Searching for keys to successful post-merger integration : a longitudinal case-study following a public sector merger

Unsuccessful mergers are unfortunately the rule rather than the exception. Therefore it is necessary to gain an enhanced understanding of mergers and post-merger integrations (PMI) as well as learning more about how mergers and PMIs of information systems (IS) and people can be facilitated. Studies on PMI of IS are scarce and public sector mergers are even less studied. There is nothing however to indicate that public sector mergers are any more successful than those in the private sector. This thesis covers five studies carried out between 2008 and 2011 in two organizations in higher education that merged in January 2010. The most recent study was carried out two years after the new university was established. The longitudinal case-study focused on the administrators and their opinions of the IS, the work situation and the merger in general. These issues were investigated before, during and after the merger. Both surveys and interviews were used to collect data, to which were added documents that both describe and guide the merger process; in this way we aimed at a triangulation of findings. Administrators were chosen as the focus of the study since public organizations are highly dependent on this staff category, forming the backbone of the organization and whose performance is a key success factor for the organization. Reliable and effective IS are also critical for maintaining a functional and effective organization, and this makes administrators highly dependent on their organizations’ IS for the ability to carry out their duties as intended. The case-study has confirmed the administrators’ dependency on IS that work well. A merger is likely to lead to changes in the IS and the routines associated with the administrators’ work. Hence it was especially interesting to study how the administrators viewed the merger and its consequences for IS and the work situation. The overall research objective is to find key issues for successful mergers and PMIs. The first explorative study in 2008 showed that the administrators were confident of their skills and knowledge of IS and had no fear of having to learn new IS due to the merger. Most administrators had an academic background and were not anxious about whether IS training would be given or not. Before the merger the administrators were positive and enthusiastic towards the merger and also to the changes that they expected. The studies carried out before the merger showed that these administrators were very satisfied with the information provided about the merger. This information was disseminated through various channels and even negative information and postponed decisions were quickly distributed. The study conflicts with the theories that have found that resistance to change is inevitable in a merger. Shortly after the merger the (third) study showed disappointment with the fact that fewer changes than expected had been implemented even if the changes that actually were carried out sometimes led to a more problematic work situation. This was seen to be more prominent for routine changes than IS changes. Still the administrators showed a clear willingness to change and to share their knowledge with new colleagues. This knowledge sharing (also tacit) worked well in the merger and the PMI. The majority reported that the most common way to learn to use new ISs and to apply new routines was by asking help from colleagues. They also needed to take responsibility for their own training and development. Five months after the merger (the fourth study) the administrators had become worried about the changes in communication strategy that had been implemented in the new university. This was perceived as being more anonymous. Furthermore, it was harder to get to know what was happening and to contact the new decision makers. The administrators found that decisions, and the authority to make decisions, had been moved to a higher administrative level than they were accustomed to. A directive management style is recommended in mergers in order to achieve a quick transition without distracting from the core business. A merger process may be tiresome and require considerable effort from the participants. In addition, not everyone can make their voice heard during a merger and consensus is not possible in every question. It is important to find out what is best for the new organization instead of simply claiming that the tried and tested methods of doing things should be implemented. A major problem turned out to be the lack of management continuity during the merger process. Especially problematic was the situation in the IS-department with many substitute managers during the whole merger process (even after the merger was carried out). This meant that no one was in charge of IS-issues and the PMI of IS. Moreover, the top managers were appointed very late in the process; in some cases after the merger was carried out. This led to missed opportunities for building trust and management credibility was heavily affected. The administrators felt neglected and that their competences and knowledge no longer counted. This, together with a reduced and altered information flow, led to rumours and distrust. Before the merger the administrators were convinced that their achievements contributed value to their organizations and that they worked effectively. After the merger they were less sure of their value contribution and effectiveness even if these factors were not totally discounted. The fifth study in November 2011 found that the administrators were still satisfied with their IS as they had been throughout the whole study. Furthermore, they believed that the IS department had done a good job despite challenging circumstances. Both the former organizations lacked IS strategies, which badly affected the IS strategizing during the merger and the PMI. IS strategies deal with issues like system ownership; namely who should pay and who is responsible for maintenance and system development, for organizing system training for new IS, and for effectively run IS even during changing circumstances (e.g. more users). A proactive approach is recommended for IS strategizing to work. This is particularly true during a merger and PMI for handling issues about what ISs should be adopted and implemented in the new organization, issues of integration and reengineering of IS-related processes. In the new university an ITstrategy had still not been decided 26 months after the new university was established. The study shows the importance of the decisive management of IS in a merger requiring that IS issues are addressed in the merger process and that IS decisions are made early. Moreover, the new management needs to be appointed early in order to work actively with the IS-strategizing. It is also necessary to build trust and to plan and make decisions about integration of IS and people.

Tietämyksen hyödyntäminen vähittäiskaupan arvoketjun ohjauksessa

Tietämyksen hyödyntäminen parantaa yrityksen arvontuotannon lopputuloksia - myös vähittäiskaupassa. Vähittäiskaupoille erityisesti asiakastietämys on erityisen tärkeää. Asiakastietämyksen suhteen vähittäiskaupat ovat periaatteessa erinomaisessa asemassa, koska niiden henkilökunta tapaa asiakkaita päivittäin. Viimeisen 20 - 30 vuoden aikana vähittäiskauppa on kuitenkin siirtynyt ketjuliiketoimintamalliin, jossa toiminnan tehostamiseksi suurin osa päätöksenteosta on keskitetty ketjuyksikköön pois asiakasrajapinnasta. Päätöksenteon tueksi tuotetaan runsaasti määrällistä tietoa, mutta ensikäden syvällistä tietämystä asiakkaista päätöksenteossa ei pystytä hyödyntämään. Tämän työn tavoite on ollut kehittää nykyaikaisille vähittäiskaupoille soveltuva tapa saada keskitetyn päätöksenteon tueksi ensikäden asiakastietämystä. Työn metodologia nojaa suunnittelutieteeseen ja konstruktiiviseen tutkimusotteeseen, joissa molemmissa keskeisessä roolissa on konstruktio, jolla pyritään sekä ratkaisemaan käytännön ongelma että tuottamaan uutta teoreettista tietoa. Työn viitekehys muodostuu tietämystä käsittelevästä kirjallisuudesta. Konstruktion muodostamista varten työssä on tutustuttu vähittäiskaupasta löytyviin esimerkkeihin hyödyntää asiakastietämystä. Lisäksi työssä on systematisoitu tietämyksen luomiseen liittyvää käsitteistöä arvoketjunäkökulmasta. Pohjatyön jälkeen muodostettu konstruktio ratkaisee tutkimusongelman liittämällä ketjuyksikön ja asiakasrajapinnan samaan tietämyksen luomisen kehään. Konstruktiossa hyödynnetään arvoketjun ominaisuuksia, tietotekniikkaa sekä arvoketjuun muodostuvia käytänneyhteisöitä. Näin konstruktiossa on pystytty huomioimaan sekä vähittäiskaupan arvoketjun erityispiirteet että tietämyksen luomisen edellytykset.

Maintaining supply performance during an ERP system implementation phase : case Cloetta Suomi Oy

Implementing an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system often means a major change to an organization and involves significant risks. It is typical that many of the ERP system implementations fail resulting in tremendous damage to the business. Moreover, running normal business operations during an ERP system implementation is far more complicated than normally. This thesis focuses on how an organization should manage the ERP system implementation process in order to maintain supply performance during the implementation phase. The theoretical framework in this thesis focuses on ERP system implementations with a critical success factor approach. Critical success factors can be divided into strategic and tactical level success factors. By considering these critical success factors, ERP system implementation project’s timeline and best practices of an ERP implementation, a critical success factor based ERP system implementation management framework is presented. The framework can be used as a theoretical framework when the goal is to avoid ERP system implementation phase issues that are driven by the ERP system implementation project and that may decrease organization’s supply performance. This thesis is a case study that was written on an assignment to a confectionary company Cloetta Suomi Oy. In order to collect data, interviews of the case company personnel were conducted. In addition, several other data collection methods were used throughout the research process. These data collection methods include examination of presentations and archival records as well as direct observations in case company meetings and in various work duties. The results of this thesis indicate that there are several factors that may decrease organization’s supply performance during the ERP system implementation. These issues are categorized under external and internal issues and further into six risk drivers that are suppliers, customers, products, staff, information systems and other projects. After the description and categorization of each issue, the thesis focuses on finding solutions on how to avoid or mitigate the impact of these issues on the organization’s supply performance. This examination leads to several operational activities that are also practical to business practitioners. It is also stated that a successful ERP system implementation that also causes minimal disturbance to organization’s supply performance during the ERP system implementation, is achieved by considering three levels of actions.

Current State of Repository Interoperability: Work by the Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR)

Panel at Open Repositories 2014, Helsinki, Finland, June 9-13, 2014

Parasitic Order Machine. A Sociology and Ontology of Information Securing

This study examines information security as a process (information securing) in terms of what it does, especially beyond its obvious role of protector. It investigates concepts related to ‘ontology of becoming’, and examines what it is that information securing produces. The research is theory driven and draws upon three fields: sociology (especially actor-network theory), philosophy (especially Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s concept of ‘machine’, ‘territory’ and ‘becoming’, and Michel Serres’s concept of ‘parasite’), and information systems science (the subject of information security). Social engineering (used here in the sense of breaking into systems through non-technical means) and software cracker groups (groups which remove copy protection systems from software) are analysed as examples of breaches of information security. Firstly, the study finds that information securing is always interruptive: every entity (regardless of whether or not it is malicious) that becomes connected to information security is interrupted. Furthermore, every entity changes, becomes different, as it makes a connection with information security (ontology of becoming). Moreover, information security organizes entities into different territories. However, the territories – the insides and outsides of information systems – are ontologically similar; the only difference is in the order of the territories, not in the ontological status of entities that inhabit the territories. In other words, malicious software is ontologically similar to benign software; they both are users in terms of a system. The difference is based on the order of the system and users: who uses the system and what the system is used for. Secondly, the research shows that information security is always external (in the terms of this study it is a ‘parasite’) to the information system that it protects. Information securing creates and maintains order while simultaneously disrupting the existing order of the system that it protects. For example, in terms of software itself, the implementation of a copy protection system is an entirely external addition. In fact, this parasitic addition makes software different. Thus, information security disrupts that which it is supposed to defend from disruption. Finally, it is asserted that, in its interruption, information security is a connector that creates passages; it connects users to systems while also creating its own threats. For example, copy protection systems invite crackers and information security policies entice social engineers to use and exploit information security techniques in a novel manner.

Datenherrschaft – an Ethically Justified Solution to the Problem of Ownership of Patient Information

Patient information systems are crucial components for the modern healthcare and medicine. It is obvious that without them the healthcare cannot function properly – one can try to imagine how brain surgery could be done without using information systems to gather and show information needed for an operation. Thus, it can be stated that digital information is irremovable part of modern healthcare. However, the legal ownership of patient information lacks a coherent and justified basis. The whole issue itself is actually bypassed by controlling pa- tient information with different laws and regulations how patient information can be used and by whom. Nonetheless, the issue itself – who owns the patient in- formation – is commonly missed or bypassed. This dissertation show the problems if the legislation of patient information ownership is not clear. Without clear legislation, the outcome can be unexpected like it seems to be in Finland, Sweden and United Kingdom: the lack of clear regulation has come up with unwanted consequences because of problematic Eu- ropean Union database directive implementation in those countries. The legal ownership is actually granted to the creators of databases which contains the pa- tient information, and this is not a desirable situation. In healthcare and medicine, we are dealing with issues such as life, health and information which are very sensitive and in many cases very personal. Thus, this dissertation leans on four philosophical theories form Locke, Kant, Heidegger and Rawls to have an ethically justified basis for regulating the patient infor- mation in a proper way. Because of the problems of property and ownership in the context of information, a new concept is needed and presented to replace the concept of owning, that concept being Datenherrschaft (eng. mastery over in- formation). Datenherrschaft seems to be suitable for regulating patient infor- mation because its core is the protection of one’s right over information and this aligns with the work of the philosophers whose theories are used in the work. The philosophical argumentation of this study shows that Datenherrschaft granted to the patients is ethically acceptable. It supports the view that patient should be controlling the patient information about themselves unless there are such specific circumstance that justifies the authorities to use patient information to protect other people’s basic rights. Thus, if the patients would be legally grant- ed Datenherrschaft over patient information we would endorse patients as indi- viduals who have their own and personal experience of their own life and have a strong stance against any unjustified paternalism in healthcare. Keywords: patient information, ownership, Datenherrschaft, ethics, Locke, Kant, Heidegger, Rawls

PRODUCT DATA MANAGEMENT FOR FINNISH SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES - Towards a viable information system concept

Product Data Management (PDM) systems have been utilized within companies since the 1980s. Mainly the PDM systems have been used by large companies. This thesis presents the premise that small and medium-sized companies can also benefit from utilizing the Product Data Management systems. Furthermore, the starting point for the thesis is that the existing PDM systems are either too expensive or do not properly respond to the requirements SMEs have. The aim of this study is to investigate what kinds of requirements and special features SMEs, operating in Finnish manufacturing industry, have towards Product Data Management. Additionally, the target is to create a conceptual model that could fulfill the specified requirements. The research has been carried out as a qualitative case study, in which the research data was collected from ten Finnish companies operating in manufacturing industry. The research data is formed by interviewing key personnel from the case companies. After this, the data formed from the interviews has been processed to comprise a generic set of information system requirements and the information system concept supporting it. The commercialization of the concept is studied in the thesis from the perspective of system development. The aim was to create a conceptual model, which would be economically feasible for both, a company utilizing the system and for a company developing it. For this reason, the thesis has sought ways to scale the system development effort for multiple simultaneous cases. The main methods found were to utilize platform-based thinking and a way to generalize the system requirements, or in other words abstracting the requirements of an information system. The results of the research highlight the special features Finnish manufacturing SMEs have towards PDM. The most significant of the special features is the usage of project model to manage the order-to-delivery –process. This differs significantly from the traditional concepts of Product Data Management presented in the literature. Furthermore, as a research result, this thesis presents a conceptual model of a PDM system, which would be viable for the case companies interviewed during the research. As a by-product, this research presents a synthesized model, found from the literature, to abstract information system requirements. In addition to this, the strategic importance and categorization of information systems within companies has been discussed from the perspective of information system customizations.

Integration of Logistics Systems across Companies’ Borders

The growth of the companies working in the Logistics area has raised the need for using several Logistics systems that can meet the increased requirements in business processes. Different companies may use one or more Logistics systems internally and may use different Logistics systems that other collaborated companies use. Furthermore, these Logistics systems are required to communicate with each other in order to process and manage the flow of the information. Integrating the Logistics systems is beneficial as it allows interaction between the whole systems and services instead of the need to replace them. In addition, it improves the efficiency, lowers the possible errors in the supply chain, reduces the costs and facilitates the access of suppliers and customers to the information. This in turn leads to better relationships with both suppliers and customers. Usually local integration of several Logistics systems is not very difficult, especially that mostly the companies buy their system from a single source. However, the case is different for integrating several logistics systems across the companies’ borders. In this case, there are many factors play major roles in limiting the integration, such as using different systems and different output. This thesis highlights these factors and challenges, demonstrates some solutions for the logistics inter-organizational integration from the perspective of information systems and presents some approaches for integrating these systems. There are many studies about the integration inside a company but fewer studies focused about the technical side and the information systems integration across company’s borders or what is called inter-organizational integration. This study is a literature review that aims at illustrating the challenges, the requirements and some approaches in inter-organizational logistics information systems integration of logistics systems across the companies’ borders.

Healthcare Information System Selection Model for Medical Clinics

The issue of selecting an appropriate healthcare information system is a very essential one. If implemented healthcare information system doesn’t fit particular healthcare institution, for example there are unnecessary functions; healthcare institution wastes its resources and its efficiency decreases. The purpose of this research is to develop a healthcare information system selection model to assist the decision-making process of choosing healthcare information system. Appropriate healthcare information system helps healthcare institutions to become more effective and efficient and keep up with the times. The research is based on comparison analysis of 50 healthcare information systems and 6 interviews with experts from St-Petersburg healthcare institutions that already have experience in healthcare information system utilization. 13 characteristics of healthcare information systems: 5 key and 7 additional features are identified and considered in the selection model development. Variables are used in the selection model in order to narrow the decision algorithm and to avoid duplication of brunches. The questions in the healthcare information systems selection model are designed to be easy-to-understand for common a decision-maker in healthcare institution without permanent establishment.

Improving purchasing process for small purchases at a manufacturing company in chemical industry

This thesis was conducted on assignment by a multinational chemical corporation as a case study. The purpose of this study is to find ways to improve the purchasing process for small purchases at the case company. The improvements looked after are mainly cost and time savings. Purchasing process is the process that starts from the requisition of goods or services and ends when the invoice is paid. In this thesis the purchases with value less than 1000€ are considered to be small. The theoretical framework of the thesis consists of general theoretical view of costs and performance of the purchasing process, different types of purchasing processes and a model for improving purchasing processes. The categorization to small and large purchases is the most important followed by the division between direct and indirect purchases. Also models that provide more strategic perspective for categorization were found to be useful. Auditing and managerial control are important parts of the purchasing process. When considering the transaction costs of purchasing from the costs–benefits perspective large and small purchases should not have the same processes. Purchasing cards, e-procurement and vendor managed inventory are seen as an alternative to the traditional purchasing process. The empirical data collection was done by interviewing the company employees that take part of the purchasing process in their daily work. The interviews had open-ended questions and the answers were coded and analyzed. The results consist of process description and assessment as well as suggestions for potential improvements. At the case company the basic purchasing process was similar to the traditional purchasing process that is entirely done with computers and online. For some categories there was already more sophisticated e-procurement solutions in use. To improve the current e-procurement based solutions elimination of authorization workflow and better information exchange can be seen as potential improvements for most of the case purchases. Purchasing cards and a lightweight form of vendor managed inventory can be seen as potential improvements for some categories. Implementing the changes incurs at least some cost and the benefits might be hard to measure. This thesis has revealed that the small purchases have potential for significant cost and time savings at the case company.

Interoperability for IoT Health Systems Using HL7 Standard

Internet of Things or IoT is revolutionizing the world we are living in, similarly the way Internet and the web did few decades ago. It is changing how we interact with the things surrounding us. Electronic health and remote patient monitoring are the ways of utilizing these technological improvements towards the healthcare. There are many applications of IoT in eHealth such as, it will open the gate to provide healthcare to the remote areas of the world, where healthcare through traditional hospital systems cannot be provided. To connect these new eHealth IoT systems with the existing healthcare information systems, we can use the existing interoperability standards commonly used in healthcare information systems. In this thesis we implemented an eHealth IoT system based on Health Level 7 interoperability standard for continuous data transmission. There is not much previous work done in implementing the HL7 for continuous sensor data transmission. Some of the previous work was limited to sensors which are not continuous in nature and some of it is only theatrical architecture. This thesis aims to prove that it is possible to implement an eHealth IoT system by using sensors which require continues data transmission, such as respiratory sensors, and to connect it with the existing eHealth information system semantically by using HL7 interoperability standard. This system will be beneficial in implementing eHealth IoT systems for those patients, who requires continuous healthcare personal monitoring. This includes elderly people and patients, whose health need to be monitored constantly. To implement the architecture, HL7 v2.5 is selected due to its ease of implementation and low size. We selected some open source technologies because of their open licenses and large developer community. We will also review the most efficient technology available in every layer of eHealth IoT system and will propose an efficient system.