"What is the Influence of Communication Quality Between the Business and IT Project Team on ERP Implementation Project Success?"

<p>Communication between the information systems (IS) specialist and the user has long been recognised in the IS literature as an important aspect of successful information system development projects. Since the 1970s IS researchers have studied the role of communication in the system development process and its influence on project/system success. Communication has been studied as a broad concept as well as in regard to specific aspects such as communication frequency, quantity, and the fit between the communication medium and the task. Yet, quality has been neglected. Therefore, this study presents the concept of "communication quality". The study investigated the influence of communication quality on project success in an Enterprise Resource Planning system implementation at a large North-American manufacturing company. ERP project implementation success was assessed by a multidimensional framework including multiple stakeholder perspectives. The study used supplementary secondary analysis of 54 interviews with project stakeholders from the IT project team and the business side of this organisation. The current study found support for the individual attributes of communication quality, namely completeness, credibility, accuracy, purpose adequacy, timeliness, openness, audience adequacy, bidirectionality, and a balance of formality vs. informality. The study found indications that a lack of communication quality might impact ERP implementation project success negatively whereas better communication quality might foster success. The ERP project at the organisation was successful in terms of traditional project success measures such as "on time" and "within budget". However, communication quality seemed to have a negative correlation to the quality of the relationship between the project team and the business as well as user satisfaction. System acceptance and use appeared to have been facilitated by better communication quality. The study enriches the IS literature by increasing the understanding of communication aspects during ERP implementation projects. It is also one of the first studies to introduce the new research method of secondary analysis of qualitative data from sociology into the IS field. Practitioners can apply the findings of this study to facilitate ERP implementation project success on a more holistic level addressing also user satisfaction and the quality of the relationship between the IT project team and the rest of the business.</p>

"What is the Influence of Communication Quality Between the Business and IT Project Team on ERP Implementation Project Success?"

<p>Communication between the information systems (IS) specialist and the user has long been recognised in the IS literature as an important aspect of successful information system development projects. Since the 1970s IS researchers have studied the role of communication in the system development process and its influence on project/system success. Communication has been studied as a broad concept as well as in regard to specific aspects such as communication frequency, quantity, and the fit between the communication medium and the task. Yet, quality has been neglected. Therefore, this study presents the concept of "communication quality". The study investigated the influence of communication quality on project success in an Enterprise Resource Planning system implementation at a large North-American manufacturing company. ERP project implementation success was assessed by a multidimensional framework including multiple stakeholder perspectives. The study used supplementary secondary analysis of 54 interviews with project stakeholders from the IT project team and the business side of this organisation. The current study found support for the individual attributes of communication quality, namely completeness, credibility, accuracy, purpose adequacy, timeliness, openness, audience adequacy, bidirectionality, and a balance of formality vs. informality. The study found indications that a lack of communication quality might impact ERP implementation project success negatively whereas better communication quality might foster success. The ERP project at the organisation was successful in terms of traditional project success measures such as "on time" and "within budget". However, communication quality seemed to have a negative correlation to the quality of the relationship between the project team and the business as well as user satisfaction. System acceptance and use appeared to have been facilitated by better communication quality. The study enriches the IS literature by increasing the understanding of communication aspects during ERP implementation projects. It is also one of the first studies to introduce the new research method of secondary analysis of qualitative data from sociology into the IS field. Practitioners can apply the findings of this study to facilitate ERP implementation project success on a more holistic level addressing also user satisfaction and the quality of the relationship between the IT project team and the rest of the business.</p>

What Managers Find Important for Implementation of Innovations in the Healthcare Sector - Practice Through Six Management Perspectives

Background There is a growing expectation that many health organisations will implement innovations. One obstacle for innovative ideas to have an impact on the healthcare system in practice seems to be difficulties in the implementation phase. There is a lack of concretization of theoretical perspectives related to implementation of innovations. The research question answered by this article is: Which enabling factors can facilitate the specific step of moving from idea generation to implementation in a healthcare context? Methods The research was carried out with a qualitative action research methodology where the researchers took part in the innovation implementation project. The authors of this article were part of a collaborative innovation implementation project involving approximately 54 practitioners. The project was run by five stakeholders: 1) the Division of Assistive Technology in the Dalarna County Council Regional Healthcare Administration 2) the Habilitation Division 3) the Division for Home Care and Social Services in the municipality of Leksand 4) Dalarna University and 5) Uppsala University. Through a ‘Pearl growing’ technique six implementation management perspectives were, as a framework, identified and presented for the practitioners. The practitioners worked further to concretize these six perspectives. Data was collected through five workshops and collaborations between the researchers and the practitioners. Data was clustered regarding what the managers want to achieve within these six perspectives (ideal situation) and the main means for reaching this situation. Results The study underlying this article generated 35 concrete enabling factors for successful innovation implementation, distributed over the initially presented six theoretical perspectives. Conclusion Concretizing management principles into enabling factors shows, on the one hand, that the theoretical principles have practical value, but on the other that they must be adopted to the specific circumstances of each organization, and that too abstract principles can hardly be operationalized.

Implementation project of object recognition system to the modular didactic system of manufacturing gearings

The main goal of the work was to create a project to implement an object recognition system into a modular didactic gear production system. The project shows how, thanks to the modular structure of the gear system, it is possible to easily add new elements to it, at the same time increasing its capabilities. At the beginning, the characteristics of the system were presented before the implementation, including a description of the production process that takes place in this system and all modules of the system were exchanged. Then the vision system for object recognition and all its components were described. The technical-organizational project of the implementation presented the concept of the deployment of the system modules and the principle of system operation after the implementation. A 3D model of all system components was also presented.

Strategies Used by Clinical Champions to De-Implement a Low-Value Care Service

Background: Clinical champions are front-line clinicians who advocate for and influence practice change in their local context. The strategies they use when leading efforts to de-implement the use of a low-value service have not been well described. The purpose of this study is to identify and describe important strategies used by six clinical champions who launched a de-implementation project as part of a fellowship training experience.Methods: Fellows participated in a two-round modified Delphi survey to identify the key strategies they used during their de-implementation project. In the second round the fellows were asked to identify one important strategy they would be willing to discuss in an interview. A 30-minute semi-structured interview was conducted with each fellow, transcribed and thematically analyzed.Results: The six strategies were: build a coalition, conduct a local needs assessment, develop a formal implementation blueprint, conduct educational meetings, use facilitation, and develop clinical reminders. Additional common strategies that emerged across the interviews were the use of data to engage clinicians in conversations, including the patient’s perspective in designing the interventions, and investing the time upfront to plan and launch the initiative because of the inherent challenges of relinquishing a service. Conclusions: Clinical champions identified multiple strategies as important when de-implementing a low-value service. Many were used to engage in conversations with stakeholders, including leadership, providers, and patients, to increase buy-in and support, challenge beliefs, promote behavior change, and gather insights about next steps in their effort to support de-implementing their chosen low-value service. Future work is needed to better understand how prepare clinicians for this role and to understand the mechanisms through which these strategies might be effective.