies. The present study manipulated attention allocation towards foveal and extrafoveal stimuli at fixation, using two levels of perceptual load for each stimulus size. ERPs were recorded in response to stimulus onset, and tested for differences in P1 and N1 amplitude across perceptual load conditions. Sensory gain effects, as indexed by an increase in P1 amplitude with an increase in perceptual load, were predicted for extrafoveal but not foveal stimuli. Changes in P1 amplitude were not found for either type of stimuli, suggesting that sensory gain effects either may not be present at fixation or are not susceptible to manipulation by perceptual load. The N1 component was expected to increase in amplitude for high-load stimuli, due to the N1 attention effect. However, the opposite result was found, suggesting that there is an additional effect of perceptual load on early visual processing, distinct from sensory gain control.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder characterised by disturbed arousal, altered attention, and fear processing, and a reduction in the ability to perform cognitive tasks. Predominant neurophysiological models of PTSD have been focused on alterations in fear-related regulation, and few incorporate broader changes in generic executive control which may underlie many of the clinical symptoms and cognitive deficits in PTSD. This thesis aimed to investigate the neurophysiology of executive inhibitory control in PTSD using a Go/NoGo response inhibition task and converging functional imaging, structural imaging and electrophysiological measures. The first series of studies aimed to elucidate a normative neural network model of inhibitory control, and are consistent with normative control involving the activation of a mainly right-lateralised ventral lateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) network. Inhibitory control-related activation was found to be affected by levels of anxiety and changes in underlying neural structure; alterations in frontal cortical maturation and volume were related to additional activation of bilateral frontal cortical regions and the dorsal striatum, with anxiety increasing the demand on inhibitory control-related activation. In contrast to healthy participants, PTSD was associated with reduced inhibitory control as indexed by inhibitory behaviour, diminished activation of the right VLPFC, and slowed inhibition-related information processsing. PTSD participants relied on the greater activation of a left fronto-striatal inhibition network to support control, with the activation affected by levels of PTSD severity and comorbid anxiety. This left fronto-striatal activation in PTSD was related to underlying increases in fronto-striatal neural structure. Further, the ability to efficiently engage a left fronto-striatal network in PTSD during inhibitory control predicted better response to cognitive behavior for PTSD, consistent with the proposal that an improved ability to flexibly engage control systems may facilitate the resolution of PTSD symptoms. Taken together, this program of research extends current neurophysiological model of PTSD to show that PTSD involves a fundamental disturbance in the function and structure of key fronto-striatal response control networks associated with inhibitory control.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Bond University, 2007. / "Submitted in total fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 145-159). Also available via the World Wide web.

Thesis (M.S.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.