Proposal of a Tool for Determining Sub- and Main Dimension Indicators in Assessing Internal Logistics Readiness for Industry 4.0 within a Company

Key elements of Industry 4.0 are the digitization of products and production, enterprise information systems, robotic workplaces, communication infrastructure, and of course, employees. Industry 4.0 transforms production from stand-alone automated units to fully integrated automated and continuously optimized production environments. According to the prediction of Industry 4.0, new global networks will be created based on the interconnection of production equipment into CPS systems. These systems will be the basic building block of the so-called “smart factories”, and will be able to exchange information autonomously, trigger the necessary actions in response to current conditions and mutually independent inspections. The aim of this article is to describe the issue of readiness models for the Industry 4.0 concept, which are commonly used as tools for conceptualizing and measuring the maturity of an organization or process related to a specific target state. Characteristic for the models is their use because, on this basis, it is possible to identify the current readiness for the concept of Industry 4.0 comprehensively in the whole company or in various sub-areas.

Modelling of interrelationships amongst enterprise and inter-enterprise information system barriers affecting digitalization in electronics supply chain

PurposeThe process of supply chain digitalization (SCD) through enterprise and inter-enterprise information systems (EIIS) is a challenging task. Understanding and studying barriers of SCD adopting EIIS are essential for better management of supply chains (SCs) in the long run. This paper analyses the key EIIS adoption barriers affecting the process of SCD.Design/methodology/approach Fifteen key EIIS barriers of SCD in the context of an electronic SC were identified from existing literature and in consultation with experts from industry and academia. Grey-based decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology is used to identify cause–effect relationship and extent of the strength of relationship amongst EIIS barriers. Sensitivity analysis is done to verify the robustness of the study.Findings EIIS barriers were classified into seven major cause factors and eight effect factors. This study provides a structural framework of key EIIS adoption barriers to decision makers by classifying barriers into cause and effect groups for effective SCD and better management.Originality/value This study contributes to SC literature by exploring key EIIS barriers affecting the process of SCD. These findings will also help the practitioners in effective decision making for digitalization.

Hypergraph Application on Business Process Performance

The modeling of the graphical representation of business processes (BP) or workflows in enterprise information systems (IS) is often to represent various activities, entities, relations, functions, and communicate between them in an enterprise to achieve the major goal of operational support. In this work, we decided to use graph representation approaches, especially hypergraphs to depict the complex relationships that exist among the artifacts and constituents of BP for more efficient and accurate manipulations. We used bipartite and further hypergraph formats for storing and curating data. We have investigated the various descriptive languages and representation models of BP as process modeling, workflow and process integration, and object-oriented (OO) languages. We have carried out experiments using different approach combinations, but for observing quiltedrepresentation, we focused on the main consistencies of “DBP”. As the final approach, we used the “DBP” stream and data schemes that are defined by us to proceed with using pure Python for manually generating data and external Python libraries to store, curate, and visualize “DBP”.

Building Normalized Systems from Domain Models in Ecore

Normalized Systems (NS) theory describes how to design and develop evolvable systems. It is applied in practice to generate enterprise information systems using NS Expanders from models of NS Elements. As there are various well-established modelling languages, the possibility to (re-)use them to create NS applications is desired. This paper presents a mapping between the NS metamodel and the Ecore metamodel as a representant of essential structural modelling. The mapping is the basis of the transformation execution tool based on Eclipse Modeling Framework and NS Java libraries. Both the mapping and the tool are demonstrated in a concise case study but cover all essential Ecore constructs. During the work, several interesting similarities of the two metamodels were found and are described, e.g., its meta-circularity or ability to specify data types using references to Java classes. Still, there are significant differences between the metamodels that prevent some constructs from being mapped. The issues with information loss upon the transformation are mitigated by incorporating additional options that serve as key-value annotations. The results are ready to be used for any Ecore models to create an NS model that can be expanded into an NS application.

An investigation into the principles for creating and evaluating effective business cases for complex IT investments

This study combines interviews and online Q-­‐sorting to investigate the principles for effectively creating and evaluating business cases for complex IT investments, such as enterprise information systems. Interviews with nine expert practitioners are analyzed to examine current practices and challenges with the process of creating and evaluating business cases for complex IT investments. An online Q-­‐sorting study using 19 expert practitioners is also analyzed to examine the relative importance of 32 principles for the effective creation and evaluation of business cases for complex IT investments. The findings indicate there are at least two different types of opinions on the most important principles for creating and evaluating the business cases. Furthermore, several principles that have not received much prior study were judged to be highly important such as the need to consider change management, strategic alignment, and the process of “socialization” of a business case for complex IT investments.

An investigation into the principles for creating and evaluating effective business cases for complex IT investments

This study combines interviews and online Q-­‐sorting to investigate the principles for effectively creating and evaluating business cases for complex IT investments, such as enterprise information systems. Interviews with nine expert practitioners are analyzed to examine current practices and challenges with the process of creating and evaluating business cases for complex IT investments. An online Q-­‐sorting study using 19 expert practitioners is also analyzed to examine the relative importance of 32 principles for the effective creation and evaluation of business cases for complex IT investments. The findings indicate there are at least two different types of opinions on the most important principles for creating and evaluating the business cases. Furthermore, several principles that have not received much prior study were judged to be highly important such as the need to consider change management, strategic alignment, and the process of “socialization” of a business case for complex IT investments.