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There is an increasing demand for a qualified future workforce in the enterprise software (ES) domain, for which students should be prepared. However, due to the complexity of ES, many lecturers lack the skills to practically integrate ES into their teaching activities. ES training must be investigated holistically to address this issue, integrating the perspectives of the involved actors. Therefore, the research field of technology-mediated learning (TML) offers valuable concepts. In this paper, we first identify and present five main concepts of TML performance based on related literature. Second, we present findings from a single-case study conducted within the global academic alliance program of the ES company SAP. The program's objective is to demonstrate the practical application of ES to students through lecturers. Unlike previous research, we consider the students' perspective and incorporate the viewpoints of lecturers and subject matter experts (SMEs) who train the lecturers to create a comprehensive overview. Based on the insights from TML literature and the case study, we present design guidelines for ES training that take into account TML concepts, actors' perspectives, and training aspects. Our findings highlight the universal applicability of TML in the practical context of designing ES training in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems and Software Engineers often have an uneasy relationship. The job of the systems engineer is to work with the stakeholders to define a set of requirements that meet their needs. These are then allocated to various solution spaces such as electronic hardware, mechanical, procedural, and software among others. For many systems, the functional requirements are almost exclusively software requirements. Correspondingly, as an increasing amount of project manpower, schedule time, and budget are allocated to software, it becomes increasingly important that systems and software engineers communicate effectively. The Systems Modeling Language (SysML) has helped in this regard in that it can provide executable behavioral models with precise semantics to express software requirements in a model. These models define "What is required" without overly constraining the implementation. In addition, SysML can be used to define performance constraints, required concurrency, hardware memory and processor budgets, interfaces, safety critical requirements, etc. These aspects are essential for software engineers to understand the constraints and limitations of their environment. At the System of Systems (SoS)/Enterprise level, defining software/systems employs a similar pattern, but at a higher level of abstraction. In the Unified Architecture Framework, capabilities are defined for the enterprise, with systems and software allocated to realize the capabilities. In the same way that capabilities depend on one another, the implementing systems and software interact to support each other. In the past, enterprise software would be modeled as residing in mainframes in a federated software pattern. Modern software can be modeled throughout the enterprise in a distributed network that can adapt to the changing needs of the enterprise to do load leveling, dynamic and late binding, reconfiguration, and reallocation of hardware resources as necessary. If the domain includes the Industrial Internet of Things (IIOT), then deployment could include edge devices, embedded software, Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC), PCs, servers, cloud computing, and of course mainframes. The Object management Group (OMG) Data Distribution Services (DDS) standard enables these capabilities across these devices in a universal format implemented by multiple vendors. However, before this complex system of systems can be implemented, it must first be architected and designed to ensure that it will be fit for purpose both now and as the complex system of systems expands and evolves. This paper will examine the aspects of modeling software in the UAF, and how it can help guide enterprise and system and software architecture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do firms benefit from integrated enterprise systems (IES), and how does the IES implementation strategy influence the returns from IES? We investigated the implementation strategy that firms should follow to integrate multiple enterprise systems regarding the timing of adoption and the richness of modules. Borrowing theories from software development literature and enterprise system implementation literature, we developed two IES implementation strategies, i.e., the agile strategy (simple, quick, and flexible) and the phased strategy (rich, phased, and pre-determined). We collected a sample of 675 public firms from 1997 to 2004 at the module level, enabling us to distinguish enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems from customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) systems. Our data contained the timing of purchase and "go-live" events of these system modules, helping us understand firms' detailed implementation decisions. We found that IES returns depend on the choices of ERP and CRM/SCM module foundation, ERP-CRM/SCM sequential connection, and the continued adoption of ERP and CRM/SCM modules. Fewer ERP or CRM/SCM modules at CRM/SCM go-live events, a quicker connection between ERP and CRM/SCM go-live events, and the continued adoption of ERP or CRM/SCM modules all were found to enhance IES returns. Our findings show that the agile strategy leads to more returns from IES than the phased strategy and suggest that firms should integrate multiple enterprise systems by going live with advanced system modules quickly after going live with basic enterprise system modules and by continually adding new modules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the collection, preparation, and improvement of user requirements for a complex ERP case study implementation in an international organisation. The study presents a case study of the ERP system implementation project. We address the user requirements and their quality with regard to the scope of the case study on the ERP implementation project and wider as an integral aspect of successful project management within an organisational context. In the discussion, we address and support the notions that: 1.) the choice of the type of solution and the software company; 2.) strong leadership and control from the investor side; 3.) the activities prior to the start of the ERP implementation project and a clearly defined scope at the time of contract conclusion; 4.) the quality of system requirements based on well-specified user requirements; and 5.) the alignment of the scope definition and user requirements within the organisation contribute to the success of the enterprise system implementation project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need for the analysis of modern businesses is rapidly increasing as the supporting enterprise systems generate more and more data. This data can be extremely valuable for executing organizations because the data allows constant monitoring, analyzing, and improving the underlying processes, which leads to the reduction of cost and the improvement of the quality. Process mining is a useful technique for analyzing enterprise systems by using an event log that contains behaviours. This research focuses on the process discovery and refinement using real-life event log data collected from a large multinational organization that deals with coatings and paints. By investigating and analyzing their order handling processes, this study aims at learning a model that gives insight inspection of the processes and performance analysis. Furthermore, the animation is also performed for the better inspection, diagnostics, and compliance-related questions to specify the system. The configuration of the system and the conformance checking for further enhancement is also addressed in this research. To achieve the objectives, this research uses process mining techniques, i.e. process discovery in the form of formal Petri nets models with the help of process maps, and process refinement through conformance checking and enhancement. Initially, the identified executed process is reconstructed by using the process discovery techniques. Following the reconstruction, we perform a deep analysis for the underlying process to ensure the process improvement and redesigning. Finally, some recommendations are made to improve the enterprise management system processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we respond to Grover and Lyytinen (2022). We agree with them that the advent of the digital age is calling for a reconsideration of the role of theory and theorizing. We also think their proposal does not go far enough. The time is ripe to question the role of theory in our field more fundamentally. We propose to instead focus on establishing IS research as a platform through which we can collect, organize, and provide access to digital trace data from various sources to analyze contemporary socio-technical phenomena. We believe that such a move allows us to more fully unleash the unique sociotechnical competences of our field in the digital age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How should digital platforms engage with and invest in their online communities to shape innovation and knowledge contributions from members in their platform ecosystems? This is an important question because user contributions are important drivers of technological progress and business value. We examine the effect of platform sponsors’ investments in online communities on user knowledge contributions, using fine-grained longitudinal data from a leading enterprise software vendor’s community network. We focus on the sponsor practice of knowledge seeding, in which its employees provide free technical support by answering questions posted in discussion forums. We define user knowledge contribution as peer-evaluated, quality-weighted solutions that community members provide to help resolve the questions their peers raise. We show that the platform sponsor’s investments in knowledge seeding have a positive, significant association with user knowledge contribution. We also find temporal and geographical variations in returns on the sponsor’s knowledge investments. Specifically, returns (i.e., amount of user contribution that is stimulated) decrease with the age of the community, consistent with the observation that the most active contributors are lead users who tend to join the community early. In addition, returns vary across different countries, such that greater returns are realized when the investment is made in countries with higher levels of information technology (IT) infrastructure, partly because country-level IT infrastructure may be associated with greater absorptive capacity of these countries. We discuss the implications for research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impact of coordination capabilities provided by enterprise systems (ES), manifested in ES standardization and extensiveness, on merger and acquisition (M&A) outcomes in the short and long term. Specifically, we examine the extent to which the ES standardization and ES extensiveness of the acquiring and target firms contribute to value creation in M&A initiatives. We also study the relationship between the ES standardization and ES extensiveness of the acquiring and target firms and M&A offer premiums. The empirical analysis suggests that the ES standardization of acquirers is related to lower offer premiums and a higher market response to the acquisition for the acquirer. However, it is the ES extensiveness of the acquirer that improves long-term performance i.e., decreases goodwill impairment and increases operating performance. The analysis also indicates that the target's ES standardization increases the premium for the target firm and generates a positive market response to the acquisition for the target firm. Overall, the analysis indicates that the ES standardization likely affects the integration cost that influences market response to the M&A and to the M&A premium in the short term, but it is ES extensiveness that affects the realized synergy from the M&A that affects longterm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the productivity implications of external knowledge flows obtained through an internet-mediated discussion forum in which IT professionals help one another solve problems related to the implementation and use of enterprise software. We extend elements of the absorptive capacity (ACAP) framework that have not previously been studied in the information systems (IS) literature to a new context. Consistent with prior results from the IS literature, we first show that IT spillovers—acquired through employees' participation in this forum—only accrue to firms with prior related investments in enterprise software. We then demonstrate boundary conditions for ACAP based on characteristics of external knowledge affecting the ease of learning. Our results show that IT spillovers are not "free"; the ability to derive the value of IT spillovers through informal channels—such as online communities—critically depends on both prior related IT investments by the recipient firm and the novelty of external knowledge. Less intuitively, when knowledge originates from relatively novel or emergent domains, the role of prior related knowledge in absorbing spillovers becomes more important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study an enterprise software vendor’s decision on three prominent licensing models– on-premises, software as a service (SaaS), and hybrid. Our findings indicate that both the customers’ estimation of the future software quality improvement and network effects play critical roles in the software vendor’s choice of optimal licensing models. If the network effects are weak, the enterprise software vendor should choose the on-premises model when customers have a low estimation of the software quality improvement in the upgrade version. The hybrid model should be implemented if this estimation is in the mid-range, while the SaaS model generates the highest profit when customers believe that the upgrade version will have a significant improvement in software quality. As the network effects become stronger, the on-premises model will be dominated by the other two licensing models and is never optimal. In the event of a high upgrade cost and strong network effects, SaaS becomes the best licensing model due to its multitenancy nature. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the relationship between enterprise systems (ES) and the likelihood of mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The key argument is that since ES can reduce agency costs associated with internal coordination and the transaction cost of coordinating with external partners, ES may be related to the likelihood of M&A. Using a sample of 3,289 firms headquartered in North America from 2010 to 2018 that made 8,373 M&A deals, the empirical analysis suggests that ES are positively related to horizontal acquisitions and negatively related to conglomerate acquisitions. However, as internal coordination costs increase, ES are becoming associated with more conglomerate M&A, especially when the goal is to introduce new products and enter new markets. Also, in contexts where partners require transactionspecific investments, ES are associated with a relative decrease in the number of horizontal and vertical M&A. These findings suggest that ES create options for managers to engage in ownership as well as information-based coordination, depending on the internal and external coordination costs as well as the goals of the organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the correlation between participation by information technology (IT) professionals in open knowledge communities and retention of IT professionals by employers. Topics include the effects of contributing and learning in open knowledge communities such as the SAP Community Network, job performance and career advancement among IT professionals, and issues with self-selection bias in the research. The career status impact of networks of practice is noted.

Companies across industries are shifting toward a platform ecosystem strategy. By leveraging cloud computing technologies, companies aim to benefit from collaboration with a wide range of third-party developers within emergent platform ecosystems. To succeed, these companies need to develop new organizational capabilities to co-create and capture value in platform ecosystems. To understand what capabilities are crucial to establish platform ecosystems and how they contribute to value co-creation and value capture, we conducted a multi-year, in-depth case study of SAP's cloud platform project. We identified (1) technology-related capabilities (cloud-based platformization, open IT landscape management) and (2) relationship-driven capabilities (ecosystem orchestration, platform evangelism, platform co-selling) and illustrate how these capabilities help the platform owner to enable and balance value co-creation and value capture in an emergent platform ecosystem. With our findings, we contribute to the discussion on how companies can overcome the challenging emergent phase of platform ecosystems. We thereby bridge literature on value creation in platform ecosystems and on organizational capabilities. Though we conducted our study in the context of the enterprise software industry, we discuss how our findings apply to prospective platform owners from different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how support structures influence job outcomes in the context of enterprise system (ES) implementations is important if we are to advance the rate of success of such implementations. This paper examines how support structures—conceptualized as formal support structures (FSS) and informal support structures (ISS)—affect job outcomes in the shakedown phase of an ES implementation by drawing on the job strain model. Prior research on the job strain model suggests job characteristics (i.e., job control and job demand) and social support together affect job outcomes. A model of these effects on three post-implementation job outcomes (i.e., job stress, job satisfaction, and job performance) is developed. Data were obtained from 152 employees in a longitudinal field study at a large multinational firm. Results show that FSS do not have a direct influence on job outcomes, but interact with job demand to influence all three job outcomes. ISS have direct and interaction effects on all three employee job outcomes. The effect of FSS and ISS on employee job outcomes is mediated by job demand and job characteristics partially mediate the effect of ISS and FSS on employee job outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To increase their firms' competitiveness, information technology (IT) managers are adopting a strategy that many deemed risky in the past. Recent IT advances combined with certain firm and industry characteristics are prompting firms to move toward a unified procurement strategy for enterprise software solutions. Unified procurement occurs when a firm elects to purchase all compatible products and services from a single vendor. Key benefits of unified procurement involve motivating managers to alter their procurement strategy. At the top of the list of benefits is transferred risk, which includes risks that can be transferred from one participating party to another during a transaction. In the case of unified procurement, they include technology risks and integration costs that are transferred from the procurement firm to its vendor. Firms have been shifting toward a unified procurement strategy for enterprise software solutions. We discuss the evolution of procurement practices in an industry that exemplifies a manifestation of Clemons et al.'s [10] "move to the middle" hypothesis predictions. The adoption of unified procurement is being driven by changes in IT, firm, and industry structure. We explore the "move to the middle," transaction cost economics, and industry clockspeed theory to explain this phenomenon. We present a series of propositions that extend the prior theory to the more specific setting of enterprise software procurement--an example of middle range theory development--and use mini-cases to validate the various perspectives that we offer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the contemporary enterprise software market, there has been a notable surge in the utilization of SaaS products. This trend has prompted certain upstream suppliers of cloud resources, commonly referred to as cloud providers, to introduce their own SaaS offerings, thereby augmenting the competition within the industry. The matter of optimal releasing strategy encountered by software firms in this industry has been scarcely addressed in prior literature. Therefore, the present study employs the Hotelling model to depict the market segmentation in the context of a software firm's selection among three distinct strategies, namely on-premise, SaaS, and dual version strategies, to effectively manage competition. Through an examination of the optimal pricing and profit for each strategy, and a subsequent analysis of the resulting profits, we have managed to arrive at conclusive recommendations for optimal strategy selection. Based on the analytical findings, it can be inferred that the selection of the optimal strategy can be classified into two distinct scenarios, which are contingent upon the magnitude of the unit cloud rental fee. In a high-cost rental environment, the optimal release strategy shifts from the SaaS strategy and dual version strategy to the on-premise strategy, as the disparity in value between on-premise and SaaS versions increases. In a context of low rental fee and a widening value gap, the optimal strategy choice sequence is as follows: SaaS, on-premise, dual version, on-premise, dual version, and ultimately on-premise. Furthermore, we analyze and reveal the impact of various factors on the maximum profit that software companies can achieve. The findings we have derived have significant implications for software companies' decision-making in the face of the challenge posed by highly centralized public cloud supply. • Cloud providers' entrance intensity the enterprise software market competition. • We propose three releasing strategies, on-premise, SaaS, and dual version. • Hotelling model is adopted to analyze software firms' optimal releasing strategy. • Strategy selection depends on the cloud renting fee and two versions' value gap. • Effects of related factors on profits are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]