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
Jan 01, 2016
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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?
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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.
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Case Study: Stakeholders
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Case Study: Stakeholders
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.
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Case Study: Stakeholders
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Findings: Tech. Frame
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
Strategies/Solution Criteria
-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.
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Findings: Tech. Frame
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
Strategies/Solution Criteria
-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.
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
Findings
Vendor contract
Vendor
Unit AUnit A
Unit A
Unit A
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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
OASIS Workshop Dec. 2004 Reconstructing best practices … Sia & Yeow
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.