A Team-Oriented Investigation of ERP Post-Implementation Integration Projects: How Cross-Functional Collaboration Influences ERP Benefits

The benefits companies achieve by implementing an ERP system vary considerably. Many companies need to adapt their ERP integration solution in the post-implementation stage. But after the completion of such a usually very complex integration project, benefits do not emerge by all means. A misfit between the organization and the IS, especially the aspect of cross-functional team collaboration, could explain these divergences. Using an initial theoretical framework, we conducted a single case study to explore the team-oriented perceptions in a post-implementation ERP integration project. To analyze the benefits and the influences in greater depth we disentangled the integration benefits into their particular parts (process, system and information quality). Our findings show that post-implementation ERP integration changes are not always perceived as beneficiary by the involved teams and that cross-functional collaboration has an important influence.

Improved detection of amnestic MCI by means of discriminative vector quantization of single-trial cognitive ERP responses

Cognitive event-related potentials (ERPs) are widely employed in the study of dementive disorders. The morphology of averaged response is known to be under the influence of neurodegenerative processes and exploited for diagnostic purposes. This work is built over the idea that there is additional information in the dynamics of single-trial responses. We introduce a novel way to detect mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from the recordings of auditory ERP responses. Using single trial responses from a cohort of 25 amnestic MCI patients and a group of age-matched controls, we suggest a descriptor capable of encapsulating single-trial (ST) response dynamics for the benefit of early diagnosis. A customized vector quantization (VQ) scheme is first employed to summarize the overall set of ST-responses by means of a small-sized codebook of brain waves that is semantically organized. Each ST-response is then treated as a trajectory that can be encoded as a sequence of code vectors. A subject's set of responses is consequently represented as a histogram of activated code vectors. Discriminating MCI patients from healthy controls is based on the deduced response profiles and carried out by means of a standard machine learning procedure. The novel response representation was found to improve significantly MCI detection with respect to the standard alternative representation obtained via ensemble averaging (13% in terms of sensitivity and 6% in terms of specificity). Hence, the role of cognitive ERPs as biomarker for MCI can be enhanced by adopting the delicate description of our VQ scheme.

BPM software and process modelling languages in practice

IT has turned out to be a key factor for the purposes of gaining maturity in Business Process Management (BPM). This book presents a worldwide investigation that was conducted among companies from the ‘Forbes Global 2000’ list to explore the current usage of software throughout the BPM life cycle and to identify the companies’ requirements concerning process modelling. The responses from 130 companies indicate that, at the present time, it is mainly software for process description and analysis that is required, while process execution is supported by general software such as databases, ERP systems and office tools. The resulting complex system landscapes give rise to distinct requirements for BPM software, while the process modelling requirements can be equally satisfied by the most common languages (BPMN, UML, EPC).

From episodic to habitual prospective memory: ERP-evidence for a linear transition

Performing a prospective memory task repeatedly changes the nature of the task from episodic to habitual. The goal of the present study was to investigate the neural basis of this transition. In two experiments, we contrasted event-related potentials (ERPs) evoked by correct responses to prospective memory targets in the first, more episodic part of the experiment with those of the second, more habitual part of the experiment. Specifically, we tested whether the early, middle, or late ERP-components, which are thought to reflect cue detection, retrieval of the intention, and post-retrieval processes, respectively, would be changed by routinely performing the prospective memory task. The results showed a differential ERP effect in the middle time window (450 - 650 ms post-stimulus). Source localization using low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography analysis (LORETA) suggests that the transition was accompanied by an increase of activation in the posterior parietal and occipital cortex. These findings indicate that habitual prospective memory involves retrieval processes guided more strongly by parietal brain structures. In brief, the study demonstrates that episodic and habitual prospective memory tasks recruit different brain areas.

Habituation and consolidation of prospective memory over a week: An ERP study

Prospective memory (ProM) is the ability to remember and perform an intention in the future. If a prospective memory task is to be performed only once, it is episodic. If it is repeated, then it becomes habitual. Thus, with repetition, a task changes from episodic to habitual. The goal of this study was to investigate the transition from episodic to habitual prospective memory with event-related potentials (ERP). The ProM task was to respond to a target word which was embedded in an ongoing lexical decision task. 40 ProM trials were administered in each of two sessions that were separated by a week. The results revealed a behavioural consolidation effect with increased ProM performance after one week. The ERP-analyses showed that when the task became more habitual a difference occurred in a time-window between 450-650 ms post-stimulus in an ERP-component. In addition, a covariance analysis revealed that this transition is continued in the second session. These results demonstrate that the transition from episodic to habitual prospective memory is long-lasting and continuous.

CODE’s new ultra-rapid orbit and ERP products for the IGS

The International GNSS Service (IGS) issues four sets of so-called ultra-rapid products per day, which are based on the contributions of the IGS Analysis Centers. The traditional (“old”) ultra-rapid orbit and earth rotation parameters (ERP) solution of the Center for Orbit Determination in Europe (CODE) was based on the output of three consecutive 3-day long-arc rapid solutions. Information from the IERS Bulletin A was required to generate the predicted part of the old CODE ultra-rapid product. The current (“new”) product, activated in November 2013, is based on the output of exactly one multi-day solution. A priori information from the IERS Bulletin A is no longer required for generating and predicting the orbits and ERPs. This article discusses the transition from the old to the new CODE ultra-rapid orbit and ERP products and the associated improvement in reliability and performance. All solutions used in this article were generated with the development version of the Bernese GNSS Software. The package was slightly extended to meet the needs of the new CODE ultra-rapid generation.

Differential recruitment of brain networks during visuospatial and color processing: Evidence from ERP microstates

Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies consistently revealed contributions of fronto-parietal and related networks to the execution of a visuospatial judgment task, the so-called "Clock Task". However, due to the low temporal resolution of fMRI, the exact cortical dynamics and timing of processing during task performance could not be resolved until now. In order to clarify the detailed cortical activity and temporal dynamics, 14 healthy subjects performed an established version of the "Clock Task", which comprises a visuospatial task (angle discrimination) and a control task (color discrimination) with the same stimulus material, in an electroencephalography (EEG) experiment. Based on the time-resolved analysis of network activations (microstate analysis), differences in timing between the angle compared to the color discrimination task were found after sensory processing in a time window starting around 200ms. Significant differences between the two tasks were observed in an analysis window from 192ms to 776ms. We divided this window in two parts: an early phase - from 192ms to ∼440ms, and a late phase - from ∼440ms to 776ms. For both tasks, the order of network activations and the types of networks were the same, but, in each phase, activations for the two conditions were dominated by differing network states with divergent temporal dynamics. Our results provide an important basis for the assessment of deviations in processing dynamics during visuospatial tasks in clinical populations.

An Exploratory Study of Data Quality Management Practices in the ERP Software Systems Context

Quality data are not only relevant for successful Data Warehousing or Business Intelligence applications; they are also a precondition for efficient and effective use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. ERP professionals in all kinds of businesses are concerned with data quality issues, as a survey, conducted by the Institute of Information Systems at the University of Bern, has shown. This paper demonstrates, by using results of this survey, why data quality problems in modern ERP systems can occur and suggests how ERP researchers and practitioners can handle issues around the quality of data in an ERP software Environment.

Rethinking ERP-Outsourcing Decisions for Leveraging Technological and Preserving Business Knowledge

During the selection, implementation and stabilization phases, as well as the operations and optimization phase of an ERP system (ERP-lifecycle), numerous companies consider to utilize the support of an external service provider. This paper analyses how different categories of knowledge influence the sourcing decision of crucial tasks within the ERP lifecycle. Based on a review of the IS outsourcing literature, essential knowledge-related determinants for the IS outsourcing decision are presented and aggregated in a structural model. It will be hypothesized that internal deficits in technological knowledge in comparison to external vendors as well as the specificity of the synthesis of special technological and specific business knowledge have a profound impact on the outsourcing decision. Then, a classification framework will be developed which facilitates the assignment of various tasks within the ERP lifecycle to their respective knowledge categories and knowledge carriers which might be internal or external stakeholders. The configuaration task will be used as an example to illustrate how the structural model and the classification framework may be applied to evaluate the outsourcing of tasks within the ERP lifecycle.