Sri Sharma

Modern economies of the world thrive on better connectivity through rail, road, air and sea. Many recent studies have noted the importance of connectivity in a robust network topology. Rail is one of the popular modes of transport in many countries. In India, the significance of rail network connectivity is high as Indian Railways (IR) continues on its path of rail network expansion. Manual analysis of connectivity between stations in the network is cumbersome and provides opportunity for automation to process large sets of data with the help of BI technology. In this paper, we propose a business intelligence framework for studying the connectivity of rail network. Using a data mining system developed using the framework, we extract and analyze large sets of data containing IR train timetables and study the connectivity of the IR network. This framework can be applied to study other transport networks like air, road and sea. Future research opportunities which serve as extensions to this study are discussed.

A B S T R A C T Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages developed by ERP vendors are designed not only to standardize the existing business processes of the implementing organization, but also to bring in some of the best practices of the industry. There are many past studies on the assessment of the efficiency of standard ERP projects; however, to date no research has been conducted to assess the efficiency of ERP packages from the point of view of customization. Assessing the efficiency of customized ERP packages is vital for benchmarking best customization practices. In this study we examine the efficiency of customized ERP packages using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We also examine the relationship between the degree of customization of ERP packages and their efficiency. Data was collected from an IT vendor who had deployed ERP package in 12 educational institutions. The results suggest that customization adversely affects the efficiency of ERP packages. We also discuss the implications of the results for research and practice.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are recognized as management information systems that streamline business processes of an enterprise. Delivering ERP software to meet functional needs of an organization with acceptable level of quality is a challenge due to the very nature of development and deployment of this packaged software. Drawing on ISO/IEC 9126’s characterization of software quality and Luo and Strong’s ERP customization framework, this paper analyzes the impact of the ERP system customization on software quality of ERP. A software quality framework for ERP customization has been developed, and three sets of hypotheses have been formulated. A detailed survey was conducted for data collection. The  statistical data analysis reveals that module customization does not impact ERP quality, while database and source code
customizations have significant influence over ERP quality. Our findings have implications for the implementation of customized ERP in organizations.

ABSTRACT While there is a rich body of literature on information system (IS) innovations, there is a limited understanding of the role IS leaders’ individual factors and their appraisals of technological factors play in organizations’ adoption of IS innovations. We address these gaps in the IS literature by focusing on an IS process innovation – namely, computer-aided software engineering (CASE) – which is targeted at the core activities of systems development/maintenance in IS departments. We specifically examine how organizations’ CASE adoption decision is impacted by (1) two individual factors of IS leaders (i.e., leaders’ hierarchical position and job tenure) and (2) their perceptions of technological factors (i.e., relative advantage and technological complexity of CASE). Data were gathered from IS leaders at 350 organizations in the United States using a national cross-sectional survey. The findings suggest that IS leaders’ hierarchical position and their job tenure significantly differentiate CASE adopters from non-adopters. IS leaders at lower levels of the organizational hierarchy and with shorter job tenure made the adoption decisions in adopter organizations, while IS leaders at higher levels of the organizational hierarchy and with longer job tenure made the adoption decisions in non-adopter organizations. The findings also reveal that relative advantage has two dimensions – namely, perceived efficacy advantage and perceived efficiency advantage – and IS leaders’ evaluation of the perceived efficacy advantage of CASE differentiates adopters from non-adopters. The study has important implications for our theoretical and practical understanding of the factors related to IS leaders that are influential in the organizational adoption of IS innovations.

ABSTRACT An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is an information system that supports and integrates many facets of a business. A critical issue in ERP implementation is how to bridge the gap between the ERP system and an organization's business processes by customizing either the system, or the business processes of the organization, or both. Literature review shows that customization is a major hindrance in most of the ERP implementation projects. This research applies nominal group technique (NGT) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) techniques to Luo and Strong's framework to help organizations determine feasible customization choices for their ERP implementation initiatives. A case study is presented to illustrate its applicability in practice. The study has theoretical and practical implications for our understanding of ERP implementation process.

Virtualization is seen as one of the green ITs which can help reduce infrastructure and maintenance costs. It is regarded to be a cost-effective way to dramatically reduce downtime, increase flexibility, use hardware effectively, reduce overall system complexity, and lower carbon emission. Though the popular business literature is replete with anecdotal evidence of green benefits of virtualizing servers, storage, operating systems, and in some cases entire IT infrastructure, there is little academic research on this topic in the MIS area. In this paper we provide a review of its principles, underlying technologies, major applications, and costs and benefits. We also provide implications for both practice and research, and identify some directions for future research.

The open source software (OSS) model is a fundamentally new and revolutionary way to develop software. The success of the OSS model is also setting the stage for a structural change in the software industry; it is beginning to transform software industry from manufacturing to a service industry. Despite
the success of the OSS model, for-profit organizations are having difficulty building a business model around the open source paradigm. Whereas there are some isolated empirical studies, little rigorous research has been done on how traditional organizations can implement and benefit from OSS practices. This research explores how organizations can foster an environment similar to OSS to manage their software development efforts to reap its numerous advantages. Drawing on organizational theory, we develop a framework that guides the creation and management of a hybrid-OSS community within an organization.We discuss the implications
of this framework and suggest areas for future research.

This study focuses on two variables, job tenure of the ISD leader and positional power of the ISD leader in the organizational hierarchy, and their relationship to CASE adoption decision in organizations. Following Kwon and Zmud (1987), these two variables are classified as individual factors. A randomized national survey of top IS executives in US organizations was conducted to collect data for the study. Discriminant analysis was used to analyze data. Contrary to the commonly held belief in the innovation diffusion literature, the study found that both job tenure and positional power of the ISD leader are negatively related to CASE adoption.

Cognition-based models are increasingly being emphasized in the fields of information systems, management, and organizational behavior. An implicit proposition in majority of previous research is that managerial cognition plays an important role in decision-making and strategy formulation for an organization. Traditionally cognitive mapping techniques have been used to elicit and analyze managerial cognition. This paper presents a theoretical framework to integrate an emerging and semantically rich information technology, object-oriented modeling, and causal mapping, an implementation of cognitive mapping technique, to capture and analyze managerial cognition in a better way. The paper identifies, compares, and analyzes the capabilities of object-oriented modeling and cognitive mapping. The analysis shows that use of object-oriented modeling technique can enhance and enrich the causal mapping technique in the context of DSS.

The classification of objects, variables, constructs in proper groups is very important for theory development. Traditionally, numerical clustering techniques such as cluster analysis and discriminant analysis have been used for classifying objects into similar and dissimilar groups. These techniques use a numerical measure of similarity or dissimilarity to cluster objects. Such a measure is a function only of the compared objects and does not take into consideration any global properties or concepts characterizing object classes. Consequently, the obtained clusters may not be simple and may be difficult to interpret. A recently developed conceptual clustering technique (Michalsky, 1980) which forms  clusters only if they are describable by a concept from a predefined concept class has been claimed to give better clusters than using conventional clustering techniques (Michalsky and Stepp, 1983, 1986). However, the results obtained from different studies so far are contradictory and inconclusive. In this study, the above claim is examined by making a comparison between conceptual clustering and conventional numerical clustering on the basis of simplicity of the generated clusters and the simplicity of concept description for the interpretation of the generated clusters. The study is grounded in past research and suggests the superiority of the conceptual clustering over conventional numerical clustering. However, the extensive empirical testing is necessary to substantiate the above claims. The limitations of the present conceptual clustering approach are identified and the future research directions are suggested.

Quality of goods and services is becoming a commodity and is no more considered a factor which may give competitive advantage to a manufacturing corporation. Time, speed, flexibility, and logistics related to product development and product delivery are new parameters by which the competitive positions of manufacturing corporations are being decided. It is argued that IT can help organizations in managing these new parameters and meeting new challenges. The virtues of IT as facilitator are examined. A framework is proposed to integrate manufacturing with IT and other functional areas of the organization. The benefits of such integration are discussed.

Software is increasingly occupying more and more importance in every arena of our life. Accordingly, the quality of software is being emphasized more than ever. The methodologies presently used to produce quality software are based on the premise that quality is strongly related to rigor in the specifications and texts that appear throughout the software design process. While the quality of software is essentially process driven, today most of the product market is customer driven. Customer satisfaction is the most important criteria for a product's failure or success in the market. Customer satisfaction is also one of the several measures that are used to decide the overall quality for Malcom Baldrige award. Unfortunately, this measure has not been so far in the construction of quality software. It is argued that if customer satisfaction were used as one of the criteria for judging the quality of a software, some radical changes might be deemed necessary to make reliable and dependable software. In this paper, the quality of software is explored from customer point of view.

Recently there has been increasing emphasis on the synergistic use of OR/MS techniques and IT to aid decision makers in decision making. However, in spite of potential of such use to improve the performance of decision makers, there have been only a few efforts to integrate OR/MS techniques and IT. Moreover, such efforts have largely integrated specific OR/MS techniques and specific IT. A need is realized, therefore, to seek a generalized model for the synergistic use of OR/MS techniques and IT for situations where such integration may be most advantageous. In this paper, an effort is made to come up such a model. The proposed model takes into consideration task characteristics, organizational structures, degree of environmental turbulence, and degree of IT use.

Past research has shown that executing SISP can be a very challenging endeavor. The difficulty involved in the above process is underscored by the fact that many applications recommended by SISP are often ignored while others (not recommended by SISP) are implemented. Recent research has tried to address the above problem by investigating the root causes of SISP implementation. However, a phenomenon can be better understood by looking not only at the factors which adversely affect it but also at those factors which make it succeed. Contemporary research recognizes the need of  such a research which focuses on attributes of successful SISP endeavors.  In this paper, an attempt is made to address this issue. The success factors from past studies are identified. Their relationship with one another and with SISP success is presented in a comprehensive but parsimonious framework that identifies four major dimensions of SISP success factors: context, process, method, and implementation. Propositions are made regarding the effect of these factors on the SISP success.

Recent research in EIS shows that their success is hampered by data problems. This paper identifies the data problems associated with EIS and their causes based on past research. Primarily, two classes of data problems -- organizational and technical -- are found. Different approaches to solve these problems are discussed. It is concluded that information systems architecture (ISA) has the potential to solve these problems and to fulfill information requirements of an organization and its personnel in a timely and comprehensive manner. The implications of this research are discussed and future research directions are identified.

In a review of empirical research of information technology diffusion, Fichman (1993) notices that the results of past studies, in general, show weak or inconclusive support for classical or communications theory of innovation diffusion. One interpretation of these disappointing results is that classical diffusion variables by themselves are unlikely to be strong predictors of adoption  and diffusion of complex information technologies characterized by high knowledge barriers and/or significant user interdependencies at organizational level. The implication is that future research on IT diffusion at organizational level should consider not only communications perspective, but also market and infrastructure, economic, and organizational learning perspectives. This study is a step forward in that direction in that it supplements communications perspective with organizational learning perspective. This paper discusses the communications perspective of innovation diffusion in organizations and its shortcomings. Next, it makes a case, based on recent research, that organizational learning is an integral part of any diffusion process. Then, drawing on the innovation literature, it provides a framework to link learning skills necessary for different types of innovation. Finally, it makes a preliminary effort to integrate communications and learning perspectives. Both academicians and practitioners should benefit from this study as it provides a more holistic view of diffusion of organizational innovations.