George Herman

Measuring the Impact of Information Technology on Value and Productivity using a Process-Based Approach: The case for RFID Technologies

There has been a lot of research addressing the relationship between Information Technology (IT) investments and productivity. Most of the work has been based on firm-level metrics such as total IT investment. We present what we believe is one of the first attempts to create a systematic methodology to assess the impact of IT in business process performance metrics. Our approach builds on the MIT Process Handbook as a basis to both guide the analysis and capture the resulting knowledge for future use. We will present preliminary results on how to use such methodology to analyze the impact of a given IT technology, namely RFID (radio frequency identification devices), in performance metrics of a consumer packaged goods company. We are interested in looking at how IT may impact performance metrics such as productivity, cost and value. We believe our methodology can help CPG companies prioritize their investments. We show results on how the specialization features of the MIT Process Handbook can incorporate performance metrics to help assess such investments in RFID.

Construction by Replacement: A new approach to simulation modeling

Simulation modeling can be valuable in many areas of management science, but is often costly, time-consuming and difficult to do. This paper describes a new approach to simulation that has the potential to be much cheaper, faster and easier to use in many situations. In this approach, users start with a very simple generic model and then progressively replace parts of the model with more specialized “molecules” from a systematically organized library of predefined components. At each point, the system lets the user select from lists of possible substitutions, and then either automatically creates a new running model or shows the user where further manual changes are needed. The paper describes an extensive experiment with using this approach to construct system dynamics models of supply chain processes in a large manufacturing company. The experiment included developing a comprehensive catalog of system dynamics molecules analogous to the periodic table in chemistry. The experiment also included developing an innovative “tangible user interface” with which users can create simulation models by moving actual physical objects around on a special table called a Sensetable . The paper concludes with a discussion of the benefits and limitations of this approach and how it could be used in other situations. INTRODUCTION Simulation models have been used with substantial success for decades in many areas of management science from factory scheduling to financial forecasting to supply chain planning to market

A Comprehensive Framework for Considering Practices and Processes

We proposed four categories for a set of activities that integrate both practices and processes: practice, recorded practice, endorsed process, and mandated process. We considered their usefulness for explaining phenomena, including change over time. We then applied them to a case in which a company that had a large incumbent business launched a new business. We observed that when the mandated process has limitations in fulfilling a need, a move to a less formal process or practice occurred, allowing for experimentation. When the mandated process proved effective, people used the activities in their daily work. This case study suggests that formal processes are cost efficient and effective only if the problem that must be solved is relatively stable and predictable. When an environmental change occurs, people start to invent new ad hoc ways to deal with it. These ad hoc activities might become practices if they prove useful. By using this more articulated continuum, researchers can better understand the dimensions of the tension between informality and formality.