[AISWorld] Last CFP HICSS 2013 - Enterprise System Integration: Issues and Answers

[Paulo Rupino Cunha]

Call for Papers: HICSS 2013, January 7 - 10, 2013, Grand Wailea, Maui, Hawaii

TRACK: Organizational Systems and Technology

MINI-TRACK: Enterprise System Integration: Issues and Answers

Deadlines for submission: June 15, 2012

The lack of application integration is widely considered as a barrier for the automation of business processes. During the last two decades, organisations have turned to the adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions, and now Service Oriented Architectures (SOA) to address the challenges companies face when they want to integrate systems. ERP applications are integrated suites that are becoming mature technologies in many organizations. Accordingly, an increasing body of academic research has been devoted to this important area. The academic literature, and to a good extent, the professional literature, has been focused on using ERP systems to consolidate and refine the business processes within an organization (intra-company business processes).

Although, ERP solutions support and improve business processes, they have their limitations when they collaborate with other existing information systems. Normative literature shows that intra-organizational integration is achieved in cases where ERP systems have replaced most of the custom built applications. However, the integration of business processes and systems is complicated and difficult in those cases that ERP solutions co-exist alongside other disparate intra-organizational applications. This issue is more complex when automating inter-organizational business processes and value chains or after a merger or acquisition.

Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) has emerged to address these problems. EAI is based on a diversity of technologies such as message brokers and adapters to lead flexible and manageable integrated intra and inter-organizational IT infrastructures. ERP vendors have recognized the importance of EAI technology and have evolved the EAI technologies into Service Oriented Architecture products. Recently the ERP industry has turned to Cloud Computing, as Cloud technology allows ERP vendors and users (organizations) to maximize their benefits.

Topics or research questions that are of particular interest include the following:

	• How does ERP and the migration towards SOA evolve or change the university or college curriculum?

	• What are the costs and benefits of ERP/ SOA installations? Have expectations have been realized? How do we know?

	• What are the true costs of implementing an integrated enterprise solution and how are these costs accounted for in organizations?

	• How are Integrated Enterprise Systems (ES) being adopted by organizations? What changes do organizations go through to get and deploy an ES? What resulting changes occur after the ES is implemented? Anticipated or not?

	• What are the common challenges and opportunities associated with integrating solutions within an enterprise? Across enterprises?

	• How do you keep and hire ERP specialists? How are organizations addressing the shortage of ERP specialists? How can colleges help with the shortage?

	• How do you manage the software development process in an ERP implementation? How can the Project management and change management research be applied here?

	• What is the real value of hands-on experience with ERP/SOA in college curricula?

	• How are ERP systems being extended beyond the internal business processes? What types of system-to-system interfaces are being used?

	• What SOA standards need to be in place for future expansion of ERP systems?

	• What are some of the issues surrounding ERP usage, implementation, etc. when companies merge or use different ERP systems to meet different needs of the same but diverse organization?

	• What are the Benefits, Barriers, Costs of SOA technology?

	• What factors influence SOA adoption and use?

	• What is the role of Business Process Management/Modeling when deploying an Integrated Enterprise System?

	• What are the implementation methodologies and the best practices for integrating business systems?

	• What do ERP and/or SOA/Cloud case studies tell us?

	• How can we measure ERP and SOA/Cloud performance?

	• What are the emerging business models or what comes after SOA?

	• What are the organizational, political, and cultural barriers related with ERP/ SOA/Cloud Computing adoption?

	• What development have been achieved regarding ERP in the Cloud?

	• How does ERP fit in a word of an Internet of Services?


More info at http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_46/apahome46.htm

Mini-track chairs:
Gail Corbitt
Marinos Themistocleous
Paulo Rupino da Cunha