Comparative analysis of tools for the integration of IT systems

This article describes the methods, approaches and technologies of information systems integration, compares the functionality of the selected tools for information systems integration from a selected point of view. In this case, it is an evaluation of the ability to perform the main functions of the Enterprice Service Bus and the resulting benefits.

Extrovert integrated management systems

PurposeThe purpose of this research is twofold; firstly, to propose and test a measuring instrument for the efficient and effective integration of management systems (MSs), identifying the particular aspects that may distinguish the substantive (internalized) from the superficial (ceremonial) integration; and secondly, to propose and test a scale for corporate sustainability performance (CSP).Design/methodology/approachA literature review has identified pertinent variables and yielded relevant measuring items. A field survey has been conducted. The survey instrument has been administered to Greek organizations certified to two or more MS standards. Collected data from 280 respondents has been processed using exploratory factor analysis.FindingsInternalization has been identified as the main construct to interpret substantial MS integration in terms of resources and the extent of integration. The extracted internalization factors are human resources, strategic resources, information systems, integration tools, outsourcing, internal processes integration level and audits' integration level. CSP has been operationalized in terms of the company's relationships with its stakeholders. The extracted CSP factors are customer–supplier relationship, the employees, investors/shareholders, financial institutions, the environment, state and society.Practical implicationsThis research findings can be used by management professionals, certification bodies and governmental authorities in order to foster the implementation of multiple MSs and highlight the critical issues for their successful integration and internalization, which is imperative for their prosperity and contribution toward CSP. Practitioners are also provided with an instrument to monitor CSP through the company's relationships with its stakeholders toward satisfaction of their needs.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first empirical study on the internalization of integrated MSs. In addition, the development of a CSP scale intends to bring together corporate sustainability management with CSP.

Implementation of business intelligence considering the role of information systems integration and enterprise resource planning

The aim of this research is the implementation of business intelligence, considering the role of information systems integration and enterprise resource planning on it. According to the objectives of this research, it is practical research, and the work process is based on descriptive, survey, and exploratory research. The study population of the qualitative part of this research includes experts (information technology and communications managers from Tehran Stock Exchange companies and professors). Twenty-five interviews were performed by a non-random and targeted method, until a theoretical saturation of the questionnaire was reached. The study population of the quantitative part includes all the personnel of 167 companies where business intelligence is implemented in their organizations. Two questionnaires were used for gathering the required data for evaluating and measuring the studied variables. Validity is confirmed by experts' opinions. Finally, seven issues of structural factors, behavioral factors, environmental factors, processes, output, consequence, and the effect and their subcomponents are identified as effective items in business intelligence success. Regarding the outcome, importance, and the model coefficient of the main factors, the processes have the most impact on the results. So, organizations should pay more attention to their working processes to improve business intelligence success. Overall, the results regarding the effective factors on successful implementation of business intelligence reflect best practices of firms that have successfully implemented BI systems and provide insights for BI stakeholders that may increase the chances of successful implementation. This study shows the value of integrated information systems and enterprise resource planning in the success of business intelligence implementation. The findings of this study provide an opportunity for other researchers to study a cost optimization approach. It also suggests it is time to investigate suitable approaches by a focus on the appropriate factors for successful business intelligence implementation and by comparative analysis of ways to boost business intelligence preparation. This study also found further factors, in addition to enterprise resource planning and information systems integration, that can be used to select and rank more factors of business intelligence implementation. Furthermore, a model that examines the integration of business intelligence and the other information systems in the company is proposed for future research.

Ontology-Assisted Enterprise Information Systems Integration in Manufacturing Supply Chain

Manufacturing communities around the globe are eagerly witnessing the recent developments in semantic web technology (SWT). This technology combines a set of new mechanisms with grounded knowledge representation techniques to address the needs of formal information modelling and reasoning for web-based services. This chapter provides a high-level summary of SWT to help better understand the impact that this technology will have on wider enterprise information architectures. In many cases it also reuses familiar concepts with a new twist. For example, “ontologies” for “data dictionaries” and “semantic models” for “data models.” This chapter presents the usefulness of a proposed architecture by applying a theory to integrating data from multiple heterogeneous sources which entails dealing with semantic mapping between source schema and a resource description framework (RDF) ontology described declaratively using specific query language (i.e. SPARQL) queries. Finally, the semantic of query rewriting is further discussed and a query rewriting algorithm is presented.