How do Requirements Evolve over Time? A Case Study Investigating the Role of Context and Experiences in the Evolution of Enterprise Software Requirements

In recent years, organizations have increasingly sourced cloud-based enterprise software (ES). Although comprehensively capturing organizations’ requirements considerably affects the success of an ES sourcing project, little is known about how requirements evolve beyond the implementation. We conduct a longitudinal, exploratory single-case study of the life cycle of cloud-based ES in a medium-sized organization. Over 5 years, we trace the evolution of requirements throughout the ES life cycle, beginning with the initial adoption decision and ending with considerations to retire the ES. We develop a process theory that explains how requirements evolve beyond ES implementation and throughout its life cycle. We isolate nine mechanisms that explain how contextual factors and experiences are intertwined and shape the evolution of requirements. We then develop seven propositions that explain how sourcing cloud-based ES alters the mechanisms that shape the evolution of requirements. Our findings emphasize that the evolution of requirements for cloud-based ES follows similar mechanisms to that of the requirements for on-premises ES but changes how particular mechanisms manifest. Sourcing cloud-based ES changes the influence of business divisions in acquisition and configuration activities, the role of upgrade and customization procedures, and the influence of the ES’ ecosystem.

On the use of rhetoric in promoting enterprise resource planning systems

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to improve the understanding of the rhetoric used to promote enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which are complex organisation-wide software packages inherently connected to the domains of management and organisation.

Design/methodology/approach

– The study adopts a post-essentialist view on ERP systems and takes the form of a rhetorical analysis. Engaging in rhetorical scholarship in the area of technological change and management fashion literatures, this paper offers a close reading of a management text on ERP systems by Thomas H. Davenport published in 1998 in the Harvard Business Review.

Findings

– The rhetorical analysis distinguishes and identifies three rhetorical strategies – namely, rationalisation, theorisation and contradiction – used to promote ERP systems and thus involved in the construction of the phenomenon revolving around ERP systems.

Originality/value

– In spite of the importance of the rhetorical analysis of information technology in the context in which they operate, this paper argues that constructions of ERP systems should also be analysed beyond organisation-specific considerations. It further suggests that both researchers and practitioners should take seriously the rhetoric invoked by the well-known management writer that may easily go unnoticed.

Risk of adopting mission-critical OSS applications: an interpretive case study

Purpose

– This study aims to explore the process of open source software (OSS) adoption in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and more specifically open source enterprise resource planning (ERP) as a “mission critical” OSS application in manufacturing. It also addresses the fundamental issue of ERP risk management that shapes this process.

Design/methodology/approach

– The approach is done through an interpretive case study of a small Canadian manufacturer that has adopted an open source ERP system.

Findings

– Interpreted in the light of the IT risk management, OSS and packaged application adoption literatures, results indicate that the small manufacturer successfully managed the adoption process in a rather intuitive manner, based on one guiding principle and nine practices. In analyzing the data, diffusion of innovation theory appeared to fit rather well with the situation observed and to offer rich insights to explain the mission-critical OSS adoption process.

Research limitations/implications

– A single case study of successful IT adoption should be eventually counterbalanced by future cases considered to be partial or total failures, using a wider multiple case study approach for comparative purposes. And this should include alternative theoretical interpretations and more detailed empirical work on the extent to which the distinctive features of OSS make its adoption more or less risk-laden. This initial effort should also be followed by further research on mission-critical OSS adoption in contexts other than SMEs (e.g. healthcare organizations) and other than ERP (e.g. customer-relationship management).

Practical implications

– This research confirms that open source is a credible alternative for SMEs that decide willingly or under external pressure to adopt a mission-critical system such as ERP. Moreover, it suggests that a high level of formalization is not always necessary.

Originality/value

– The authors argue that rich insights into the dynamics of the mission-critical OSS adoption process can be obtained by framing this process within an IT risk management context.