User groups have been recognised as one of the most important coupling mechanisms between users and vendors. There are hundreds of such groups around the world attached to complex technological artefacts and systems. Innovation scholars have referred to these groups as the new sites of innovation and gone as far to suggest that vendors may struggle to survive without the user-led innovation that derives from these forums (von Hippel, 2005). This is particularly the case for software products. However, despite their growing academic and policy importance, and notwithstanding the fact these communities have been in existence for more than three decades, the Information Systems literature has not yet explained the complex workings of such groups. This study produces one of the first ethnographic studies of a major software user group linked to a complex packaged enterprise system. It describes and characterises the range of functions carried out by this group, which includes their internal workings and organisation, how members relate to each other, how the group links to the vendor and other intermediaries, and the group’s attempts to shape the development of its technology. A key focus of the work is the various tensions and barriers found in these communities. To analyse this group the study adopts and extends the Social Shaping of Technology (SST) and its recent offshoot, the ‘Biography of Artefact’ (BoA) framework. This thesis contributes to these approaches by showing the importance of multifaceted time dimensions and heterogeneity of spaces in examining users groups. Whilst existing studies using these approaches have looked at the evolution of technology over extended periods, this thesis contributes by considering the coevolution of the technology and the community attached at the same time. This allows us not only to gain a better conceptualisation of the user group but as a result see new forms of innovation invisible to more dominant perspectives. It challenges economist led understandings of user-led innovation which tend to give only a rather superficial understanding of the process by which users create new innovation. In particular, and through arguing for the need to take into account both ‘success’ and ‘failure’ in the process of user-led innovation, the thesis offers the concept of ‘artification’ to explain further complex outputs originating from the interaction of these actors in multiple spaces and over long periods of time. The thesis also extends theories of the Social Shaping of Technology by depicting innovation as an arena where different actor spaces act collectively, but also compete, and as a result wield influence on different stages of the technology lifecycle. This leads to a further contribution of this thesis in the field of Information Systems research by suggesting that enterprise software innovation is a community achievement. In particular, the research proposes the concept of ‘unification’ to show the collective acts of users in aggregating their needs to participate in the development of technology. The study concludes by offering insights and recommendation to practitioners and policy makers for deploying user communities for better technological outcomes, both in terms of design and development as well as implementation and use.

The value of information technology investments is becoming a topical issue for corporate governance under the recent regulations enacted in the US (Sarbanes Oxley Act, US Congress, 2002). Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the absence of a definitive approach to evaluating IT investments is an impediment to the governance of corporations. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) information systems are a key IT implementation that has been promoted in both vendor and practitioner communities alike as a panacea for informed enterprise performance management. This research sets out a methodology for the evaluation of ERP’s contribution to enterprise value. This issue is important because billions of dollars of corporate funds have been invested in these systems since the early 1990s. Shareholders and management require a justification of ERP based upon its proven contribution to enterprise and shareholder value.The study develops a theory for the value relevance of ERP information by showing how ERP meets the requirement of a management and organizational innovation. Such an innovation promotes enterprise operations, improves enterprise performance, supports value creation, and increases shareholder wealth. A model is presented for testing the value of ERP adoption. Empirical testing proceeds in two phases. The first phase develops a model for forecasting normal performance. Performance is shown to be a function of autoregressive earnings moderated by macroeconomic factors impacting operations. The latter are associated with the business cycle. The estimated coefficients of the model are used for predicting the earnings performance of the firm. The residuals of actual earnings less the predicted represent abnormal performance. This represents the unique improvement in performance over the prior year after adjusting for macroeconomic effects. The second phase tests the value relevance of ERP information. A returns–earnings model developed by previous research is adapted with ERP–earnings interaction terms representing the ERP system’s effect on performance. Two classes of tests are performed on the model: tests of performance relevance of ERP systems, and tests of value relevance. The former tests ERP performance across several accounting metrics identified as indicators of firm performance level change. The latter tests the market response to these changes in a bid to determine if, in the perception of the market, the changes in the performance level attained to by the firm are associated with ERP adoption. These tests are performed for each year of a 5–year period following adoption. The results of the tests of performance relevance show that ERP–adopter firms do not achieve significant abnormal earnings in years 1 and 2 of the test period. They realize significant, negative, abnormal earnings in year 3. In years 4 and 5, they attain significant, positive, abnormal earnings. The tests of value relevance show that the market responds significantly to ERP adoption in year 2 of the test, but not in other years. The early response immediately after the year of adoption would seem to indicate a significant early expectation from these systems. However, this does appear to translate into long–term value relevance for ERP.

Abstract Implementing an ERP system has become the primary consideration for many enterprises during processing E-commerce. It has also become the data platform of information foundation construction in many enterprises. Among these implementation cases, however, some are facing failures due to the following reasons: the organization business flow is unable to make changes coordinately, the consultant companies lack of experience, or the user sites are being resisted while implementing an ERP system. All the mentioned reasons have caused their ERP project delay by deadline. This, therefore, results in the huge increase of the cost and even an abnormal operation system during the implementation. Eventually the enterprises would have to make an announcement to fail. The management and control of implementing an ERP system decides the success of the system. The subject of this study is to probe into the process of implementing an ERP system. Beginning with the sort-out of Chinese and foreign documents to find out the key success factors during the process of implementing an ERP system and then collecting the realistic data from the software company¡¦s viewpoints to understand the concrete methods of key success factors. The software consultant company, therefore, plays an important role during the process of implementing an ERP system. We, hereto, generalize the viewpoints of high-level administrators, the project manager, the senior consultants and the technicians about the key success factors during the process of implementing an ERP system from the software consultant company¡¦s angle. After that, the practical perspectives of the software consultant company are being discussed and analyzed to verify if there is any difference with the results which were generalized from probing the documents. Results of this study have shown that the most important key success factors are ' the commitment and support of high-level administrators ', ' the integration degree of other systems' and ' the procedure innovation'. The secondary key factors are ' the production operation characteristic 'and ' the interdepartmental characteristic '. The key factor that is not important is ¡¥the methods of systems implement¡¦. In spite of the existing large number of researches about ERP, the ones discussed from the software consultant company¡¦s point of views are quite few. This study probes into from software consultant company¡¦s viewpoints and to collect related key success factors while hoping to be a reference for other consultant companies and relevant units in implementing ERP system. Keyword: Enterprise Resource Planning ( ERP )¡AKey Success Factor¡ASystem Implementation¡A Flow Change

Las organizaciones continuamente se ven desafiadas a repensar y adaptar sus estructuras, procesos, objetivos y tecnologías; para mantener su ventaja competitiva. Es así como muchas han optado por implementar sistemas integrados de recursos empresariales o Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), como facilitadores para adaptarse a los cambios en estos entornos de negocios tan dinámicos. Dada la trascendencia de las PYMES en la economía del país y la importancia que tiene un sistema ERP para alcanzar la competitividad que hoy día se requiere, la presente investigación empírica pretende contribuir al limitado conocimiento existente en materia de implementación de ERP en las PYMEs locales mediante el análisis de los factores que influyen en un resultado exitoso en estas empresas.

The construction industry has long been criticized as being not advance enough to use information communication technology (ICT) and slow to adopt knowledge management (KM). This research demonstrates how using an effective and efficient ICT systems can improve KM, and that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be one tools to help improve KM. An ERP system is also a powerful tool to help integrate business processes which has particular use in the construction industry. The principle objective of this research was to explore the drivers and inhibiters that determined successful adoption and use of an ERP system at its actual implementation stage. Secondly, it aimed to identify successful factors of a partnering strategy and its integration into the ERP system. The third objective was to investigate the appropriate leadership style that influenced the ERP system and the partnering strategy, and to identify the impact of culture on the leadership style. The research was conducted within the context of a Hong Kong construction organization. This research makes a contribution in two spheres: PM and the construction industry. The first implication for PM theory is to illustrate how knowledge has been efficiently managed within a construction organization by using ICT/ERP.

The value of information technology investments is becoming a topical issue for corporate governance under the recent regulations enacted in the US (Sarbanes Oxley Act, US Congress, 2002). Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the absence of a definitive approach to evaluating IT investments is an impediment to the governance of corporations. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) information systems are a key IT implementation that has been promoted in both vendor and practitioner communities alike as a panacea for informed enterprise performance management. This research sets out a methodology for the evaluation of ERP’s contribution to enterprise value. This issue is important because billions of dollars of corporate funds have been invested in these systems since the early 1990s. Shareholders and management require a justification of ERP based upon its proven contribution to enterprise and shareholder value.The study develops a theory for the value relevance of ERP information by showing how ERP meets the requirement of a management and organizational innovation. Such an innovation promotes enterprise operations, improves enterprise performance, supports value creation, and increases shareholder wealth. A model is presented for testing the value of ERP adoption. Empirical testing proceeds in two phases. The first phase develops a model for forecasting normal performance. Performance is shown to be a function of autoregressive earnings moderated by macroeconomic factors impacting operations. The latter are associated with the business cycle. The estimated coefficients of the model are used for predicting the earnings performance of the firm. The residuals of actual earnings less the predicted represent abnormal performance. This represents the unique improvement in performance over the prior year after adjusting for macroeconomic effects. The second phase tests the value relevance of ERP information. A returns–earnings model developed by previous research is adapted with ERP–earnings interaction terms representing the ERP system’s effect on performance. Two classes of tests are performed on the model: tests of performance relevance of ERP systems, and tests of value relevance. The former tests ERP performance across several accounting metrics identified as indicators of firm performance level change. The latter tests the market response to these changes in a bid to determine if, in the perception of the market, the changes in the performance level attained to by the firm are associated with ERP adoption. These tests are performed for each year of a 5–year period following adoption. The results of the tests of performance relevance show that ERP–adopter firms do not achieve significant abnormal earnings in years 1 and 2 of the test period. They realize significant, negative, abnormal earnings in year 3. In years 4 and 5, they attain significant, positive, abnormal earnings. The tests of value relevance show that the market responds significantly to ERP adoption in year 2 of the test, but not in other years. The early response immediately after the year of adoption would seem to indicate a significant early expectation from these systems. However, this does appear to translate into long–term value relevance for ERP.

Το πληροφοριακό σύστημα ERP μιας επιχείρησης αποτελεί στρατηγική επιλογή. Δημιουργεί υποδομή και παρέχει εργαλεία που στηρίζουν την ανταγωνιστικότητα και την ανάπτυξη για πολλά χρόνια. Ένα σύστημα ΕRP (Enterprise Resource Planning) αποτελεί μία ακολουθία από άμεσα υλοποιήσιμα πακέτα εφαρμογών, που καλύπτουν όλες τις λειτουργίες μίας επιχείρησης και διαθέτουν την απαραίτητη ευλυγισία για τη δυναμική προσαρμογή τους στις απαιτήσεις και τις μεταβολές που συμβαίνουν σε αυτή. Επιπλέον παρέχει ολοκληρωμένες πληροφοριακές λύσεις για την καλύτερη και αποδοτικότερη διαχείριση και προγραμματισμό των πόρων και δίνει επίσης τη δυνατότητα στην επιχείρηση να λειτουργεί συντονισμένα σαν ενιαίο σύνολο, καθοδηγούμενη από τις πληροφορίες που δέχεται από το περιβάλλον. Σύνοψη Στην παρούσα εργασία γίνεται απόπειρα αποτύπωσης της πορείας της πληροφορίας από την απόκτησή της έως την επεξεργασία και τη χρησιμότητά της, μέσω της χρήσης των ολοκληρωμένων πληροφοριακών συστημάτων διαχείρισης πόρων (Enterprise Resourse Planning (ERP) Systems) με εφαρμογή (μελέτη περίπτωσης - case study) στο πληροφοριακό σύστημα της εταιρίας SAP, η οποία κατέχει τα τελευταία χρόνια την πρωτιά στην αγορά των συστημάτων αυτών. Ειδικότερα: Στο 1ο κεφάλαιο δίνεται μικρή εισαγωγή σχετικά με τη χρησιμότητα των πληροφοριακών συστημάτων διαχείρισης πόρων. Πραγματοποιείται επίσης σύντομη αναφορά του περιεχομένου της εργασίας. Στο 2ο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζεται η ροή της πληροφορίας από την εννοιολογική της προσέγγιση και την απόκτησή της έως την αποθήκευση, την επεξεργασία και τη διαχείρισή της με τη χρήση προηγμένων πληροφοριακών συστημάτων. Στο 3ο κεφάλαιο γίνεται εισαγωγή στα Πληροφοριακά Συστήματα Επιχειρησιακής Οργάνωσης (Enterprise Resource Planning - ERP) κάνοντας μια διαδρομή στην ιστορική τους εξέλιξη & αναφέροντας βασικές έννοιες, οφέλη & μειονεκτήματα από τη χρήση τους, ενώ πραγματοποιείται - επίσης - σύντομη παρουσίαση για την αγορά των ανωτέρω πληροφοριακών συστημάτων και την παρουσία τους στην Ελλάδα. Στο 4ο κεφάλαιο δίνεται η γενική δομή των Συστημάτων Επιχειρησιακής Οργάνωσης (ERP), οι ομάδες εφαρμογών στις οποίες εντάσσονται τα υποσυστήματά τους και οι περιφερειακές εφαρμογές που δύναται να χρησιμοποιηθούν συμπληρωματικά. Στο 5ο κεφάλαιο εξειδικεύεται η μελέτη των επιχειρησιακών λογισμικών ERP με το παράδειγμα της εταιρίας SAP. Το κεφάλαιο αυτό αναφέρεται στην παρουσία της εταιρίας SAP τόσο στην Ελλάδα όσο και στο εξωτερικό, όπως επίσης στη δομή και τη λειτουργία των εφαρμογών που υποστηρίζει το επιχειρησιακό λογισμικό SAP ERP. Επιπρόσθετα, γίνεται αναφορά στα συμπληρωματικά συστήματα που δύναται να υποστηρίζουν το ανωτέρω λογισμικό και περιγράφεται ο τρόπος υλοποίησης έργων SAP ERP. Το 6ο κεφάλαιο είναι μια μελέτη περίπτωσης εφαρμογής συστήματος SAP ERP. Ειδικότερα, αποτυπώνεται ο τρόπος χρήσης του ανωτέρω επιχειρησιακού λογισμικού στη διαχείριση ενός ερευνητικού έργου στο SAP ERP της Επιτροπής Ερευνών του Πανεπιστημίου Πατρών. / --

Within the last 30 years, Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP-type) computer systems have quickly evolved from basic materials requirement planning software to today's enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrated software packages that reside on client/server computer architecture. However, given the magnitude of influence these computer systems encompass, very little research has been conducted to monitor and improve how companies are actually using these MRP, advanced MRP and ERP computer systems. In practical terms, where is the typical manufacturing organization today in terms of MRP systems development? To what extent is software being applied for use in enterprise integration? A survey study of manufacturing companies in Virginia and Tennessee was conducted to evaluate the current use and performance of computer systems to support manufacturing applications. This study explores the reasons why organizations chose to use these systems, the problems and benefits derived from the MRP/ERP systems, and the characteristics of the types of companies that have benefited from the use of MRP-type systems. The survey participants evaluated the performance of their manufacturing or enterprise planning systems on the basis of data accuracy, customer satisfaction, user satisfaction, systems effectiveness, convenience, information relevance, and software reliability. Furthermore, success factors associated with organizational performance were tested and evaluated. The correlation between perceived performance was tested against the influence of upper management support, the level of emphasis on training, sources of technical expertise, and organizational experience with MRP-type systems. / Master of Science

Alternative Geschäftsmodelle wie Software as a Service (SaaS) und Open-Source-Software (OSS) steigern die Attraktivität von Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systemen für Kleine und Mittelständische Unternehmen (KMU). Jedoch stellen die Beratungsleistungen, die für die Konfiguration eines ERP-Systems zur Anpassung an die spezifischen Bedürfnisse eines Unternehmens notwendig sind, eine hohe Einführungshürde dar. Eine Konfigurationsoption, die bei vielen ERP-Systemen eine Rolle spielt, ist die Kategorienkonfiguration. Mit Hilfe einer automatisierten Konfigurationsunterstützung können Geschäftsführer von kleinen Unternehmen die Kategorienkonfiguration selbst durchführen und einen Teil der Einführungskosten einsparen. Im Rahmen der kumulativen Dissertation werden Automatisierungsansätze zur Konfigurationsunterstützung für die ERP-Kategorienkonfiguration generiert und auf das Open-Source ERP-System ERP5 angewandt. Die Automatisierungsansätze basieren auf Ähnlichkeitsberechnungen zu Falldatensätzen von 235 Unternehmen, Kategorien-Konsolidierung durch Umleitungsinformationen in Wikipedia-Artikeln, Templates und Meta-Templates. Die empirische Evaluation in einem Laborexperiment mit 100 Teilnehmern und eine Umfrage bestätigen die Gültigkeit, Nützlichkeit und Effektivität der generierten Ansätze. Die Konfigurationsunterstützung kann durch einen standardisierten Beratungsprozess und die Vermittlung des für eine konkrete ERP-Einführung notwendigen Wissens mittels Massenindividualisierung ergänzt werden. Dieser Ansatz wurde mit und für ERP5 umgesetzt und lässt sich auch auf andere Open-Source-Projekte übertragen.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2018-08-02T17:34:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 sergioluislimacorrea.pdf: 2831312 bytes, checksum: 6561fc06286d3d5e2ee6d4736aadf79c (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2018-08-02T17:36:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 sergioluislimacorrea.pdf: 2831312 bytes, checksum: 6561fc06286d3d5e2ee6d4736aadf79c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-02T17:36:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 sergioluislimacorrea.pdf: 2831312 bytes, checksum: 6561fc06286d3d5e2ee6d4736aadf79c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-07 / PROQUALI (UFJF) / Sistemas Integrados de Gestão Empresarial, conhecidos como ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), são desenvolvidos e mantidos pelas IFES (Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior) para o desempenho das atividades que lhes competem, além disso, sua abrangência permite obtenção de informações gerenciais tornando-se valioso recurso estratégico. Recentes orientações dos órgãos de fiscalização e controle governamental, visando o aumento da eficiência, maior produtividade da máquina pública, e redução de custos têm levado as IFES a adotar políticas de governança de TI. Sistemas ERP geralmente são muito abrangentes e caros, por isso seus custos devem ser mensurados, não somente custos de aquisição, mas principalmente custos de manutenção e suporte. Neste sentido, com objetivo de determinar os elementos de custo para mensurar os custos de manutenção e suporte na gestão de sistemas ERP, houve motivação para esta pesquisa sobre a metodologia TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) suportada pelos processos do framework ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). O presente trabalho, de caráter descritivo, identificou e relacionou, a partir da pesquisa bibliográfica, os elementos de custo mais evidentes no TCO e ITIL. Em seguida, foi aplicado um questionário web, junto a Especialistas em gestão de Sistemas ERP das IFES, visando mapear sua percepção de relevância sobre esses elementos de custo elencados na pesquisa. Os resultados mostram os elementos de custo ordenados por relevância e frequência aplicáveis à manutenção e suporte de sistemas ERP e a contribuição esperada é a de facilitar a mensuração desses custos. / Integrated Systems Management, known as ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), are developed and maintained by IFES (Federal Institutions of Higher Education) for the performance of activities that concern them, in addition, its scope allows obtaining management information becoming valuable strategic resource. Recent guidelines of the supervisory bodies and government control, aimed at increasing efficiency, higher productivity of public administration, and cost reduction have led IFES to adopt IT governance policies. ERP systems are usually very comprehensive and expensive, so their costs should be measured, not only acquisition costs, but mainly maintenance and support costs. In this regard, in order to determine the cost elements to measure the costs of maintenance and support in managing ERP systems, there was motivation for this research on the TCO methodology (Total Cost of Ownership) supported by ITIL framework processes (Information Technology Infrastructure Library). This work, descriptive, identified and listed from the literature, the most obvious cost elements in TCO and ITIL. Then a web questionnaire was administered, along with experts in ERP systems management of IFES, aiming to map their perception of relevance of these cost factors listed in the survey. The results show the cost elements ordered by relevance and frequency that the maintenance and ERP systems support and the expected contribution is to facilitate the measurement of these costs.