Thesis (M.Com. (Information Systems))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Economic and Business Sciences, 2014. / Information systems discontinuance at the organisational level is an underrepresented research topic. However, it is an important problem in practice. The managerial decision to discontinue an existing information system by replacement, upgrade or abandonment requires extensive justification and evaluation. The timing of a system’s discontinuance is of strategic concern as the cost and impact of a packaged software application can be extensive. If the decision is made too early in the system’s life cycle, it can negatively affect the return on investment, but if the decision occurs too late, the system may become a liability to an organisation as it continues to consume resources in maintenance and support. A comprehensive framework is required that analyses the factors that determine discontinuance intentions of the decision makers within an organization. This study focuses on managerial perceptions of selected factors considered most important to discontinuance decisions. The study applies and extends the discontinuance framework proposed by Furneaux and Wade (2011) to develop a research model of the effects of these selected factors on organisational intentions to discontinue packaged software. Specifically, the research model hypothesizes the effects of ‘change’ forces that include the manager’s perceptions of system performance, system suitability and system supportability, as well as ‘inertia’ forces such as sunk cost, mimetic isomorphism and degree of the application’s integration into the enterprise architecture. The organisation’s ability to innovate, the age of the system and the presence of the initial sponsor are included as additional factors. To test the model, a survey methodology was employed to collect data from South African IT decision makers. The survey made use of a structured questionnaire instrument administered online. Useable data was collected from decision makers representing 103 organisations. Hypotheses were tested using regression and partial least squares structural modeling. Results showed that poor software performance, a lack of suitability and low levels of business and technical integration, were the strongest determinants of discontinuance intentions. The control effect of the software’s age relatively to the organisation’s portfolio of applications was proven to be significant in this research. This study has contributed by consolidating the effects of a number of factors drawn from the literature and developing an integrated framework of discontinuance. Results will help IT decision makers when considering a discontinuance decision by showing the relative effects of each factor and may be helpful to IT managers to determine the timing of the decision.

Software requirements, and how they are constructed, shared and translated across software organizations, express uncertainties that software developers need to address through appropriate structuring of the process and the organization at large. To gain new insights into this important phenomenon, we rely on theory of work design and the travelling metaphor to undertake an in-depth qualitative inquiry into recurrent development of packaged software for the utility industry. Using the particular context of software provider GridCo, we examine how requirements are constructed, shared, and translated as they travel across vertical and horizontal boundaries. In revealing insights into these practices, we contribute to theory by conceptualizing how requirements travel, not just locally, but across organizations and time, thereby uncovering new knowledge about the responses to requirement uncertainty in development of packaged software. We also contribute to theory by providing narrative accounts of in situ requirements processes and by revealing practical consequences of organization structure on managing uncertainty.

Packaged software is widely adopted and has become an integral part of most organizations’ IT portfolios. Once packaged software is adopted, upgrades to subsequent versions appear to be inevitable. To date, research on packaged software upgrade has not received the attention that it warrants, as academic research continues to focus on initial technology adoption. To explore this understudied yet important area, three research questions were proposed: (1) What influences the decision to upgrade packaged software? (2) How do stakeholders cope with software upgrade? (3) How does a packaged software upgrade affect stakeholders? A qualitative research method was used to study the research questions. Two cases were conducted at a Fortune 500 company located in the Southeastern region of United States. The first case studied Windows 2000 upgrades and the second case studied SAP 4.6C upgrade. A theoretical model with six components was induced from the study; the components are decision, motivating forces, contingency forces, planned strategies, corrective actions, and impacts. Upgrade decisions are the outcome of interaction between motivating forces that can originate from internal and external environments, and contingency forces. A decision to upgrade will lead to both positive and negative impacts as experienced by users and IT groups. However, stakeholders’ experiences differ according to the types of software and also their roles in the company. Two types of strategies were observed in the study: planned strategies and corrective actions. Planned strategies were used to tackle anticipated issues, and corrective actions were adopted to solve ad hoc problems when negative impacts arose. Both strategies can affect the final outcome of impacts. Finally, in the event a corrective action was used, there is a chance that it will become a permanent planned strategy.

Anskaffning av programvara kan ses som en möjlighet att utveckla ett företag och dess affärsverksamhet. Det finns idag ett stort utbud av standardiserade programvaror att välja emellan. Sådana produkter brukar i dagligt tal kallas för standardsystem. Dessa kan köpas på den öppna marknaden eller vara system som återanvänds mellan företag. Det görs en del felinvesteringar när företag anskaffar standardsystem. Många standardsystem ger inte önskade resultat för verksamheten eller förblir i vissa fall oanvända på företagen. Detta ledde mig in på frågan om en systematisk metod för upphandling av standardsystem kan förbättra situationen. Syftet med denna avhandling har därför varit att konstruera metodik för anskaffning av standardsystem som ett led i att utveckla verksamheter hos företag och organisationer. Mer precist förelåg tre huvudmål för studien: Att utveckla en metod för anskaffning av standardsystem som ger stöd åt företags affärsverksamheter. Att pröva metodens användbarhet, genomförbarhet och logiska uppbyggnad med hjälp av empiri och teori inom området. Att vidareutveckla metoden utifrån gjorda erfarenheter och framförda förändringsbehov från metodprövningen. Metoden som utvecklats och prövats benämns genomgående "SIV-metoden" (Standardsystem I Verksamheter). SIV-metoden bygger på erfarenheter från olika företag som ABB, Alfa-Laval, Arla, Ericsson och Philips. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan

Många företag väljer idag att anskaffa sig ett standardsystem istället för egenutvecklade och skräddarsydda system. Standardsystem är ett färdigt programpaket som är uppbyggt av vissa moduler och funktionaliteter som ska föras in i en verksamhet. Det existerar dock problematiska aspekter när det kommer till att anpassa verksamhet och dess standardsystem. Dessa problem är viktiga att identifiera tidigt i förstudien för att undvika komplikationer som kan uppstå och samtidigt förebygga eventuella hinder.Vi vill därför lyfta fram förstudiens betydelse i denna uppsats. Huvudfokus ligger på hur man arbetar i förstudien för att anpassa verksamheten och systemet på bästa möjliga sätt. Syftet är att undersöka utmaningar i en förstudieprocess som berör anpassningen av IT system och verksamhet tillvarandra. För att uppnå syftet och komma fram till ett resultat så ska dessa två frågeställningar besvaras:  • Hur arbetar ett svenskt företag praktiskt med en förstudie för att bemöta kundens krav och önskemål för att anpassa standardsystemet och verksamheten till varandra?• Vilka utmaningar finns det för fallföretaget vid anpassning av standardsystemet och verksamheten till varandra?  Utgångspunkten för att uppfylla studiens syfte och frågeställningar grundar sig i en litteraturöversikt och empirisk grundad data.Metoden grundar sig i en kvalitativ fallstudie gjord på företaget IT Software, vi har intervjuat tre respondenter som beskrivit sina uppfattningar och erfarenheter kring förstudier och hur deras system och verksamhet ska anpassas. Två av respondenterna är från leverantören IT Software och den tredje respondenten är från en av IT Softwares kundföretag. Därmed fick vi både leverantörs- och kundperspektiv. Resultatet av fallstudien i denna uppsats riktar sig till att det är kundens verksamhet som ska anpassa sina processer och arbetssätt till systemet i högsta grad. I studien lyfter vi även fram dom viktiga aspekterna i förstudien som bör tas hänsyn till för att system och verksamhet ska få en optimal passform. Dessa aspekter är bland annat vilka befattningshavare som arbetar med förstudien, krav, önskemål och kompetens etc. / Many companies today choose to obtain packaged software instead of self-developed and customized systems. Packaged software is a complete software package that consists of modules and functionalities that will be brought into an organization. There exists, however, problematic aspects when it comes to adapting businesses and packaged software. These issues are important to identify early in the pre-study to be prepared for the complications that can occur and simultaneously preventing obstacles.We want therefore highlight the importance of the pre-study in this composition. The main focus is on how to work with a pre-study to adapt the businesses in the best possible way. The aim is to examine the challenges of a prestudy process that affect the adaptation of IT systems and businesses. In order to achieve the purpose and come to a result, we have answered these two questions:• How does a Swedish company work practically with a prestudy to meet the customer’s demands and requests to adapt the packaged software and the businesses to each other?• What are the challenges for the case company when it comes to the adaptation of packaged software and businesses to each other?  The starting point to meet the purpose and questions in this study are based on a literature overview and empirical based data.The method is based on a qualitative case study performed at the company IT Software, we have interviewed three respondents who described their perceptions and experiences of pre-study and how system and businesses should be adapted. Two of the respondents were from the supplier IT Software and the third respondent was from IT Softwares customer company. Thereby, we got both the supplier and customer perspective. The result of the case study in this composition addresses that the customer need to adapt their processes and ways of working to the system in the highest degree. In the study, we highlight the most important aspects in the pre-study that should be taken into consideration so the adoption between businesses and system get an optimal fit. These aspects include the personnel who work with the pre-study, requirements, requests and competence etc.