Organizational information management strategies

Abstract. Information technology is a key factor in competitiveness. Business managers increasingly have to make decisions in this field. Their involvement in planning and decision making should be active and genuine. There are numerous methods to support information systems planning and implementation. This study focuses on the organizational approach to generating plans. An interactive framework for evolutionary information systems planning is presented together with the results of applying this framework in six organizations. The author has been working with these organizations very intensively, using an action research approach. The main emphasis is on the success of the organizational method of creating information management strategies. The main finding is that an interactive way of generating strategies is not enough. The role of internal 'project champions' in both planning and implementation is extremely important. Outside facilitators cannot replace their contribution.     

Modeling information architecture for the organization

The issue of information architecture (IA) for organizations has recently received considerable attention in IS development. However, as yet little research has been reported on modeling IA using a systematic approach. This paper describes an object-oriented method for modeling it. The proposed method extends the traditional concept of IS analysis into the context of contemporary information technology (IT), and is useful for planning IT-enabled business process reengineering for the organization.     

Ethical behavior issues in software use: An analysis of public and private sectors

Ethical issues related to information systems are important to the information technology (IT) professionals. These issues are also significant for organizations and societies. Although considerable literature on IT and related ethical issues exists, a review of this literature has found little empirical research on ethical practices within the government and private sector organizations. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to draw inferences regarding such practices currently in these sectors. The research results indicate a significant correlation between the code of ethics and the attitude of professionals towards the unethical use of software in government and private sector organizations. These also indicate significant differences in government and private sectors.     

Understanding the impact of social media usage among organizations

This study investigates the antecedents and impact of social media usage in organizations. This study uses the technology, organization, and environment framework and includes certain antecedent factors that are specific to social media usage in organizations. The items to measure different purposes of social media usage in organizations were developed, which contribute to the enhancement of social media usage measurement. This study develops and tests an integrated model that contributes to the scholarly research on social media and information systems. The study also helps organizations to understand the benefits of social media usage and provides a justification for investments in social media by organizations.     

An objective, entropy-based approach to evaluating migration issues in computer IS

Recent breakthroughs in computing technology have created a set of perplexing new problems for information systems (IS) professionals. These revolve around decisions to be made about replacing current systems with newer technology, upgrading existing systems, and migrating to other platforms or environments. Many decision makers must rely on subjective assessments, such as their instincts or the recommendation of vendors rather than on an objective analysis of their information needs and how they can be met by various system alternatives. A model to quantify these issues, providing an objective measure for comparing system alternatives, including migration, would be valuable. Such a model is demonstrated here; it uses the Shannon-Weaver entropy model in conjunction with quality measures to quantify actual and potential system effectiveness.     

Management of lifecycle costs and benefits: Lessons from information systems practice

Assessing the economic feasibility of information systems (IS) projects and operations remains a challenge for most organizations. This research investigates lifecycle cost and benefit management practices and demonstrates that, overall, although organizations intend to improve their information technology (IT) management, they squander many opportunities to do so. There are inconsistencies in cost/benefit management practices. Most organizations that integrate operational benefits into investment analyses do not acknowledge operational costs. Planned project goals are seldom formulated in a verifiable or measurable way; there is little structured feedback on individual lifecycle activities, nor co-ordination of various activities. Thus, the attitude towards cost/benefit management appears primarily context-related and incident-driven. A further development of the system lifecycle-based approach is needed to improve IT cost/benefit management theory and practice, because a coherent set of methods is required to assess IT costs and benefits throughout the entire lifecycle.     

Information security management standards: Problems and solutions

International information security management guidelines play a key role in managing and certifying organizational IS. We analyzed BS7799, BS ISO/IEC17799: 2000, GASPP/GAISP, and the SSE-CMM to determine and compare how these guidelines are validated, and how widely they can be applied. First, we found that BS7799, BS ISO/IEC17799: 2000, GASPP/GAISP and the SSE-CMM were generic or universal in scope; consequently they do not pay enough attention to the differences between organizations and the fact that their security requirements are different. Second, we noted that these guidelines were validated by appeal to common practice and authority and that this was not a sound basis for important international information security guidelines. To address these shortcomings, we believe that information security management guidelines should be seen as a library of material on information security management for practitioners.     

The information and communication society: how people will live and work in the new millennium

This paper analyses information and communication technology (ICT) and its relation to work organizations, human communication, stress, allocation issues, knowledge transfer and global villages. An interdisciplinary research programme on ‘Computer technology and work life’ was initiated and led by the author at Stockholm University in 1974, followed by many programmes in Sweden in the field. A theoretical framework was developed including two theoretical models, one more general, the other where the concepts and their interrelationships were specified. The models were tested empirically in three large work organizations in Sweden, representing three main historical periods of computer technology. It was also used as a model in discussing what might be desirable goals in the information society. The present fourth period, the ‘Network period’, is characterized by a convergence of three main technologies: computer, telecommunication and media. ICT is used in almost every activity and is embedded in many things. The author proposes a superimposed theoretical model reflecting ‘ICT and the psychosocial life environment’, a revised model of her initial models. Finally, future research is discussed with reference to theoretical models revised, and conclusions address major psychosocial processes, psychosocial life environments and a call for synthesis.     

Process and reality in information systems benefit analysis

The identification of the potential benefits of a proposed information system project is a very challenging and important task. However, little research describes how this is actually carried out. The objective of this research was to answer the core question: how do organizations identify the expected benefits of proposed IS projects? To accomplish this objective, the authors studied 24 projects by interviewing 20 subjects from 13 organizations. Based on these interviews, a model of the benefit identification process was formulated showing it to be a set of loosely defined, overlapping, iterative activities. The study suggests that, despite great uncertainty about the potential benefits, proposers were compelled to use the benefit identification process to persuade the organization to be committed to the project. This effort to build commitment under great uncertainty may contribute to the overstatement or understatement of expected benefits. The study offers managers an understanding of the process and guidance for carrying it out. It also suggests that future researchers validate the model, use it to help identify best practices and test related hypotheses.     

Evaluation of EIS from a managerial perspective1

Abstract. While executive information systems (EIS) constitute a rising trend in the use of information technology in organizations, much is still unknown in terms of the attributes an EIS should possess in order to increase the probability of successful implementation. A survey was conducted on 28 Canadian organizations, with 52 users giving their perceptions on the various attributes of EIS. Results indicate that the more important aspects relate to the quality of information and the benefits provided by EIS. Less important are the user-interface and technical capabilities. User satisfaction with the attributes of their present system was also measured. In this regard, managers were more content with the quality of information and the user-interface than with the benefits and the technical capabilities of their EIS. Overall, top-managers were less satisfied with the present system than lower-level managers.     

Assessing and managing the benefits of enterprise systems: the business manager's perspective

This paper focuses on the benefits that organizations may achieve from their investment in enterprise systems (ES). It proposes an ES benefit framework for summarizing benefits in the years after ES implementation. Based on an analysis of the features of enterprise systems, on the literature on information technology (IT) value, on data from 233 enterprise systems vendor‐reported stories published on the Web and on interviews with managers of 34 organizations using ES, the framework provides a detailed list of benefits that have reportedly been acquired through ES implementation. This list of benefits is consolidated into five benefits dimensions: operational, managerial, strategic, IT infrastructure and organizational, and illustrated using perceived net benefit flow (PNBF) graphs. In a detailed example, the paper shows how the framework has been applied to the identification of benefits in a longitudinal case study of four organizations.     

Information Systems Frontiers in Knowledge Management

There can be no doubt that contemporary developments in information technology, including information systems developments, have changed business and organizational practices in many ways. For example, the world's financial systems are so closely coupled that that a small decrease in interest rates in the United States may cause a disproportionately large rise in stock market values in South East Asia. The information revolution has created entirely new ways of marketing, such that we now see very changed relationships between producers, distributors and customers. It has also led to changes in the way in which organizations are managed, the way in which they are structured, and the way in which they deal with their products and services. In particular, it creates a number of opportunities and challenges that affect the way in which data is converted into information and then into knowledge. It poses many opportunities for management of the environment for these transfers, such as to enhance the productivity of individuals and organizations. This paper discuses interactions and intersections between organizations, information technology and information systems, and the ways in which the creative use of information systems changes organizational environments.     

A model for selecting an ERP system based on linguistic information processing

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an enterprise-wide application software package that integrates all necessary business functions into a single system with a common database. In order to implement an ERP project successfully in an organization, it is necessary to select a suitable ERP system. This paper presents a new model, which is based on linguistic information processing, for dealing with such a problem. In the study, a similarity degree based algorithm is proposed to aggregate the objective information about ERP systems from some external professional organizations, which may be expressed by different linguistic term sets. The consistency and inconsistency indices are defined by considering the subject information obtained from internal interviews with ERP vendors, and then a linear programming model is established for selecting the most suitable ERP system. Finally, a numerical example is given to demonstrate the application of the proposed method.     

IMAGE PROCESSING SYSTEMS

Image processing is a new technology that may prove to be strategically significant for information management in many organizations. This article uses survey data from 14 organizations to examine the costs, benefits, alternative and complementary technologies, and critical success factors associated with implementing image processing systems.     

计算机网络信息资源知识型组织方法研究

计算机技术、通讯技术、网络技术的飞速发展,使网络信息资源越来越引起人们的重视。网络信息资源具有数量巨大、内容丰富、动态性强、信息污染严重等特点,这些特点为人们开发利用网络信息资源带来了极大的困难,人们迫切需要对大量的、分布贮存的、无序的、变动的整个网络信息(网络集合)进行全局性有效组织与管理,为人们获取和利用一次网络信息资源提供便利。本文从计算机网络信息资源的含义及特点出发,研究了信息资源的知识型组织方法,并且提出了相关的策略。     

End-user computing and information systems methodologies

End-user computing is a growing area within the information technology (IT) industry. The number and size of end-user-developed applications is steadily increasing, yet little attention is paid to the way in which such applications are developed, and their impact upon organizations. In this paper we examine the relationship between information systems methodologies and the end-user-computing environment. In particular, the potential benefits and disadvantages of the use of information systems methodologies for end-user-computing, and strategies by which such usage can be accomplished are discussed. This paper is partly the result of a research programme involving case studies in 34 UK organizations aimed at improving business systems.     

Information resource management in Singapore: The state of the art

Singapore has made impressive uses of computer technology and aims to be a major source of information technology. This study evaluates its performance in terms of information resource management. Survey data from leading organizations were collected and analyzed, in the areas of planning, information management role, user relations and systems development. The responses were compared against the state of the art in the U.S. as per the literature. A handful of organizations were found to be following most of the practices prescribed in the U.S., but the others appeared to be much less sophisticated.     

Information - organization - decision: Some strange loops

Acceptance of the theoretical foundations of Management Information Systems (MIS) has remained surprisingly high in the past twenty years, whereas information processing technologies have been improving at an incredible rate. This stability appears to be because the MIS model is based on the cybernetic model of organizations. We see, however, a conceptual crisis due in the development of more and more complex information systems and increased questioning of the deficiencies of organizational models based on cybernetic theory. This is particularly highlighted by the problems encountered in introducing the “bounded rationality paradigm” of H.A. Simon into the model.In this paper, we propose a new model that should be better adapted to contempory technology. This model allows both order and disorder to be included, while incorporating the concept of “organizational memory,” to improve the representation of a complex organizational information system with an action and process aspect.     

Successful Implementation of eRx Systems: Creating Technology–Organization Alignment using the Strategy-Map Approach

The adoption rates of eRx systems continue to be low and their implementation remains uneven. Rooted in the theories of technology–organization alignment and strategy maps, this article develops a framework for successful implementation of eRx systems. The proposed strategy map outlines the key strategic processes that would make implementation of eRx systems not only feasible and successful, but also a profitable venture for healthcare organizations.     

The paradox of information systems: strategic value and low status

Information systems (IS) have provided dramatic returns for some organisations. For many others, IS underpin most of their activities. Spending on IS can be very high. Few organisations can function without adequate IS. Yet, there is an apparent paradox in the reliance on information systems and supporting information technologies (IT) on the one hand and the status of the information systems function on the other. While information systems can be critical to an organisation's ability to conduct and develop business, the information systems function is often considered as a secondary activity. To explore the paradox, this paper uses a cultural web model to assess the status of IS and IT activities as evidenced in the literature and through the study of four organisations. These serve to demonstrate the contradiction between the extent to which large organisations appear to rely on information systems and the low status of the information systems function. The implications of this are explored, and it is suggested that IS can be exploited fully only if there is a change in attitude and thereby an increase in status of the information systems function.