Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Technikon, 2001. / Management information systems can be defined as information systems using formalised procedures to provide managers at all levels, in all functions, with appropriate information from all relevant sources, to enable them to make timely and effective decisions for which they are responsible. There is, and continues to be, an awareness in society that accurate and timely information is a vital resource of any organisation, and that an effective management information system is a means of providing the needed information. Many top management people are finding that information is a source of competitive power. It gives them the ability to out-manoeuvre their rivals at critical times, especially when introducing new products. Effective management information systems allow the decisionmaker (i.e .. the ll;)Ul:lger) to combine his or her subjective experience with computerised objective output to produce meaningful information for decision making (Thierauf, 1984:22). Managers must also learn how to state their wishes with precision. Management information systems (MIS) produce only what is asked, which may not be at all what is required. For effective use of information technology, managers must be able to define their information requirements as well as understand computer capabilities and limitations (Hussain and Hussain, 1995:8). The primary objective of this research was to establish the impact of utilising management information systcn»: (MIS) and applying information technology on the success of manufacturing industries. The other aim of the study was to investigate the extent of utilising management information systems and applying information technology in these industries. The study focused on medium- and large-scale chemical manufacturing companies in the Cape Metropole area that have operated for at least the past five years.

Thesis (MTech (Information and Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / It has been shown that the South African insurance landscape takes up an important place in the African continent, contributing nearly three quarters of the total African insurance sector (Paul, Twala & Marwala, 2012). The industry landscape has shown development at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.7% between 2004 and 2008. The life insurance industry is assumed to grow at a CAGR of 8.3%. Small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) are important role players in every economy and provide a major contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. Many South African enterprises have in the past focused on local markets, but more recently SMMEs have been forced to respond to competition in the global market as markets expand. The role of SMMEs is considered critical in terms of poverty alleviation, employment creation, and international competitiveness. However, resource limitations have made it difficult for many SMMEs to enter new markets and compete effectively. The effective application of information systems (IS) are viewed as a way for SMMEs to become more competitive and drive business benefits such as cost reduction, improved profitability, enhanced customer service, new market growth opportunities, and more efficient operating relationships with trading customers and partners. There are an increasing number of new opportunities and competition in the marketplace because of business globalisation. The marketplace and business globalisation dynamics have a major influence on SMMEs and their operations. SMMEs require a critical evaluation of their internal processes and seek out solutions to be able to sustain their growth and competitiveness. This research study adopted an inductive approach to describe the rational process of establishing a general proposition on the basis of observing particular facts. An in-depth case study is used to explore the multiple perspectives of the complexity and uniqueness of SMMEs. One-on-one interviews were conducted to collect data from 17 financial advisors using an interview guide with semi-structured questionnaires. The data were analysed through the process of thematic coding which is common in case study research, and labels were assigned to form and organise the themes in groups and categories. Ethical consideration was presented before data collection commenced, and the autonomy, self-respect and human dignity of all respondents during the data collection process were considered. The findings reveal that financial service providers (FSPs) have a different understanding of IS, what competitive means, and what it can do for a business.

Thesis (MTech (Information Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / In Information Technology (IT) service management, the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) has been established as a standard and framework for managing IT services within private and public sector. However, in South African public sector, the value of this framework including the capacity management process has not been determined. The aim of the study was to assess the capacity management process within the service design stage of the ITIL framework in managing IT services at a selected public organisation in South Africa. Assessing capacity management in the context of this research was to judge whether it adds value to the organisation. Main questions asked were: to what extent has ITIL been implemented in the public sector in South Africa?, what benefits have been achieved through the implementation of ITIL in the public sector in South Africa? and how effective is the capacity management process of ITIL in the South African public sector? The study adopts a qualitative approach based on primary and secondary data. A purposive sampling method was used to collect data through interviews of ICT officials in Pretoria and Western Cape regions. It is evident in terms of the findings that capacity management within the organisation is practiced, but the organisation still has challenges in managing the process. Findings reveal challenges around user account management, ICT skills shortage and capacity constraints, information, network monitoring tools, and ITIL implementation. DeLone and McLean theoretical framework was used to analyse the capacity management process to explain the findings. A lack of clear ICT planning among the leadership is a contributing factor. Lack of adhering to standards, procedures and processes make it almost impossible to manage capacity. Efforts to address the technical and organisational challenges such as technical skills and stakeholders immediately reporting the users that need to be terminated on systems prohibit the success of capacity management process. Drawing the conclusion, it is recommended that efforts to address challenges should move beyond just ICT, into a comprehensive action by all stakeholders in respective of inter departmental units and executive who make decisions. Solutions should be embedded with ICT being able to manage technology, auditing of processes, and capacity to ensure excellence through reduced risk, increased efficiency, confident forecasts, and cost effectiveness is essential.

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / The thesis aimed at exploring the role Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems play in an organization’s continuous auditing practices. Continuous auditing encourages innovation and improves the practice of traditional auditing through the use of automation and computerisation. Auditing specialists and researchers have begun to adopt a technology driven process as an approach to back up real time assurance. The rationale of the study is drawn from previous research where the findings argue that organizations employ the use of ERP systems because it enables seamless access to information and automation, which makes monitoring of controls easier. The study used Structuration Theory (ST) as the underpinning theory and drew on the concept of duality of technology (i.e., Enactment of Technology-in-Practice) as a lens to comprehend and deduced the social phenomenon of continuous auditing using ERP system. This research study investigated this social phenomenon and how it had influenced performance auditing of an organization. The study applied interpretivism as a research paradigm and as such adopted a qualitative approach where semi-structured interviews were used to tease out the research objectives and questions. The outcome of the research validated a conceptual framework which has led to a proposed general framework for practicing continuous auditing using ERP system. All interviews data collected and accurately captured with informed consent were subject to the approval of the selected organization. This was not to violate the organization’s privacy and confidentiality policies. It did not reveal any information that could potentially adversely affect the reputation of the organization or reveal private information to its competitors.

A gestão pública tem intensificado esforços em implantar políticas públicas de desenvolvimento social, surgindo a necessidade urgente e essencial do desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação, conforme definido na Política Nacional de Assistência Social – PNAS/2004. Estudos apontam que uma parcela expressiva das dificuldades enfrentadas nas atividades de gestão, planejamento, monitoramento e avaliação das ações da política de proteção social, tem relação direta com as deficiências de produção, tratamento, armazenamento e disseminação de informações e geração de conhecimento. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral analisar a utilização de sistemas de informação na execução de programas e projetos, no município de Curitiba, no contexto da percepção de técnicos, operadores e gestores de assistência social. Utiliza abordagem metodológica qualitativa, tem como base pesquisa de campo e análise de textos. Quanto aos objetivos, é exploratória, visa proporcionar maior familiaridade com o problema. Um questionário foi utilizado como instrumento para coletar informações, elaborado com predominância de questões fechadas. A escolha dos participantes da investigação se deu de forma espontânea, contou com a participação de técnicos, educadores e gestores que atuam na execução de programas sociais. A pesquisa bibliográfica mostra que sistemas de informação encontram-se permeados por paradigmas, conceitos e linhas de pensamento que trazem falhas, resistências dos usuários, entre outros problemas que podem ser minimizados pelo conhecimento de alternativas, em especial: o paradigma interpretativista, flexível e social; o pensamento sistêmico, onde as interações são os elementos responsáveis em atribuir as características gerais do sistema, e não suas partes isoladas; abordagens “ecologia da informação” e “sistema sociotécnico”, que consideram o papel fundamental desempenhado pelas pessoas e seu relacionamento com a informação; o Design Centrado no Usuário, “aquele realizado a partir do ponto de vista do usuário, conferindo assim maior ênfase nas pessoas do que nas tecnologias”; o Desenho Participativo (DP) no desenvolvimento de softwares, que enfatiza o design “com” o usuário, em vez de “para” o usuário; as organizações enquanto redes de conversações, em que computadores são dispositivos essencialmente voltados para a comunicação ao invés da computação, sendo o “coração” das atividades gerenciais o uso da linguagem para coordenar ações. Resultados do questionário apontam que sistemas de informação do governo federal são os mais utilizados, sendo que estados e municípios tentam desenvolver, integrar / interconectar sistemas para reduzir dificuldades, relacionadas ao desenho dos sistemas, capacitação, participação, questões políticas. As finalidades observadas tem a ver com melhoria na qualidade dos serviços, tomada de decisão, exigências da legislação, mas há o risco dos sistemas de informação serem absorvidos na burocracia institucional de forma desconectado com seus propósitos, remetendo a um necessário trabalho de capacitação / conscientização e mais pesquisas sobre o tema. / Public management has intensified efforts in implementing public policies for social development, emerging urgent and essential need of development of information systems, as defined in the National Social Assistance Policy. Studies indicate that a significant portion of the difficulties faced in the activities of management, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the actions of social protection policy, is directly related to the shortcomings of production, processing, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge generation. This research has the general objective of analyzing the use of information systems in the execution of programs and projects, in Curitiba, in the context of the perception of technicians, operators and managers of social assistance. It uses a qualitative methodological approach, is based on field research and analysis of texts. It is exploratory, aimed at providing greater familiarity with the problem. A questionnaire was used as a tool to gather information, prepared with predominantly closed questions. The choice of research participants occurred spontaneously, with the participation of technicians, educators and managers who work in the implementation of social programs. The literature shows that information systems are permeated by paradigms, concepts and lines of thought that bring failures, resistance from users, and other problems that can be minimized by the knowledge of alternatives, in particular: the interpretive paradigm, flexible and social; systems thinking, where interactions are the elements responsible for assigning the general characteristics of the system, and not its isolated parts; approaches "information ecology" and "socio-technical system", considering the fundamental role played by people and their relationship with information; the user Centered Design, "held that from the point of view of the user, thereby giving more emphasis on people than on technologies"; the Participatory Design (PD) software development, which emphasizes the design "with" the user, rather than "for" the user; organizations as networks of conversations, in which computers are essentially devices meant for communication instead of computation, and the "heart" of managerial activities is the use of language to coordinate actions. Questionnaire results indicate that information systems of the federal government are the most used, and states and municipalities try to develop, integrate / interconnect systems to reduce problems related to the design of the systems, training, involvement, political issues. The purposes observed is related to the improving the quality of services, decision making, legislation requirements, but there is a risk of information systems being absorbed in institutional bureaucracy, so disconnected with their purpose, suggesting a necessary work in capacity building / awareness and more research on the topic.

As Universidades são instituições que geram e manipulam grandes quantidades de dados em decorrência das múltiplas funções que exercem, da quantidade de profissionais envolvidos e de alunos que atendem. A informação obtida desses dados é utilizada, por exemplo, para as atividades operacionais e para suporte à tomada de decisão pelos gestores. Para auxiliar os gestores na realização das suas tarefas, os Sistemas de Informação (SI) se apresentam como ferramentas que oferecem recursos visando aprimorar o desempenho dos seus usuários, auxiliar nas tarefas rotineiras e fornecer suporte à tomada de decisão. O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar a influência das características dos usuários e da tarefa no sucesso de SI. O estudo é de natureza descritiva-exploratória, portanto, os construtos utilizados para definir o modelo conceitual da pesquisa são conhecidos e anteriormente validados. No entanto, características individuais dos usuários e da tarefa são antecedentes do sucesso de SI. Para testar a influência desses antecedentes, foi desenvolvido um SI de apoio à decisão que utiliza a metodologia Multicritério de Apoio à Decisão – Construtivista (MCDA-C) com a participação e o envolvimento de usuários. A amostra foi composta pelos gestores e ex-gestores da UTFPR Câmpus Pato Branco que atuam ou atuaram nas atividades de ensino, pesquisa, extensão e gestão. Para a coleta dos dados foi realizado um experimento em laboratório de informática do Câmpus Pato Branco a fim de verificar as hipóteses da pesquisa. O experimento consistiu em realizar uma tarefa de distribuição de vagas docentes entre departamentos acadêmicos utilizando o SI que foi desenvolvido. A tarefa envolveu tomada de decisão relacionada às atividades de gestão. Os dados que alimentaram o sistema utilizado eram reais do próprio Câmpus. Um questionário foi respondido pelos participantes do experimento com o objetivo de obter dados para verificar as hipóteses de pesquisa. Os resultados obtidos com a análise dos dados do experimento confirmaram parcialmente a influência das características individuais no sucesso de SI, totalmente a influência das características da tarefa nesse sucesso e não sustentaram significância na relação entre as características individuais e o impacto individual. Para muitos dos participantes o primeiro contato com o SI foi durante o experimento, o que indica a falta de experiência com o sistema. Com relação ao sucesso de SI, os dados revelaram que não há significância na relação entre a Qualidade da Informação (QI) e Impacto Individual (II). Ressalta-se que o SI utilizado no experimento é de apoio à tomada de decisão e as informações fornecidas por esse sistema são estritamente quantitativas, o que pode ter causado certo conflito na análise dos critérios envolvidos no processo de tomada de decisão. Isso porque os critérios de ensino, pesquisa, extensão e gestão são interligados de tal forma que um reflete no outro. Assim, a opinião dos gestores não depende exclusivamente dos dados quantitativos, mas também do conhecimento e juízo de valor que cada gestor possui sobre o problema a ser resolvido. / Universities are institutions that generate and manipulate large amounts of data as a result of the multiple functions they perform, of the amount of involved professionals and students they attend. Information gathered from these data is used, for example, for operational activities and to support decision-making by managers. To assist managers in accomplishing their tasks, the Information Systems (IS) are presented as tools that offer features aiming to improve the performance of its users, assist with routine tasks and provide support to decision-making. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the influence of the users features and of the task in the success of IS. The study is of a descriptive-exploratory nature, therefore, the constructs used to define the conceptual model of the research are known and previously validated. However, individual features of users and of the task are IS success antecedents. In order to test the influence of these antecedents, it was developed a decision support IS that uses the Multicriteria Decision Aid Constructivist (MCDA-C) methodology with the participation and involvement of users. The sample consisted of managers and former managers of UTFPR Campus Pato Branco who work or have worked in teaching activities, research, extension and management. For data collection an experiment was conducted in the computer lab of the Campus Pato Branco in order to verify the hypotheses of the research. The experiment consisted of performing a distribution task of teaching positions between the academic departments using the IS developed. The task involved decision-making related to management activities. The data that fed the system used were real, from the Campus itself. A questionnaire was answered by the participants of the experiment in order to obtain data to verify the research hypotheses. The results obtained from the data analysis partially confirmed the influence of the individual features in IS success and fully confirmed the influence of task features. The data collected failed to support significant ratio between the individual features and the individual impact. For many of the participants the first contact with the IS was during the experiment, which indicates the lack of experience with the system. Regarding the success of IS, the data revealed that there is no significance in the relationship between Information Quality (IQ) and Individual Impact (II). It is noteworthy that the IS used in the experiment is to support decision-making and the information provided by this system are strictly quantitative, which may have caused some conflict in the analysis of the criteria involved in the decision-making process. This is because the criteria of teaching, research, extension and management are interconnected such that one reflects on another. Thus, the opinion of the managers does not depend exclusively on quantitative data, but also of knowledge and value judgment that each manager has about the problem to be solved.

A gestão pública tem intensificado esforços em implantar políticas públicas de desenvolvimento social, surgindo a necessidade urgente e essencial do desenvolvimento de sistemas de informação, conforme definido na Política Nacional de Assistência Social – PNAS/2004. Estudos apontam que uma parcela expressiva das dificuldades enfrentadas nas atividades de gestão, planejamento, monitoramento e avaliação das ações da política de proteção social, tem relação direta com as deficiências de produção, tratamento, armazenamento e disseminação de informações e geração de conhecimento. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo geral analisar a utilização de sistemas de informação na execução de programas e projetos, no município de Curitiba, no contexto da percepção de técnicos, operadores e gestores de assistência social. Utiliza abordagem metodológica qualitativa, tem como base pesquisa de campo e análise de textos. Quanto aos objetivos, é exploratória, visa proporcionar maior familiaridade com o problema. Um questionário foi utilizado como instrumento para coletar informações, elaborado com predominância de questões fechadas. A escolha dos participantes da investigação se deu de forma espontânea, contou com a participação de técnicos, educadores e gestores que atuam na execução de programas sociais. A pesquisa bibliográfica mostra que sistemas de informação encontram-se permeados por paradigmas, conceitos e linhas de pensamento que trazem falhas, resistências dos usuários, entre outros problemas que podem ser minimizados pelo conhecimento de alternativas, em especial: o paradigma interpretativista, flexível e social; o pensamento sistêmico, onde as interações são os elementos responsáveis em atribuir as características gerais do sistema, e não suas partes isoladas; abordagens “ecologia da informação” e “sistema sociotécnico”, que consideram o papel fundamental desempenhado pelas pessoas e seu relacionamento com a informação; o Design Centrado no Usuário, “aquele realizado a partir do ponto de vista do usuário, conferindo assim maior ênfase nas pessoas do que nas tecnologias”; o Desenho Participativo (DP) no desenvolvimento de softwares, que enfatiza o design “com” o usuário, em vez de “para” o usuário; as organizações enquanto redes de conversações, em que computadores são dispositivos essencialmente voltados para a comunicação ao invés da computação, sendo o “coração” das atividades gerenciais o uso da linguagem para coordenar ações. Resultados do questionário apontam que sistemas de informação do governo federal são os mais utilizados, sendo que estados e municípios tentam desenvolver, integrar / interconectar sistemas para reduzir dificuldades, relacionadas ao desenho dos sistemas, capacitação, participação, questões políticas. As finalidades observadas tem a ver com melhoria na qualidade dos serviços, tomada de decisão, exigências da legislação, mas há o risco dos sistemas de informação serem absorvidos na burocracia institucional de forma desconectado com seus propósitos, remetendo a um necessário trabalho de capacitação / conscientização e mais pesquisas sobre o tema. / Public management has intensified efforts in implementing public policies for social development, emerging urgent and essential need of development of information systems, as defined in the National Social Assistance Policy. Studies indicate that a significant portion of the difficulties faced in the activities of management, planning, monitoring and evaluation of the actions of social protection policy, is directly related to the shortcomings of production, processing, storage and dissemination of information and knowledge generation. This research has the general objective of analyzing the use of information systems in the execution of programs and projects, in Curitiba, in the context of the perception of technicians, operators and managers of social assistance. It uses a qualitative methodological approach, is based on field research and analysis of texts. It is exploratory, aimed at providing greater familiarity with the problem. A questionnaire was used as a tool to gather information, prepared with predominantly closed questions. The choice of research participants occurred spontaneously, with the participation of technicians, educators and managers who work in the implementation of social programs. The literature shows that information systems are permeated by paradigms, concepts and lines of thought that bring failures, resistance from users, and other problems that can be minimized by the knowledge of alternatives, in particular: the interpretive paradigm, flexible and social; systems thinking, where interactions are the elements responsible for assigning the general characteristics of the system, and not its isolated parts; approaches "information ecology" and "socio-technical system", considering the fundamental role played by people and their relationship with information; the user Centered Design, "held that from the point of view of the user, thereby giving more emphasis on people than on technologies"; the Participatory Design (PD) software development, which emphasizes the design "with" the user, rather than "for" the user; organizations as networks of conversations, in which computers are essentially devices meant for communication instead of computation, and the "heart" of managerial activities is the use of language to coordinate actions. Questionnaire results indicate that information systems of the federal government are the most used, and states and municipalities try to develop, integrate / interconnect systems to reduce problems related to the design of the systems, training, involvement, political issues. The purposes observed is related to the improving the quality of services, decision making, legislation requirements, but there is a risk of information systems being absorbed in institutional bureaucracy, so disconnected with their purpose, suggesting a necessary work in capacity building / awareness and more research on the topic.

As Universidades são instituições que geram e manipulam grandes quantidades de dados em decorrência das múltiplas funções que exercem, da quantidade de profissionais envolvidos e de alunos que atendem. A informação obtida desses dados é utilizada, por exemplo, para as atividades operacionais e para suporte à tomada de decisão pelos gestores. Para auxiliar os gestores na realização das suas tarefas, os Sistemas de Informação (SI) se apresentam como ferramentas que oferecem recursos visando aprimorar o desempenho dos seus usuários, auxiliar nas tarefas rotineiras e fornecer suporte à tomada de decisão. O objetivo desta pesquisa é avaliar a influência das características dos usuários e da tarefa no sucesso de SI. O estudo é de natureza descritiva-exploratória, portanto, os construtos utilizados para definir o modelo conceitual da pesquisa são conhecidos e anteriormente validados. No entanto, características individuais dos usuários e da tarefa são antecedentes do sucesso de SI. Para testar a influência desses antecedentes, foi desenvolvido um SI de apoio à decisão que utiliza a metodologia Multicritério de Apoio à Decisão – Construtivista (MCDA-C) com a participação e o envolvimento de usuários. A amostra foi composta pelos gestores e ex-gestores da UTFPR Câmpus Pato Branco que atuam ou atuaram nas atividades de ensino, pesquisa, extensão e gestão. Para a coleta dos dados foi realizado um experimento em laboratório de informática do Câmpus Pato Branco a fim de verificar as hipóteses da pesquisa. O experimento consistiu em realizar uma tarefa de distribuição de vagas docentes entre departamentos acadêmicos utilizando o SI que foi desenvolvido. A tarefa envolveu tomada de decisão relacionada às atividades de gestão. Os dados que alimentaram o sistema utilizado eram reais do próprio Câmpus. Um questionário foi respondido pelos participantes do experimento com o objetivo de obter dados para verificar as hipóteses de pesquisa. Os resultados obtidos com a análise dos dados do experimento confirmaram parcialmente a influência das características individuais no sucesso de SI, totalmente a influência das características da tarefa nesse sucesso e não sustentaram significância na relação entre as características individuais e o impacto individual. Para muitos dos participantes o primeiro contato com o SI foi durante o experimento, o que indica a falta de experiência com o sistema. Com relação ao sucesso de SI, os dados revelaram que não há significância na relação entre a Qualidade da Informação (QI) e Impacto Individual (II). Ressalta-se que o SI utilizado no experimento é de apoio à tomada de decisão e as informações fornecidas por esse sistema são estritamente quantitativas, o que pode ter causado certo conflito na análise dos critérios envolvidos no processo de tomada de decisão. Isso porque os critérios de ensino, pesquisa, extensão e gestão são interligados de tal forma que um reflete no outro. Assim, a opinião dos gestores não depende exclusivamente dos dados quantitativos, mas também do conhecimento e juízo de valor que cada gestor possui sobre o problema a ser resolvido. / Universities are institutions that generate and manipulate large amounts of data as a result of the multiple functions they perform, of the amount of involved professionals and students they attend. Information gathered from these data is used, for example, for operational activities and to support decision-making by managers. To assist managers in accomplishing their tasks, the Information Systems (IS) are presented as tools that offer features aiming to improve the performance of its users, assist with routine tasks and provide support to decision-making. The purpose of this research is to evaluate the influence of the users features and of the task in the success of IS. The study is of a descriptive-exploratory nature, therefore, the constructs used to define the conceptual model of the research are known and previously validated. However, individual features of users and of the task are IS success antecedents. In order to test the influence of these antecedents, it was developed a decision support IS that uses the Multicriteria Decision Aid Constructivist (MCDA-C) methodology with the participation and involvement of users. The sample consisted of managers and former managers of UTFPR Campus Pato Branco who work or have worked in teaching activities, research, extension and management. For data collection an experiment was conducted in the computer lab of the Campus Pato Branco in order to verify the hypotheses of the research. The experiment consisted of performing a distribution task of teaching positions between the academic departments using the IS developed. The task involved decision-making related to management activities. The data that fed the system used were real, from the Campus itself. A questionnaire was answered by the participants of the experiment in order to obtain data to verify the research hypotheses. The results obtained from the data analysis partially confirmed the influence of the individual features in IS success and fully confirmed the influence of task features. The data collected failed to support significant ratio between the individual features and the individual impact. For many of the participants the first contact with the IS was during the experiment, which indicates the lack of experience with the system. Regarding the success of IS, the data revealed that there is no significance in the relationship between Information Quality (IQ) and Individual Impact (II). It is noteworthy that the IS used in the experiment is to support decision-making and the information provided by this system are strictly quantitative, which may have caused some conflict in the analysis of the criteria involved in the decision-making process. This is because the criteria of teaching, research, extension and management are interconnected such that one reflects on another. Thus, the opinion of the managers does not depend exclusively on quantitative data, but also of knowledge and value judgment that each manager has about the problem to be solved.

South Africa is faced with enormous backlog of service delivery which is attributed to the apartheid government and performance challenges especially in areas like Eastern Cape. It was then identified that there was no uniform system to monitor and evaluate performance of government institutions and the impact of the services they render to the community. The government then adopted a monitoring and evaluation system called Government - Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System for all government departments and municipalities. This study analysed the implementation of this Government-Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System in Eastern Cape Municipalities with specific reference to Chris Hani District Municipality. It further assessed the effectiveness of this monitoring and evaluation system and whether its implementation has improved performance in municipalities, so as to identify the hampering limitations and the appropriate improvement strategies that can be recommended. In order to reach conclusions to the questions and objectives, the study was conducted using qualitative research methodology. Interviews were conducted as described in chapter 3. Chapter 4 presents the findings that were achieved from the interviews and the interpretation of these findings whilst chapter 5 presents conclusion and recommendations based on the findings.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo entender os fatores que facilitam a utilização de sistemas de Business Intelligence em empresas de serviços. Para isso utilizou um modelo EXPECTATION-CONFIRMATION THEORY (ECT) adaptado para avaliar o que favorece a aceitação do sistema, além dos constructos do modelo original proposto por Bhattacherjee (2001b): Confirmação, Satisfação, Utilidade Percebida, Intenção Comportamental de Uso e Continuidade de Uso; foram incluídos três constructos no modelo adaptado: Hábito, Qualidade da Informação e Estratégia Direcionada pela Tecnologia. Após a validação de um questionário do tipo survey por especialistas, o instrumento foi enviado para usuários de Sistemas de BI e obteve 81 respondentes funcionários de empresas de serviços. As conclusões apontam que a maior parte das hipóteses foi confirmada, exceto o efeito moderador do Hábito na Continuidade de Uso e a influência da Estratégia Direcionada pela Tecnologia. Podem-se destacar as contribuições acadêmicas e gerenciais deste trabalho. Como contribuição acadêmica, destacam-se: a construção do referencial teórico sobre Business Intelligence, Big Data, Aceitação de Tecnologia, Estratégia e Empresas de Serviços; e o entendimento sobre a relação dos fatores que influenciam a aceitação de um sistema de BI no mercado brasileiro de serviços. Na implicação gerencial, ressalta-se a conclusão que o fato de a estratégia da empresa ser direcionada pela tecnologia não afetar positivamente a utilidade percebida do sistema de BI, isto pode ser um indício que, independentemente de como o empregado identifica a estratégia da empresa, ele percebe o valor do sistema de BI, o que indica que a ferramenta é útil não apenas para cenários de empresas tecnológicas. O trabalho permitirá diversos desdobramentos e análises alternativas, por seu ineditismo e detalhamentos obtidos sobre os aspectos teóricos selecionados. / The objective of this study was to understand the factors that facilitate the use of Business Intelligence systems in Service companies. To do this, it used an EXPECTATION-CONFIRMATION THEORY (ECT) model adapted to evaluate what helps the acceptance of the system, besides the constructs of the original model proposed by Bhattacherjee (2001b): Confirmation, Satisfaction, Perceived Utility, Behavioral Intention of Use and Continuity of Use; three constructs were included in the adapted model: Habit, Information Quality and Technology Driven Strategy. After the validation of a survey questionnaire by specialists, the instrument was sent to users of BI Systems and obtained 81 respondents from service companies. The conclusions indicate that most of the hypotheses were confirmed, except for the moderating effect of the Habit in Continuity of Use and the influence of the Technology Driven Strategy. It is possible to emphasize the academic and managerial contributions of this work. As an academic contribution, the construction of the theoretical reference on Business Intelligence, Big Data, Acceptance of Technology, Strategy and Service Companies; and the understanding of the relationship between the factors that influence the acceptance of a BI system in the Brazilian services market. In the managerial implication, the conclusion is that the fact that the company\'s strategy is driven by the technology does not positively affect the perceived utility of the BI system, this may be an indication that, regardless of how the employee identifies the company\'s strategy, it realizes the value of the BI system, which indicates that the tool is useful not only for technology companies. The work will allow many developments and alternative analyzes, for its originality and details obtained on selected theoretical aspects.