Empirical evidence of an integrative knowledge competence framework for ERP systems implementation in UK industries

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems can greatly improve business productivity and better serve customers by creating values through integrating business processes and sharing current information. Knowledge Management (KM) is crucial for ERP systems implementation, but is particularly demanding task. This paper discusses ERP systems implementation in UK manufacturing and service sector organisations, focusing on empirical evidence of an innovative KM approach for improving knowledge competence for ERP success. Qualitative research was conducted, using semi-structured interviews with ERP experts. Data analysis used a combination of thematic and comparative analysis. The findings suggest that the integrative knowledge competence framework can provide ERP practitioners with useful guidance on what the key knowledge determinants are and how the relationships between knowledge components should be best managed to achieve ERP systems implementation success in real life business situations.     

扩展企业资源计划体系结构研究

企业资源计划已经成为制造业后台事务处理的中枢,它将企业的各种功能集成到一个共同的系统中,使企业业务流程畅通和事务处理工作自动化。随着企业管理思想和信息技术的发展,传统的企业资源计划面临着新的挑战。针对企业资源计划所面临的环境和存在的问题,该文深入分析了下一代企业资源计划的需求。基于所分析需求的驱动,以及当前软件工程领域和信息系统领域的最新研究成果,笔者揭示了下一代企业资源计划的内涵,深化了其概念,并将其概括为扩展企业资源计划。在此基础上,给出了面向Web服务的EERP层次化体系结构,并详细论述了该体系结构的主要特征。     

Integrating ERP using EAI: a model for <Emphasis Type="Italic">post hoc</Emphasis> evaluation

In recent years there has been an increased focus on improving the capability and flexibility of organisational information systems through improving, and where necessary, re-engineering inter- and intra-organisational information flows. In doing so, many firms have realised that the cornerstone of their information systems capability is dependent upon core systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). In realising this, it has forced businesses to acknowledge the need to integrate ERP systems with existing disparate legacy systems. Technology solutions such as Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) have been seen as a panacea to facilitate integration through the use of technologies that allow corporate IS subsystems to communicate with one another. In the context of using enterprise technologies to integrate ERP with other organisational business systems, this paper analyses and extends previously published work through presenting the failure of an industrial automation business to integrate its ERP system with legacy processes when using an EAI approach. In doing so, the authors present a post hoc evaluation model that can be used by others as a frame of reference; a tool for reflection. The presented model seeks to provide further insight to the failed approach to ERP integration, within the given case study organisation. This proposed model, is constructed in terms of Technical, Organisational and Tailorability components. It is anticipated that this will be a useful tool for both practitioners and academics, who wish to gain a deeper understanding of ERP/EAI implementation approaches, as well as providing insights into how the componentisation and extension of ERP functionalities can be achieved, towards so-called ERPII.     

ERP in the Internet Economy

This paper discusses the future of Enterprise Resource Planning and (ERP) in the Internet Economy. In the Internet Economy, ERP as a distinct entity is giving way to a much broader value proposition that effectively fuses different forms of business applications and services. Back-office and front-office applications within an enterprise will come together, along with applications and services for value-chain collaboration between business partners.     

The importance of business process modeling in software systems design

Despite diligent efforts made by the software engineering community, the failure of software projects keeps increasing at an alarming rate. After two decades of this problem reoccurring, one of the leading causes for the high failure rate is still poor process modeling (requirements’ specification). Therefore both researchers and practitioners recognize the importance of business process modeling in understanding and designing accurate software systems. However, lack of direct model checking (verification) feature is one of the main shortcomings in conventional process modeling methods. It is important that models provide verifiable insight into underlying business processes in order to design complex software systems such as Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). The software engineering community has been deploying the same methods that have haunted the industry with failure. In this paper, we try to remedy this issue by looking at a non-conventional framework. We introduce a business process modeling method that is amenable to automatic analysis (simulation), yet powerful enough to capture the rich reality of business systems as enacted in the behavior and interactions of users. The proposed method is based on the innovative language-action perspective.     

基于协同ERP的GDSS协同系统设计研究

首先简要分析了ERP软件的研究发展现状,定义了协同商务ERP概念模式,该模式集成GDSS;其次,依据协同ERP概念模式,提出基于协同ERP的多智能Agents GDSS协同系统设计方案;最后,研究了此设计方案的多媒体多智能Agent系统功能体系结构。     

Systematisierung des Nutzens von ERP-Systemen in der Fertigungsindustrie

This paper classifies and explores the benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems using the individual manufacturing facility as the level of analysis. We focused on German companies using SAP R/3. Two successful cases are described in detail. The cases revealed that remarkable benefits have been realized in the following categories: ?Process efficiency (business processes)”, ?Market efficiency (market and customer orientation)”, ?Resource efficiency (productivity and profitability)”, and ?Delegation efficiency (gathering of information)”. Data standardization and integration explain many of these benefits. However, the users complain about higher workloads as a result of the complexity and required data structures of these systems. Therefore, they show lower acceptance for the new system.     

Conception and Implementation of an Object Request Broker for the Integration of the Process Level in Manufacturing Systems

In order to be able to react quickly to altering production states, planning tools such as Manufacturing Resource Planning and Enterprise Resource Planning heavily rely on up to date information about the process itself. Thus, access to process level data is one of the most important issues within the production industry. However, the process level lacks support for open, connective communication systems as the number of incompatible fieldbus systems shows. Current solutions, e.g., OLE for Process Control, only focus on a unified interface to the process level, but do not allow to access the functionality of a field device directly. The approach presented in this paper introduces FIMO, the Fieldbus Messaging Object Request Broker, to be deployed in field devices and utilizing the existing fieldbus protocols. With the use of FIMO, devices connected to a fieldbus can be seamlessly integrated in the whole manufacturing hierarchy. The paper gives a brief overview of thestate of the art for accessing process level data. Then, the FIMO architecture is presented in detail including its core services and the mapping of the communication services to the underlying fieldbus system.     

基于因特网环境的虚拟企业资源计划VERP

因特网环境下,企业为了抓住机遇、快速响应市场、赢得竞争,就必须进行面向虚拟企业的资源计划。该文提出并研究了因特网环境下的虚拟企业资源计划VERP;规划出虚拟企业资源计划系统,包括系统层次结构设计、功能模块结构设计、数据库服务器结构设计。     

基于协同商务时代ERP的财务信息系统功能设计*

首先分析了ERP软件的研究发展现状,其次明确定义了协同商务时代ERP概念模式,最后系统地分析了协同商务对传统财务信息系统功能的影响。     

From means to ends: The transformation of ERP in a manufacturing company

In this paper, we present a case study of the restructuring of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system within a manufacturing company, in particular the combination of Material Requirement Planning (MRP) with a Just In Time (JIT) material management procedure at the assembly lines. We focus in this study upon the mutual shaping of technology and organizational culture, in particular the virtualization of the organization. It is argued that the implementation of ERP in this specific context was more than an adaptation of a standardized information system relative to organizational requirements, and that the organizational adaptations were more than a re-engineering of business processes relative to ERP. Instead, we suggest that in this case the ERP system itself has been transformed, including a change in the signification of ERP within the company.     

ERP系统中自适应业务数据单元系统的研究

中小企业ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning)的实施存在需求难以确定及流程经常变化的特点,因此个性化的ERP系统是系统能否成功实施的关键。在改造传统ERP系统的数据流的基础上,提出了抽象ERP系统界面过程中应遵守的原则;在这些原则的指导下,采用关系型数据库封装对象化界面元素的属性和业务行为,实现ERP系统界面元素的对象化。通过销售单输入界面实现的实例,体现了该系统的良好的扩展性和升级维护的方便性及灵活性。     

Information supply for business processes: coupling workflow with document analysis and information retrieval

Explicit modeling of business processes and their enactment in workflow systems have proved to be valuable in increasing the efficiency of work in organizations. We argue that enacted business processes — i.e. workflow management systems — form a solid basis for adequate information support in complex and knowledge-intensive business processes. To support this claim we demonstrate results from two different projects.The VirtualOffice approach employs workflow-context information to support high-precision document analysis and understanding in standard office settings; the combination of workflow context and document analysis allows for the automatic handling of incoming paper mail with respect to the appropriate workflows.The KnowMore approach focuses on the support of people who work on knowledge-intensive tasks by automatic delivery of relevant and goal-specific information. To this end, workflow context, an extended process model, and a detailed modeling of information sources are combined.     

Formalization and verification of event-driven process chains

For many companies, business processes have become the focal point of attention. As a result, many tools have been developed for business process engineering and the actual deployment of business processes. Typical examples of these tools are Business Process Reengineering (BPR) tools, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and Workflow Management (WFM) systems. Some of the leading products, e.g. SAP R/3 (ERP/WFM) and ARIS (BPR), use Event-driven Process Chains (EPCs) to model business processes. Although the EPCs have become a widespread process modeling technique, they suffer from a serious drawback: neither the syntax nor the semantics of an EPC are well defined. In this paper, this problem is tackled by mapping EPCs (without connectors of type ∨) onto Petri nets. The Petri nets have formal semantics and provide an abundance of analysis techniques. As a result, the approach presented in this paper gives formal semantics to EPCs. Moreover, many analysis techniques are available for EPCs. To illustrate the approach, it is shown that the correctness of an EPC can be checked in polynomial time by using Petri-net-based analysis techniques.     

A formal representation for context-aware business processes

A business process is a set of activities performed in a coordinated manner within an organizational and technical environment that is aimed toward a business goal. The flexibility of a process is related to an understanding of the unexpected events that occur when people, systems and resources interact and require adjustments. Thus, business processes must be designed to respond to information about different events and their specificity. This information defines what the literature calls “context”. To broaden the perception of context in the case of a business process, this work proposes an approach to characterize the context of a business process activity in a given domain through conceptual models structured in layers. A case study was conducted to evaluate the proposal, which provided evidence of the applicability of the model.     

面向重构的企业应用系统业务模型

在分析面向重构的设计原则的基础上,提出一种基于业务规则的业务模型,并给出八类规则的表达形式。通过对业务元素的持续分解,将模型中频繁发生变化的部分分离出来并使用规则表达,提高了业务模型的动态性和灵活性。最后研究了基于该业务模型的建模过程。     

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。     

Adaptive integration activity management for on demand business process collaboration

Today businesses are interacting and collaborating more often in the context of a business value chain involving a variety of partners to deliver products and services. Business to business (B2B) connectivity, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and general business collaboration processes are becoming more critical in operating and managing efficient enterprises. The required level of inter and intra enterprise integration is generally a large undertaking and involves substantial development and customization efforts. In this paper, we propose an adaptive integration activity management approach based on web services technologies to reduce code changes associated with business process integration in a distributed collaboration environment. Specifically, we present a concept of activity chain to capture non-deterministic process flows as well as deterministic process flows in a uniform manner. Then an Activity Ontology is introduced to capture the integration requirements that include adaptation behaviors, action properties, business rules, and access control policy references. The unique ontology representation and management of the integration activities provides a uniform way to integrate additional internal and external business applications to reduce the need for pre-defined and hard-wired integration methods and to minimize code changes to existing components in an existing business collaboration and integration (B2B/EAI) infrastructure. In addition, a Petri-Net modeling exercise of the proposed integration activity management is performed to help better understand the actual system and improve the system design beforehand.     

氧化铝生产过程制造执行系统的研究

制造执行系统(MES)是连接上层企业资源计划(ERP)与底层过程控制系统(PCS)的桥梁,是基于ERP,MES,PCS三层结构的流程工业综合自动化系统的关键。针对氧化铝生产过程的特点,分析和探讨了氧化铝生产过程MES体系结构和功能,提出了氧化铝生产过程MES的功能模块设计。实践结果表明:氧化铝MES的实施实现了氧化铝生产过程,下层过程控制的实时信息和上层企业资源计划的信息融合与贯通,实现了氧化铝生产过程的优化控制、优化运行和优化管理,提高了企业的综合竞争力。