scholarly journals Information technology sourcing changes in an SME: Ça Va de Soi in the cloud with diamonds

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-80
Author(s):  
Simon Bourdeau ◽  
Dragos Vieru
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Opportunity To Learn ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Erp System ◽  
Sourcing Strategy ◽  
It Project ◽  
Medium Enterprise

This case study presents the information technology (IT) sourcing decisions made by a Canadian small and medium enterprise specializing in knitwear, called Ça Va de Soi ( CVDS), during the deployment of the second phase of their two-phase organizational strategy based on a “Bricks and Clicks” business model. CVDS has 30 employees and 5 stores with annual sales of around $CDN 5 million (2015). The case focuses on phase two, the “Clicks,” where an IT project, divided into two parallel subprojects, was realized: (1) the custom development of an ERP system, and (2) the creation of an online e-commerce. The project was based on an “on-premises” sourcing strategy where the information systems were developed “in-house” by external service providers. After several months of efforts, the subprojects were abandoned and CVDS’ activities were rolled back to their legacy systems (Part A). Pulling the plug on the IT project was a tough decision for CVDS who still needed the online store to be implemented in order to support its stores’ activities. However, CVDS’ management team considered this failure as an opportunity to learn from their mistakes, review, and transform its IT sourcing strategy (Part B).

The Concept of Modularity in the Context of IS/IT Project Outsourcing

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Shahzada Benazeer ◽  
Jan Verelst ◽  
Philip Huysmans
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Failure Rates ◽  
It Services ◽  
Research Project ◽  
It Project ◽  
Technology Services ◽  
Insight Into

Information systems and information technology (IS/IT) services are often outsourced to external partners for multiple reasons. The outsourcing literature is persistently reporting high failure rates in IS/IT project outsourcing. Literature suggests that the IS/IT project outsourcing is a complex maneuver, but unfortunately, none of the proposed remedies (mitigating actions) have considered addressing the complexity related issue in IS/IT project outsourcing. This paper explores the concept of modularity, as it has been applied in many other fields in order to manage complexity and enhance agility/flexibility. This paper presents a case study conducted at a Belgian organization involved in technology services and is part of a research project consisting of four cases. This study illustrates a systematic approach, how the concept of modularity can be applied in identifying ‘couplings' which may be responsible for increasing complexity to IS/IT project outsourcing. This study is a first attempt to gain insight into this phenomenon.

Implementation Management of an E-Commerce- Enabled Enterprise Information System

2011 ◽  
pp. 155-168
Author(s):  
R. P. Sundarraj ◽  
Joseph Sarkis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Information System ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Enterprise Information System ◽  
Erp Implementation ◽  
Enterprise Information ◽  
Erp System ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Implementation Management

This chapter presents a case study of an overview of the efforts of Texas Instrument’s (TI’s) internal and external ERP implementation, with a focus on linking its ERP system in a global e-commerce setting. This linkage is especially important since it had been stated in TI’s strategic plan as an objective of this project to provide visibility of the ERP system to external constituents via Web linkages along with the objective of standardizing internal processes and important information technology systems to support market needs. Thus, its ERP system is central to managing its supply chain and B2B e-commerce linkages from both a customer and supplier perspective. Issues faced by TI are clearly outlined with future questions also posed in the final section.

Implementation Management of an E-Commerce-Enabled Enterprise Information Systems

2011 ◽  
pp. 32-47
Author(s):  
R. P. Sundarraj ◽  
Joseph Sarkis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Information Systems ◽  
Erp Implementation ◽  
Enterprise Information ◽  
Enterprise Information Systems ◽  
Erp System ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Implementation Management

This chapter presents a case study of an overview of the efforts of Texas Instrument’s (TI’s) internal and external ERP implementation, with a focus on linking its ERP system in a global e-commerce setting. This linkage is especially important since it had been stated in TI’s strategic plan as an objective of this project to provide visibility of the ERP system to external constituents via Web linkages along with the objective of standardizing internal processes and important information technology systems to support market needs. Thus, its ERP system is central to managing its supply chain and B2B e-commerce linkages from both a customer and supplier perspective. Issues faced by TI are clearly outlined with future questions also posed in the final section.

A Case Study for Infrastructure Scour Management

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eftychia Koursari ◽  
Stuart Wallace ◽  
Panagiotis Michalis ◽  
Yi Xu ◽  
Manousos Valyrakis
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Bridge Engineering ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Phase Approach ◽  
Remediation Measures ◽  
Stability Of Structures ◽  
Safety Inspections

<p>Scour is the leading cause of bridge collapse worldwide, being responsible for compromising the stability of structures’ foundations. Scour and erosion can take place without prior warning and cause sudden failure. This study describes engineering measures and complications encountered during construction for a case study in the Scottish Borders (A68 Galadean Bridge). The bridge studied carries the A68 road across the Leader Water.</p><p>Transport Scotland’s structures crossing or near a watercourse are subject to a two-stage scour assessment following the Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) BD97/12 Standard, ‘The Assessment of Scour and Other Hydraulic Actions at Highway Structures’. Structures identified at risk are monitored through Reactive Structures Safety Inspections following events likely to increase water levels. The most common form of monitoring includes visual inspections, however, monitoring sensors are being currently implemented and trialled at locations at high risk of scour.</p><p>Scour in the area was identified during a Reactive Structures Safety Inspection, following which a weekly scour monitoring regime was established, alongside further Reactive Structures Safety Inspections, until remediation measures were put in place.</p><p>Despite the bridge being constructed perpendicular to the Leader Water, meandering of the watercourse was detected upstream. Sediment transport was the cause of an island formation immediately upstream of the structure. Non-uniform flow and secondary, spiral currents, resulting from the formation of the bend were exacerbating scour and erosion in the area. The design of the remediation measures included the implementation of rock rolls alongside the affected riverbank. However, during construction, increased water levels resulting from thawing snow resulted in the collapse of a significant portion of the embankment supporting the structure’s abutment and the A68 road, prior to the realisation of the remediation measures. An emergency design revision was required and emergency measures had to be enforced.</p><p>The urgency of the works led to a two-phase approach being followed for the design and construction of the scour measures in the affected area. The first phase included the construction of a platform in front of the affected road embankment and the implementation of rock rolls to provide scour protection. The two-phase approach ensured the infrastructure at risk was protected from further deterioration while the reconstruction of the embankment was being designed.</p><p>The second phase of works included the reconstruction of the affected road embankment, for which the anticipated total scour depth was taken into account.</p><p> </p><p>References:</p><p>Koursari E and Wallace S. 2019. Infrastructure scour management: a case study for A68 Galadean Bridge, UK. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Bridge Engineering, https://doi.org/10.1680/jbren.18.00062</p><p> </p><p>Acknowledgements:</p><p>The authors would like to acknowledge Transport Scotland for funding this project.</p>

scholarly journals A customer-centric approach towards evaluating single-choice information technology service provision to the parastatal sector of South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 401-412
Author(s):  
MC Cant ◽  
JW Strydom ◽  
VM Moodley ◽  
DH Tustin
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Information Technology ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
User Preferences ◽  
Term Survival ◽  
Technology Service ◽  
Information Technology Service

The article presents a case study whereby the service performance of a single-choice information technology service provider in the parastatal industry of South Africa is measured against multi-choice private service providers without any provisional agreements.  The outcome of the case study reveals that single-choice service provision options with provisional agreements have a limited chance of success if they are not supported by strong service user inputs.  In fact, provisional strategies that disallow sound competition among service providers are bound to impact negatively on user preferences as well as information technology skills development opportunities that  are required to improve service provision generally and long-term survival in particular.

Relations Between Common Understanding and Experience: Case Study of an International Information Technology Project

2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (04) ◽  
pp. 1650046 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miwa Nishinaka
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
It Projects ◽  
Technology Project ◽  
It Project ◽  
Information Technology Project ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Employee Experience ◽  
Common Understanding

This study examines the process of building common understanding in a case study of an international information technology (IT) project. A literature review situates the subject of common understanding among fields of research and identifies issues that are insufficiently explored. Our quantitative and qualitative surveys in the case study reveal that common understanding relates to experience. It also establishes that there are situational variations in common understanding. The theoretical implications are presented about the acquisition of common understanding in diverse organisations and the relations to employee experience. It shows that the nature of common understanding shifts from inductive to deductive knowledge as employees accumulate experience in international IT projects.

scholarly journals The Implementation of Tartil Method to Increase Ability in Reciting al-Qur’an for Students of IAIN Raden Intan Lampung

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syafrimen Syafril ◽  
Nova Erlina
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Approach ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Control Group Design ◽  
Group Design ◽  
Case Study Design ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Explanatory Mixed Methods

The purpose of this study is to know the implementation of Tartil Method in order to increase the ability of the students of IAIN Raden Intan Lampung in reciting al-Qur’an. This study used two phase of explanatory mixed methods designs. The first phase was quantitative approach using true experiment by having pretest-postest control group design for 66 students who have low ability in reciting al-Qur’an. The second phase was qualitative approach using multi-case single-site case study design involving 9 students who were trained by using Tartil method. The data of the first phase were collected by testing the students to recite al-Qur’an and then the scores were analyzed by using Statistical Package For Social Science [SPSS] Windows 18.0. In the second phase, the data were collected by using in depth-interview and the data from interview were described thematically with Nvivo 8. From the first phase, it was found that there was an increasing ability of reciting al-Qur’an after the implementation of Tartil method. From the second phase, it was found that the reasons why the students could recite Al-Qur’an faster were: [i] the method was easier to follow, [ii] the method was interesting because there were some specific color used to in the material given, [iii] the reciting al-Qur’an was directly applied with the muratal system, [iv] the tajwid was applied in order to make the reciting perfect. The implication of this study was discussed with any theories, concepts and relevance studies.

Implementation Management of an E-Commerce-Enabled Enterprise Information System

2011 ◽  
pp. 133-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. P. Sundarraj ◽  
Joseph Sarkis
Keyword(s):  
Information Technology ◽  
Information System ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Enterprise Information System ◽  
Erp Implementation ◽  
Enterprise Information ◽  
Erp System ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Implementation Management

This chapter presents a case study of an overview of the efforts of Texas Instrument’s (TI’s) internal and external ERP implementation, with a focus on linking its ERP system in a global e-commerce setting. This linkage is especially important since it had been stated in TI’s strategic plan as an objective of this project to provide visibility of the ERP system to external constituents via Web linkages along with the objective of standardizing internal processes and important information technology systems to support market needs. Thus, its ERP system is central to managing its supply chain and B2B e-commerce linkages from both a customer and supplier perspective. Issues faced by TI are clearly outlined with future questions also posed in the final section.

scholarly journals Optimal assignment and scheduling of workers and tasks on an assembly line

2009 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-84
Author(s):  
Lieschen Venter ◽  
Stephan Visagie
Keyword(s):  
Assembly Line ◽  
Labour Cost ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Total Production ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Optimal Assignment ◽  
Two Phase ◽  
Optimal Sequence ◽  
The Cost

In this paper the assignment of cross-trained and temporary workers to tasks on an assembly line is investigated. Cross-trained workers are skilled to perform more than one task on the assembly line in the production process. Temporary workers are viewed as either trained or untrained and may be hired or laid off as required. The solution procedure may be divided into three parts. During the first part a model is formulated to determine an optimal assignment of the workers to the production tasks. During the second part the model is extended to determine the effect of the assignment of both trained and untrained temporary workers to the tasks on the assembly line. During the final part of the model an optimal sequence of tasks in the assembly line is determined that minimises the resulting execution times of these tasks. During the first part the objective is to maximise the total production utility. This is achieved by implementing a two-phase model. The first phase maximises the utility of pro-duction by minimising labour shortage in the assembly line. During the second phase the improvement of the workers’ levels of skill is maximised while the effect of the learning and forgetting of skills is taken into consideration. A learn-forget-curve model (LFCM) is implemented to model the effect of this human characteristic on the master model. This approach ensures that the advantageous cross-trained nature of the workers is maintained and optimized, without a large deviation from the solution determined by the first phase. The objective of the second part is to minimise the labour cost of production by determin-ing the best type of workers for a certain task as well as the manner in which they should be hired or laid off. A worker is classified as either permanently or temporarily employed. Tem-porarily employed workers are further classified as either untrained or cross-trained workers. The assignment of workers to tasks on the assembly line is achieved by means of a Master Production Scheduling (MPS) model. The MPS has as its objective the minimisation of the total labour cost of performing all the tasks. The labour cost is defined as the sum of the temporary workers’ daily wages, the overtime cost of permanent workers, the overtime cost of temporary workers and the cost of employing and laying off temporary workers. Finally, during the third part an optimal sequence of tasks is determined in the production process in order to minimise the total production time. This is achieved by means of a two-phase dynamic assembly line balancing model, which is adjusted to incorporate the critical path method. During the first phase, an optimal task sequence is determined, while during the second phase, an optimal assignment of tasks to workstations and the timing thereof, is determined. The practical applicability of the model is demonstrated by means of a real life case study. The production of various styles of shoes in a leatherworks factory is considered. The production of each style requires a different set of tasks and each task requires a different level of skill. The factory under consideration employs both cross-trained and temporary workers and data sets were obtained empirically by observation, interviews and questionnaires. Upon execution of the first phase of the assignment model, an optimal utility is found and the second phase is able to maximise the increase of the workers’ skill level without deviation from this optimum. Upon execution of the employment model, it is found that labour costs are minimized by increasing the use of temporary workers and by assigning the maximum allowable number of overtime hours to them. Upon application of the scheduling model, an improved time is obtained compared to the standard execution time of each style. The results obtained from the case study indicate that the application of the model presented in this paper shows a substantial improvement in production, while reducing the cost of labour as well as improving the overall level of workers’ skills. A multi-objective model is thus developed which successfully maximises production utility, maximises skill development of workers, minimises labour costs and the occurrence of idle workers as well as minimises total execution time. 

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