reconstructing best practices embedded in software packages: an actor-network perspective assoc....

Reconstructing best practices embedded in software packages: an actor-network perspective

Assoc. Prof Siew-Kien Sia

Adrian Yeow

December 2004

Proceedings of the IFIP WG 8.2 Organizations and Society in Information Systems (OASIS)

Workshop

OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow

Agenda Motivation Framework for reconstruction of best

practices Case Study Findings Concluding Remarks


Motivation “Best practices”: a set of normative business practices

that is objective and context-free knowledge that can be readily acquired, stored, and transferable?

Package software vendors are increasingly shaping the definition of industry best practices or standards for organizational consumers (Sawyer 2001).

Organizations that adopt package software go through a process to recast the best practices embedded in these software packages.

But what is that process?


Framework Technological frame’s content describes the

concept of best practices itself. The content is defined subject to the

interpretation of the social group itself. These technological frames go through change

processes depending on the configurations and are analyzed from ANT’s translation and inscription processes


Framework Translation process: two or more dominant

frames from competing actor-networks engaged in rhetorical debates

The dominant frame that results will eventually inscribe its program of action on various materials.

Contingent on the translation process and the technological frame that result, this inscription may take various forms and strengths: weak and flexible or strong and inflexible inscription.


Case Study E-Procurement system deployed in a large

government sector organization dealing with decentralized buy transactions (approx. 500,000 purchase orders, amounting to about $60 M)

Multi-disciplinary system implementation project completed within one year (on schedule and on budget)

Three groups of stakeholders analyzed across three “best practices” reconstruction


Case Study: Stakeholders

Operations departmentA newly formed department to co-ordinate the

logistics of all subunits so as to leverage their capabilities to ensure more effective and efficient operations

Key concern – to achieve efficiency and cost/time saving for the entire organization through process standardization across all business units



Finance department (DFO) Its main job is to manage the financial policies across

the organization. It was the originator of the electronic procurement system project albeit a more limited version

Key concern – to remove all potential loopholes in decentralized procurement process that can give rise to audit issues within departments and units of the organization via an integrated e-procurement system



User Groups This is made up of three highly independent business units. The first business unit (Unit A) has the largest number of

subunits and staff strength hence the largest volume of decentralized purchases

The subunits also suffer from a high turnover rate and limited financial management capability, which increase potential of audit risks and number of unauthorized purchases.

Unit A’s management exercise centralized budget controls over its subunit’s expenditure through a centralized group of Budget Managers through a set of fixed process and expenditure limits at subunit level

Key concern: to provide a finer-grained and more flexible management control.



User Groups The other two business units are smaller in terms of the number

of subunits and manpower strength. However both business units’ operations tend to be more technical, -> trained and professional staff.

Unit B has largely decentralized structure with each subunit’s manager involved in its own budget planning.

Unit C however structures its procurement functions around business office location instead of unit levels.

Key concern – to enable the various units to better control and manage their procurement purchases


Analysis Identify explicit anticipations of use by the

various actors Identify the technological frames Identify degree of inclusion of the actors in

those frames and the configuration of the frames within the translation process

How are anticipations translated and inscribed? Who inscribes them? The strength of these inscriptions


Findings: Tech. Frame

Core Actor-N: Operations

Goal of Technology

-To achieve efficiency and cost/time saving for the entire organization through process standardization

Problems -A lack of an integrated and centralized procurement system that covered the entire process-The current inefficient and costly processes

Strategies/Solution Criteria

-To clearly identify areas in that were duplicated or non-standardized and to consolidate and harmonize them in ePS. -To modify current common practices with the technology to achieve added convenience and efficiency. -To ensure that ePS solution is cost-effective and useful with no-mod policy



Core Actor-N: Finance

Goal of Technology

-To remove all potential loopholes that can give rise to audit issues -A tool to ensure that the proper checks and controls are in place

Problems -The manual procurement processes and use of local cash accounts for payments


-To promote electronic processes and payments and to remove all cash accounts in units.-To ensure that all security, audit and legal requirements are met by the ePS and that the system processes are in compliance to all financial policies and rules.



User Actor-N

Goal of Technology

-It differs among the units but overall, the technology is to provide a finer-grained and more flexible management control

Problems -To provide central control over subunits’ procurement budgets-To resolve all the controls and checks that are currently lacking at the subunit levels due to the manual processes


-To ensure that their requirements of current controls and checks are met. -To ensure that the system was user-friendly to reduce the users’ resistance to change.


Contested Best Practices

Financial Management models: Vote management system versus Accountability system

E-Procurement Approval Process: Streamlined Practice versus Multiple Approval Practice

E-Procurement Payment methods: Automated versus Supervised 3-way matching system


FindingsContested Best Practice

Financial Management Model

Core Actor-N -Operations and Finance Departments

Opposing Actor-N -User groups (Units A, B, and C)

Background -Vote mgmt vs. accountability mgmt-Core Actor-N to appropriate package s/w for vote management-Users Actor-N different appropriation of vote management


FindingsCore Actor-N arguments

-Authoritative: existing procurement and financial policies; mgmt direction away from intermediate control; reinterpretation of use of sub-vote-Pragmatic: use of soft control for sub-vote as shown by vendor; less dev’ment, modification & maintenance issues; flaws with current system; less audit risks-Scientific: study to show cost and efficiencies gained

Opposing Actor-N arguments

-Ritualistic: it’s been done this way-Authoritative: appeal to audit & control risks in new process; appeal to current budget problems for more control


Findings

Vendor contract

Vendor

Unit AUnit A

Unit A

Unit A


FindingsResult Core actor-N successfully

translates user actor-N but had to compromise on sub-vote use. A hybrid version of vote mgmt system

Final Inscription Standardized vote mgmt for financial settlement with visibility of expenditure at sub-vote levels e.g. Reports summarizing expenditure at sub-vote levels; Soft controls at sub-vote levels within ePS


Concluding remarks

Insights: Multi-agencies system within a single large organization: many

voices versus only one strong single voice Political powers wielded by the users threatens to overwhelm

mandated parties in reconstruction process and its implication for the process

Public sector setting The translation process and inscription adopted from the

actor-network theory provides us with the analytical lens to describe and explain how and why the beliefs are structured and found within the ePS actor-network

It provides also a process-oriented view to understand how the beliefs are constructed.

reconstructing best practices embedded in software packages: an actor-network perspective assoc....

Documents

concept of best practices

business unitsoasis

process standardization

software packages

dominant frames

entire organization

package software vendors

inflexible inscription