Search

Organizations deliver on their mandates by executing a variety of services. Over the past few decades, service automation software systems, such as SAP and PeopleSoft, have enabled the automation of services. While much attention in the literature and in industry has been devoted to the implementation and functional correctness of automated services, little focus has been granted to ensuring responsiveness for services. As service automation platforms host larger and larger numbers of services, and services execute with greater and greater levels of concurrency, fault resolution becomes an important issue in ensuring expected responsiveness levels. In particular, two factors impactfault resolution in service automation platforms. First, each executing service requires access to specific data and system resources to complete its processing. As greater numbers of services execute concurrently, there is increasing contention for these data and system resources, leading to greater numbers of faults and SLA violations in service execution. Second, the black-box nature of service automation platforms provides little visibility into the nature of resource contention that caused a fault or SLA violation. This lack of visibility makes fault resolution difficult, and in many cases impossible, because it is difficult to trace the root cause of the problem. In this paper, we address the problem of system-level resource visibility for services through the design and development of a system capable of mapping abstract service workflows to their data and system impacts to enable resource visibility. Our system has been tested and demonstrated effective, as we demonstrate in a case study setting. Keywords: Automated Services, Enterprise Applications, Monitoring, Quality of Service, Resource Impacts, INTRODUCTION Firms are increasingly virtualizing manual processes (Overby, 2008) as automated services. In this context, service quality, defined by Xu et al. (2013) as 'a customer's global, subjective assessment of [...]

This paper presents the methods used and a case study of a project management system (PMS) to manage daily progress in the construction of multiple apartment buildings in South Korea. A dilemma encountered in previous research in the field of progress management is that efforts to enhance data accuracy cause the data handling workload to soar. A main feature of the method presented by the writers for calculating the budgeted cost work schedule is to allocate the project budget into control attributes, activities, and tasks that are defined in a work-packaging model, according to daily weight value. The method offers enhanced practicability by reducing data-handling workloads while not sacrificing the rationale of progress management. The work-packaging model is designed to enable project managers to acquire and process data for progress management at various levels of detail. The budgeted cost of work performed is measured daily at the tasks level using the earning percentage rate from daily work reports. The implementation of PMS focuses on functions to distribute the budget according to daily weight values and acquire the earning percentage from the daily work report. The PMS was applied to a construction project of 54 apartment buildings in South Korea. The case study of its use shows that company headquarters and managers in the field can acquire data for progress management without additional data-handling workloads, and can analyze the progress daily at various levels of detail. DOI: 10.1061(ASCE)0733-9364(2007)133:3(242) CE Database subject headings: Buildings, residential; Scheduling; Information systems; Korea; Budgets; Construction management.

ABSTRACT If an information system serves a large population, any delays or poor quality in the service can be a politically sensitive issue enraging citizens. This paper summarizes the failure [...]

Episodes of failure provide an interesting arena for the observation of alternative interpretations of organizational events. The social psychology literature suggests that individuals tend to attribute failure to external forces and that this may be due to selective perception, which may be motivated by the preservation of self-esteem and/or image enhancement. This paper discusses the differing narratives describing the failure of an information system in a UK hospital. It is suggested that these narratives may be seen as attributing failure to either the occurrence of particular events, or to the deliberate actions of specific groups or individuals. These are characterized as narratives of inevitability and conspiracy. Some possible reasons for the promotion of these alternative narratives are discussed. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.), Introduction As high profile 'disasters' such as the London Stock Exchange TAURUS system, the USS Vincennes incident, and the London Ambulance Service despatching system illustrate, information systems project 'failure' is, [...]

Byline: George T.S. Ho, Henry C.W. Lau, C.K.M. Lee, Andrew W.H. Ip, William Ho To meet changing needs of customers and to survive in the increasingly globalised and competitive environment, it is necessary for companies to equip themselves with intelligent tools, thereby enabling managerial levels to use the tactical decision in a better way. However, the implementation of an intelligent system is always a challenge in Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, a new and simple approach with 'process rethinking' ability is proposed to generate ongoing process improvements over time. In this paper, a roadmap of the development of an agent-based information system is described. A case example has also been provided to show how the system can assist non-specialists, for example, managers and engineers to make right decisions for a continual process improvement.

Byline: Susan K. Donohue, William T. Scherer, K. Preston White Jr We discuss the practical, professional education in information systems and operations management available to undergraduate systems engineers at the University of Virginia through participation in relevant Capstone projects in this paper. Thus, its perspective is more experiential than theoretical. The structure and administration of the Department of Systems and Information Engineering's award-winning Capstone programme, a unique model at the time of its inception, are presented as an overall introduction to the programme. The model's robustness is demonstrated both in its longevity and adoption by other institutions. Case studies of Capstone projects conducted during academic year 2002-2003 provide examples of the types of educational experiences students can elect to receive in information systems and operations management. We end with reflections on the lessons learned through participation in our Department's Capstone. Throughout, the goal is to provide sufficient information to allow those interested to adopt similar practices.

Byline: Jeremy Legardeur, Christophe Merlo, Xavier Fischer Most of the time, the innovative product concept identification is based on strategic and complex processes. Design actorsAE individual initiatives and development of new ideas emerge from conflicting contexts combining the technical, economical and social aspects. In this paper, we propose a new approach that aims at assisting design product from the early phases of the design process to the embodiment design phase. We suggest a combination of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system and specific developed tools (Meta-modelling techniques, Numeric-CSP solver and 'Innovation Development and Diffusion' (ID) system) to enhance cultural heterogeneity encountered within the team project and to take advantage of this aspect to foster design innovation and product quality.

Byline: Dorothy G. Dologite, Robert J. Mockler, Chang-nan Chao, Peter F. Viszhanyo This case study explores the change agent roles a manager can play to support an IS specialist when implementing a packaged software. The case concerns a small US-Chinese joint venture, located in China. In part, because of the support roles played by the manager, the IS implementation eventually succeeded. The IS change agent models hypothesised by Markus and Benjamin (l996) serve as a lens to interpret the case. A framework is offered for perceiving how managers can provide change agent support in an IS implementation in general, and in particular in a packaged software implementation in a US-Chinese joint venture. Implications for practitioners and researchers are addressed.

Byline: Jyoti Choudrie, Mohamad Hisyam Selamat Tacit knowledge diffusion is pervasive in the Organisational Learning (OL) process. However diffusing tacit knowledge, a transparent and subjective form of knowledge, needs an individual's ability to externalise and share this knowledge. To face this, a conceptual framework based on meta-abilities is proposed in this paper. The framework suggests that meta-abilities create individual influencing skills and sharing attitudes. Alternatively, influencing skills and sharing attitudes externalise tacit knowledge through the medium of ideas, actions, reactions and reflection. Knowledge stewards document externalised tacit knowledge thereby making it available to systems analysts for future Information Systems (IS) development. The framework is tested using a case study in Malaysia. It is concluded that the future focus when managing information for OL should be toward an individual's meta-abilities development. There should also be an impetus towards creating the correct organisational culture and infrastructure that promotes tacit knowledge sharing and externalisation within and between employees.

Byline: Jarunee Wonglimpiyarat This paper explores the mechanisms driving the success of the US Silicon Valley. The study analyses the development of Silicon Valley, the government programmes in financing innovations and the specific characteristics/factors contributing to the success of the valley. It is argued that the capacity to foster clusters of innovation, an effective use of university resources, the supporting infrastructure, the culture of willingness to accept risk, and venture capital (VC) programmes are catalysts for the economic development at Silicon Valley. By using Porter's competitive Diamond Model as a basis to examine the activities in the US Silicon Valley, the study attempts to fill a gap in practical VC management research, which is practically nonexistent, and provide valuable insights for policy makers.

Byline: Tony Elliman, Julie Eatock This paper looks at the challenge of developing a single online system to correctly handle the workflow of any legal arbitration case. In arbitration, the parties are always free to decide the process they will follow but existing online systems lack the flexibility to deal with general arbitration cases. A better system that can guide parties through the chosen process without compromising its legal status is needed. This single system needs to be flexible enough to support a wide range of different arbitration service providers. Conventional requirements engineering attacks uncertainty by getting the client to make choices. Flexible system design requires a different mindset that keeps these choices open until the system is in use. The key is in deciding which design decisions to offer and how they are presented to the user. This problem, and some strategies to deal with it, are illustrated by the analysis developed in the E-Arbitration-T project. The application of human activity simulation to validate the final design is also discussed.

Byline: Carl Adams Information systems evolve. Evolution takes place throughout all stages of an information system from development to early use and to a mature 'legacy' status. During development users and developers learn about the problem domain and refine requirements. When using a system, users learn about it's the system's capabilities and possibilities resulting in further evolving requirements. The dynamic business environment also initiates modifications to system attributes. This paper looks at this dynamic environment of development and examines how development teams can address these evolving and uncertain system requirements. A case study is used as a sample to identify structures that support such system evolution. At least for the case study, social and informal structures provide much support to address the uncertainties of development.

Byline: Anya Sotiropoulou, Dimitrios Theotokis In recent years, information systems tailorability has been in the centre of research as the need for constructing information systems capable of adapting to change has increased resulting from the explosion of information system complexity. Although a number of approaches and paradigms have been proposed over the years for this purpose, they have not adequately addressed all perspectives associated with tailorability, both from a quantitative, as well as a qualitative viewpoint. In this article, we demonstrate the shortcomings of these approaches and advocate that service-oriented development through the composition of services presents a promising solution to tailorability. For this purpose, we present a particular approach to service-oriented development using soft systems methodology for modelling such systems and service description diagrams for representing root definitions in the design phase of service development. We further proceed in showing why this approach naturally accommodates the requirements behind tailorability.

Byline: Jon Dron This paper discusses the educational uses of self-organised web-based environments that are defined as Epimethean Information Systems. Epimethean Information Systems are not designed in the conventional sense, but take their shape in response to the actions of the people that use them. They share a range of characteristics, including implicit communication between users, emergent structure, and self-organisation. The fact that structure in such systems arises out of a dialogic process means that they are potentially ideal vehicles for e-learning, combining high and low transactional distance (a measurement of the relative degree of structure and dialogue in an educational transaction) in a single environment as well as shaping themselves to the needs of a specific community.

Byline: Meir Russ, Jeannette K. Jones, Robert Fineman Knowledge, besides being recognised as a business asset, is being considered a crucial component of business strategy. As a result, companies are investing heavily in Information Systems (IS) technologies. Unfortunately, very often the investments do not fulfill their expected returns. This paper embarks on the development of a typology of Knowledge-Based (KB) strategies to address this situation. Two alternative strategies were identified and a set of survey instruments was validated. The analysis showed that the strategies had a positive relationship to R&D and training and development investments and had a direct and indirect relationship with organisational outcomes. The research indicates that KB strategies are significantly related to all IS technologies studied. Evidence of reciprocal relationships between IS technologies and KB strategies was found for specific and different IS technologies. This may suggest that some technologies are more important for a specific KB strategy. The analysis also indicates that there is a significant relationship between business outcomes, KB strategies, and IS technologies in the case of earnings.

Byline: Zafar Husain, A.K. Pathak, Ramkrishna Vyas Dramatic developments in technologies pertaining to information systems have made profound impact on developed and developing nations and societies. Besides the changes in the social dialectic, the concept and conduct of war fighting have also changed. Information as a resource has now become a strategic weapon. Information dominance has now become the principle goal of war fighting. However technological capabilities and societal dependence on IT of developed nations is vastly superior to those of the developing countries. Here in lies the need for identifying the developing countries' perspective on information warfare (IW) and to look into an emerging paradigm. An attempt has been made to figure out a road map for developing countries to gain sufficient defensive and offensive capabilities. The study was carried out in three phases which concluded IW as an effective warfare in technological asymmetric situations and a deterrent in different levels of conflict spectrum.

Byline: Janet Aisbett, Rainer Lasch, Guilherme Pires While the calculation of savings in staff time, possible with adoption of electronic procurement, may be relatively easy, the estimation of the overall business value of changes to procurement practice is difficult. In addition to internal process and staff issues that attend the introduction of any new information system, the management of supply chain relationships is important in procurement. The large number of factors involved in inter-organisational systems makes the adoption of e-procurement a complex decision. We present a generic framework for establishing the business case for a particular solution for a particular firm that blends and extends traditional marketing and information systems perspectives.

Byline: James Edwards, Andrew Lyons, Dennis Kehoe Remanufacturing has gained popularity in recent years due to both environmental necessity and the potential for increased profits. Information systems are key to remanufacturing processes as they can reduce coordination problems and create improved visibility. This is especially important in remanufacturing as the rate of returns and/or demand for remanufactured products can be subject to heavy fluctuations. Many corporate legacy systems do not have the capacity to cope with remanufacturing circumstances and so the prototyped application discussed in this paper provides a cheap alternative to the otherwise heavy investment that would accompany a new ERP product. This paper reports on a case study involving two companies involved in the manufacture and assembly of automotive transmissions. Furthermore, it provides evidence to suggest that the internet can provide a simple and cost-effective solution to significantly improve the information flow between two companies situated in a reverse flow supply chain.

Byline: Ingyu Oh, Hyuk-Rae Kim, Shigemi Yoneyama This paper deals with why flexible networks can be efficient in responding to rapidly changing consumer demands, developing new technologies, and disseminating information regarding commercialisation. Taiwanese small firms, along with their Italian counterparts, have often been cited as paradigmatic cases of demand-responsive network structures. In the semiconductor sector of Taiwan, the government research institutes and their policy networks with the private sector investors substantially cleared the hurdles of uncertainty regarding the initial investment decisions of R&D. Simultaneously, international networks that exploited the richness of structural holes facilitated smooth and speedy transfers of new technologies. This paper finds that technological innovation within a small firm network cannot be successful without the establishment of a domestic policy network and an international supply network.

Byline: Rory V. O|Connor This research examines the main issues surrounding the adoption of a computer programming language for information systems development projects. The adoption of a particular language for any given project is an important strategic business and technical decision. Committing to a particular programming language is a major decision which may have long term implications. As most software systems evolve over time, the programming language used for implementation may have an impact long after the initial systems development phase is over. The purpose of this study was to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that are significant to the adoption of computer programming languages for information systems' development projects in industrial practice. The primary objective of this research was to develop and test a generalised set of language characteristics which highlights the main technical and non-technical factors in programming language adoption and the relative significance of these factors in explaining the adoption of a particular programming language for a given software development project. This paper presents the results of a series of interviews and group exploratory sessions conducted with software project managers, business managers and software development staff on their attitudes, opinions and experience in making important computer programming language decisions. Further, it analyses these factors in the context of best practices and the current state of the relevant literature and proposes an initial set of language characteristics for use by organisations when making important computer programming language adoption decisions.

Byline: Paul H.J. Hendriks The notion of organisational learning (OL) aims to introduce a broad perspective on how an organisation as a whole perceives the interplay with its competitive environment and handles it. Although the role of Information Systems (IS) in relation to OL has been assessed by several authors, most of these assessments have not adopted an equally broad perspective on the role of ISs. A framework is needed to express the broad organisational concept envisaged in the notion of OL, and to provide the pegs to link ISs to OL accordingly. Such a framework for valuing ISs in relation to OL is proposed and elaborated. A case study of the relationship between Geographical Information Systems and Organisational Learning in an environmental consultancy firm is presented to illustrate the contents and application of the framework.

Byline: Sandra Moffett, Rodney McAdam The aim of this paper is to explore the role and contribution of new information communication technologies (ICTs) in the emerging field of Knowledge Management. There is much confusion in the literature and in organisations as to what role technology has within the field of Knowledge Management. There is a danger that organisations could spend large amounts of time, money and other resources on inappropriate technology in support of their Knowledge Management efforts. This paper seeks to clarify key questions such as: how has ICT based technology emerged as a key enabler for Knowledge Management? What characteristics of Knowledge Management are most suited to technology? What are the key classifications of Knowledge Management technology tools? The paper discusses the classification of Knowledge Management technology tools in detail, under the headings of Collaboration, Content management and Business Intelligence. Overall, the paper presents a critique of the current literature in this field.

Byline: R.D. Allen, B.J. Hicks, S.J. Culley The success of a product and ultimately the company is very dependent on the ability of the company to produce an optimal design efficiently. In order to achieve this, the organisation must drive down time to market and possess the ability to make fully informed decisions at the early phase of the design process. These decisions can include component selection, reliability, suppliers, as well as cost and maintenance considerations. Today, computer modelling and 'electronic catalogues' are becoming the preferred choice for rapidly carrying out the evaluation of design alternatives. In using such techniques, the designer demands the capability to select and evaluate mechanical components both quantitatively and qualitatively. The former pertains to the components contribution to the overall performance capability of the system whilst the latter relates to the utilisation of the components, with respect to best or recommended practices, cost, preferred supplier, component standardisation and reliability issues. This paper describes the use of electronic information in the design of mechanical systems and the limitations of current technology. The need to integrate electronic information systems to better enable a company's ability to produce an optimal product is discussed and the requirements for this are described. To address the issue of information integration for the identification and selection of mechanical components a methodology for the development of XML schemas that represent data describing mechanical components is developed, with a number of example applications.

Byline: Z. Irani The justification of information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) is inherently complex, since there are a large range of benefits that are intangible and non-financial, which thus present much difficulty during investment appraisal. However, it is not only the benefits of IT/IS that present this difficulty but also the range of indirect costs associated with an IT/IS deployment. Therefore, many justification processes are often exclusively based on those financially tangible benefits and costs that can be accounted for within traditional appraisal techniques. This paper describes the testing of a novel framework for the evaluation of IT/IS in manufacturing, with a particular focus on manufacturing resource planning (MRPII). This proposed approach addresses many of the limitations inherent in traditional appraisal techniques. The testing of this framework is then carried out through describing a case experience of a small/medium enterprise (SME) that was unable to 'fully' justify its capital expenditure on MRPII, whilst using traditional approaches to financial appraisal. As a result of their inability to financially justify their expenditure, the company adopted a simple cost/benefit analysis, and invested as an 'act of faith'. The author describes the idiosyncrasies of the case study company, and details the problems experienced during his attempts to evaluate, implement and realise the holistic implications of their MRPII investment. Although the IS was operational for a period of time, it was eventually deemed a failure, due to a range of human and organisational issues. This paper identifies those factors, and describes how the company addressed them before embarking on a process of bespoke system development and implementation. The author then tests the proposed hypotheses, which underpin the constructs within the previously presented IT/IS evaluation framework, against both vendor purchased software and a bespoke developed system

Byline: Martyn Warren For farm businesses operating in remote rural areas, internet-based technologies offer the prospect of overcoming disadvantages relative to urban areas, particularly those related to spatial and social isolation. Using empirical data, this article contends that a 'digital divide' exists within the agricultural sector between relatively small cattle and sheep farmers and larger-scale arable and dairy farms, which will result in uneven take-up of new communication media, loss of competitiveness and increasing relative disadvantage for those businesses affected. Arguing that this disadvantage will be serious for both individual businesses and the industry, the article identifies the development of human potential as a priority.

Byline: Petter Gottschalk, Vijay K. Khandelwal The need for improved implementation of information technology (IT) strategy has been emphasised in both empirical and prescriptive research studies. In this study, ten content characteristics of formal information technology strategies are identified from the research literature as potential implementation predictors. Surveys were conducted in both Norway and Australia. In Norway, the two statistically significant predictors in the testing of hypotheses were the description of responsibility for the implementation and the description of user involvement during the implementation. In Australia, the only statistically significant predictor was the description of projects' relevance to the business plan. Generally, strategic issues seemed to be important implementation predictors in Australia, while resource issues seemed to be important implementation predictors in Norway. However, the statistical results are somewhat inconclusive because of the limited sample sizes, response rates and explanatory power.

Byline: Richard Y.K. Fung, W.T. Tam, Andrew W.H. Ip, Henry C.W. Lau In an era of rapid information exchange, the use of computers apparently becomes a necessity both at work in order to get the jobs done and at home for leisure and entertainment purposes. To support the pace of massive computerisation, the need for on-time, cost effective and high quality software is ever increasing. With the turn of the century, software re-engineering exercises are being actively pursued in enterprises of all magnitudes worldwide. The software process improvement (SPI) program is among one of the contemporary approaches commonly adopted for rationalising the capability and performance of software development and maintenance in an enterprise. This paper explains the basic principles behind SPI and outlines the features and characteristics of some of the SPI models commonly used in the industry. The functional, organisational and resources implications of implementing the models are discussed. A real-life case study is given to illustrate how an SPI program was put into practice in a medium-sized enterprise whose business well-being was underpinned by the quality, punctuality and cost effectiveness of its systems development activities.

Byline: M. Karthikeyan, S. Krishnan The exponential rise in costs despite numerous years of hard work has hampered the proficiency, productivity and efficiency of this research. Nevertheless, due to in silico and computational advances, databanks have accelerated the decoding of genes sequences to 3D complex biomolecules in a very short time span. The important advantage of a computational technique is its ability to eliminate unpromising lines of inquiry early in the discovery process. With the help of the combinatorial library and database mining, it is possible to undertake a specific chemical reaction on various identical reactants in all possible combinations. Chemoinformatics will help to identify promising molecules of greater importance at earlier stages viz., to eliminate failures at the latter stages.

Byline: G. Netherwood, M. Ramsay This paper investigates the information system strategy of Lovittools, a medium sized precision engineering company in Melbourne, Australia. The company is increasingly aware that it must have information systems that support its business and manufacturing strategies. In the absence of a suitable proprietary system, it has developed its own system. The company view of the key benefits of information have evolved in the course of this successful development and implementation. The company is now extending the scope of its information strategy, and has achieved significant tangible benefits from its initial explorations of the internet. This paper describes the evolution of the information systems at Lovittools, and the perceptions and plans of the management team.

Byline: Jr. Jung Lyu, Ming-Chang Lee, Jyh-Hong Ding, A. Gunasekaran Executive information system (EIS) is one of the most important information systems in and beyond the 90s. A company may achieve established goals as well as obtain competitive advantages. However, successful establishment of EIS is not an easy task. In this study, a case company is used to demonstrate how to successfully establish EIS. During the establishment process, simulation models are applied to evaluate various alternatives of EIS architecture in advance, to win the confidence and support of top managers. The result shows that simulation plays an key role in increasing the success probability of EIS.

Byline: Michail Kagioglou, John M. Sharp, Zahir Irani In a dynamic economy, developing and introducing new products is essential for a company's survival. The successful management of new products has become a necessity and a way of life for those companies that strive towards sustained growth and they compete in a global market environment. In the past, a number of studies have illustrated the importance of the type of new product development (NPD) processes that companies choose to adopt, based on their industry characteristics and customers' diverse and continuously changing requirements. Furthermore, the critical success factors of those processes have been examined by a number of national and international studies. Although many NPD processes have proven to be successful for a number of companies/industries, there are still many factors that need to be considered and addressed so that continuous sustained improvements can be maintained. This paper provides a critical review of the contemporary NPD processes and aims to identify those factors that will accommodate continuously changing business environments. Furthermore, a generic NPD process, that could potentially facilitate future product development requirements, is presented. The model aims to provide a framework for managing NPD activities whilst maintaining a degree of flexibility that will allow individual companies to adopt it and adapt it to their specific operations and according to the nature of their industry. The paper concludes that almost irrespective of the type of NPD that companies chose to adopt, it will have to be based on the utilisation of cross-functional teams based on sound management structures.

Byline: Z. Irani Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRPII) systems offer many organisations the opportunity to reap a wide variety of strategic and operational benefits. However, even though many of these benefits are suitable for evaluation within traditional accountancy frameworks, it is the intangible and non-financial benefits, together with the indirect project costs, which complicate the justification of Information Technology (IT) and Information Systems (IS). As a result, many companies are finding themselves unable to assess the 'full' implications of their MRPII investments, thus amounting to an appraisal process limited to the benefits and costs financially quantifiable. This therefore questions the predictive value of those justification processes that make use of traditional appraisal techniques. As a result, many companies are forced to adopt one of the following strategies: (i) a refusal to undertake IT/IS projects whose benefits and costs are not financially quantifiable; (ii) invest in IT/IS projects as an 'act of faith'; or, (iii) use 'creative' accounting as a method of passing the budgetary process. This paper reviews the published literature and offers a taxonomy of investment appraisal techniques, together with their inherent limitations when used as part of an MRPII justification process. The author then presents a conceptual framework for the evaluation of IT/IS investments in manufacturing, with a particular focus on MRPII. The proposed framework: (i) distinguishes the different types of justification processes necessary; (ii) accounts for the selection of the most appropriate technical specification and supplier(s); (iii) identifies human and organisational issues; (iv) acknowledges the limitations inherent in traditional appraisal techniques; (v) suitably places the implementation process within project evaluation; and (vi) integrates a feedback mechanism to ensure that when the system has been implemented, a management review assesses whether the planned project objectives have been realised. Finally, the paper concludes with those implications associated with the development of a descriptive MRPII evaluation framework.