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Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document. / Thesis (PhD (Industrial Systems))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Industrial and Systems Engineering / unrestricted

With the increasing amount, complexity and dynamism of operational and strategic information in electronic and distributed environment, executives are seeking assistance for continuous, self-reactive and self-adaptive activities or approaches of acquiring, synthesising and interpreting information for intelligence with a view to determining the course of action - executive intelligence activities. Executives Information Systems (EIS) were originally emerged as a computer-based tool to help senior executives to manage the search and process of information. EIS was popularised in 1990's but EIS study have not advanced to a great extent in either research or practice since its prevalence in the mid and late 1990's. Conventional EIS studies have established some views and guidelines for EIS design and development, but the guidelines underpinned by preceding research have failed to develop robust yet rational EIS for handling the current executive's information environment. The most common deficiency of traditional EIS is the static and inflexible function with predetermined information needs and processes designed for static performance monitoring and control. The current emergence of the intelligent software agent, as a concept and a technology, with applications, provides prospects and advanced solutions for supporting executive's information processing activities in a more integrated and distributed environment of the Internet. Although software agents offer the prospective to support information processing activities intelligently, executive's desires and perception of agent-based support must be elucidated in order to develop a system that is considered valuable for executives. This research attempts to identify executive criteria of an agent-based EIS for supporting executive intelligence activities. Firstly, four focus groups were conducted to explore and reveal the current state of executive's information environment and information processing behaviour in the light of Internet era, from which to examine the validity of the conventional views of EIS purpose, functions and design guidelines. Initial executive criteria for agent-based EIS design were also identified in the focus group study. Secondly, 25 senior managers were interviewed for deeper insights on value-added attributes and processes of executive criteria for building agent-based EIS. The findings suggest a "usability-adaptability-intelligence" trichotomy of agent-based EIS design model that comprises executive criteria of value-added attributes and processes for building a usable, adaptable and intelligent EIS.

Executive information systems or Business Intelligence (BI) systems are implemented in the majority of companies today. Contemporary trend is to focus these systems on the Corporate Performance Management (CPM), in which special processes, methodologies and metrics necessary for measurement and management of the business performance are used. This thesis explores how principles and tools of Competitive Intelligence (CI) may be applied in these systems. CI is another discipline useful for strategic management of a company. In the theoretical part of this thesis are briefly described principles of BI, CPM and CI. The main aim is to analyze the possibility, whether we can extend a potential of the executive information systems through the usage of Competitive Intelligence principles and technologies. This part is based especially on technical literature and other relevant sources. The practical part of the thesis explores these questions on a real system called the Business Navigation System (BNS). The aim is to analyze BNS in a viewpoint of Competitive Intelligence serviceability and to design new functionality. The contribution of this thesis in the theoretic area is the consideration; whether it's possible to derive benefit from the principles of CI in the executive information systems. The practical contribution is an evaluation of BNS and the suggestions, how to involve technologies of CI to the some modules of this system.

Bakgrunden till studien, som inleddes 1991, var en bild av en alltför lång ledtid för ekonomisk information till ledningspersoner i svenska storföretag. Detta gällde speciellt med hänsyn till vad som var tekniskt möjligt att åstadkomma. Resultaten bekräftar i princip denna bild, men de identifierade orsakerna är långt ifrån bara tekniska. Studien kartlägger faktorer som påverkar ledtiden för månatliga ekonomiska rapporter och diskuterar betydelsen av ekonomiska rapporter i svenska storföretag. Dessutom beskrivs storföretagens rutiner vid framställningen av rapporterna, t ex vad som rapporteras och när det sker. Till detta kommer ledningens åsikter om ledtiderna. Studien baseras på intervjuer med representanter för styrelse, ledningspersoner, koncernstab, fristående och en enkätundersökning till Sveriges 200 största företag. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan

Datorbaserade informationssystemsstöd för företagsledningen, finns det sådana? Är det någon som använder dem och kan de göra någon nytta? Ett område som varit föremål för ett stort intresse sedan början av 1990-talet är ledningsinformationssystem. I populärpressen kunde man läsa ett flertal framgångsartiklar om hur ledningen nu börjat använda dessa verktyg: ”Äntligen har det kommit ett verktyg som chefer och ledningspersoner kan använda för att styra och följa upp verksamheten, få bättre beslutsunderlag och erhålla aktuell information om företaget och dess omvärld”. I denna avhandling har utvecklingen av användningen av ledningsinformationssystem i Sveriges 200 största företag följts under 1990-talet. Studien kartlägger faktorer som påverkar om företag väljer att införa ledningsinformationssystem och diskuterar hur olika faktorer påverkar användningen av ledningsinformationssystem. Ser man till utvecklingen framgår att användningen av ledningsinformationssystem är relativt låg, men ökande. Många företag har planerat att införa system, men realiseringsgraden av planerna är låg. Ledningsinformationssystem är vanligast bland större företag och det är viktigt att det är koncernledningen som kommer med idén till att införa ett system. I systemen finns mest information från interna källor och andelen extern information är låg. Det som driver företag att införa ledningsinformationssystem är framförallt behov av snabbare, mer tillgänglig och mer enhetlig information. Framgångsrika system ger koncernledningen bättre möjligheter att följa verksamheten och underlättar ledningsgruppens dialog och kommunikation med underställda chefer och enheter inom koncernen. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 2005</p>

In the earlier period, large enterprise, developed its management reports system based on files system and the 3rd-generation language. The managers of several departments access management information from the reports system. Because competition stress increasing quickly and information requirement changing frequently, the legacy system could not satisfy the information need of managers. The maintainability of legacy system is decreasing, and the cost is growing up. How to solve the difficulties on system maintenance ? System reengineering is commonly used as a solution. How to choose a good migration strategy is also a big issue. This research focuses on finding a migration strategy for the legacy systems and a methodology of developing EIS based on users¡¦ needs via current new information technologies. The methodology is applied to implement a EIS for a large enterprise in order to verify the feasibility of the methodology. A questionnaire investigation among the users of the new system has clearly shown a fairly good users¡¦ satisfaction.

Nesta dissertação, são discutidas as vantagens e dificuldades de um Sistema Gerencial de Apoio a Decisão em um ambiente Intranet/Internet, sua execução, bem como a utilização de aplicações de bancos de dados na web. Um sistema dessa natureza, denominado SAG (Sistema de Apoio Gerencial), foi concebido para dar suporte às atividades de gerência, supervisão e controle da rede de distribuição de energia elétrica da Eletropaulo Metropolitana (São Paulo, Brasil). O SAG possibilita o estabelecimento de uma sistemática de supervisão, visando, a partir da análise das condições atuais da rede de distribuição e em função dos recursos disponíveis, permitir o acompanhamento da evolução da qualidade do fornecimento de energia elétrica. Disponibilizando informações que irão orientar ações para corrigir os possíveis desvios inadequados e fixar políticas e diretrizes a serem seguidas nos níveis gerenciais. Como resultado, é esperado tornar mais ágil o processo decisório, bem como o acesso a dados técnicos e de carregamento dos equipamentos da rede de distribuição. / In this dissertation are discussed the advantages and difficulties of an Executive Information System (EIS) implementation on an Intranet or Internet environment, as well as the use of Database applications on the web. An Executive Information System named SAG was implemented at Eletropaulo Metropolitana (São Paulo, Brazil); it was conceived to address maintenance, operational and engineering departments\' needs. The System allows the establishment of a systematic supervision to attend the quality of the electric energy supplied. The analysis of the actual distribution network conditions, the available resources and the electric energy supplied quality will guide the actions to correct possible inadequacies as well as set and fix policies and guidelines to be followed on a manager\'s level. As a result it\'s expected faster decision-making process and access on distribution network equipment\'s technical data and load.

資訊科技的運用觀念隨著科技的演化與環境的變遷正快速的改變，早期的資訊運用著重「效率」，所以電腦的使用主要在於大量的資料處理，此觀念的本質在於─以「自動化」解決效率問題。而後電腦的運用漸漸使用於經營效能的改善，此時電腦的用途主要在於管理資訊的取得，此觀念的本質在於─以「合理化」解決管理效能問題。 　　近年來資訊科技的運用已成為提昇企業競爭力的驅動器(enabler)並期望系統能發揮「系統警察」的危機預警功能；本研究的動機使是基於此觀念的觸發，希望以企業「競爭力」的觀點來觀察企業問題的本質，以「系統警察」的觀念來作為系統設計的理念，以「主管資訊系統(EIS)」的特質，來作為系統展現的工具；因此為了要取得台灣製造業者對經營績效的評估準據，以成為「經營績效指標監控系統」的需求規格，所以本研究前半部採用實証研究中的指標發展法，先利用文獻整理來找出經營績效指標，並透過專家座談來確保指標評量表的效度，然後再依此指標評量表對樣本公司訪談，並將訪談結果作信度檢驗及資料分析。所以在本研究中得到以下之成果： 　　1.以營業、財務、生產、人力資源四個構面為基礎的「經營績效指標評估準據訪查表」，該訪查表經過信度與效度的測試結果均相當良好〈訪查表內容詳見附錄三〉。 　　2.在實際的訪查問卷分析中發現，台灣製造業的經營者在監控企業經營績效時，認為最重要看法也最醫治的指標排名前五名依序是： 　　　(1).利潤率 　　　(2).存貨週轉率 　　　(3).資本報酬率 　　　(4).應收帳款週轉率 　　　(5).銷售金額營業利益率 　　3.得到一個企業經營績效指標監控系統的架構與規格〈詳見第五章〉。

Nesta dissertação, são discutidas as vantagens e dificuldades de um Sistema Gerencial de Apoio a Decisão em um ambiente Intranet/Internet, sua execução, bem como a utilização de aplicações de bancos de dados na web. Um sistema dessa natureza, denominado SAG (Sistema de Apoio Gerencial), foi concebido para dar suporte às atividades de gerência, supervisão e controle da rede de distribuição de energia elétrica da Eletropaulo Metropolitana (São Paulo, Brasil). O SAG possibilita o estabelecimento de uma sistemática de supervisão, visando, a partir da análise das condições atuais da rede de distribuição e em função dos recursos disponíveis, permitir o acompanhamento da evolução da qualidade do fornecimento de energia elétrica. Disponibilizando informações que irão orientar ações para corrigir os possíveis desvios inadequados e fixar políticas e diretrizes a serem seguidas nos níveis gerenciais. Como resultado, é esperado tornar mais ágil o processo decisório, bem como o acesso a dados técnicos e de carregamento dos equipamentos da rede de distribuição. / In this dissertation are discussed the advantages and difficulties of an Executive Information System (EIS) implementation on an Intranet or Internet environment, as well as the use of Database applications on the web. An Executive Information System named SAG was implemented at Eletropaulo Metropolitana (São Paulo, Brazil); it was conceived to address maintenance, operational and engineering departments\' needs. The System allows the establishment of a systematic supervision to attend the quality of the electric energy supplied. The analysis of the actual distribution network conditions, the available resources and the electric energy supplied quality will guide the actions to correct possible inadequacies as well as set and fix policies and guidelines to be followed on a manager\'s level. As a result it\'s expected faster decision-making process and access on distribution network equipment\'s technical data and load.