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Commercial off-the-shelf enterprise resource planning systems have been adopted by large companies to support their inter- and intra-business processes. Midsize market firms are now investing in ERP systems too. However, research has indicated that about three quarters of attempted ERP projects turned out to be unsuccessful. A common problem encountered in adopting ERP software has been the issue of misfit. This study focuses on assessing the usability of the ERP misfit analysis methodology, from Wu, et al. (2007), to investigate the ERP misfits. We also develop a decision support system to help identify the misfits. It integrates the methodology into the process to facilitate misfit identification. The results indicate that with this approach, organizations can more easily and systematically determine where the misfits are and the degree of misfits, thereby reducing the risk in implementing ERP. These results provide greater insight for understanding the misfits between the firm requirements and the functions provided by the ERP. They also help to evaluate the efforts needed for ERP customization and business process reengineering for each misfit and thereby help to support decision making in customization or BPR.

Three categories of misfit have been identified in the software package implementation context. They are Data, Functional, and Output misfits. This study presents a methodology, based on the business form analysis and SEMINT technique, to help identify the Data and Output misfits. With this methodology, the software package acquiring organizations or consulting firms can more easily and systematically identify where the Data and Output misfits are and what the degree of misfits is. These results can contribute to the selection of a suitable software package and are valuable to the decision of either package customization or business process reengineering for the misfits during the package implementation.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are becoming mature technologies to support inter- and intra-company business processes in many intermediate and small organizations. However, these systems are complex and expensive. Research indicated that about three-quarters of the ERP projects were judged unsuccessful. A common problem confronted when adopting ERP software has been the issue of misfits, that is, the gaps between the functionality offered by the package and that required and expected by the adopting organization. This study investigated a systematical approach to facilitate the process of ERP implementation. The methodology includes five steps: Implementation Definition, Operation Analysis, Real Practice, Final Preparation, On-line and Maintenance. An ERP implementation case is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the methodology and provide the experience of misfit solving. With this methodology, the ERP adopting organizations can more easily and systematically implement the ERP package. In addition, the experience provides greater insight for misfit solving confronted in the case, and thereby reduce the risk of ERP implementation.

Commercial off-the-shelf systems (COTS) such as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are becoming mature technologies to support inter- and intra-company business processes even in intermediate and small organizations. However, such systems are complex and expensive. The decision to install a COTS necessitates a choice of mechanisms to determine whether it fits firm¡¦s requirements. This paper presents a misfit diagnosis decision principle grounded on the COTS misfit analysis methodology proposed by Wu, et al., 2008. We propose a systematic diagnosis decision principle to add on to the misfit analysis methodology by providing support to decision-making in customization or Business Process Engineering (BPR). Our research contributes to the misfit analysis methodology by proposing a systematic diagnosis decision principle that will help both software vendors and organizations when the misfits between firm requirements and COTS functionality are encountered. The results indicate that with this approach, organizations can more easily and systematically determine whether the misfits should be customized or conducted BPR. They also help to evaluate the efforts needed for COTS customization and business process reengineering for each misfit and thereby help to support decision making in customization or BPR, thereby reducing the risk in implementing COTS.

xvi, 145 p. : ill. (some col.) / The structures of several compounds in the [(PbSe)0.99]m[WSe2]n, [(PbSe)1.00]1[MoSe2]1, and [(SnSe)1.03]1[MoSe2]1 systems were determined using x-ray data. The structural determination using Rietveld methods was complicated by the strong preferred orientation of the samples, which resulted in x-ray diffraction scans with either 00l or hk0 reflections depending on the orientation of the sample in the diffractometer. Rietveld refinements of the [(PbSe)0.99]1[WSe2]1, [(PbSe)1.00]1[MoSe2]1, and [(SnSe)1.03]1[MoSe2]1 samples were compared to single crystal sample refinement results for [(MX)1+d]1[TX2]1, where M is a metal, T is a transition, X is a chalcogen, and d is the misfit parameter. The structural refinement yielded rock salt layer puckering values of 25 pm, 23 pm, and 36 pm for [(PbSe)0.99]1[WSe2]1, [(PbSe)1.00]1[MoSe2]1, and [(SnSe)1.03]1[MoSe2]1, respectively, which are all within the established literature range of 20 pm to 60 pm. The refinement of the hk0 reflections confirmed that the in plane structures were consistent with the dichalcogenide (P63mmc) and rock salt (Fm3m) structure types. Structures for the [(PbSe)0.99]m[WSe2]m isomer series where m = 1 to 5 were determined, and a systematic trend in structure as a function of the thickness of the constituent layers was discovered. The structure of the rock salt constituent was found to distort into pairs, forming alternating long and short distances along the c axis. This distortion decreases as the number of rock salt planes increases from 4 to 6 to 8 and is either absent or nearly so in compounds with a larger number of rock salt planes. The puckering distortion at the interface between the rock salt and the dichalcogenide is also observed in the inner rock salt layers but decreases in magnitude moving away from the rock salt – dichalcogenide interface. Structures of [(PbSe)0.99]m[WSe2]n where m = 1 or 2 and n = 1 or 2 were also determined. The degree of structural distortion is a function of the ratio of rock salt to dichalcogenide layers. This dissertation includes unpublished co-authored material. / Committee in charge: Dr. Thomas R. Dyke, Ph.D., Chairperson; Dr. David C. Johnson, Ph.D., Advisor; Dr. Catherine J. Page, Ph.D., Member; Dr. Andrew H. Marcus, Ph.D., Member; Dr. John L. Hardwick, Ph.D., Member; Dr. Richard Taylor, Ph.D., Outside Member

In this thesis, I planned to fabricate Cu/Ni metallic multilayers with equal layer thicknesses on different substrates by using magnetic sputtering technique. My objective was to characterize the texture, structure and hardness, in order to study strengthening mechanisms and nanotwins in the Cu/Ni multilayers. Sputtered, highly textured (111) and (100) Cu/Ni multilayers with individual layer thickness, h, vary from 1 to 200 nm. At greater h, X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of Cu and Ni (100 or 111) peaks are clearly separated indicating that the interface between Cu and Ni is semi-coherent. When h decreases to 5 nm or less, XRD spectra show significant peak distortions due to coherency stress. High resolution microscopy studies confirm the coexistence of nanotwins and coherent layer interfaces in highly (111) textured Cu/Ni mutilayers. Nanoscale twins can be formed in Cu at all h and in Ni at smaller h. Multilayer hardnesses increase with decreasing h, approach maxima at h of 2.5-5 nm, and show softening thereafter. A detail comparison between (111) and (100) textured Cu/Ni is made in both microstructure and strengthening. In this thesis, the possible mechanisms to form high density growth twins in Ni are discussed. Furthermore, the influences of both coherent layer interfaces and twin interfaces on strengthening mechanisms are discussed.

Les systèmes ERP ont été largement étudiés au cours des dernières décennies, mais ils échouent souvent à offrir les avantages prévus initialement attendus. L'une des raisons est le manque de compréhension comment la personnalisation influence l’acceptation de l’utilisateur ERP par manque d'ajustement du système-à-business, ce qui peut conduire à des résultats négatifs de business. Pour certaines raisons, beaucoup ont fait valoir qu'une mise en oeuvre de ‘vanille’, à savoir sans personnalisation, est la «meilleure» façon de mettre en œuvre des systèmes ERP. Cependant, grâce à la recherche quantitative sur la base de sondage sur le Web, cette thèse a révélé que, en Chine, la personnalisation est une condition nécessaire dans l'acceptation de l'ERP et la réussite du projet. Étant donné d’une variété de risques dans le projet ERP, financier, technique, fonctionnel et politique, les fournisseurs et les consultants sont prêts à aider le chef de projet pour respecter le budget et le temps cible plutôt que de récolter plus d'avantages pour la performance des entreprises. Ainsi, la personnalisation habituellement avait été évitée, et la personnalisation insuffisante est plus fréquente que la personnalisation excessive. Nous avons proposé 15 hypothèses et 11 ont été soutenus, et la conclusion générale que, le niveau de personnalisation a une influence positive considérable sur l'intention comportementale, plus le niveau de personnalisation est élevé, plus l'intention comportementale (BI) à utiliser le système est élevée. C’est une instruction pour les entreprises dans lesquelles le bon niveau de personnalisation (CL) devrait être réalisé au lieu d'éviter la personnalisation. Et seulement la personnalisation importante stratégique plus élevée devrait être inclue dans le projet quand il y a la limitation dans le budget et le temps. Nous avons également confirmé que la facilité de personnalisation est un facteur important dans le choix de la solution ERP correcte. En tant que modérateur, différents rôles ont différentes perceptions sur la personnalisation, les utilisateurs normaux ont une espérance plus forte dans la personnalisation, il est donc essentiel d'expliquer aux utilisateurs, quelle personnalisation est stratégique, et quelle personnalisation est à des fins de cohérence et pourrait compromettre le bénéfice réel de l'ERP système. S'il ne convient pas de faire la personnalisation dans la phase de mise en oeuvre du projet, un plan pour la personnalisation future du système doit être préparé et il améliorera finalement le succès du système à long terme. / ERP systems have been widely studied during the past decades, yet they often fail to deliver the intended benefits originally expected. One notable reason is the lack of understanding how the customization influence the ERP user acceptance when there is lack of system-to-business fit, which can lead to negative business outcomes. For some reasons, many have argued that a "vanilla" implementation, i.e. without customization, is the "best" way to implement ERP systems. However, through quantitative research based on web survey, this dissertation revealed that, in China, customization is a must in ERP acceptance and project success. Because of the various risks in ERP project, financial, technical, functional and political, vendors and consultants are keen on helping the project manager to meet the budget and time target rather than to reap more benefit for business performance. Thus, customization usually had been avoided, and insufficient customization are more common than over customization. We proposed 15 hypothesis and 11 were supported, and the general conclusion that, customization level has significant positive influence on behavioral intention, the higher customization done, the higher behavioral intention (BI) to use the system. It is an instruction for companies that, right level of customization (CL) should be achieved instead of avoiding customization. And only higher strategic important customization should be included in the project when there is limitation in budget and time. We also confirmed that ease of customization is an important factor in selecting the right ERP solution. As a moderator, different role have different perception on customization, normal users have stronger expectancy in customization, so it is critical to explain to the users, which customization is strategic, and which one is for consistency purpose and could jeopardize the real benefit of ERP system. If it is not appropriate to do the customization in the project implementation phase, a plan for future system customization should be prepared and it will ultimately improve the system long term success.

With scant research to draw upon with respect to the maintenance of vertical scales over time, decisions around the creation and performance of vertical scales over time necessarily suffers due to the lack of information. Undetected item parameter drift (IPD) presents one of the greatest threats to scale maintenance within an item response theory (IRT) framework. There is also still an outstanding question as to the utility of the Rasch model as an underlying viable framework for establishing and maintaining vertical scales. Even so, this model is currently used for scaling many state assessment systems. Most criticisms of the Rasch model in this context have not involved simulation. And most have not acknowledged conditions in which the model may function sufficiently to justify its use in vertical scaling. To address these questions, vertical scales were created from real data using the Rasch and 3PL models. Ability estimates were then generated to simulate a second (Time 2) administration. These simulated data were placed onto the base vertical scales using a horizontal vertical scaling approach and a mean-mean transformation. To examine the effects of IPD on vertical scale maintenance, several conditions of IPD were simulated to occur within each set of linking items. In order to evaluate the viability of using the Rasch model within a vertical scaling context, data were generated and calibrated at Time 2 within each model (Rasch and 3PL) as well as across each model (Rasch data generataion/3PL calibration, and vice versa). Results pertaining the first question of the effect IPD has on vertical scale maintenance demonstrate that IPD has an effect directly related to percentage of drifting linking items, the magnitude of IPD exhibited, and the direction. With respect to the viability of using the Rasch model within a vertical scaling context, results suggest that the Rasch model is perfectly viable within a vertical scaling context in which the model is appropriate for the data. It is also clearly evident that where data involve varying discrimination and guessing, use of the Rasch model is inappropriate.

L’objet principal de cette thèse concerne le Dossier Patient Informatisé (DPI) dans les hôpitaux, et plus particulièrement les difficultés d’usage après la phase d’implémentation. Notre démarche visait à concevoir, à partir des connaissances académiques en Système d’Information, une méthode permettant aux acteurs de terrain d’agir sur une problématique spécifique. Concrètement nous cherchions à savoir comment améliorer les situations de « misfit », c’est à dire les situations dans lesquelles les professionnels de santé considèrent l’usage du DPI comme inadapté à leur métier. Pour ce faire, nous avons cherché à comprendre le bilan mitigé du DPI dans la littérature en utilisant les travaux d’Adler & Borys (1996) sur le caractère dual de la formalisation du travail induite par la technologie (habilitante ou coercitive). Une technologie habilitante permet de positionner un utilisateur comme source de solutions, alors qu’une technologie coercitive tend à le considérer comme source de problèmes. Dans le premier manuscrit portant sur l’autonomie des professionnels de santé face au système d’information hospitalier, nous avons conclu sur la nécessité d’une formalisation de type habilitante pour améliorer l’usage du DPI. Dans le deuxième manuscrit, nous avons montré que dans les exemples d’expériences négatives du Dossier Patient Informatisé rapportés dans la littérature, il était possible de mettre en évidence les différents aspects d’une formalisation coercitive. Pour argumenter sur le caractère dual de la formalisation du travail induite par le DPI, nous avons rapporté dans le troisième manuscrit une étude empirique illustrative. Nos données montrent que pour un même DPI, dans un même hôpital, il peut exister des îlots de formalisation habilitante. En sortant du seul domaine d’application de la santé, nous avons approfondi les travaux sur la conceptualisation du misfit entre processus d’affaires et Système d’Entreprise (SE) de Strong & Volkoff de 2010, en utilisant les concepts d’affordance et d’actualisation d’affordance utilisés par les mêmes auteurs en 2013 et 2014. Le quatrième manuscrit présente donc un modèle original permettant d’analyser l’usage des technologies de l’information pour un processus d’affaires donné sous la forme d’une combinaison d’actualisations, de non-actualisation ou d’actualisations partielles de multiples affordances du système d’entreprise par de multiples acteurs. Dans une perspective réaliste critique, le misfit est alors la perception par un individu ou un groupe d’individus que cette combinaison ne répond pas à l’ensemble ou à une partie des objectifs du processus de façon satisfaisante. Nous rapportons ensuite comment, dans le cadre d’une recherche-action, nous avons utilisé ce modèle pour améliorer l’usage d’un DPI en post-implémentation dans un hôpital. L’analyse d’une situation de misfit selon notre méthode permet une recombinaison, en recherchant une suite cohérente d’ajustements techniques et organisationnels acceptables pour toutes les parties prenantes et dont l’agencement permet bien la disparition du misfit initial, mais aussi de l’ensemble des misfits révélés pendant l’analyse. Cette recombinaison aboutit alors à une formalisation du travail présentant toutes les caractéristiques d’une formalisation habilitante.La discussion de la thèse aborde les conditions du succès de la méthode, le choix des situations sur lesquelles l’appliquer et les perspectives de recherche qui en découlent. / The main focus of this thesis is the Electronic Patient Record (EPR) in hospitals, and more particularly the difficulties of use after the implementation phase. Our approach aimed to design, with the academic knowledge of Information Systems, a method allowing field actors to act on this specific issue. In concrete terms, we were looking for ways to improve "misfit" situations, i.e. situations in which health professionals consider the use of EPR to be unsuitable for their profession. To do this, we sought to understand the mixed record of EPR use reported in the professional literature, by using the dual nature (enabling or coercive) of technology-induced work formalization (Adler & Borys, 1996). Enabling technology allows a user to be positioned as a source of solutions, while coercive technology tends to consider them as a source of problems. In the first manuscript on the autonomy of health professionals in relation to the hospital information system, we concluded that an enabling formalization is needed to improve the use of EPR. In the second manuscript, we showed that in the examples of negative experiences of the EPR reported in the literature, it was possible to highlight the different aspects of coercive formalization. To argue on the dual nature of the formalization of work induced by EPR, we have reported in the third manuscript an illustrative empirical study. Our data show that for the same EPR, in the same hospital, there may be islets of enabling formalization.Moving beyond the health field of application alone, we have further developed Strong & Volkoff's 2010 conceptualization of the misfit between business process and Enterprise System (ES), using the concepts of affordance and affordance-actualization used by the same authors in 2013 and 2014.The fourth manuscript therefore presents an original model for analyzing the use of information technology for a given business process in the form of a combination of actualizations, non-actualizations or partial actualizations of multiple affordances of the enterprise system by multiple actors. From a critical realistic perspective, misfit is then the perception by an individual or group of individuals that this combination does not satisfactorily meet all or some of the objectives of the process.We then report on how we used this model to improve the use of EPR in post-implementation in an action research project. The analysis of a misfit situation according to our method allows a recombination, by seeking a coherent sequence of technical and organizational adjustments acceptable to all stakeholders and whose arrangement allows the disappearance of the initial misfit, but also of all the misfits revealed during the analysis. This recombination then leads to a formalization of the work that has all the characteristics of an enabling formalization.The discussion of the thesis addresses the conditions for the success of the method, the choice of situations on which to apply it and the resulting research perspectives.