This report describes the process of outlining a design proposal for a resource planning tool for TV post-production. A feasibility study in form of a participant observation has been carried out on-site, which has resulted in a requirement specification. Based on the requirement specification, mockups have been created to illustrate the functions and features that a final planning tool should have. In addition to developing a design proposal, an evaluation of the existing resource planning tool Ganttic has been conducted. Ganttic has been reviewed based on how well it meets the list of requirements. The result shows that Ganttic fails to meet a crucial requirement, thus cannot be used by the client. The recommendation is instead that the client implements the functions described in the design proposal in their current booking system.

Background The importance of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems is that they redesign organizational processes and structure. The new knowledge embedded in the ERP systems induces substantial changes in the businesses which adopt ERP systems. Furthermore, ERP implementations are socially complex and knowledge-intensive activities as several companies may be involved in a single ERP project and intensive knowledge transfer among these companies is vital for the success of the implementation projects. Purpose To date limited amount of research has been performed in the area of knowledge transfer in ERP implementations. My study answered the following questions: 1. What is the effect of the transfer of knowledge that is associated with ERP implementations? 2. What (if any) knowledge transfer barriers have been identified during the ERP implementation process? 3. What types of activities did the firms initiate to enable the knowledge transfer during the ERP implementation process? Method My research consisted of theoretical and empirical parts. Theoretical part entailed a thorough review of current literature on the ERP systems and knowledge management. Adopting a phenomenological approach I next collected the primary data through interviews and surveys with experts in the ERP implementation projects. Results I have described the area of knowledge transfer within ERP implementation projects and identified connections between ERP implementations and organizational learning. I have also uncovered and analyzed the origins of a number of factors that potentially inhibit or enable the knowledge transfer within implementation projects. I was able to connect the theoretical part of the thesis with empirical data and gained a comprehensive understanding of the phenomena at hand. Major barriers to the knowledge transfer stem from the tacit nature of the knowledge itself and the lack of social relationships within the various stakeholders. Activities organizations engage in are ‘knowledge conversion’ and relationships facilitation within the project team.

Das Planen und Entwickeln eines optimalen Data Warehouse-Systems ist ein Ansinnen vieler Wissenschaftler und Forscher aus unterschiedlichen Bereichen. Zahlreiche Publikationen wurden zu diesem Thema verfasst und in den letzten Jahren veröffentlicht. In dieser Literatur wird versucht eine Heuristik zu entwickeln, welche eine Lösung nahe am Optimum für das Materialisierungsproblem im Data Warehouse liefert. In der Vergangenheit wurden in zahlreichen Publikationen Annahmen, wie unbegrenzte Ressourcen oder rasche Zugriffszeit getroffen, welche in der realen Welt allerdings nicht vorhanden sind. Die Vision, welche hinter dieser Arbeit steckt, ist es, ein Instrument zu entwickeln, welches diese limitierenden Faktoren mitberücksichtigt, bzw. dieses versucht. Dabei hat sich insbesondere die Modellierungsmethode des Aggregation Path Arrays von Prosser und Ossimitz als geeignet erwiesen, in diesem Problembereich einen Lösungsansatz zu finden. Vor allem ist diese Methode durch die einfache graphische Darstellungsfähigkeit besonders für informationstechnische Darstellung geeignet. Dabei ist es auch unerfahrenen Endbenutzer möglich, das Design eines Warehouses zu bewerkstelligen. Aus diesem Grund ist die Methode auch für Schulungs- und Ausbildungszwecke besonders geeignet. Die kostenminimale physische Bereitstellung der wichtigen Informationen für die Entscheidungsträger in Unternehmen stellt das Ziel dieser Arbeit dar. Dabei ist ein Optimierungsproblem zu lösen, welches limitierende Zeit- und Speicherressourcen bei gleichzeitigem Berücksichtigen wichtiger Information beachtet. Leider ist diese Information nicht immer als homogen anzusehen. Es gibt beispielsweise wichtige Information, welche für das Überleben einer Organisation notwendig ist und Information, welche wichtig, aber nicht ständig verfügbar sein muss. Der Versuch einen Lösungsansatz für diese Problematik zu finden, stellt das Herzstück meiner Arbeit dar. (Autorenref.)

PhD. (Computer Science) / Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are implemented within organisations to enable them to work more efficiently and enhance productivity. They also ensure that different levels of information are available to managers within the organisation for strategic and tactical decision-making. The implementation of ERP systems is often associated with great costs, they are resource intensive and cover the whole organisation. The implementation of ERP systems is perceived as a project that often fails owing to overrun on cost and time. The return on investment (ROI) is also often questioned once an ERP system has been implemented, since the organisation does not always see the benefits of the ERP system versus the effort and cost of implementing it. The purpose of this thesis is twofold: firstly it determines what an ERP system is and whether it can be subdivided into different components. The focus of this section is on the operational side of an ERP system to determine how it is managed and operated within an organisation. The second focus is on the way that ERP systems are implemented and the management that goes hand in hand with this implementation. The first focus area is addressed by developing a model that explains ERP and the different components within it. It describes the interactions between the different components and how the ERP system affects the organisation. This model provides a better understanding of an ERP system and shows the technology to be mature. The second focus area is addressed by a framework that assists organisations in deriving projects from the organisational vision. This ensures that the implementation of an ERP system will directly support the organisation’s vision and strategies. This addresses the issue of determining the value of the ERP system as well as ROI. The framework also provides alternative ways and methods that can be used to implement ERP systems. The value of this research is firstly that it provides a holistic model of what constitutes an ERP system and its effect on the organisation. ERP systems change not only the financial systems, but also the way the organisation operates. They introduce organisational change. The value of the framework is that it can assist organisations in identifying and implementing projects that will enable the implementation of the organisation’s vision and strategies. This will eliminate any favoured projects that are not in support of the organisation’s vision and can save the organisation’s scarce resources that would have been wasted on these projects. The framework can also assist organisations in determining if they must implement an ERP system and what value this implementation will have for the organisation.

Magister Administrationis - MAdmin / This study focuses on the human resource planning challenges of the Department of Library and Information Services in the City of Cape Town. In line with this focus the study seeks to determine the way in which the human resource planning strategies of the City of Cape Town impacts on departmental effectiveness and service delivery output of the Department of Library and Information Services. The study further endeavours to determine what the human resource planning processes in the Department of Library and Information Services entails as well as whether human resource planning in the Department of library and Information Services takes the external environment into account. The study is qualitative and employs a case study approach in order to reveal the reality of the situation. Structured questionnaires and the researcher’s observations were utilised to gather the research data whilst books, journal articles and government policies and documents were extensively consulted during the course of the study. The research findings indicated that the Department of Library and Information Services lacks a comprehensive human resource plan. Talent management and succession planning is not formally practised in the department and the work place skills plan of the department is not run optimally. The fact that the department is classified as an unfunded mandate also contributes to the current human resource environment in the department. It is recommended that the COCT involves the DLIS in its human resources policy formulation processes.

Due to innovation, Information Technology (IT) is changing all the time. One of the fast growing IT innovations is cloud computing. The phenomenon of cloud computing has changed the way that business consumes IT and in particular Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. This phenomenon has led to a need for research in the field of cloud ERP systems. A review of the literature revealed a gap in research related to cloud ERP systems and particularly to the adoption of these systems in South African companies. Only a few studies have been done regarding the adoption of cloud computing in South Africa, and the extent of adoption of cloud ERP systems in South Africa is not known. This study set out to answer the research question “What is the extent of understanding and adoption of ERP system in South African companies?” The study will be useful to the ERP industry in understanding the level of adoption of and perceptions about cloud ERP systems by South African companies. In order to answer the research question a survey research strategy was adopted and was of an exploratory nature. The sample was composed of IT professionals and line managers in South African companies. Questionnaires were sent via web link and 41 complete responses were obtained. The results showed that the respondents had a good understanding of the advantages/benefits of cloud ERP systems. However, a lack of clear understanding of the disadvantages/drawbacks of cloud ERP systems was evident in the research data which could lead to non-adoption of cloud ERP systems. Adoption of cloud ERP systems was highest in the engineering, manufacturing and IT sector. It was evident that IaaS and PaaS have not been adopted at all. The majority of the companies (60 percent) that had adopted cloud ERP systems were SMEs. This is in line with international studies that show that SMEs are driving the change in IT innovation such as cloud ERP systems.

The aim of this study is to examine key implementation and managerial issues surrounding the use of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) as a Decisions Support Tool (DST) for planning and managing development interventions. Ever since the emergence of GIS as a powerful analytical tool in almost all spheres of human endeavour, many organisations involved in development work have adopted its use. But the challenges of conceiving and implementing a GIS in ways that are more responsive to the problems that trigger its purchase remains a daunting task to many development organisations; even those with a wealth of experience in GIS. This is one of the motivating factors for this study. In this research, some relevant themes in GIS implementation and GIS management as a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) were examined in the literature review. A case study research strategy was used focusing on the experience of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality Enterprise GIS (EGIS). The study examined how the system is been ran and what other development organisations can learn from this experience. Data was collected and analysed using a mixed research methods approach. The findings show a good level of GIS acceptance among municipality staff. However, running the system is not hitch free. A couple of problems and challenges were identified on the field. It is recommended that the municipality like most development organisations seeking GIS solutions should put the user at the centre of every technical innovation in GIS as a DST.

Manufacturing industries used to develop their operation strategies focusing on the cost of manufacturing, high volume production, and stabilizing the customer demand. But due to advancements in technology and evolving customer needs, the market demand became highly volatile, dynamic and customers expected customization, low volume products, and faster deliveries. This evolution in customer needs has pushed the companies to improve their operating systems to be more flexible, agile, and adaptable to the market’s dynamic character. In order to effectively evolves themselves and achieve more flexibility, manufacturing companies had to implement effective manufacturing, planning, and control systems.  The first breakthrough in planning systems came in the year 1975 where a systemic approach called material requirements planning was introduced by Orlicky. MRP has become the global for production planning and inventory management in manufacturing industries. Later, over the years, research on the planning systems has brought modifications in MRP and it was evolved into closed-loop MRP. Further into the late 1980’s availability of technology led to an introduction of a newly evolved system called the Manufacturing resource planning which resulted in a holistic approach in material planning involving, financial and accounting functions which improved the planning efficiency. Further advancement in technology resulted in advanced planning systems like Enterprise resource planning and Advanced planning and scheduling.  On the contrary, though there has been a lot of advancement in technology and effective production planning methods, there are still discrepancies in obtained results when compared to theory. This is because the existing systems were based either solely on push production or pull production strategy. There is a lack of a hybrid system that includes the positives of both production strategies and negates the MRP conflict. However, in the year 2011, a new concept called demand-driven material requirements planning was introduced by Ptak & Smith, which was a fusion of the core MRP, theory of constraints, and Lean principles. Since the introduction DDMRP has seen an increase in implementation across industries which claimed a significant improvement in performance, on-time delivery, reduction in inventory, and reduced stock-outs. DDMRP has received very little attention in academia due to a lack of awareness among researchers and industries. A literature review approach was used to collect and analyze the data on DDMRP and its advantages. The objective of this thesis was to shed light on the process of DDMRP, its pros, and cons in implementing the new material planning system.

Businesses are faced with an ever-changing environment of technology, one of these recurring changes is in the field of Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Technologies such as business intelligence (BI), machine learning (ML) and internet of things (IoT), which are driving forces in shaping the next generation of ERP systems. These improved ERP systems can better support a company compared to a traditional ERP system. This thesis has examined what constitutes an intelligent-ERP and what possibilities it presents from a business perspective. To answer this question, a qualitative study approach was chosen by conducting interviews with professionals within the BI and ERP systems field. The interviews were structured in a loose fashioned way, aiming for a holistic perspective of the I-ERP systems phenomenon. This bachelor thesis transpired to show that I-ERP systems do improve business performance for companies that exhibit the needs. However, there occurred differences in the perception of the definition of how I-ERP systems should be defined between the participants and the literature.

Sweden's first hospital, built in 1752, was Serafimerlasarettet on Kungsholmen in Stockholm. Since then, technological and medical developments have come a long way and so also the premises for medical care. Today, there is tough demands on flexibility and generality in hospital premises. The aim of this work is to create an understanding of local resource planning of hospital real estate in Stockholm. For instance what it looks like in practice, how it looks compared to the theory and the problems and possible solutions that are available on the specific local resource planning. Stockholm County Council is responsible for health care and dental care for residents of the county. The County Council is a politically driven organization with elections every four years. Politicians in committees and boards have the help of a number of administrations. Locum manages and develops care properties for the county council since 1991. Local resource planning for hospital buildings is very special. Questions regarding hospital premises are very complex and to coordinate health care for a large area like Stockholm County, with 1.9 million inhabitants, is not easy. Uncertainties and problems are always associated with local resource planning and hospital buildings are no exception. On the contrary, there are even more uncertainties. For example political incentives, the large organization, special environment, rapid technological development, demographic factors and the fact that health care is a sensitive issue for many. The county must find the right tools to manage this problem. The population is constantly increasing but at a faster pace than expected. This combined with the planning and implementation of expanding health care in a too late stage leads to difficulties. The Future plan for healthcare in Stockholm promises to be a well-made plan but it is far from finished and many questions remain. / Sveriges första sjukhus, från år 1752, var Serafimerlasarettet på Kungsholmen i Stockholm. Sedan dess har den tekniska och medicinska utvecklingen kommit långt och så även lokalerna för sjukvård. Idag är det hårda krav på flexibilitet och generalitet på sjukhusfastigheter. Syftet med detta arbete är att skapa förståelse kring lokalresursplaneringen av sjukhusfastigheter i Stockholm. Exempelvis hur arbetet faktiskt går till i praktiken, hur det ser ut jämfört med teorin samt vilka problem och eventuella lösningar det finns kring den specifika lokalresursplaneringen. Stockholms läns landsting ansvarar för hälso- och sjukvård samt tandvård för bosatta i Stockholms län. Landstinget är en politisk styrd organisation med val vart fjärde år. Politikerna i nämnder och styrelser har hjälp av ett antal förvaltningar. Locum förvaltar och utvecklar vårdfastigheter för landstinget sedan 1991. Lokalresursplanering för sjukhusfastigheter är väldigt speciell. Lokalfrågorna är mycket komplexa och att samordna sjukvården för ett stort område som Stockholms län, med 1.9 miljoner invånare, är inte lätt. Osäkerheter och problem är alltid förknippat med lokalresursplanering och sjukhusfastigheter är inget undantag utan tvärt om, där finns här ännu fler. Politiska incitament, den stora organisationen, speciell miljö, snabb teknisk utveckling, demografiska faktorer och det faktum att sjukvård är en känslig fråga för många är exempel på detta. Stockholms län måste hitta rätt verktyg för att hantera denna problematik. Befolkningsmängden ökar kontinuerligt men med en snabbare fart än beräknat. Detta i kombination med att planeringen och genomförandet av att utöka sjukvården kommer i ett allt för sent skede, resulterar i svårigheter. Framtidens plan för hälso- och sjukvården i Stockholms län ser ut att vara en välutarbetad plan men den är långt ifrån klar och många frågetecken kvarstår.