Journal of Systems and Information Technology

Hanisch, Jo; Thanasankit, Theerasak; Corbitt, Brian

2001 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/13287260180000763

Requirements engineering is a crucial phase in software development. Software development in a virtual domain adds another dimension to the process of requirements engineering. There has been growing interest in virtual teams, and more specifically in virtual software development. While structured software development methods are the obvious first choice for project managers to ensure a virtual software development team remains on track, the social and cultural aspects of requirements engineering cannot be ignored. These social aspects are especially important across different cultures, and have been shown to affect the success of an information system. The discussion in this paper is centred around the requirements engineering processes of a virtual team in a Thai Software House. This paper explains the issues and challenges of requirements engineering in a virtual domain from a social and cultural perspective. Project managers need to encourage a balance between structured methods and social aspects in requirements engineering for virtual team members. Cultural and social aspects influence the relationship between the virtual team and the client.

Wastell, David G.

2001 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/13287260180000764

Although many knowledge management KM initiatives are known to miscarry, there has been relative little critical, indepth research into the causes of failure. In this paper, an action research AR project is described in a major motor manufacturer WWM focusing on one of their key knowledge processes Design for Manufacturabilty which was regarded as dysfunctional. The paper has two aims to explore the substantive factors underlying this malaise, and to demonstrate how the rigour and respectability of AR as a research tool can be strengthened by the use of grounded theory GT methodology. Using the latter, a model was produced relating the effectiveness of the DFM process to a set of success factors. These factors resonate with key issues described in previous KM research, namely the need for a shared knowledge repository, a formal KM process, and a culture disposed towards knowledge sharing and reuse. The model provided a rigorous platform for designing interventions to improve the DFM process. Whilst technical changes creating infrastructure, defining process are readily feasible, bringing about cultural change is less tractable and process improvements in WWM have tended to focus more on the former than the latter. As well as providing generalisable insights into KM success and failure, the paper also demonstrates the valuable role that GT can make in informing the design of organisational interventions, in evaluating their impact, and in adding rigour to the theory generation dimension of AR.

Chan, Roy; Rosemann, Michael

2001 Journal of Systems and Information Technology

doi: 10.1108/13287260180000765

Enterprise Systems are comprehensive and complex applications that form the core business operating system for many companies worldwide and throughout most industries. The selection, implementation, use and continuous change of Enterprise Systems ES e.g. mySAP.com require a great amount of knowledge and experience. Due to the lack of inhouse ES knowledge and the high costs of engaging experienced implementation consultants, organizations realize the need to better leverage their knowledge resources. Managing this knowledge is increasingly important with the second wave of ES projects focusing EBusiness applications like Customer Relationship Management CRM and Supply Chain Management SCM. These new applications embrace an openintegration strategy that will incorporate and support other vendors applications as part of its Internetbased enterprise computing platform. This paper proposes a framework for managing knowledge in Enterprise Systems. The framework draws its strength from metacase studies and comprehensive literature analyses, which is consolidated into a threedimensional framework. The preliminary results show that the importance of valueadding activities and innovation are elemental to knowledge management in the aspect of ES.