Enterprise System (SIGEntSys)

The introduction, use and maintenance of enterprise systems (ES) require a significant investment of organizational energy and resources. As such, ES represent the largest IS investment organizations are likely to make. Many organizations are now upgrading, replacing, or extending their original ES. Early versions of ES provided back office functionality that integrated a range of internal business processes, whereas modern ES have evolved to include support for a variety of front office and inter-organizational activities and processes, such as customer relationship management (CRM), human capital management (HCM), and supply chain management (SCM). The design of such large integrated systems represents a major technical challenge, requiring new ways of thinking about business processes, system development, and enterprise architecture. Because of both their size and their integrated nature, ES are difficult to implement, and are associated with a variety of organizational changes. Organizations expect, but unfortunately do not always realize, significant benefits from their sizable investments in ES. Because of the importance of ES in organizations, educators continue to explore approaches for introducing ES into IS and other business curricula. As such this track will investigate issues to pertaining large-scale systems adoption, implementation, and integration, academic, and practice-based case studies on ES best practices, interdisciplinary concerns with specialized ES in areas such as healthcare and supply chain management, emerging delivery models, and enterprise and business architecture.