Showing papers on "Enterprise software published in 2011"

Enterprise Systems: State-of-the-Art and Future Trends

Abstract: Rapid advances in industrial information integration methods have spurred tremendous growth in the use of enterprise systems. Consequently, a variety of techniques have been used for probing enterprise systems. These techniques include business process management, workflow management, Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), grid computing, and others. Many applications require a combination of these techniques, which is giving rise to the emergence of enterprise systems. Development of the techniques has originated from different disciplines and has the potential to significantly improve the performance of enterprise systems. However, the lack of powerful tools still poses a major hindrance to exploiting the full potential of enterprise systems. In particular, formal methods and systems methods are crucial for modeling complex enterprise systems, which poses unique challenges. In this paper, we briefly survey the state of the art in the area of enterprise systems as they relate to industrial informatics.

Co-Creation of Value in a Platform Ecosystem: The Case of Enterprise Software

Abstract: It has been argued that platform technology owners co-create business value with other firms in their platform ecosystems by encouraging complementary invention and exploiting indirect network effects. In this study we examine whether participation in an ecosystem partnership improves the business performance of small independent software vendors (ISVs) in the enterprise software industry and how appropriability mechanisms influence the benefits of partnership. By analyzing the partnering activities and performance indicators of a sample of 1210 small ISVs over the period of 1996-2004, we find that joining a major platform owner’s platform ecosystem is associated with an increase in sales and a greater likelihood of issuing an IPO. In addition, we show that these impacts are greater when ISVs have greater intellectual property rights or stronger downstream capabilities. This research highlights the value of interoperability between software products, and stresses that value co-creation and appropriation are not mutually exclusive strategies in inter-firm collaboration.

Enterprise access control and accounting allocation for access networks

Abstract: Enterprise and consumer billing allocation for wireless communication device service usage activities is provided. In some embodiments, enterprise and consumer billing allocation for wireless communication device service usage activities includes: monitoring a service usage activity of a wireless communication device, and determining an enterprise and consumer billing allocation for the monitored service usage activity; reporting the monitored service usage activity to a network element, in which the network element determines an enterprise and consumer billing allocation for the monitored service usage activity; or providing a service design center for configuring an enterprise and consumer billing allocation of monitored service usage activities for a plurality of wireless communication devices associated with an enterprise account, and implementing the configured enterprise and consumer billing allocation for monitored service usage activities for the plurality of wireless communication devices associated with the enterprise account.

An Overview of the Security Concerns in Enterprise Cloud Computing

Abstract: Deploying cloud computing in an enterprise infrastructure bring significant security concerns. Successful implementation of cloud computing in an enterprise requires proper planning and understanding of emerging risks, threats, vulnerabilities, and possible countermeasures. We believe enterprise should analyze the company/organization security risks, threats, and available countermeasures before adopting this technology. In this paper, we have discussed security risks and concerns in cloud computing and enlightened steps that an enterprise can take to reduce security risks and protect their resources. We have also explained cloud computing strengths/benefits, weaknesses, and applicable areas in information risk management.

Event Processing for Business: Organizing the Real-Time Enterprise

Abstract: • Explains how sense and response architectures are being applied with tremendous results to businesses throughout the world and shows businesses how they can get started implementing EP • Shows how to choose business event processing technology to suit your specific business needs and how to keep costs of adopting it down • Provides practical guidance on how EP is best integrated into an overall IT strategy and how its architectural styles differ from more conventional approaches

Flexible security requirements in an enterprise network

Abstract: A system and method are provided to monitor and prevent potential enterprise policy and/or rule violations by subscribers.

Building collaborative enterprise.

Abstract: Can large companies be both innovative and efficient? Yes, argue Adler, of the University of Southern California; Heckscher, of Rutgers; and Prusak, an independent consultant. But they must develop new organizational capabilities that will create the atmosphere of trust that knowledge work requires--and the coordinating mechanisms to make it scalable. Specifically, such organizations must learn to: Define a shared purpose that guides what people at all levels of the organization are trying to achieve together; Cultivate an ethic of contribution in which the highest value is accorded to people who look beyond their specific roles and advance the common purpose; Develop scalable procedures for coordinating people's efforts so that process-management activities become truly interdependent; and Create an infrastructure in which individuals' spheres of influence overlap and collaboration is both valued and rewarded. These four goals may sound idealized, but the imperative to achieve them is practical, say the authors. Only the truly collaborative enterprises that can tap into everyone's ideas---in an organized way--will compete imaginatively, quickly, and cost-effectively enough to become the household names of this century.

An enterprise perspective on technical debt

Abstract: Technical debt is a term that has been used to describe the increased cost of changing or maintaining a system due to expedient shortcuts taken during its development. Much of the research on technical debt has focused on decisions made by project architects and individual developers who choose to trade off short-term gain for a longer-term cost. However, in the context of enterprise software development, such a model may be too narrow. We explore the premise that technical debt within the enterprise should be viewed as a tool similar to financial leverage, allowing the organization to incur debt to pursue options that it couldn't otherwise afford. We test this premise by interviewing a set of experienced architects to understand how decisions to acquire technical debt are made within an enterprise, and to what extent the acquisition of technical debt provides leverage. We find that in many cases, the decision to acquire technical debt is not made by technical architects, but rather by non-technical stakeholders who cause the project to acquire new technical debt or discover existing technical debt that wasn't previously visible. We conclude with some preliminary observations and recommendations for organizations to better manage technical debt in the presence of some enterprise-scale circumstances.

The Entity-Relationship Model: A Basis for the Enterprise View of Data

Abstract: The concept of the enterprise view of data is very useful in the database design process and in the construction of conceptual schema. This paper discusses the use of the entity-relationship approach in describing and maintaining the enterprise view of data. Fundamental operations for changing the enterprise schema are presented. Finally, an example is given to show the differences between the entity-relationship approach and the data-structure approach in modeling the enterprise view of data.

Enterprise Transformation: Why Are We Interested, What Is It, and What Are the Challenges?

Abstract: The concept of enterprise transformation has become increasingly popular as companies recognize the need to achieve an integrated perspective within and across organizational boundaries to address complex challenges. Yet, there is little clarity concerning what constitutes an “enterprise” or indeed “enterprise transformation.” This article is conceived as an initial step along the journey towards this clarity. There is considerable work to be done in delineating this area of interest and this article is offered as a stimulus for debate on what constitutes enterprise transformation. Drawing on themes from the management and systems engineering disciplines, the article will propose four characteristics of “enterprise” as a unit for transformation and look at why this holistic unit of analysis has become critical to businesses. The article will also ask what constitutes transformation, and offer characterizing criteria to distinguish this magnitude of change from more incremental changes. A recent empirical ...

Pattern-based construction and extension of enterprise applications in a cloud computing environment

Abstract: Methods, software programs and systems for extending and modifying software functionality, and, more particularly, for using one or more patterns for an enterprise software object to express desired functionality and configuration, and to generate the enterprise software object using the patterns, in an enterprise environment are disclosed. A method according to certain of these embodiments includes selecting one or more patterns from a number of patterns, where the one or more patterns are for an enterprise software object. The enterprise software object can then be generated. The enterprise software object is generated using the one or more patterns. Each of the patterns is configured to describe a solution within a corresponding one of a number of problem domains.

Moving enterprise software applications to a cloud domain

Abstract: Methods and systems for moving or porting an enterprise software application from an enterprise environment to a cloud domain are disclosed. An automated moving software program identifies enterprise components of an enterprise software application. The program assigns an enterprise component tag to the identified enterprise component. The program then assigns an enterprise attribute tag to the identified enterprise component and searches an attribute relationship map for at least one cloud attribute related to the assigned enterprise attribute. On identification of such a cloud attribute, the cloud attribute is assigned to the identified enterprise component and the enterprise component is converted to cloud component by creating a new cloud component to replicate the functions of the enterprise component or assigning a cloud component tag to the enterprise component, provided the enterprise component is render-able on the cloud domain resources.

Towards the business-information technology alignment in cloud computing environment: anapproach based on collaboration points and agents

Abstract: With the development of extended enterprise and information technologies (IT), a new business pattern with its infrastructure, cloud computing, is emerging. More and more small and medium enterprises do not implement significant parts of their information systems (IS) in-house. Instead, they prefer to use the software services and even infrastructure services provided by professional information service companies. Their business strategy, IT strategy, business processes and information technologies shall be re-aligned. Furthermore, no cloud computing service vendor can satisfy the complete functional information system requirements of an enterprise. Sometimes, enterprises have to simultaneously use software services distributed in different clouds in conjunction with their intra-IS. These bring great challenges for business-IT alignment of an enterprise in the cloud computing environment (CCE). This study reviews business-IT alignment problems and models in CCE. The concept of collaboration point (CP) is proposed, and a CP-based business processes collaboration modelling technique is developed to improve the feasibility of IS in CCE. A framework to integrate applications and services deployed in public clouds and intra-IS is designed and a run-time platform with the collaboration agent technique is developed to realise the concept of CP. The case study illustrates the implementation of techniques developed in this article.

Creation and implementation of the innovation strategy in the enterprise

Abstract: The main aim of the article is on the base of detailed analysis of the literature and carried out research to develop a model of creation and subsequent implementation of innovative strategies in the enterprise. In the model of innovative strategy we focus on creating of effective system of work with innovations and knowledge of an enterprise. The paper contains recommendations for the successful implementation of innovative strategies within the enterprise. These recommendations should serve to business managers as a valuable tool in implementing an innovation strategy. There are also identified areas of potential problems at which managers must focus on achieving without-problems work with innovation in the enterprise. In research were used the following methods: comparative method, qualitative evaluation method, structured and semi-structured interviews, observation methods, document analysis method (method of content analysis) and questionnaire method.

The CloudMIG Approach: Model-Based Migration of Software Systems to Cloud-Optimized Applications

Abstract: Cloud computing provides means for reducing over- and under-provisioning through enabling a highly flexible resource allocation. Running an existing software system on a cloud computing basis can involve extensive reengineering activities during the migration. To reduce the correspondent effort, it is often possible to deploy an existing system widely unmodified in IaaS VM instances. However, this simplistic migration approach does not solve the challenge of over- and under-provisioning or scalability issues per se, as our experiments using Eucalyptus and the popular open source system Apache OFBiz show. Moreover, current migration approaches suffer from several further shortcomings. For example, they are often limited to specific cloud environments or do not provide automated support for the alignment with a cloud environment. We present our model-based approach CloudMIG which addresses these shortcomings. It aims at supporting SaaS providers to semi-automatically migrate existing enterprise software systems to scalable and resource-efficient PaaS and IaaS-based applications. To facilitate reasoning about the suitability of certain cloud environments for a given system and the degree of alignment during the reengineering process, we introduce the Cloud Suitability and Alignment (CSA) hierarchy. For example, Apache OFBiz used in our experiments is initially categorized “cloud compatible” but not "cloud optimized" as it does not exploit the cloud's advantages.

Why Do Complementors Participate? An Analysis of Partnership Networks in the Enterprise Software Industry Y. Kwak, J. Park, B. Chung, and S. Ghosh Understanding End Users' Acceptance of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System in Project-Based Sectors

Abstract: In the enterprise software industry, large providers (hubs) are fostering partner networks with smaller companies (spokes) that complement their platforms. This study takes the perspective of these spokes and seeks to understand their motivation to partner. It is the first to simultaneously examine two theoretical perspectives that help explain partnership formation. The input-oriented perspective holds that organizations enter inter-firm arrangements in order to access external resources and capabilities. The output-oriented perspective posits that the complementarity of the partners' products influences the benefits obtained from a partnership. In order to examine the relevancy and possible interaction of these two perspectives, a multiple-case study is conducted. Qualitative data from 17 spoke organizations is gathered and thoroughly analyzed. The study confirms that the hub's reputation and its capability to provide integrated systems are generally important reasons for partnering. However, the extent to which the hub's innovativeness and its commercial capital motivate spokes to partner varies substantially. The key finding of this study is that these variations can be explained by differences in the level of product complementarity. This leads to the conclusion that there is a widely neglected interaction effect between the input- and output-oriented perspectives in explaining the formation of hub-and-spoke partnerships.

Governing Web 2.0

Abstract: Research about effective benefits realization from Web 2.0 investments in (inter-)enterprise contexts has not yet reached full maturity. Drawing from established IS management theory and our own case research, we argue that some organizations are developing a specific approach to governing such enterprise 2.0 initiatives. Enterprise 2.0 initiatives are often connected to lofty strategic objectives, for example, open innovation and collective creativity. Attempting to realize these with inherently social Web 2.0 technologies, means allowing for emergent meaning attribution by the users. Four governance principles illustrate how enterprise 2.0 governance can favor a bottom-up and emergent approach to empowerment, processes, collaboration, and people and culture; rather than adhering to a command and control view on technology adoption.

Empowering enterprises through next-generation enterprise computing

Abstract: Enterprise computing is concerned with exploiting interconnected computers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of larger companies. Such companies form business organizations that manage various sorts of information, used by disparate groups of people, who are situated at different geographical locations. This motivates the use of computer-based information systems, not only to reduce costs and increase productivity, but also to enable novel business models. As a result of the importance of enterprise computing to business organizations, information systems have been massively deployed. In order to cope with legacy and heterogeneity problems and consequently with lack of interoperability, considerable research efforts have been spent on integration of otherwise isolated systems either within the scope of a single organization or across organizational boundaries. This has spawned a number of important developments, including Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Business Process Management (BPM), Business-to-Business integration (B2Bi), and, more recently, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). In this editorial we reflect on current and future enterprise computing developments that would further empower enterprises. We do this inspired by the articles in this special issue, which are revised versions of selected best papers of the 13th IEEE International EDOC Conference (EDOC 2009), “The Enterprise Computing Conference”, held on 1-4 September 2009 in Auckland, New Zealand. In addition, we discuss a new technology-driven paradigm that may have considerable impact on enterprise computing and hence on the future of enterprises.

Business Unusual: Corporate Responsibility in a 2.0 World*

Abstract: The imperatives of a growing consensus on human-induced causes of climate change, an increasing gap between rich and poor, and the misguided incentives in the economic, business, and financial models that dominated the last quarter of the twentieth century and first decade of the twenty-first century along with the emergence of Web 2.0's transparency have highlighted the need for a new approach to capitalism. Looking around the world, we can witness the emergence of numerous new forms of enterprise that are part of a broader movement that we are calling change to a sustainable enterprise economy (SEE Change). This article details the broad outlines of the emerging shift, highlighting the new types of enterprise that constitute the SEE. First, we set the context in which business unusual is evolving, a context of "wicked problems"uncertainty, and sustainability problems. Then we provide an overview of new types of enterprises that are already emerging to cope with these changes, enterprises of the cloud (interlinked, web-based enterprises that rely on the "cloud" of computers that store data such as social media, eBay, and Google). Next, we outline how such enterprises are permitting processes of dematerialization and "servicization" (the shift from product to services) to create new forms of enterprise that are less dependent on physical resources. From here, we explore what we term enterprise unusual, corporations that incorporate pro-social goals into their very essence, for example, for-benefit corporations, the B Corporation, and conscious capitalism companies, along with a few entities that are shaping their product development along the lines of biomimicry. All of this change, we argue, has created a blurring of sector boundaries evidenced in the rapid emergence of social enterprise, of which explore a variety of types, and what is being called the fourth sector, where business purpose and pro-social activity are combined.

What are you doing? - enterprise microblogging as context building

Abstract: With the advent of Twitter, microblogging has turned into a widely discussed phenomenon. Due to its perceived impact, many organisations have begun experimenting with the use of microblogging „behind the firewall‟, in order to support internal communication and group work. However, Enterprise Microblogging (EMB) is still in its infancy and not yet well understood. With this study we want to add to the rather limited body of knowledge a case study of Enterprise Microblogging in an academic setting. A multidisciplinary team of University researchers has adopted the platform Communote to collaborate and communicate. We conduct a genre analysis of the team‟s microblogging stream and find that EMB mainly serves as an effective medium for context building and meeting coordination in a project of otherwise loosely related individual activities. We compare our results with findings from two existing EMB cases, one of which has investigated the use of the same IT artefact in a different context. We find striking differences in usage patterns and show that EMB is highly dependent on the particular organisational context shared by the EMB users. Consequently, we conclude that appropriation of Enterprise Microblogging happens largely in accordance with organisational context characteristics.

Cloud Computing and Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Abstract:  Abstract— An attempt is made to study the current issues of the cloud computing solutions for the Enterprise resource systems in the industries. This Research paper includes the review of development of Low cost ERP Solution to Indian industries on Mobile using latest technologies such as Mobile computing, SaaS, Cloud Computing etc. Enterprise systems are

The Model of Sustainable Performance of Small and Medium-sized Enterprise

Abstract: An enterprise as a core of any economic system has a great impact on sustainable development of a state or region. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are socially and economically important for their national economies, since they represent about 99 per cent of all active enterprises in the European Union. The importance of SMEs to the EU economy indicates the need to assess their performance in order to find appropriate performance measurement and management tools. These issues become very topical during the period of global economic recession. Making profit is most often mentioned as an integral goal of any enterprise. However, it should be emphasized that profit is the result of a comprehensive process of the creation of added value. This process can be managed by using a system approach. It means that the value maximization opportunities depend on harmonious and purposeful interactions between enterprise separate processes or functional units. Development of any enterprise is related to the future opportunities, risks and uncertainty. Therefore, profit making ability of an enterprise depends on managers’ skills to apply modern business management methods and tools. The more mature are the business activities, the higher is the probability of an enterprise to face failure. Long-term existence of an enterprise depends on its ability to utilize resources efficiently and to create profit, taking into consideration the influence of business environment and its related factors. While measuring the performance of an enterprise, the company’s life cycle concept should be considered as well. The problems within an enterprise arise from improper activities, incompetence or even negligence. Performance measurement system can significantly influence and support SMEs’ organizational development. Effectiveness and efficiency shall be manifested in all business processes of an enterprise. Performance evaluation should be based on the criteria associated to the field of activities of a particular enterprise and particular manufacturing technology. The system should be comprised of measures, related not only to operations, but also to organization and management of the enterprise. The goal of the research is, studying the performance of SMEs and the factors affecting performance achieving, to propose performance measurement concept encouraging the sustainable development of SMEs and to suggest performance evaluation approach.http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ee.22.5.968

A domain-specific language to design enterprise application integration solutions

Abstract: Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) solutions cope with two kinds of problems within software ecosystems, namely: keeping a number of application's data in synchrony or creating new functionality on top of them. Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) provides the technology required to implement a variety of EAI solutions at sensible costs, but they are still far from negligible. It is not surprising then that many authors are working on proposals to endow them with domain-specific tools to help software engineers reduce integration costs. In this article, we introduce a proposal called Guarana. Its key features are as follows: it provides explicit support to devise EAI solutions using enterprise integration patterns by means of a graphical model; its DSL enables software engineers to have not only the view of a process, but also a view of the whole set of processes of which an EAI solution is composed; both processes and tasks can have multiple inputs and multiple outputs; and, finally, its runtime system provides a task-based execution model that is usually more efficient than the process-based execution models in current use. We have also implemented a graphical editor for our DSL and a set of scripts to transform our models into Java code ready to be compiled and executed. To set up a solution from this code, a software engineer only needs to configure a number of adapters to communicate with the applications being integrated.

A framework for identifying and understanding enterprise systems benefits

Abstract: Purpose – Identifying the benefits arising from implementations of enterprise systems and realizing business value remains a significant challenge for both research and industry This paper aims to consolidate previous work It presents a framework for investigating enterprise systems benefits and business change, which addresses the identified limitations of previous research and provides a more detailed analysis of benefits and their contextual variationDesign/methodology/approach – Drawing on data gathered from 31 real‐world organizations (case studies) of differing size, maturity, and industry sector, the study adopts an iterative content analysis to empirically derive a comprehensive benefits frameworkFindings – The content analysis provides a detailed classification of expectations and benefits, which is described in a four‐level framework The four levels (areas) are further subdivided into aspects and criteria plus an attributed appraisal value The resulting scheme for the “three‐level benefit

Enterprise Modeling in an Agile World

Abstract: As the pace of business increases, the speed at which enterprise models must be delivered increases accordingly. Enterprise modelers cannot spend years in an attic developing perfect models, but must deliver models that are useful in time to be used. In this paper I will take a look at the experiences we have with enterprise modeling in Statoil, a global oil company headquartered in Norway.