Search results
11 – 20 of over 13000PRINT SHOP. It's near the end of the year. Your budget is nearly expended, but it is the holiday season. What can you purchase for the beleaguered staff bored with MARC input…
Abstract
PRINT SHOP. It's near the end of the year. Your budget is nearly expended, but it is the holiday season. What can you purchase for the beleaguered staff bored with MARC input screens and new releases of software that never seem to arrive? For about fifty bucks why not try Print Shop?
Gerald Feldman, Hanifa Shah, Craig Chapman, Erika A. Pärn and David J. Edwards
Enterprise systems (ES) upgrade is fundamental to maintaining a system’s continuous improvement and stability. However, while the extant literature is replete with research on ES…
Abstract
Purpose
Enterprise systems (ES) upgrade is fundamental to maintaining a system’s continuous improvement and stability. However, while the extant literature is replete with research on ES upgrade decision-making, there is scant knowledge about how different decision processes facilitate this decision to upgrade. This paper aims to investigate and better understand these processes from an organisational perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopted a qualitative survey design, and used a Web-based questionnaire and semi-structured interviews to collect data from 23 large organisations. Data accrued were qualitatively analysed and manually coded to identify the various decision processes undertaken during ES upgrade decisions.
Findings
Analysis results reveal complex interrelations between the upgrade drivers, the need to evaluate the new version’s functionality and the upgrade impact. Understanding the interaction between these elements influences the upgrade decision process.
Research limitations/implications
The study proposes ES upgrade processes that support a decision to upgrade major releases. Further research is required to offer either similar or conflicting arguments on the upgrade decision-making and provide a probabilistic generalisation of the decision-making processes.
Originality/value
The research offers a comprehensive and empirically supported methodical approach that embraces an evaluation of a new version’s functionality, technical requirements and concomitant upgrade implications as intrinsic decision processes. This approach assists in the decisions to establish the upgrade need and determine the level of change, effort required, impacts and associated benefits.
Details
Keywords
James T. Lindley, Sharon Topping and Lee T. Lindley
The purpose of this paper is to detail how the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems creates major distortions in the corporate decision‐making process.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to detail how the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems creates major distortions in the corporate decision‐making process.
Design/methodology/approach
The approach is to focus on the distortion in the capital – budgeting process of corporations emanating from the rigidity of ERP software. The rigidity negatively influences decision‐making because ERP software often dictates that the firm must change its core business procedures and processes to fit the software.
Findings
Lack of flexibility limits the introduction of new products, or targeting a new customer segment by increasing costs and imposing delays in implementation.
Research limitations/implications
Firms would benefit from performing detailed analysis of the impact of ERP systems on their ability to make operational decisions.
Originality/value
This paper focuses on the problem of decreased flexibility in making changes in the production and accounting components of the firm when purchasing and installing ERP systems that cannot accommodate minor or major changes in the corporation.
Details
Keywords
Software is the intellectual capital output of the codified knowledge of a programming team. The development cost is high, but the variable cost of sale is substantially lower…
Abstract
Software is the intellectual capital output of the codified knowledge of a programming team. The development cost is high, but the variable cost of sale is substantially lower (negligible) than for hard goods. Unfortunately, there does not exist a valid or reliable measure to value software. The trend has been to align pricing to the activities that buyers realize value from. However, new architectures change the nature of where value is realized and how service becomes part of the equation. There does not exist a perfect generic pricing model. Vendors must understand the value they provide to their customers and create a price structure that aligns pricing with value realization, but more importantly facilitates their business objectives of the product (and service).
Details
Keywords
Nadeem Siddique and Khalid Mahmood
This paper is the part of PhD research of the principal researcher. This paper aims to describe current status of library software being used in the libraries of Pakistan, role of…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is the part of PhD research of the principal researcher. This paper aims to describe current status of library software being used in the libraries of Pakistan, role of national and foreign agencies in the development of library software in Pakistan, problems faced by the libraries in implementation and to highlight the recommendations by the experts in the field to overcome the problems. It also attempts to provide a bibliography on the topic to researchers in the field of library and information science.
Design/methodology/approach
Available literature was reviewed. The articles were usually published in national and international journals of library and information science and contributed by Pakistani authors. Other sources consulted were books, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations and websites of libraries and professionals’ organisations.
Findings
The situation in Pakistan regarding library software cannot be compared with the that in advanced countries. Lack of standard library software, the multilingual nature of the library collections, poor budgets, computer illiteracy, software piracy and unavailability of support from local vendors are the main hindrances in the effective implementation of library software. In the available literature, experts have recommended the formulation of a consortium or a body under the umbrella of the Government of Pakistan which could provide standard library software, along with technical support, innovation and upgrades of the software, to meet the needs of Pakistani libraries.
Originality/value
This is the first paper that presents the current status of library software in Pakistan, problems faced by the libraries in implementation of library software and recommendations suggested by the experts to overcome the problems.
Details
Keywords
Jacky Young, Debbie Collins and Kerry Keel
Unicorn and STILAS are multiuser client/server systems developed in and for the Unix environment to automate all aspects of information management, from cataloging and authority…
Abstract
Unicorn and STILAS are multiuser client/server systems developed in and for the Unix environment to automate all aspects of information management, from cataloging and authority control to intelligent access of non‐SIRSI databases. In keeping with the client/server concept, SIRSI has introduced a graphical user interface (GUI) to Unicorn and STILAS. The SIRSI system provides a path to information both inside and outside the library. SIRSI provides a standard interface, an “Intelligent Interface” client to diverse database systems and other vendors' library automation systems. SIRSI's Reference Database Managers provide an intelligent connection to locally mounted reference databases. SIRSI's VIZION, a stand‐alone desktop client, provides an automatic graphical user interface to hundreds of online sources of information and services available through the Internet and via modem. Furthermore, SIRSI has recently introduced WebCat, which facilitates mounting and access to the complete catalogs and other services of libraries over the Internet's World Wide Web.
Joel L. Hartman and Ellen I. Watson
The Bradley Library Information Support System (BLISS) is a comprehensive local area network designed to provide library users with an array of electronic information access and…
Abstract
The Bradley Library Information Support System (BLISS) is a comprehensive local area network designed to provide library users with an array of electronic information access and management services to support Bradley University's curriculum, research, and scholarly activities. The LAN is designed in a client/server architecture, with function‐specific Unix servers operating over an Ethernet network, to support a range of services both within the library and campuswide. BLISS workstations are available to both patrons and staff and located throughout the library; some BLISS resources are network‐accessible to the general campus community. A menu interface lists the resources available and establishes a transparent connection between the user and the selected resource. BLISS is a joint project of the library and computing services, providing a platform for the development of cohesive electronic information services and for the training, documentation, and mediation serices necessary to effectively use them.
William Uricchio and Michelle Duffy
CircCess, a 35‐member library network, was moving toward a major system upgrade when it discovered that the planned system would not support Boolean functions. An alternative…
Abstract
CircCess, a 35‐member library network, was moving toward a major system upgrade when it discovered that the planned system would not support Boolean functions. An alternative approach to providing a shared catalog and linked circulation functions was sought, resulting in a CD‐ROM‐based solution. The process of developing the concept, unexpected problems associated with selecting a vendor, delays and problems resulting from an expansion of the original concept, and related issues are detailed.
Michalis Bekiaris and Antonia Markogiannopoulou
This paper examines the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems of 27 European central governments and the governments' respective information technology (IT) reforms…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems of 27 European central governments and the governments' respective information technology (IT) reforms, facilitator role and association with accrual accounting reforms as premise of the International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper presents a qualitative and content analysis of 27 European Union (EU) member states (MSs) regarding the states' IT and accounting maturity in association with accrual accounting as breeding ground for IPSAS convergence based on published surveys on behalf of Eurostat, web data and emails collected from authorized officials.
Findings
This paper has found that (1) increased accounting and IT maturity scores of central governments are associated with the establishment or upgrade of ERP systems; (2) ERP systems prove to facilitate and support accrual accounting adoption; (3) in majority, EU MSs adopt similar ERP vendors to implement accrual accounting reforms; (4) with prevalence among ERP vendors, the Systems Application Products (SAP) ERP software proves to be a success story toward public sector accounting (PSA) reforms.
Research limitations/implications
Respective information on the ERP systems' facilitation to financial accounting reforms is collected only for 17 central governments.
Originality/value
This paper highlights the facilitation of ERP systems as reform drivers to accrual accounting change of EU MSs, through IT modernization. This paper links the ERP practices with specific ERP vendors pointing out the vendors' similarities. This paper presents examples of European ERP reforms and sets the reforms as reference for central governments that wish to embark on ERP and accrual accounting reforms.
Abstract
Details