基于企业资源管理的物料供应链管理

为有效解决目前企业中物料供应存在的计划周期长、收货速度慢、准确性差等问题，对企业资源管理（Enterprise Resource Planning，ERP）进行介绍，基于一个ERP项目——企业-供应商关系管理（Electronic-Supplier Relationship Management，e-SRM）描述物料供应链管理系统解决方案的设计思想、整体采构、业务流程、关键技术和系统特点等，可解决供需双方信息沟通不畅和物料供应困难等问题。     

A comprehensive study of the relationship between enterprise resource planning selection criteria and enterprise resource planning system success

We developed a conceptual framework for investigating how ERP selection criteria are linked to system quality and the service provided by suppliers and consultants, and thus how these influenced ERP implementation success. Through a cross-sectional survey of the top 5000 largest companies in Taiwan, using a balanced scorecard concept and path analysis, we showed that four system selection criteria (consultant's suggestion, a certified high-stability system, compatibility between the system and the business process, and the provision of best practices) were positively related to system quality. Three supplier selection criteria (international market position, training support by the supplier and supplier technical support and experience) had a significant influence on supplier service quality, and two consultant selection criteria (consultant's ERP implementation experience in a similar industry and consultant's support after going live) were related to consultant service quality. However, we found that most organizations did not consider all these criteria when implementing ERP systems. Our study also suggested that enhanced system quality and service quality could increase user perspective and ERP success.     

Competitive advantage of enterprise resource planning vendors in Iran

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has become one of the competitive advantages for companies around the globe and the dynamic force driving the process of global integration through information. Governmental organizations are increasing their adoption of these systems for various benefits such as integrated real-time information, better administration, and result-based management. Reaching the standard level of being a global company, organizations are concerned about this application and invest in this project for many years and, as a result, help the company reduce the cost and increase the efficiency and effectiveness. Iranian organizations, along with multi-national companies, attempt to be a good player in the flow of this change. The primary purpose of this study is to investigate and determine the competitive environment of ERP vendors implementing their product in Iranian context. The authors investigated the activities of both international and local ERP vendors established in the country and analyzed them by their advantages and potentials.     

Drivers and effects of enterprise resource planning post-implementation learning

The use of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems has grown enormously since 1990, but the failure to completely learn how to use them continues to produce disappointing results. Today's rapidly changing business environment and the integrative applications of ERP systems force users to continuously learn new skills after ERP implementation. This study explores the effects of post-implementation learning on ERP usage and ERP impact and identifies the factors that can impact post-implementation learning, such as social capital and post-training self-efficacy. This study employs a survey method to examine the perceptions of ERP users. The theoretical model is tested by using structural equation modelling on a dataset of 812 users. This study finds that post-implementation learning has a significant positive effect on ERP usage and ERP impact, and that social capital and post-training self-efficacy are important antecedent factors of post-implementation learning. Post-training self-efficacy also significantly affects ERP usage and ERP impact. The implications for research, practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Modeling use of enterprise resource planning systems: a path analytic study

In this research, we evaluated user participation and involvement in the context of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. Since ERP systems are enterprise-wide in scope, these systems have a high level of complexity, and require a different implementation methodology. While most studies analyze implementation at an organization or industry level, there is a dearth in research in ERP system adoption at the individual or user level. In our study, we examine ERP system acceptance at the individual level. In this research, we expected to find differences in the nature of user participation and involvement in ERP compared to other information systems. Using Barki and Hartwick's extension of the theory of reasoned action, a revised model was developed and tested empirically. While Barki and Hartwick's model explains user behavior vis-à-vis user participation and involvement, a more parsimonious model demonstrates that usage dynamics in ERP implementation are different. We complemented our statistical analysis by three case studies. Based on our results we believe that, given the nature of ERP and its implementation, traditionally formalized links between influencers of users' attitude and involvement may need to be revised. We have discussed why we need to seek alternate forms of influencers. In doing so, we suggest that investments be made in preparatory work practices and employee development prior to ERP decisions. Such investments are complementary to information technology and are widespread throughout the firm. We believe that such investments will play a significant role in influencing the attitude of users toward any system and also their involvement.     

Implementing enterprise resource planning systems: organizational performance and the duration of the implementation

This paper examines the impact of the duration of ERP implementation on firm performance both during and after implementation. Organizations choose either an accelerated implementation approach or a traditional (longer) implementation approach. The former approach gives the organization the advantage of speed, but the disadvantage of fitting its processes to that of a packaged (thus, undifferentiated from competitors) ERP. The latter approach allows the organization to redesign strategy and processes, and thus, search for ways to be unique from its competition. The study uses a regression model to capture the changes in various performance measures during and after implementation between firms that implemented the ERP, using the performance measure of a matched group of firms that did not implement an ERP as a benchmark/control sample, on the basis of the duration of the implementation. Financial data from Compustat, and data on start date and end date of ERP implementation between 1990 and 2005 for firms in the Oil and Gas industry was collected from an ERP vendor. Results show that measures such as return on sales improved after implementation. However, measures such as inventory turnover, which reflect operational benefits, improve during implementation. We find that accelerated implementation confers both operational and strategic benefits. This study highlights the strategic consequences of the different choices of implementation.     

The implementation of enterprise resource planning packages in different organisational and national cultures

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages provide generic off-the-shelf business and software solutions to customers. However, these packages are implemented in companies with different organisational and national cultures, and there is growing evidence that failure to adapt ERP packages to fit these cultures leads to projects that are expensive and late. This paper describes research that synthesises social science theories of culture to handle the impact of culture on ERP package implementation more efficiently. It describes a knowledge meta-schema for modelling the surface and the deeper manifestations of culture. It reports an empirical study into the implementation of SAP R/3's sales and distribution (SD) module in a large pharmaceuticals organisation in Scandinavia and the UK. Results provide evidence for an association between organisational culture and ERP implementation problems but no direct evidence for an association between national culture and implementation problems. Furthermore, results demonstrate that these diverse implementation problems can be caused by a mismatch between a small set of core values indicative of a customer's organisational culture. At the end of the paper, our predictions are reviewed, conclusions are made about them and about the work of the key authors of national and organisational culture, and future work is discussed.     

基于自组织的网格资源发现方法的研究

为了提高网格资源发现的效率以及系统的稳定性,提出了一种可以自组织的三层网格服务资源结构.这种结构能够将系统中的结点进行有效的自组织,即结点按照各自的特点,自动组成虚拟组织并选出一个主索引结点,然后主索引结点动态地选出全局索引结点,另外还能够根据系统的具体状况选择适当的资源查找算法,从而提高了查找效率.仿真结果证明,这种结构是稳定可靠的,同时具有很高的查询效率.     

Supporting on-line resource discovery in the context of ongoing tasks with proactive software assistants

We present ongoing work on systems aimed at improving a user's awareness of resources available to them on the Internet and in intranets. First, we briefly describe Watson, a system that proactively retrieves documents from on-line repositories that are potentially useful in the context of a task, allowing the user to quickly become aware of document resources available in on-line information repositories. Next, we describe I2I, an extension of Watson that builds communities of practice on the fly, based on the work that its users do, so that users with similar goals and interests can discover each other and communicate both synchronously and asynchronously. Both Watson and I2I operate given some knowledge of the user's current task, gleaned automatically from the behavior of users in software tools. As a result, the systems can provide users with useful resources in the context of the work that they are performing. We argue that the systems can foster a greater sense of awareness of the resources available, while minimizing the effort required to discover them.     

Periodicity in software vulnerability discovery,patching and exploitation

Periodicity in key processes related to software vulnerabilities need to be taken into account for assessing security at a given time. Here, we examine the actual multi-year field datasets for some of the most used software systems (operating systems and Web-related software) for potential annual variations in vulnerability discovery processes. We also examine weekly periodicity in the patching and exploitation of the vulnerabilities. Accurate projections of the vulnerability discovery process are required to optimally allocate the effort needed to develop patches for handling discovered vulnerabilities. A time series analysis that combines the periodic pattern and longer-term trends allows the developers to predict future needs more accurately. We analyze eighteen datasets of software systems for annual seasonality in their vulnerability discovery processes. This analysis shows that there are indeed repetitive annual patterns. Next, some of the datasets from a large number of major organizations that record the result of daily scans are examined for potential weekly periodicity and its statistical significance. The results show a 7-day periodicity in the presence of unpatched vulnerabilities, as well as in the exploitation pattern. The seasonal index approach is used to examine the statistical significance of the observed periodicity. The autocorrelation function is used to identify the exact periodicity. The results show that periodicity needs to be considered for optimal resource allocations and for evaluation of security risks.     

网格计算中基于移动Agent的资源发现机制

网格计算中资源发现是一种相当关键的技术,为了更有效地发现并组织资源以满足应用程序的需要,分析了现有两种主要的资源发现技术,在LDAP（Light Directory Access Protocol）目录服务技术的基础上,结合移动Agent技术,提出了一种基于移动Agent的资源发现机制。详细介绍它的总体框架、工作机制,并给出了性能分析。     

基于企业网格的JMS中资源管理方法的研究

为集中和有效管理企业网格中的资源,提出了多级资源管理模型,该模型能根据系统规模大小调整资源管理树的深度和广度,模型中的中级调度器间的交互提高了系统的容错性.多级资源管理模型应用在JMS中,解决了资源描述、资源需求描述、资源查询和资源匹配等问题,为实现有效利用企业IT资源的目标提供了理论基础和技术保障.     

A survey on resource discovery mechanisms,peer-to-peer and service discovery frameworks

Service and resource discovery has become an integral part of modern networked systems. In this survey we give an overview of the existing solutions for service and resource discovery for a wide variety of network types. We cover techniques used in existing systems, as well as recent developments from the research front. We also provide taxonomy for discovery systems and architectures, and review the various algorithms and search methods applicable for such systems. Peer-to-peer overlays are discussed in detail and solutions for non-IP-based networks are also included in the review. We also specifically comment on issues related to wireless networks, and give an overview of the various issues and complications that should be considered in future work in this domain.     

Impact of visualization type and contextual factors on performance with enterprise resource planning systems

We studied the use of two types of graphic information visualization to support human operators performing tasks using enterprise resource planning systems (ERP). We compared the original display design of a commercial ERP system with a prototype information visualization design. A simulated supply chain was used to test the hypothesis that graphical visualization can improve the performance of the human operator using ERP systems for supply chain management. Tasks from the production and purchasing domains were tested in the experiment in which experienced and inexperienced human operators had to perform tasks of an easy, moderate, and difficult nature. Analysis of the results revealed that the two types of graphical visualization significantly reduced response time, particularly with inexperienced users performing difficult tasks. Our results imply that some graphic information visualization displays for ERP systems can increase the probability of a successful implementation and enhance the capabilities of the human operators.     

基于收益的软件过程资源调度优化方法

软件项目管理人员须对软件过程中的各种资源进行优化调度,但依靠主观判断和个人经验的资源调度方法具有不稳定性和不可靠性,需要提供客观可靠的软件过程资源调度方法和工具。基于收益的资源调度优化方法通过对软件过程的资源调度进行建模,描述和定义投入资源产生的收益,分析软件过程中活动、资源和收益的各种约束关系,采用基于动态规划的优化算法以较高效率完成资源调度,使资源在软件过程中有效利用。     

Problems and their mitigation in system and software architecting

ContextToday, software and embedded systems act as enablers for developing new functionality in traditional industries such as the automotive, process automation, and manufacturing automation domains. This differs from 25–30 years ago when these systems where based on electronics and electro-mechanical solutions. The architecture of the embedded system and of the software is important to ensure the qualities of these applications. However, the effort of designing and evolving the architecture is in practice often neglected during system development, whilst development efforts are centered on implementing new functionality.ObjectiveWe present problems and success factors that are central to the architectural development of software intensive systems in the domain of automotive and automation products as judged by practitioners.MethodThe method consisted of three steps. First, we used semi-structured interviews to collect data in an exploratory manner. As a second step, a survey based on problems extracted from the interview data was used to investigate the occurrence of these problems at a wider range of organizations. In order to identify and suggest how to mitigate the problems that were considered important, we finally performed root cause analysis workshops, and from these a number of success factors were elicited.ResultsA total of 21 problems have been identified based on the interview data, and these are related to the technical, organizational, project, and agreement processes. Based on the survey results, the following four problems were selected for a root cause analysis: (1) there is a lack of process for architecture development, (2) there is a lack of method or model to evaluate the business value when choosing the architecture, (3) there is a lack of clear long-term architectural strategy, and (4) processes and methods are less valued than knowledge and competence of individuals.ConclusionIn conclusion, the following identified success factors are crucial components to be successful in developing software intensive systems: (1) define an architectural strategy, (2) implement a process for architectural work, (3) ensure authority for architects, (4) clarify the business impact of the architecture, and (5) optimize on the project portfolio level instead of optimizing each project.     

分布式环境中基于社会网络的资源发现机制

基于社会网络设计了一个无中心的、可生存的、自适应的资源发现方法,使得网络节点相互协作,以发现所需资源。接着,详细地给出了方法的模型、算法。仿真结果表明该方法能够改善发现的性能、很好地适应不同的资源分布和用户请求模式以及能够从动态的网络环境中生存。     

Efficient resource allocation scheme for multi-service based on interference mitigation in LTE-Advanced networks

The exponential growth of various services demands the increased capacity of the next-generation broadband wireless access networks, which is toward the deployment of femtocell in macrocell network based on orthogonal frequency division multiple access. However, serious time-varying interference obstructs this macro/femto overlaid network to realize its true potential. In this article, we present a macro services guaranteed resource allocation scheme, which can mitigate various dominant interferences and provide multiple services in macro/femto overlaid Third-Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution-Advanced networks. We model our multiple services resource allocation scheme into a multiobjective optimization problem, which is a non-deterministic polynomial-time （NP）-hard problem. Then, we give a low-complexity algorithm consisting of two layers based on chordal graph. Simulation results verify that the proposed scheme can achieve better efficiency than the previous works and raise the satisfaction ratio of Guaranteed Bit Rate （GBR） services while improving the average performance of non-GBR services.     

Using Fuzzy Analytic Network Process to assess the risks in enterprise resource planning system implementation

The aim of this paper was to evaluate the risk level for both intra-organizational cultures and for different industries in implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. This study adopts the Fuzzy Analytic Network Process (FANP) method to assess ERP implementation risks, which were categorized into four dimensions: management and execution, software system, users, and technology planning. An empirical survey was conducted that utilized the collected survey data of 20 ERP experts in Taiwan to assess, rank, and improve the critical risks of ERP implementation via the FANP method. Based on the results of the FANP method, a follow-up survey of ERP end-users in different departments of three industries was conducted to assess how intra-organizational cultures and cross-industries affect users’ perceived risks a real world scenario. Our research results demonstrated that “lack of management support and assistance” is vital risk for a successful ERP implementation. Top management support and involvement are crucial and essential factors to the success of a firm's ERP implementation. “Ineffective communication with users” was found to be the second highest risk factor. The benefits of using the FANP method for evaluating the risk factors come from the clear priority weights between alternatives. Finally, this study provides suggestions to help enterprises decrease ERP risks, and enhance the chances of success of ERP implementations among intra-organizational cultures and across-industries.     

Risks and risk mitigation in global software development: A tertiary study

ContextThere is extensive interest in global software development (GSD) which has led to a large number of papers reporting on GSD. A number of systematic literature reviews (SLRs) have attempted to aggregate information from individual studies.ObjectiveWe wish to investigate GSD SLR research with a focus on discovering what research has been conducted in the area and to determine if the SLRs furnish appropriate risk and risk mitigation advice to provide guidance to organizations involved with GSD.MethodWe performed a broad automated search to identify GSD SLRs. Data extracted from each study included: (1) authors, their affiliation and publishing venue, (2) SLR quality, (3) research focus, (4) GSD risks, (5) risk mitigation strategies and, (6) for each SLR the number of primary studies reporting each risk and risk mitigation strategy.ResultsWe found a total of 37 papers reporting 24 unique GSD SLR studies. Major GSD topics covered include: (1) organizational environment, (2) project execution, (3) project planning and control and (4) project scope and requirements. We extracted 85 risks and 77 risk mitigation advice items and categorized them under four major headings: outsourcing rationale, software development, human resources, and project management. The largest group of risks was related to project management. GSD outsourcing rationale risks ranked highest in terms of primary study support but in many cases these risks were only identified by a single SLR.ConclusionsThe focus of the GSD SLRs we identified is mapping the research rather than providing evidence-based guidance to industry. Empirical support for the majority of risks identified is moderate to low, both in terms of the number of SLRs identifying the risk, and in the number of primary studies providing empirical support. Risk mitigation advice is also limited, and empirical support for these items is low.