Mittelständische Industrieunternehmen setzen für ihre betrieblichen Abläufe Planungs- und Ausführungssysteme ein. Aufgrund der Turbulenzen auf Absatz- und Beschaffungsmärkten kann die Wirtschaftlichkeit und Wettbewerbsfähigkeit dieser Unternehmen nur durch permanente Anpassungen der Organisationsstrukturen und -abläufe erfolgen. In der Praxis zeigt sich eine unzureichende technologische Anpassungsfähigkeit der heute eingesetzten Standardsoftwaresysteme. Diese lassen zwar während der Einführungsphase vielfältige Konfigurationsmöglichkeiten zu, Veränderungen im laufenden Betrieb sind aber meist nur mit großem Aufwand möglich. Hier sind die Softwarehersteller in Zukunft zunehmend gefordert, wandlungsfähige Auftragsabwicklungssysteme zu entwickeln. Über die Entwicklungsphase (Build-Time) hinaus muss auch parallel zur Betriebsphase (Run-Time) der technische Fortschritt aufgrund von geänderten Anforderungen durch entsprechende Softwarereleases synchronisiert werden. / Development and application of adaptive enterprise resource planning systems: <br><br> Medium-sized industrial enterprises apply resource planning systems for their business processes. Changing markets require permanent adaptation of these enterprises’ organisational structures and processes to ensure their efficiency and their competitiveness. However, currently applied standard software systems have proven to be insufficiently adaptable. They allow multiple configuration options during implementation and setup, but it is hardly possible to perform configuration changes during the application phase. Therefore software developers will have to focus on adaptable enterprise resource planning systems in future. Beyond the development phase (build time) technological progress caused by changing requirements also has to be synchronised simultaneously by current software releases during the application phase (run time).<br> --------<br> © GITO mbH Berlin

[ An abstract in English will follow] Denna uppsats handlar om på vilket sätt användarinvolvering påverkar acceptansen av ett affärssystem. I studien redogörs varför acceptansen påverkas av användarinvolveringen, samt hur påverkan sker och vad som leder till den. IT genomsyrar idag så gott som alla former av företagsamhet. Affärssystem stödjer affärsprocesser i flera branscher, från tillverkande företag till renodlade tjänsteföretag. Ett företag behöver exempelvis anpassa både sina affärsprocesser och det nya affärssystem för allt som sker inom företaget. På grund av komplexiteten som detta för med sig är implementeringen ofta ett stort steg för företaget och dess anställda. De framtida användarna av systemet ställs inför en stor förändring som ett nytt affärssystem medför. För att göra övergången så enkel som möjligt och få användarna att acceptera systemet brukar användarna vara delaktiga i implementationen genom en process som benämns som användarinvolvering. Forskning inom området har enats om att användarinvolveringen påverkar acceptansen av ett system (Dickson &amp; Simmons, 1970; Powers &amp; Dickson, 1973; Wu, et al.,2002; Kujala, 2003;, Gable, et al., 2003; Amoako-Gyampah, 2005; Sharp, et al., 2007). Desto mindre finns skrivet om varför acceptansen påverkas av användarinvolveringen, hur den påverkas, samt vad det egentligen är i användarinvolveringen som påverkar acceptansen. Denna uppsats undersökte detta genom att en kvalitativ studie utformades. Teorin om att användarinvolveringen påverkar acceptansen kombinerades med Technology Acceptance Model (en modell för undersökning av acceptansen föreslagen av Davis, 1989) för att skapa en egenutvecklad modell. Den egenutvecklade modellen användes för att skapa teman kring vilka den öppna individuella intervjun utformades. Därefter genomfördes intervjuer med fyra användare som var involverade i en implementationsprocess. Resultatet från intervjuerna strukturerades på ett sätt som matchade teman i den egenskapade modellen. Därefter analyserades resultatet med hjälp av det teoretiska materialet som insamlades under studiens inledningsfas. Slutsatsen är att användarinvolveringen som process består av flera företeelser som tros påverka acceptansen. De företeelserna som tros ha påverkat acceptansen på företaget som studerades var: användarnas förståelse för vad som kommer krävas av dem i framtiden, utbildningen och dess kvalité, användares tidigare kunskap och förmåga att ta in ny kunskap samt företagets mål med implementationen och hur väl det nya systemet kan uppfylla dessa. Slutligen bör man inte bortse ifrån de krav som företaget ställer på sina anställda. En medarbetare kan känna sig tvungen att acceptera ett visst system, då det redan är beslutat att företaget ska bruka systemet. [English abstract] This essay covers what in the user involvement process affects user acceptance of an Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP). The study reads up on why the acceptance is affected by user involvement, how the influence derives and where it comes from. Information Technology permeates all forms of enterprise. ERP systems support business processes for many different types of enterprise, ranging from manufacturing to service oriented. A company needs to adapt both its business processes and the new ERP system to fit the company’s business processes and support them throughout the value chain. As a result of the complexity that this adaptation implies, the implementation turns often out to be a big step for the company and its employees. Because of that, future ERP system users face a huge change in their work life. To make this easy and increase the chances of the future users to accept the new system, a process called user involvement is often used. Research has shown that user involvement affects the acceptance of a system (Dickson &amp; Simmons, 1970; Powers &amp; Dickson, 1973; Wu, et al.,2002; Kujala, 2003; Gable, Sedera &amp; Chan, 2003; Amoako-Gyampah, 2005; Sharp, et al., 2007). On the contrary, less is known on why the acceptance is affected by user involvement, how the relation looks like and what in the user involvement process actually affects the acceptance. This essay studied that using a qualitative approach. By combining the theory that user involvement affects the acceptance, with the Technology Acceptance Model (a theory proposed by Davis (1989) that models how users come to accept and use a technology), a new model was developed. The self-created model was used to develop themes which were used as a base for the empirical research. Four interviews with system users took place and the result was analyzed using the theories collected in the earlier part of the study. The conclusion is that user involvement as a process contains many different parts which we believe may influence acceptance. Our study has shown that the acceptance depends on – but not limited to – the following: user’s understanding of what will be required of them in their future work, the educational process and its quality, user’s technical knowledge before the implementation process began, user’s ability to learn, as well as the company’s goals set for the implementation and to which degree the new system will fulfill these goals. Finally, the demands which the company sets on its employees must not be ignored. An employee can feel obligated towards company’s choice of the ERP system and compelled to accept the new system, because it has already been decided that the company would use it.

Affärssystem har blivit allt vanligare i organisationer och framhålls av systemleverantörer som ett verktyg för att öka organisationers flexibilitet. Forskning tyder dock på att affärssystem både kan öka och minska flexibiliteten för organisationer. Få empiriska studier har genomförts vad gäller affärssystems påverkan på organisationers flexibilitet och forskningen är splittrad vad gäller affärssystems påverkan på flexibiliteten för organisationer. Syftet med denna uppsats är att illustrera och förklara hur ett affärssystem påverkar flexibilitet i en organisation. För att besvara syftet skapas en analysmodell som syntetiserar tidigare forskning om flexibilitet med en organisatorisk förändringsmodell. En fallstudie utförs genom att anställda intervjuas på Posten Norden AB där affärssystemet SAP används. Uppsatsens undersökning, analys och slutsatser indikerar på att: (1) det arbetsflöde Postens affärssystem tillhandahåller är oflexibelt, (2) affärssystemet möjliggör flexibilitet i kommunikationen (3) affärssystemet hämmar flexibiliteten för vissa arbetsuppgifter på Posten, och (4) affärssystem har en komplex påverkan på flexibilitet i organisationer.

As the society becomes more internationalized and companies spread operations to multiple locations in different countries, there is a growing need for systems that can link information between different company departments and make it available for users at any time. Over the years, companies have used several information systems for different business activities and purposes, but due to complexity and high costs, a need for an integrated platform has emerged. A system that can connect different business functions within a company, and at the same time link systems owned by customers and suppliers through modern technology is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Today, management control may be regarded as an information intensive company process where managers can improve control by working with relevant and accurate information. An ERP system represents a natural bearer of that information, and because of that, it becomes interesting to analyze the effects on management control when its fundamentals (the ERP system) change. As previous publications mostly have examined organizational changes and effects of ERP implementations from a more general perspective, the authors realize a need for addressing ERP systems in relation to management control. Though prior research indicates that implementation of ERP systems have affect on management control, there is still uncertainty how it may be affected. The aim for this study is therefore to create understanding of how a major change such as an ERP implementation may affect management control by causing changes among supporting roles and activities. In order to achieve the purpose for this work, the authors have exemplified an ERP implementation through a case study of a manufacturing company implementing Electronic Invoice Processing (EIP) as a part of a larger ERP change. By using a scientific research approach characterized by an iterative process that moves between theory and empiricism, some valuable outcomes can be drawn from the analyzed case material. These outcomes become in the end target for a broad interpretation of roles, activities, and how changes among them may affect management control on a more generalized ERP level. Analyzing the case, the authors have been able to identify three distinctive roles that may be affected by an ERP implementation; the Executor, the Supervisor, and the Supporter. These three roles have been found to carry out five prime activities; Information Assembling, Information Verification, Information Registration, Information Presentation, and Information Storing. Finally, the changes and altering of focus between these roles and activities were found to potentially affect management control positively through five prime aspects; Timeliness, Accuracy, Accessibility, Richness, and Control.

Abstract Background - Not all companies choose or are able to grow, especially not in an unstable economic climate. However, fast growing organizations (gazelles) have managed to grow with a significant pace. As researchers claim control to be one factor in developing an organization, this lead the authors to question whether these gazelle organizations perceive control systems to contribute to their rapid growth. Purpose - The authors wish to investigate whether strategic planning, enterprise resource planning and management system, as three different components of control, are present in gazelle organizations, and if they are perceived as contributors to growth. Method - The authors use a quantitative research approach and used a survey in order to capture the wider perspective of control. The chosen population is Swedish medium sized gazelle organizations. In order to analyze the findings, modified 6-point Likert-scale statements are included in the survey, where the authors interpret whether the respondents agree or disagree to the chosen statements, which are incorporated through the literature review. In addition to this, ANOVA tests are included to establish if there are significant differences among users and nonusers of the different control systems. Conclusion - The conclusions drawn from this study is that the usage of strategic planning and an enterprise resource planning system is common among the participating organizations. However, the majority do not use a management system. Despite the level of usage of the three different control systems, they are all perceived as beneficial for the organizations, and the respondents do believe that the systems contribute to their growth. In addition, there is no significant proof that there is a relationship between growth and using the control systems, when comparing the percentage increase in growth with using the different control systems.

The design team of System development projects is facing cognition of these users to requirement function in several departments of a large organization. The mix of both domains¡¦ knowledge involves these users of various groups and technology knowledge by the capabilities of existing technology and consequently creates the artifact to support organizational process and job. Because of the risks and uncertainties associated with Skill Mix in large, complex system development, the purpose of this research argues that a Skill Mix problem and solution acquired in the building and application of an artifact in a timely and cost-effective manner. On the one hand, the artifact can effectively support organizational process and job. On the other hand, the artifact is facing a difficulty that meets user needs. Nevertheless, the amount of organizational departments and users participated in the IS project are much too difficult to reach a participative, consensus cognition. Software development risks become too high. Therefore, organizational users participate design in the IS project is a crucial factor in affecting performance outcome. For such software development environment, this research suggested that both the design team and users of IS project apply a TQM organizational system perspective to Management Infrastructure as a base for communication. In addition, this study proposed an organizational process to improve software productivity and quality in system development. This research argues the process has two parts. One is the TQM Perspective as the base for management infrastructure and stakeholder participation. The other is a skill mix process concerning the management to coordinate and manage the interaction between stakeholders. This research stressed a systemic approach of developing infrastructure capabilities to enable implementation of Skill Mix to conduct the stable and meaningful requirement. The artifact is able to perform regular function in order to improve Skill Mix process of both Organizational domain knowledge and technology knowledge in system development. For example, this research argues this process to develop ERP system meets the business needs. ERP system is able to support that sales department sells service with producing condition of an order for goods.

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

In this study, the applicability of the Balanced Scorecard Framework, developed by Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton in 1992 for measuring performance at the organizational level or the business unit level, to performance measurement during the implementation phase of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is investigated. A model based on the Balanced Scorecard Framework is presented with sample indicators for each of the four perspectives -Financial Perspective, Customer Perspective, Internal Business Perspective and Innovation and Learning Perspective- proposed in the original framework. The indicators for measuring ERP implementation success are derived from a comprehensive literature survey. Furthermore, a software tool is developed to operationalize the proposed balanced scorecard model. The model and the software tool demonstrate the applicability of the Balanced Scorecard Framework for monitoring and measuring performance during the implementation phase of ERP systems / that is, the relevance of the Balanced Scorecard Framework at the project level.

¡yEnterprise Resource Planning¡z(ERP) is an integrated information system consists of different business functions including Financial/Cost, Sales/Distribution, Material Management, Production Planning, etc. It facilitates the business flexibility to adjust for environmental changes such as industries, customer needs, and the status of competitor. The purposes are to reduce the cost, enhance work efficiency, and generate sufficient information for the business decisions. Two enterprises are studied for their ERP implementation in this thesis; they are the InfoChamp Systems Corporation (ICSC) and the Yageo Company (YC). ICSC which started in 2000 A.D. is a spinout company of the China Steel Company after it successfully constructed the ERP system. The strategy of the China Steel Company was to gradually extend the application function from the original management information system. On the other hand, the Yageo Company adopts the SAP package and discards the whole traditional information system. In order to discover how these two enterprises implement the ERP systems, the author interviewed their representatives several times. Besides, the company documents, publish papers and data from their web sites were collected and analyzed. The main conclusions are summarized as the following. 1. The enterprise needs to carefully consider the organization structure associated with possible constraints before the implementation of ERP system. Whether to extend the traditional management information system or to adopt a certain industrial package, the information integration among new systems and old systems is a very complicated issue. 2. The goal of the implementation project should be clarified and specified to all members in the enterprise. In addition, the project manager should be fully authorized to take charge of the whole implementation process. 3. As the enterprise expend their business functions, the information system also needs extra modules. It is not an enduring decision to simply adopt an available package. However, using interface development to integrate the informational system will result in high maintenance cost. 4. The two enterprises emphasis the importance by establishing the project control mechanism. The executive managers serve as the project leader in order to proclaim the ambition of the project success. 5. The contract negotiation with the consulting company requires careful communication. The cost, durations, customization, and the commitment of a successful project should be included. 6. The consistency of the business and information process may enhance business performance. 7. The bureaucratic organization and workflow need a reformation.

In recent years, the trend toward globalization has given rise to rigorous competition for market shares. Businesses have faced the stern demand to swiftly respond to changes in market conditions. They must keep up with environmental situations inside and outside industry, fully integrate various resources of the enterprise, and ponder how to effectively use business resources. Therefore, ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems that integrate the internal value chains of enterprise have received special attention. It is an undisputed fact that an ERP system can integrate internal resources of an enterprise to create for it an overall advantage, improve the flow and elevate the response effectiveness of the enterprise, upgrade information system, and respond to customers¡¦ satisfaction of supply chain management. However, the universal ERP system that is adopted by most enterprises is either costly or difficult to maintain. Moreover, the universal ERP system usually fails to consider special needs of different industries. Therefore, how to ensure a rapid, saving, and effective success through the implementation of ERP systems constitutes the largest challenge faced by enterprises that use such systems. In view of this, this study investigated, from the perspective of ERP supply chain effectiveness of the ¡§differentiation focus strategy¡¨ and the ¡§bowling pin model strategy,¡¨ the impact of the adoption of industry-specific ERP systems on ERP software manufacturers and enterprises that have introduced such a system. Besides, the study used case study approach to conduct a field survey of ERP software manufacturers that have implemented industry-specific ERP system strategy and of four textile and PCB manufacturers that have introduced industry-specific ERP systems with a view to understanding operating models in which industry-specific ERP systems have been successfully introduced and implemented. Through the analysis of this study, it was found that: (1)ERP information manufacturers that adopt industry-specific ERP strategy locating conform to Michael E. Porter¡¦s competitive strategy and differentiation focus strategy, and at the same time verify the bowling pin model theory of Geoffrey A. Moor that technology adopts life cycle. Information manufacturers can enjoy vertical profit-base market advantages of industry-specific ERP and thus avoid competition within industry. As they focus on their specialized field, they not only can strengthen ERP¡¦s professional system functions but also can elevate their effectiveness in follow-up service and maintenance, leading to the reduction of operating costs. From cases of ERP software manufacturers, it was also found that, in areas that special industries cluster, the value of industry-specific ERP in such markets is enlarged. (2)From the perspective of developing industry-specific ERP, after a preliminary development method is used to direct a user to put up concrete industrial characteristic demands and flow, more friendly and suitable operating systems are specified. After being examined and used by a second user, systems are re-examined, revised, and strengthened. After being introduced by a third user and verified and implemented, such systems can become mature, standard industry-specific ERP package systems. (3)From the perspective of enterprise users, adopting the proof of concept method is more practical, accurate, and promising in selecting and evaluating suitable, correct ERP systems. This method can help estimate the outcome after introduction and make it easier to evaluate benefits, for example, keeping project flow schedule and costs under control, implementation and simulation of new enterprise flow schedule. (4)Each industry has professional knowledge and characteristics specific to it. For example, in the case of PCB industry, use rate of base plate material and design and management of engineering data are core professional knowledge of lumber industry. In the case of textile industry, analysis of fabrics, management of characteristics of semi-finished fabrics, integration and automation of process are critical functions essential to competitiveness of this industry. A universal ERP system cannot take care of unique characteristics of various industries. Therefore, only an industry-specific ERP that is specialized in and designed to meet characteristics of a concerned industry can perfectly satisfy the core professional operation of the industry. (5)Because industry-specific ERP systems set the best model of business flow and are concise and suitable, they produce more rapid effectiveness, less impact on organization adjustment, and require smaller investments after being introduced into a business. In view of the preceding findings, the study concluded that the adoption of industry-specific ERP can solidly, effectively, and accurately achieve purposes of ERP systems and can ensure the achievement of potential benefits. At the same time, information manufacturers can obtain vertical profit-base market, enlarging the effect of overall supply value chains.