Search

This paper gives recommendations for selecting, implementing and sustainably operating ERP systems. We indicate special aspects which are important from our point of view. The paper addresses practitioners who are responsible for ERP systems, especially IT and project managers. The structure of the paper matches the three main phases of an ERP system’s lifecycle within an enterprise: selection, implementation and operations. General process models are given for selection and implementation of ERP systems. Our suggestions stretch from project management, business process reengineering, system selection criteria, reporting and customizing to choosing key users, data migration, and user training. Operations of ERP systems are commented according to the views defined by the ARIS concept. We are focusing on organizational issues, but give also remarks on business process maintenance, exploitation of ERP functions, and data management. While other publications give rather general advice, recommendations in this paper are selected to be use-oriented and easy to apply. The recommendations do not depend on any particular ERP system.

The concept of Information Systems urbanization has been proposed since the late 1990’s in order to help organizations building agile information systems. Nevertheless, despite the advantages of this concept, it remains too descriptive and presents many weaknesses. In particular, there is a lack of useful architecture models dedicated to defining software solutions compliant with information systems urbanization principles and rules. Moreover, well-known software architecture models do not provide sufficient resources to address the requirements and constraints of urbanized information systems. In this paper, we draw on the “information city” framework to propose a model of software architecture - called the 5+1 Software Architecture Model - which is compliant with information systems urbanization principles and helps organizations building urbanized software solutions. This framework improves the well-established software architecture models and allows the integration of new architectural paradigms. Furthermore, the proposed model contributes to the implementation of information systems urbanization in several ways. On the one hand, this model devotes a specific layer to applications integration and software reuse. On the other hand, it contributes to the information system agility and scalability due to its conformity to the separation of concerns principle.

IT procurement represents a business process of high importance, including the ability to articulate requirements that the procurement deals with. Furthermore, specifying requirements is of importance for both procurer and potential supplier, as it functions as central contractual element between the two. The purpose of this article is two-fold: (i) to show how established terminology for requirement specification is represented in current call for bids for the procurement of IT; and (ii) to introduce an organizing framework that may assist procurers in actively addressing functional requirements and business requirements. Ten “call for bids” were examined from a Swedish national procurement database. From the analysis of the bids, it can be concluded that: (i) the call for bids displays a high degree of precision regarding hardware aspects, but less precision regarding software; (ii) supplier experience and competence is stressed, but rarely elaborated on in detail; and (iii) call for bids vagueness may be used as a lock-in opportunity for suppliers. From the discussion on this, a tentative procurement framework is suggested, aiming on increasing the logical transparency for the procurement of IT.

Published version of an article in the journal: International journal of information systems and project management. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.12821/ijispm020203 Open Access Organizations are increasingly implementing Enterprise Information Systems (EIS), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in particular. Despite the notable studies on the advantages of an EIS, many organizations are not satisfied with the benefits or advantages gained. At the same time, it is assumed that such systems with increasing innovations and technological enhancements would generate abundant business advantages, if organizations exploited these opportunities. The investigation in this work drew on the sociomateriality perspective, using imbrication notion, and focused on a telecomm case study to examine how organizations can exploit the technological possibilities of an EIS to create business benefits. The study findings suggest that business benefits can be achieved when the EIS as a technical system is interwoven with the organizational work in which both dynamically change in practice (not from the technical features of the system), when the system provides interesting and beneficial technological possibilities that attract organizations, and when the firm has the organizational capabilities to translate these possibilities into real business benefits.

The traditional approach to assess information system (IS) project success is adherence to planning (ATP) – meeting budget, schedule, and requirements targets. Today, scholars agree that ATP is insufficient to adequately assess IS project success, but an agreed-on set of success criteria is still missing. Many works on this topic are based on theoretical considerations rather than empirical inquiries. We analyze practitioners’ subjective perspectives by investigating what criteria IS project managers consider relevant for IS project success assessment. We interview eleven experienced project managers in Germany, applying Repertory Grid and Laddering to minimize potential biases. Our results yield eight success criteria, indicating that criteria like process efficiency and stakeholder satisfaction must be considered in addition to ATP. Scholars can use our findings to apply the identified success criteria in future studies. Practitioners gain insights into the expert perspective on project success and might rethink the way of assessing success in their projects.

To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of ERP solutions use, understanding of critical success factors of ERP solutions assimilation in organizations is crucial. The technology acceptance model (TAM) proposed by Davis (1989) has been the most widely used model for researching user acceptance and usage of IT/IS. The purpose of this paper is to extend the original TAM with groups of external factors which impact actual ERP system use. First, we focus on ERP system use in companies’ maturity phase. Second, we expose and examine three groups of external factors which influence ERP usage. The model was empirically tested using data collected from a survey of ERP users in 44 organizations. Survey data have been collected from ERP users who have been exposed to an ERP system which has operated for more than one year. The proposed research model was analyzed using the PLS approach.

Mum effect is a situation when one or more project stakeholders decide to withhold critical information for particular reasons. In software project where most of the production is intangible, the seriousness of this challenge increases exponentially. There have been reports indicating that mum effect can surface during any phase of development and ultimately lead to disaster in software projects. Mum effect can be influenced by several factors such as organizational and national cultures. This research investigates potential mum effect scenarios and reveals specific reasons which induce this challenge among information technology practitioners.

Project management software packages are increasingly used by companies. These tools require a substantial financial investment, hence the importance of identifying the real contribution of project management software packages to the realization of projects. However, studies on the impacts of software packages on the performance of engineering project management are rare and mostly based on perceptions. The objective of this study is to investigate, from real project data, the level of utilization of a project management software package, developed by an engineering construction firm recognized internationally, and its link with project performance and project characteristics. Results stemming from non-parametric tests and correlation analyses show that the level of use of the software, and some of its subsystems, appears to be linked to project performance. Project duration also seems to be the most critical project characteristic.

Compared to other projects, information technology (IT) projects, characterized by emergency and uncertainty, are unique. To implement an IT project successfully, many aspects need to be monitored and carefully controlled and managed. One such aspect is social relationships. All IT professionals are exposed to, and in many cases involved, in the phenomenon of social relationships. These relationships are used by software project team members for personal as well as professional purposes. In most cases the impact of these relationships on the success or failure of any given IT project is ignored by IT management. Little attention is given thereto in the literature and this paper attempts to make a contribution in terms of giving a broad perspective of the complexity, the impact, as well as the management of such relationships. This paper demonstrates that these relationships play a significant role and should be managed in such a way that the team members and the project as a whole can reap the benefits thereof. A conceptual framework is proposed for the management of these relationships.

This paper applies the Red Queen theory to explain how organizations utilize various sourcing arrangements in order to compete in an evolutionary arms race where only the strongest competitors will survive. The case study incorporates competition, and views sourcing strategies as a means to improve the firm’s viability to survive competition in the marketplace. The study begins by positioning the Red Queen theory within the sourcing literature. It subsequently applies the framework to a case study of SAP AG to illustrate how sourcing strategies have changed over time in response to the logic of competition. The case study reveals that (a) organizations are adaptive systems and capable of learning to make strategic changes pertaining to sourcing arrangements; (b) organizations select the terms on which they want to compete by developing certain capabilities within the firm; (c) organizations are reflexive and over time develop competitive hysteresis which allows them to become stronger competitors. In the case of SAP AG, various sourcing arrangements were selected over its 40-year history to respond to technological and market changes.

According to the literature, formal project governance often stops at the steering committee, which is also identified as the main link between the permanent and temporary organizations. Generally, top managers play an active role as sponsors in this committee until the project is approved and launched. Afterwards, the project execution is usually delegated, enabling middle managers to participate in strategy operationalization. As such, they are likely to take part in the project governance and its operationalization. In this study, we are especially interested in the governance zone reporting to the steering committee. Within this zone, formal and informal governance is intertwined, and there is likely to be considerable overlap with the permanent organization. Our study focuses on a specific liaison device within this zone: the Project Coordination Committee, which has rarely been studied. We explore how project governance evolves and is represented by project participants. Our results show a surprising diversity in participants’ representations. This allows us to identify a number of conclusions that go beyond the governance form issues and relate to the complexity of this governance zone and its influence on the disruptions between permanent and temporary governance structures within a large organization.

In this work we address the main issues of Information Technology (IT) consumerization that are related to security risks, and vulnerabilities of devices used within Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) strategy in particular. We propose a ‘soft’ mitigation strategy for user actions based on nudging, widely applied to health and social behavior influence. In particular, we propose a complementary, less strict, more flexible Information Security policies, based on risk assessment of device vulnerabilities and threats to corporate data and devices, combined with a strategy of influencing security behavior by nudging. We argue that nudging, by taking into account the context of the decision-making environment, and the fact that the employee may be in better position to make a more appropriate decision, may be more suitable than strict policies in situations of uncertainty of security-related decisions. Several examples of nudging are considered for different tested and potential scenarios in security context.

Big Data is a rapidly evolving and maturing field which places significant data storage and processing power at our disposal. To take advantage of this power, we need to create new means of collecting and processing large volumes of data at high speed. Meanwhile, as companies and organizations, such as health services, realize the importance and value of "joined-up thinking" across supply chains and healthcare pathways, for example, this creates a demand for a new type of approach to Business Activity Monitoring and Management. This new approach requires Big Data solutions to cope with the volume and speed of transactions across global supply chains. In this paper we describe a methodology and framework to leverage Big Data and Analytics to deliver a Decision Support framework to support Business Process Improvement, using near real-time process analytics in a decision-support environment. The system supports the capture and analysis of hierarchical process data, allowing analysis to take place at different organizational and process levels. Individual business units can perform their own process monitoring. An event-correlation mechanism is built into the system, allowing the monitoring of individual process instances or paths.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) has become a widely accepted tool to overcome the many hurdles that currently face the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries. However, implementing such a system is always complex and the recent introduction of BIM does not allow organizations to build their experience on acknowledged standards and procedures. Moreover, data on implementation projects is still disseminated and fragmentary. The objective of this study is to develop an assistance model for BIM implementation. Solutions that are proposed will help develop BIM that is better integrated and better used, and take into account the different maturity levels of each organization. Indeed, based on Critical Success Factors, concrete activities that help in implementation are identified and can be undertaken according to the previous maturity evaluation of an organization. The result of this research consists of a structured model linking maturity, success factors and actions, which operates on the following principle: once an organization has assessed its BIM maturity, it can identify various weaknesses and find relevant answers in the success factors and the associated actions.

Globally distributed IT projects are common practice in today’s globalized world. Typically, project team members work on interdependent tasks, with a common goal to be achieved as one team. However, being split between multiple locations impedes communication among team members and hampers the development of trust. Information and communications media enable communication between geographically distributed project team members and help to create and maintain trust within project units. Communication and trust are particularly significant for fostering a feeling of oneness among project team members. Oneness, also referred to as “teamness”, is repeatedly mentioned as one of the challenges facing global project teams. However, prior literature on teamness is very scarce and its importance is underrepresented. This research contributes to the field in two ways. First, the theoretical study based on a systematic literature review examines available evidence of teamness in globally distributed projects. Secondly, an empirical study based on interviews conducted with global project managers fills the current gap in literature on the link between use of ICT and establishing a sense of team unity. This paper draws practitioners’ attention to the importance of striving for teamness in spite of the geographical distance that exists between project team members.

This paper examines the knowledge transfer process in ERP post-implementation projects, and specifically between the ERP project teams and the IT support team. Case studies were conducted in three large organizations and data was collected via semi-structured interviews. Descriptive and graphical representations were used to analyze knowledge transfer processes for each case and a cross-case analysis was performed. Results from this exploratory study shed light on the relation between the ERP evolution structure and the use of knowledge transfer mechanisms based on different types of knowledge (functional and technical). This paper highlights the necessity of relying on both formal and informal knowledge transfer mechanisms to cover recurring and ad hoc exchanges between the different stakeholders responsible for the evolution of an ERP. The paper also highlights the impact of the ERP integrator and its different inclusion strategies that are critical for the knowledge being shared by the ERP project stakeholders.

In any organization, dealing with lessons learned is a complex issue that involves people, processes and technologies. Although lessons learned processes are already well established in the project management community, the use of modern web technologies to support them is still in its infancy. This paper introduces a new model to manage lessons learned in PMBoK process groups. This model draws upon interdisciplinary literature, which embeds lessons learned processes, shared context and Web 2.0 service models. The model is supported by Web 2.0 technologies and centered in PMBoK process groups to allow a thorough overview of the project. An exploratory focus group was set up to validate the model qualitatively within a constructivist ontology and an interpretive epistemology. The adoption of this model can help academics and practitioners using PMBoK process groups to acquire a better understanding of managing lessons learned in projects.

Project evaluations are vital for organizations to manage and balance the costs and benefits of their IS/IT investment. Despite the importance of project evaluations, equivocal situation may limit the effectiveness of an evaluation and hinder decision-makers in generating purposeful resolutions. There is a dearth of empirical studies with regard to equivocal situation, which this study addresses by developing and measuring a construct of an equivocal situation and its causes. The equivocal situation construct is derived from the notion of equivocality and its causes are extracted from the extant literature. The developed constructs are subjected to empirical validation through Partial Least Squares (PLS) analysis by employing the data collected from knowledge professionals in IS/IT project management. The developed instrument provides a firm foundation for future studies of equivocality in IS/IT project evaluation.

Post Tender Negotiation (PTN) procedure is part of the tendering process in procurement of goods and services. The procedure could be triggered if the initial tendering activity does not result in the selection of a supplier. This could be due to a lack of clear Value for Money (VfM) bidder. The PTN procedure is sparingly applied in the UK public sector procurement and the reasons adduced for this are based on ethical considerations. The UK Office of Government Procurement (OGP), formerly known as the Office for Government Commerce (OGC) and the European Union (EU) are the chief proponents of restricting the use of PTN to exceptional cases. The premise of their argument is that the buyer could unethically tilt her/his actions in the process of applying the PTN procedure to favor certain suppliers. It is the argument of this paper that buyers from the public sector in UK are being deprived of the procedure’s benefit and therefore, the restrictions should be relaxed. Evidence from this study suggests that the procedure could offer the opportunity for further clarifications of supplier’s bid. The study also identifies that, for PTN to be successful, factors ensuring success in negotiations including cooperation should be present.

The success of global IT projects is highly influenced by culture-based behaviors. Issues between individuals arise when behaviors are (mis-)perceived, (mis-)interpreted, and (mis-)judged by using the perceiver’s expectations, beliefs, and values. Misperception results when the behavior is not anticipated because it would not occur in ones own culture. As a result, behavior should be the starting point for cross-cultural research. But, studies have primarily focused on belief and value systems which are more abstract and less specific than behaviors. This paper presents a study that analyzed cultural behavioral differences between Indian project managers and their counterparts in other countries. The conducted qualitative, semi-structured interviews revealed insights into cross-cultural challenges and shed light on the complex ways that culture-based behaviors impact IT projects. The study identified 127 behaviors that significantly affected project success and cross-cultural cooperation between Indian managers and managers from all over the world. These behaviors were grouped into 19 behavior clusters. Understanding these behavior clusters, and correlating these behaviors to values and beliefs, will improve project collaboration, and inform cross-cultural training strategies. In addition, existing cultural dimensions were reduced in scope, additional dimensions were defined for clarity, and new business-related dimensions were identified. Finally, based on the study’s results, the paper suggests four important components that should be added to cross-cultural training programs for international project managers.

This paper provides practical insights into the success criteria in agile projects in the Norwegian software industry. We conducted 32 interviews with practitioners working with agile projects. The findings revealed two fundamental differences that distinguish the perception of success in agile projects from that in projects that are based on the waterfall approach. Firstly, the evaluation is carried out on a regular basis after each increment. This regular and continuous measurement of success contributes several advantages, including greater commitment and involvement from the customer and a higher level of mutual trust between the supplier and the customer; and thus leads to better knowledge sharing and reduced task uncertainty. The reduction of task uncertainty provides more predictability about the direction of the project and better grounds for change control; not least, it allows room to consider multiple and subjective assessments by various stakeholders. Secondly, there is a stronger emphasis on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is measured in terms of how quickly the customer obtains value from the project. The continuous assessment of success at the end of each iteration also has a significant, positive impact on the customer’s evaluation of the project outcome.

In recent years we have seen the emergence of a new type of collaboration software, the so-called “Enterprise Social Software”. The “social features” of this software type have stimulated a renewed interest in Enterprise Collaboration Systems (ECS). In this article we present findings from a longitudinal research project on the introduction and use of ECS in companies. We argue that ERP Systems and ECS are inherently different and that the process-paradigm that is common to ERP cannot be applied identically to ECS. To address this issue, we suggest the two concepts use case and collaboration scenario for the analysis and description of collaboration activity in companies. From the literature and 26 case studies we identified typical use cases and collaboration scenarios that can serve as blueprints for ECS introduction projects. The longitudinal objective of our research is to assist companies with their ECS initiatives and to provide them with a catalog of existing use cases and collaboration scenarios from various industry settings.

Agile development methods are widely used among business enterprises. Since the introduction of the Agile Manifesto in 2001, several agile methods have been implemented, first in single-team set-ups and later in larger multi-team set-ups for complex Information Technology (IT) system development. However, the adoption of agile methods has been slow in the public sector. This is also reflected in the academic literature, as there are only a few studies discussing agile adoption in public organizations. This paper contributes to research on the use of agile practices specifically in the context of public organizations, and sheds light on the challenges a public organization may face while adopting these practices. The aim of this paper is to identify and categorize the challenges that may hinder efficient adoption and use of agile methods in public IT projects that include private software vendors. This research is based on a case study of a large governmental office. As a result, this paper presents several categories of identified challenges, the root causes of these challenges, and a discussion of the characteristics of these challenges for the public sector.

In this study, we propose a Bilateral Double Motive framework of stakeholder cooperation in complex projects. The framework analyses and explains dyadic promoter-stakeholder relationships at a micro level by acknowledging both transactional and relational motives. We demonstrate the framework’s usefulness by illustrating its explanatory power in two instances of cooperation and two of non-cooperation within two health information technology projects. The study contributes to project management theory through its combined focus on transactional and relational motives. Further, the study contributes to practice by providing a tool for planning and evaluating cooperation in health Information Technology projects and similar complex multi-stakeholder environments.

Sustainability is one of the most important challenges of our time. Companies are integrating sustainability in their marketing, communication and their actions. Sustainability has more recently also been linked to project management. The logic behind this link is that sustainability needs change and projects are realizing change. Several studies explored how the concept of sustainability impact project management. The research project reported in this paper elaborates on these works by studying how sustainability affects project success. Project managers, logically, strive for project success and considering sustainability may influence this success. Based upon a review of relevant literature, the paper develops a conceptual model that provides a more detailed understanding of how considering different dimensions of sustainability may affect the individual criteria of project success. The study also provides a conceptual mapping of the different relationships between dimensions of sustainability and criteria of project success. This mapping shows that the most positive relationships are expected for the relationship between sustainability and the success criteria stakeholder satisfaction, future readiness and controlled project execution. The expected relationship between considering sustainability and completing the project on schedule and within budget is uncertain.

This article examines the adoption challenges organizations encounter when they introduce enterprise collaboration systems (ECS) and the measures that can be used, i.e. actions that can be taken, to address these challenges. The aim of the article is to provide an overview of the multitude of different ECS adoption challenges and measures, and based on these, to lay the theoretical and analytical basis for studying the shaping of such complex sociotechnical systems. For this purpose, a qualitative meta-analysis of the academic literature and interviews with companies were conducted, which resulted in a collection of ECS challenges and measures classified and analyzed with regard to their specific spatiotemporal aspects. Drawing on the results of this study, research imperatives, which include the call for studying ECS over multiple time frames and settings, are presented. These will be examined in greater depth as part of our wider, multidisciplinary research program that focuses on enterprise collaboration systems use in the emerging digital workplace.

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) require the right Organizational Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure (OICTI) to provide them with the essential functionalities to support their business processes. In order to have the right OICTI, MSEs are expected to make huge investments in financial and human resources, to purchase, deploy and maintain Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs). Cloud Computing Services (CCS) avail OICTI, for a fraction of the resources required to own private ICT infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to assess the fit between the MSEs’ OICTI needs and the information processing capabilities of CCS and how this fit influences CCS adoption in the Kenyan MSEs. The research was quantitative in nature, in which, a theory-based model grounded on the task technology fit, organization information processing and technology-organization-environment theories, was developed and validated. Study findings suggest strong correlations between MSEs’ tasks and CCS and between MSEs’ information processing needs and CCS information processing capabilities. Other factors identified as influencing CCS procurement are affordability and the relationship between the CCS providers and the MSEs. The study contributes to the academic literature on technology adoption in MSEs by showing that there exists a multidimensional fit between CCS and MSEs’ OICTI requirements.

Project management offices (PMOs) are frequently referred to as necessary, or even indispensable, for carrying out projects in multi-project settings, which often occur in public authorities’ Information Technology (IT) projects; particularly in times of today’s sweeping digitalization. Hence, this research studied Swedish public authorities and their IT departments’ use of PMOs; a survey was directed to IT project managers. Findings showed that even though PMOs are commonly described as significant, those that applied PMOs were fewer than those that did not. This research searched for correlations between the existence of PMOs and 88 variables that resulted in relatively few, mostly weak correlations. A hypothesis test did not show significant association between PMOs’ usage and project models’ usage. The research contributions are principally that PMOs do not appear to be that significant after all for Swedish public authorities, and to have reasonable expectations on PMOs. For practice, the implications foremost concern the importance of understanding conceivable pros and cons.

Megatrends affect all individuals and organizations in our society. Mobility and flexibility are examples of megatrends that influence our everyday lives and also intensely alter the ways we work. The deployment of virtual teams meets the new chances emerging with these trends. Employees aspire to work virtually due to benefits, such as flexibility regarding the locations and hours for working. Organizations deploy virtual teams to remain competitive regarding new technological opportunities, employee retention and cost efficiency in an increasingly digital environment. Organizations can guide their change towards virtuality by building on the knowledge of practice as well as scientific insights regarding the deployment of virtual teams. In order to provide a holistic view on the structures and processes affected by such a change and thus provide guidance, a framework for analyzing and planning organizational change is adapted to virtual teamwork and presented in this paper. The framework shows that the deployment of virtual teams affects the whole organization. This comprehensive view on the implementation of virtual teamwork allows an integration of virtual teams and focusses on their performance. The adapted framework furthermore provides links for further in-depth research in this field.

Cloud computing presents an opportunity for organizations to leverage affordable, scalable, and agile technologies. However, even with the demonstrated value of cloud computing, organizations have been hesitant to adopt such technologies. Based on a multi-theoretical research model, this paper provides an empirical study targeted to better understand the adoption of cloud services. An online survey addressing the factors derived from literature for three specific popular cloud application types (cloud storage, cloud mail and cloud office) was undertaken. The research model was analyzed by using variance-based structural equation modelling. Results show that the factors of compatibility, relative advantage, security & trust, as well as, a lower level of complexity lead to a more positive attitude towards cloud adoption. Complexity, compatibility, image and security & trust have direct and indirect effects on relative advantage. These factors further explain a large part of the attitude towards cloud adoption but not of its usage.

This study investigates how managerial decision-making is influenced by Big Data analytics, analysts’ interaction skills and quantitative skills of senior and middle managers. The results of a cross-sectional survey of senior IT managers reveal that Big Data analytics (BDA) creates an incentive for managers to base more of their decisions on analytic insights. However, we also find that interaction skills of analysts and – even more so – managers’ quantitative skills are stronger drivers of analytics-based decision-making. Finally, our analysis reveals that, contrary to mainstream perceptions, managers in smaller organizations are more capable in terms of quantitative skills, and they are significantly more likely to base their decisions on analytics than managers in large organizations. Considering the important role of managers’ quantitative skills in leveraging analytic decision support, our findings suggest that smaller firms may owe some of their analytic advantages to the fact that they have managers who are closer to their analysts – and analytics more generally.

Performance management and measurement enable to improve strategy implementation and increase organizational competitiveness. The literature review and desk research confirm that the design of a performance system is an issue because of the redefinition of project environment conditions and complexity of 4P. The system should be continuously developed during exploitation. Main objectives of the paper are to propose a framework of project performance measurement and a set of measures that could be applied in project-based organizations. The assessment proposal is the result of a literature review and qualitative empirical studies, interviews, and participatory observations. The framework considers performance assessment of the project and its context, including benefits occurring outside the project – on the program, project portfolio, and project-based organization levels – but being the result of project execution. The framework incorporates in project performance assessment the simultaneous and supplementary utilization of quantitative and qualitative measures, financial and non-financial measures that describe various fields of evaluation: finance, production, procurement, product quality, social, marketing of a product, legal, natural environment, client, and other stakeholders’ satisfaction.

A huge research gap in ERP life cycle, the Decline stage, remains. Not only limited empirical evidence is found to support the Decline stage, but also, the existence of this stage is not acknowledged by the majority. On the other hand, because that the Decline stage is short of theory and data support, organizations which are or will be at this stage have little help to deal with what might happen. This research aims at proposing a practical decision model for organizations facing ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) switching/reversion. The process model of Rasmussen’s Cognitive Control of Decision Processes was adopted as the theory lens to construct the decision model. Based on the survey results from eighteen organizations, a descriptive model - A2O model - is proposed. This research fulfills the blank in the ERP life cycle, provides the empirical supports on exploring the critical issues, and enlightens vendors and consultants on product development and customer service.

The use of Information Technology (IT) to drive organizational change has gained momentum in both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, and currently culminates in a vivid discussion on what many call “Digital Transformation”. It is not surprising then that practitioners seek guidance on how to manage such transformation. Professional bodies have addressed this need by issuing best practice standards for Program Management (PgM), but we know little about their value in managing programs in general and IT programs in particular. Academic research on IT PgM is still in its very infancy. Taking this as motivation, we have investigated the challenges that managers faced in five IT programs that encountered problems. Our analysis reveals a set of management issues and shortcomings including, among others, a lack of architectural overview, difficulties in dealing with scope changes, stakeholder interest, diverse business groups and cultures, as well as a lack of internal PgM competences and unclear management responsibilities. In this paper, based on our findings, we present a first checklist for managing IT programs across their life cycle. Though still tentative and not necessarily comprehensive, we were able to confirm that our checklist provides relevant guidance for managing IT programs in practice.

Resilience is a novel but promising concept in project management studies. Resilience thinking can help projects maintain their performance through flexible, systemic and context-specific approaches once faced with disruptive events. That said, the main goal of this paper is to advance an interdisciplinary understanding of project resilience by proposing a definition and a conceptual framework of this concept. To achieve this article's objectives, the literature on project risk management is first reviewed to identify current research effort and limitations of dealing with disruptions. Consecutively, the concept of resilience in its broader applicability is explored, where two dimensions are sieved; awareness and adaptive capacity. The literature on the new concept of project resilience is also scrutinized, where its novel nature, the lack of scientific studies to conceptualize it, and its significance to project management are demonstrated. These facts helped propose a definition and a conceptual framework of project resilience, where a set of relationships are instigated, which constitute a base line to perform further disquisitions to assess their validity. Implications for future contributions advocate conceptual exchanges with more advanced research fields (e.g. organizational resilience). These exchanges can assist in the development of indicators to evaluate the ability of projects to deal with disruptive events and enhance their resilience.

This paper aims to create an image of progress towards circular economy registered by European Union countries through specific indicators. In this way, this paper is based on the study and analysis of the 13 indicators, grouped on 4 pillars: Production and consumption, Waste management, Secondary raw materials, Competitiveness and innovation. After the presentation of the methodology, the paper develops an analysis in time and space of the selected indicators, then an analysis of the countries with their grouping on clusters, creating a map of them and highlighting the current situation of circular economy in the European Union. Moreover, the paper also presents the evolution of the countries regarding circular economy, which has a big importance taking into account that in the European Union the preoccupations for this concept is higher from one period to another. Among the most interesting results are: (1) a massive concentration of countries with problems for Waste management pillar; (2) Europe is one of the regions with the largest contribution in terms of circular economy, but the concept is developing differently from one country to another; (3) The scoreboard evolution is particularly useful in revealing the continuous actions adopted by countries in order to facilitate the conversion to circular economy. Finally, the paper presents possible limits of the research, but also future directions of its development.

The broad objective of the study is to examine the impact of Nigeria Fadama National development project on Agropreneur’s business development in Osun state, Nigeria. The sample size selected was Two hundred and seventy (270). Multi-stage sampling was adopted, and Simple random sampling design was used. Data collection method was a close-ended questionnaire. Linear Regression, Multiple Regression and Anova were used to test the Hypotheses of the study. The study shows that rural infrastructure variables used in the selected study area significantly predicted the level of Business Development, F (1,268) = 30.413, p < 0.05 F – statistical indicates that the overall regression model is highly statistically significant in terms of its goodness of fit since the value of Ftab (1,268) >Fcal (30.413). It also shows the magnitude of the difference, since the sig level is greater than 0.05 i.e 0.811, 0.985. The study reveals that only 0.9 per cent variance exists between the selected genders. In conclusion capacity building has really assisted farmers in adopting new technology in farming which led to an increase and expansion of their business outlets. The study recommends: Regular training for farmers to discover their skills in diversifying into various businesses within the agricultural sector using new technology should be encouraged by all stakeholders in business of food security and provision of grants to enable them expand their business desires.

Project control is a crucial function in project management. Over the years, several best practice standards have been developed to assist project managers in improving project control. The objective of this paper is to compare three prominent best practice models of PMBOK, PRINCE2, and the AACE framework with respect to the core processes of project control. Network analysis is used to achieve this objective. The results show that influential and linkage processes, such as Control quality, Review the stage status, Forecasting, and Change management have the most significant impacts on the complexity of the project control function. This work has the potential to help rethink the project control function by creating a more global view of the most central and critical processes for project control, from which enhancement in the ability to control the project can be drawn.

E-government projects should be at the heart of service delivery in developing countries if the lives of citizens, especially the socially and economically marginalized, are to be improved. However, quite often in developing country contexts, citizens have been treated as recipients of technology projects through a top-down approach from central governments. Such a paradigm of implementation usually results in the non-use of the deployed technologies and their associated e-services. A consequence of non-use of e-services results in a wastage of the public fiscus. The extant literature points to a number of underlying causes of the problem. One such problem which has been highlighted is called the “Design-Reality gap”. This paper investigates the nature of the gap. It presents findings from policy analysis and in-depth face-to-face interviews with e-government policy makers and implementers. In addition, it reports on findings from focus group discussions with potential e-government users in a health sector setting. The results which are based on a participatory action research methodology reveal that there exists a glaring design-reality gap between egovernment policy planners and citizens’ aspirations. We argue that co-creation could be a feasible approach for the design of e-government application services towards efforts to bridge the design-reality gap.

This paper contributes to the growing body of literature on enterprise resource planning (ERP) business value by investigating organizational ERP development in view of the active involvement, vision, and direction of top management teams (TMTs). A top-down approach to ERP adoption and implementation was adopted with sociomaterial and social construction assumptions about the mechanisms that generate ERP business value. A single ERP case study was analyzed in an industrial setting by interpretive means, thus providing theoretically based, detailed and interesting insights. Our research suggests that ERP benefits emerge during the TMT’s encounters with the ERP system through pragmatic action and situated improvisations. Our findings suggest that ERP adoption is strongly influenced by TMT characteristics and social processes, while complementary process-change needs are perceived by the executive participation during implementation. We also suggest that when the ERP system goes live, a synergistic relationship termed TMT-IT imbrication will create the technological infrastructure perceived as ERP value. At this postimplementation stage, various TMT characteristics and processes are proposed that greatly influence top managers’ patterns of imbrication behavior. Several propositions are developed and summarized in a framework to enhance the current understanding of managerial agency in achieving business benefits from ERP systems. The paper concludes with implications for top managers and future research directions.

Megaprojects have been associated with persistent underperformance technically, financially, socially and environmentally. This underperformance has been attributed to the inherent complexity attributes and the gaps in the form of the mismatch in the project management competences and processes used by the project management teams to deal with the complexity attributes. This study seeks to investigate the performance implications of these complexity attributes to recommend suitable management competences for the successful delivery of megaprojects. This conceptual study used an integrative literature review to analyze and synthesize findings from existing scientific articles related to the complexity constructs based on a comparative assessment of Information Technology (IT) and construction megaprojects. The Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) Theory was also used to highlight some of the factors that influence megaproject performance towards identifying suitable management processes and competences, which are required to deal with megaprojects complexity. The key findings include a nomenclature of the main complexity attributes, their implications on the performance of IT and construction megaprojects, and, lastly, the management competences and processes that are required to deal with the complexity attributes for improved megaproject performance. The main limitation of this study is the inability to link the management competences and processes to specific complexity attributes. This is addressed in a broader research program for a future follow-up study.

Information Technology (IT) projects are enablers of organizational transformation and business growth. Despite the contribution of methodologies and frameworks for project management, the ratio of failed IT projects remains high; then, studying critical success factors of IT projects persist as an essential issue for researches and practitioners. This paper presents a systematic literature review focused on compiling and synthesizing project success factors in IT projects. The literature search was conducted using primary journal articles until 2017. All studies agree on the relevance of studying the critical success factors in IT projects given their particular characteristics. The results indicate there is no clear definition of project success concept; our review consolidates the IT success criteria into time, budget, project management, system quality, user satisfaction, and economic value. Also, there a vast and overlapped list of factors; so, this research proposes a structure that synthesizes the most referenced critical factors that have in common soft attributes as involvement, support, communication, and commitment. Findings reinforce the relevance of soft skills in IT project teams.

One of the major visions is having one system that covers all business functions and satisfies virtually all the standard processes and routine transactions within organizations. In the last decade, several academics and practitioners have predicted the rise of what is called enterprise resource planning systems II (ERP II). ERP II was sought to be a digital platform that is capable of supporting timely decision-making through covering all business functions’ processes through having preloaded modules that will minimize the need for external systems like separate customer relationship management (CRM), e-business platforms, and supply chain management (SCM) systems, among others. While ERP systems nowadays have matured, and several packages come with CRM modules and other solutions, however separate CRM systems are still widely adopted by organizations. Thus, this study investigates why organizations that currently have ERPs with CRM modules are still investing in separate CRM systems. Our results show that the current ERP systems did not reach the ERP II state as envisioned, as most organizations are inclined to adopt separate CRM systems. Thus, we have presented five main reasons for this inclination, which are: scoping during ERP implementations, costs, features and functionalities, user-friendliness and ease of use, and finally integration with e-business platforms.

This article introduces a Bayesian learning approach for planning continuously evolving leagile project and portfolio baselines. Unlike the traditional project management approach, which uses static project baselines, the approach proposed in this study suggests learning from immediately prior experience to establish an evolving baseline for performance estimation. The principle of Pasteur’s quadrant is used to realize a highly practical solution, which extends the existing wisdom on leagile continuous planning. This study compares the accuracy of the proposed Bayesian approach with the traditional approach using real data. The results suggest that the evolving Bayesian baselines can generate a more realistic measure of performance than traditional baselines, enabling leagile projects and portfolios to be better managed in the continuously changing environments of today.

This paper investigates the violations and sanctions that have occurred following the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR came into effect in May 2018 with the aim of strengthening the information privacy of European Union/European Economic Area citizens. Based on existing taxonomies of (i) potential consequences of violating the GDPR (including surveillance, discrimination), (ii) an analysis of 277 sanctions, and (iii) interviews with experts, we offer a mapping of the violations and sanctions almost two years after the regulation was implemented. The most typical complaints were, in descending order: unlawful processing and disclosure of personal information, failure to act on and secure subject rights and personal information, and insufficient cooperation with supervising authorities. Our analysis also indicates an increasing number of fines over time. Regarding size, the fines range from 50,000,000 euros to (symbolic?) 90 euros. While research on GDPR violations and sanctions is somewhat scarce, our study mainly confirms existing findings: that the GDPR is complex and challenging. However, our study provides insight on some of the challenges. Our contribution is mainly practical and aimed at managers in any organization whose goal is to protect information privacy and to learn from the mistakes made by other companies. We also welcome more research on the topic.

Interdepartmental collaboration is considered to be critical to innovation and efficiency. This paper differentiated industrial design (ID) and engineering design (ED), which differ in their nature and are handled by different departments, and reviews in the literature on the impact that interdepartmental collaboration among industrial designers and other areas involved in product development has on innovation and efficiency. We found that: (1) regarding innovation, interdepartmental collaboration has a positive effect on design innovation, and CE type interdepartmental collaboration has a positive effect on technology innovation. (2) Regarding efficiency, we found that the effect on the efficiency of the product development process was not consistent, and production efficiency was not looked into in prior research.

Terms such as Industry 4.0, Logistics 4.0, smart factory, smart logistics as well as digitalization can nowadays be regarded as keywords in both scientific and economic practice. What is taking place at the moment is the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, which is driven by rapid technological advancements, especially visible in the field of digital transformation, autonomous machines or fully automated warehouses. Strong competition on the domestic and foreign market and growing customer expectations suggest that manufacturing companies should not only increase production on a constant basis, but they should find also a way to personalize it, which means manufacturing short series of products designed to meet the needs of specific customers, but also personalizing human work itself. In this system, or a kind of set-up, the role of the human and the consequent workload associated with a given job change. Technology is increasingly replacing not only physical human work, but also human beings as decision-makers. It is giving rise to completely new situations, in which it is necessary to search for new forms of co-operation between human beings and the technological/ environmental ones. This kind of production is the ultimate goal of the fourth industrial revolution. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of digitalization and Industry 4.0 on the optimization of production processes, supply chain and human work. The authors discuss the concept of Industry 4.0, hence the fourth industrial revolution concerning system integration and networking. They present the assumptions of Logistics 4.0 and include adaptive, resource-efficient and user-friendly approaches, concepts. The authors also discuss the application of Lean management in the concept of Industry 4.0, and the ergonomic inclinations of the individual pillars of Industry 4.0. The conclusion summarizes the considerations on the impact of digitalization and Industry 4.0 on the improvement of production processes and work ergonomics., The Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow Research Papers Collection, Vol. 48 Iss. 4 (2020), Pojęcia takie jak: Przemysł 4.0, Logistyka 4.0, smart factory, smart logistics oraz digitalizacja są aktualnie słowami kluczowymi zarówno w nauce, jak i w praktyce gospodarczej. Obecnie ma miejsce czwarta rewolucja przemysłowa, której początki obserwujemy i która jest napędzania przez gwałtowny rozwój technologiczny, szczególnie w zakresie transformacji cyfrowej, autonomicznych maszyn czy w pełni automatycznych magazynów. Silna konkurencja na rynku krajowym i zagranicznym i rosnące oczekiwania klientów sprawiają, że nie tylko należy nieustannie zwiększać produkcję, ale także znaleźć sposób na jej personalizację, czyli wytwarzanie krótkich serii wyrobów zaprojektowanych pod kątem potrzeb danego klienta, lecz i samej pracy człowieka. W tym systemie lub rodzaju konfiguracji rola człowieka, a co za tym idzie – obciążenie pracą związane z danym stanowiskiem, zmieniają się. Technologia coraz częściej zastępuje nie tylko pracę fizyczną człowieka, ale także samych ludzi jako decydentów. Daje początek zupełnie nowym sytuacjom, w których konieczne jest poszukiwanie nowych form współpracy między ludźmi a technologią i środowiskiem. To właśnie taka produkcja ma być efektem czwartej rewolucji przemysłowej. Celem artykułu jest przedstawienie wpływu digitalizacji i Przemysłu 4.0 na optymalizację procesu produkcji, łańcucha dostaw i pracy ludzkiej. Autorzy omawiają koncepcję Przemysłu 4.0, a więc czwartej rewolucji przemysłowej, dotyczącej integracji systemów i tworzenia sieci; przedstawiają założenia Logistyki 4.0 – podejścia, koncepcje adaptacyjne, zasobooszczędne i przyjazne dla użytkownika. Autorzy prezentują także zastosowania lean management w koncepcji Przemysłu 4.0 oraz ergonomiczne inklinacje poszczególnych filarów Przemysł 4.0. Zakończenie zawiera podsumowanie rozważań dotyczących wpływu cyfryzacji i Przemysłu 4.0 na usprawnianie procesów produkcyjnych oraz ergonomię pracy.

The article deals with the growing problem of an ageing society as well as the role of the state in prophylaxis and prevention of negative effects of this process primarily by promoting physical activity among the elderly. The aim of the study is to show how public institutions carry out preventive activities in this area. The starting point is to present this issue on a global, European and Polish scale. Then on a selected example, methods and means that are used by local institutions were shown. The important thing here is a multi-faceted approach, which includes a range of measures to improve the condition and well-being of older people in all spheres of life, with particular emphasis on physical activity. The object of the analysis was the Nysa Daily Care Centre and its activities in the years 2016–2019. As a result of data analysis, it was observed that the implementation of tasks by the examined institution is an appropriate example of organization, functioning and use of financial resources to activate older people. At the same time, it undertakes activities aimed at increasing the value of the income obtained by conducting additional activities to meet the needs of the elderly and lonely people. This can be considered as model of good practice in this area, which is worth promoting and implementing on a larger scale., The Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow Research Papers Collection, vol. 48 Iss. 4 (2020), Artykuł porusza tematykę narastającego problemu starzejącego się społeczeństwa, jak również rolę państwa w profilaktyce i zapobieganiu negatywnym skutkom tego procesu przede wszystkim poprzez promocję aktywności fizycznej wśród osób starszych. Celem opracowania jest ukazanie, w jaki sposób instytucje publiczne prowadzą działalność prewencyjną w tym zakresie. Punktem wyjścia jest przedstawienie tego zagadnienia w skali ogólnoświatowej, a następnie pokazanie na wybranym przykładzie, z jakich metod i środków korzystają lokalne instytucje. Ważne jest tu postępowanie wieloaspektowe, które obejmuje szereg działań służących poprawie kondycji i samopoczucia we wszystkich sferach życia osób starszych, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem aktywności fizycznej. Obiektem analizy był Dzienny Dom Pobytu w Nysie i jego działalność w latach 2016 – 2019. W wyniku analizy danych zaobserwowano, że realizacja zadań przez badaną instytucję stanowi właściwy przykład organizacji, funkcjonowania oraz wykorzystania środków finansowych, w celu aktywizacji osób starszych. Jednocześnie podejmuje ona działania w zakresie zwiększenia wartości uzyskiwanych dochodów prowadząc dodatkową działalność w celu zaspakajania potrzeb osób starszych i samotnych. Można to uznać za pewien wzór dobrych praktyk w tym zakresie, który warto promować i wdrażać na większą skalę.

Innovation is a collection of unique projects, portfolios or project programmes. Current changes are influenced by phenomena in the organization and its environment. We continue to ask ourselves, especially during the pandemic crisis, how to build the trust and safety of project teams if the assumptions made, which had previously been undisputed, become a challenge. The aim of the article is to identify the limitations and barriers that accompany project teams during the implementation of innovations and to present methods for overcoming them. To achieve this goal, a proposition was prepared for our own diagnostic tools, paying particular attention to the phenomenon of priming in the design and dissemination of innovations. The factors determining the effectiveness of project handover between teams were also selected. According to the author, priming is the removal of obstacles to making a transition in innovative projects. The author’s presented method of assessing internal stimuli determines the functioning of project teams. The article adopts the thesis that the effectiveness of the handing over of innovative projects depends on the preparation of project teams to fulfill this mission in the company. Based on the conclusions of the discussion, the handing over of an innovative project is the fulfillment of stakeholder expectations in accordance with the criteria of the feasibility, desirability and viability of the project. To achieve this, the (transferor/ user) teams should have a common understanding of the final product design requirements and expected quality., The Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow Research Papers Collection, Vol. 48 Iss. 4 (2020), Innowacyjność to zbiór unikalnych projektów, portfeli lub programów projektów. Na obecną zmianę mają wpływ zjawiska, które znajdują się w organizacji i w jej otoczeniu. Nadal zadajemy sobie pytanie, szczególnie w czasie kryzysu pandemii, w jaki sposób budować zaufanie i bezpieczeństwo zespołów projektowych, jeżeli przyjęte założenia, które do tej pory były bezsporne, stały się wyzwaniem. Celem artykułu jest identyfikacja ograniczeń i barier, które towarzyszą zespołom projektowym podczas wdrażania innowacji oraz prezentacja metod ich pokonywania. Dla osiągnięcia tego celu przygotowano propozycję własnych narzędzi diagnostycznych, ze zwróceniem szczególnej uwagi na zjawisko torowania (ang. priming) w projektowaniu oraz upowszechnianiu innowacji. Wybrano też czynniki determinujące skuteczność przekazywania projektów między zespołami. Według autora priming to usuwanie przeszkód, robienie przejścia w projektach innowacyjnych. Zaprezentowana autorska metoda oceny wewnętrznych bodźców określa funkcjonowanie zespołów projektowych. W artykule przyjęto tezę, że skuteczność transferu projektów innowacyjnych zależy od przygotowania zespołów projektowych do spełnienia tej misji w przedsiębiorstwie. Na podstawie wniosków z dyskusji – przekazywanie projektu innowacyjnego to wypełnienie oczekiwań interesariuszy w zgodności z kryteriami wykonalności, funkcjonalności i opłacalności projektu. Aby to osiągnąć, zespoły (przyjmujący / przekazujący) powinny posiadać wspólne ustalenia co do ostatecznych wymogów dotyczących projektowanych produktów i oczekiwanej jakości.

When making a decision to start a business, an entrepreneur is forced to choose the form of taxation of income from business activity. The aim of the article is to present the importance of the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises for economic growth and the economy, as well as to present the forms of their taxation and their choice. The applied research methods are based on the study of literature in the studied area and survey research. In order to learn more about the main reasons that guide entrepreneurs when choosing the form of tax and accounting records, a questionnaire survey was conducted in Lower and Upper Silesia (Poland). 500 respondents were included in the survey. When analyzing the data from the Central Statistical Office, it should be stated that the importance of enterprises of the SME group for the country’s economy and economic growth is an undeniable fact. The dominant form of settlements of SME enterprises is the Tax Book of Income and Expenditure. After analyzing the survey it should be stated that the main reason for choosing a specific form of tax and accounting records are financial benefits, and then the simplified method of keeping documentation. Thus, it should be stated that simplification system of tax settlements will have an impact on the development of these enterprises, which will contribute to increasing the economic growth of the country., The Malopolska School of Economics in Tarnow Research Papers Collection, Tom 48 Nr 4 (2020)