perspectives on executive information systems

8/4/2019 Perspectives on Executive Information Systems

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Systems Practice. Vol. 8, No. 6, 1995

P e r s p e c t i v e s o n E x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m sK a r i P a r t a n e n t a n d V e s a S a v o l a i n e n I

Executives who consider the acquisition of Executive Intbrmation Systems (EIS) m ayencounter several major problems already in their selection and introduction stages.Key issues are the following: Can the EIS's really match our managerial needs andsupport decision making in our organizational contingencies? How widely in theleadership levels can they be introduced? Are they easy-to-learn, easy-to-use andeasily customizable? Do they utilize the newest information technology, e.g. graphicsand modern interface technology? Can they work in our computer network? In orderto facilitate elegant solutions o f the selection problems, we construct an evaluationframework which guides the selection of an EIS product to match the managerialneeds according to the organizational contingencies. This framework is useful im me-diately after the specification of the decision making support requirements of theexecutive. The effectiveness of the framework is shown by applying it and analyzing13 EIS products. We also offer introduction and use experiences from four Englishand four Finnish large companies covering the opinions of 132 EIS users. In thispaper we give general answers to the questions above and discuss other relevantissues.KEY WORDS: executive information systems (EIS); decision support: EIS evalu-ation; toot selection; use experiences.

1 . A C Q U I R I N G A N E I S P R O D U C T T O M A T C H T H EM A N A G E R I A L R E Q U I R E M E N T S

I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e G r o u p D e c i s i o n S u p p o r t S y s t e m s , E x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s -t e m s ( E I S s ) a r e n o w a d a y s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t i n n o v a t i o n i n h i g h i n f o r m a t i o nt e c h n o l o g y a s a n a i d o f m a n a g e r ia l w o r k ( B e r g e r o n a n d R a y m o n d , 1 9 9 2; H a r v e ya n d M e i k l e j o h n , 1 9 90 ; H o l s a p p l e a n d W h i n s t o n , 1 9 8 7; W a t s o n e t a l . , 1 9 9 2 ,J o h a n s e n , 1 9 87 ) . T h e s e s u p p o rt t o o l s w i l l m o s t f u n d a m e n t a l l y s h a p e m a n a g e -m e n t p r a c t i c es i n o r g a n i z a t i o n s t o d a y a n d i n t h e n e a r f u t u re . T h e i r d e v e l o p m e n ts ta r te d f r o m M a n a g e m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s ( M I S ) a n d m o v e d t o D e c i s i o nS u p p o r t S y s t e m s ( D S S ) a n d f i n al ly to E I S s ( R o c k a r t a nd D e L o n g , 1 9 8 8 ).

JDepartment of Com puter S cience and Information Systems, University of Jyv~iskyl/i, Jyv~iskyl~i,Finland.55 1

0894-9859/95/1200-0551 $07.50/0 ~ ) 1995 Plenum P ublishing Corp~r'ation


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5 5 2 P a r t a n e n a n d S a v o l a in e n

T h e b a s i c E I S c o n c e p t s a r e t h e f o l l o w i n g :The user's Executive Information System c o n s i s t s o f a t a i l o r e d E I Ss o f t w a r e , c o m p u t e r h a r d w a r e a n d d a t a ; w e s i m p l y c a l l t h i s s y s t e mthe EIS i n th i s p a p e r . T h e E I S s o f t w a r e i s a p a c k a g e o f t e n c a l l e d a nE I S p r o d u c t . A c c o r d i n g t o C a r l i s l e a n d A l a m e d d i n e ( 1 9 9 0 ) , t h e E I Si s a c o m p u t e r b a s e d s y s t e m w h i c h c o l l e c t s u n d e r o n e u s e r i n t e r f a c ea l l t h e I T s e r v i c e s n e e d e d b y t h e m a n a g e m e n t ( s e e a l s o R o c k a r d a n dD e L o n g , 1 9 8 8) . A b o v e a ll , th e E I S i s u s e d f o r d e t e c t i n g a n d i d e n -t i f y i n g m a n a g e r i a l p r o b l e m s . ( T u r b a n a n d W a t s o n , 1 9 8 9 )

T h e m a n a g e r s w h o w a n t to u t il iz e E I S p r o d u c t s w i ll e n c o u n t e r m a n y p r o b l e m sa n d a r e o f t e n a t t h e m e r c y o f th e E I S s u p p l i e r s . T h e m a i n p r o b l e m i s t o f in ds u c h a p r o d u c t a s b e s t c o r r e s p o n d s t o t h e s p e c i a l n e e d s a n d c o n t i n g e n c e s o f t h eo r g a n i z a t i o n ( P a r t a n e n a n d S a v o l a i n e n , 1 9 9 2 ). N a t u r a l l y , t h e p r o p e r d e f i n it i o no f t h e s e n e e d s a n d c o n t i n g e n c y f a c t o r s ( s e e S a v o l a i n e n , 1 9 9 1 a , b , 1 9 9 3) i s t h ef ir st p re c o n d i t i o n o f a s u c c e s sf u l s e l e c ti o n o f a n E I S p r o d u c t . T h e s e c o n d p r e -c o n d i t i o n i s t h e e x i s t e n c e o f a n e v a l u a t i o n f r a m e w o r k w h i c h h e l p s in r e v e a l i n gt h e p r o p e r t i e s o f th e a v a i l a b l e E IS p r o d u c t s . T h i s e v a l u a t i o n f r a m e w o r k i s t h e nu s e d f o r m a x i m i z i n g t h e m a t c h o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s a n d t h e p r o p e r t i e s o f th eE IS s and so to f ind the m os t su i t ab le E IS p roduc t . T a b le I i l lu s t r a tes the dec i s ionm a k i n g p r o c e s s o f a c q u ir i n g a n E I S p r o d u c t . T h e m o s t c e n t r a l c o m p l e x t a s k int h a t p r o c e s s i s t h e e v a l u a t i o n o f t h e l a r g e n u m b e r o f a v a i l a b l e E I S p r o d u c t s .

T h e m a i n a i m o f th i s p a p e r is t o m a k e a d e e p s y n t h e s i s o f t h e c o n c e p t o fE I S . T h i s i s d o n e f r o m s ev e r a l v ie w p o i n t s . F r o m a h is t o r ic a l v i e w p o i n t w ea n a l y z e a n d r e v i e w t h e d e v e l o p m e n t st e p s o f s y s t e m s w h i c h s u p p o r t m a n a g e r i a ld e c i s i o n m a k i n g i n S e c t i o n 2 . F r o m t h e f u n c t i o n a l a n d t e c h n i c a l v i e w p o i n t s w ec o n s t r u c t th e e v a l u a t i o n f r a m e w o r k f o r g u i d i n g E I S p r o d u c t a n a l y s i s a n d c o m -p a r i s o n i n S e c t i o n 3 . A c c o r d i n g t o t h e g r o u p i n g o f t h e c h a r a c t e ri s t ic s o f E I Sp r o d u c t s i n t h i s f r a m e w o r k , w e t h e n a p p l y i t a n d a n a l y z e 1 3 a v a i l a b l e E I Sproduc t s in o rder to r evea l the i r func t iona l capab i l i t i e s , qua l i t a t ive p roper t i esa n d t e c h n i c a l p r o p e r t i es . W e m a d e a f ie l d s t u d y a m o n g 1 32 E n g l i s h a n d F i n n i shE I S - u s e r s t o a n a l y z e t h e a c t u a l E I S u s a g e t r e n d s a n d i s s u e s t o d a y . T h e r e s u l t s

T a b l e I. Processof A cquiring an EIS ProductStep 1. Requirementanalysis to define the need for co mputerized support to managerial asks.Step 2. Definition of social, technical and financial restrictions.Step 3. Evaluationof available EIS products.Step 4. Matching of managerial requirements, restrictions and produ cts' characteristics.Step 5. Final decision in selecting the m ost effective and acceptable EIS product.

I II


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Perspectives on Executive Information System s 55 3

o f a p p l y i n g o u r e v a l u a ti o n f r a m e w o r k a r e p r e s e n t e d in S e c t i o n s 4 , 5 , a n d 6 .T h e c o s t f a c to r s a re d i s c u ss e d i n S e c t i o n 7 . W e a l so a n a l y z e e x p e r i e n c e s o f E I Suser s as wel l a s the in t roduc t ion and use i s sues in Sec t ion 8 . F ina l ly , Sec t ion 9inc ludes shor t conc lus ions .

2 . D E V E L O P M E N T O F M A N A G E R I A L S U P P O R T S Y S T E M ST h e c o n c e p t o f E x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s i s q u it e n e w b u t t h o u s a n d s

o f t o p m a n a g e r s a r e a c c e p t i n g th e E I S a s t h e m o s t a d v a n c e d s o f t w a r e t o o l i nsuppor t ing the i r dec i s ion t asks (Bergeron and Ray mo nd , 1992 ; H arve y andM eik le john , 1990 ; Hol sapp le and Wh ins ton , 1987) . Th e ea r ly in fo rmat ion sys-t ems fo r the manager i a l u se f rom the 1960s to the mid 1970s were ca l l ed M an -agement In fo rmat ion Sys tems (M IS) , and they s t i l l ex i s t on an opera t iona l l eve la iming a t suppor t ing the so lu t ions o f s t ruc tu red p rob lems. However , t he man-ager s who wan ted to use the s t andard r epor t s o f M ISs to so lve the i r s t ruc tu redprob lems encoun te r ed two d i f f i cu l t i es . F i r s t , t he in fo rmat ion they needed cou ldno t a lways be found in the r epor t . Second , t he in fo rmat ion they r ea l ly neededwas on ly a smal l f r ac t ion o f vas t amo unt o f the in fo rm at ion the r epor ts con ta ined .

C o m p u t e r b a s ed m a n a g e ri a l i n f o r m a t i o n sy s t e m s o f a n e w t y p e w e r e D e c i -s io n S u p p o r t S y s te m s ( D S S ) . T h e s e n e w s y s t e m s n a r r o w l y f o c u s e d o n s u p p o r t i n gmanager s in t ack l ing uns t ruc tu red o r semis tmctu red dec i s ion mak ing t asks bu tthey f a i r ly o f t en r equ i r ed exper t s t o use the sys t ems because the i r ea r ly use rin t e r f aces were no t good .

The l a t es t genera t ion o f the in fo rmat ion sys t ems fo r manager i a l suppor t ,E x e c u t i v e I n fo r m a t i o n S y s te m s ( E I S ) , c o m p l e t e t he s h o r t a g e s o f t h e M I S s e v e nbe t t e r t han the DSSs (Rock ar t and D eL ong , 1988 ; see a lso Turban and W atson ,1989 fo r the de ta il ed compa r i son o f DSS and E IS) . W hi l e the DSSs a r e bas i ca l lyused fo r p rob lem so lv ing , t he E ISs a r e too l s fo r p rob lem iden t i f i ca t ion andde tec t ion . The E ISs have bu i l t - in l i nks in a va r i e ty o f co rpora te da ta sources ,and they ca r ry an ab i l i t y to co l l ec t r e l evan t in fo rmat ion f rom a vas t amount o fda ta . Severa l s tud ies , i n add i t ion to our s , hav e show n tha t t hey a r e use r - f r i end ly( H o u d e s h e l a n d W a t s o n , 1 98 7; R o c k a r t a n d D e L o n g , 1 9 8 8; V o l o n i n o a n d W a t -s o n , 1 9 9 0 ). T h e y a l s o u ti li z e t h e m o s t m o d e m m e t h o d s o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n ,g raph ics , da t a s to r ing and da ta access .

Rock ar t and T reacy (1982) in t roduced the conc ep t o f E IS in 1981. Roc kar ta n d D e L o n g ( 1 9 8 8 ) c o n s i d e re d t h e E I S t o t a ll y a p a rt f r o m t h e D S S t h o u g h t h efo rm er inc lude severa l f unc t ions o f the l a t t e r ( c f . Hou gh and Du f fy , 1987) . I nthe fo l lowing paragraphs w e a im a t ana lys ing , o n the bas i s o f a genera l ly usedc lass i fi ca t ion , t he h i s to ry and the func t iona l mea n ing o f the concep t s M IS , DSS ,a n d E I S .


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554 Partanen and Savolainen2 . 1 . M a n a g e m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s

T h e f ir st t y p e o f i n fo r m a t i o n s y s te m s t h a t w e r e o r i g in a l l y d e v e l o p e d f o r t h em a n a g e r ia l u s e w a s a n d s t il l is c a ll e d a M a n a g e m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m . M o s tin fo rmat ion sys t em s fo r t ac t ica l and opera t iona l m anag em ent in an o rgan iza t ionare s ti ll t oday M ISs . Th e i r ac tua l l ead ing e r a was in the 1960s and 1970s . Atyp ica l M IS o f the 1960s genera t ed p redef ined s t andard ized per iod ica l r epor t sto manager i a l (Ginzberg e t a l . , 1982 ; S i lve r , 1991) . Th ey inc luded , a t t he wor s t ,a ll t h e r e c o r d e d d a t a p r in t e d li n e b y l in e . T h e m o s t a d v a n c e d M I S s p r o d u c e dd i f f e ren t t ype o f r epor t s f o r d i f f e ren t man ager i a l pu rposes , e .g . , sum ma ry r epor t sand excep t ion r epor t s f o r d i f f e r en t spec i f i c purposes and a l r eady were ab le tor e d u c e t h e a m o u n t o f i r r el e v a nt d a t a d e l i v e r e d o v e r t o t h e m a n a g e r s .

L a t e r M I S s b r o u g h t a l o n g d a t a b a s e t h in k i n g t o t h e m a n a g e m e n t ( S p r a g u e ,1980) . Th e bas i s o f a M IS was a da tabase f rom wh ich a M IS w as ab le to r e t r i evethe in fo rma t ion ac tua l ly needed . Th i s f ac i l i ta t ed the p roduc t ion o f shor t s tandardrepor t s and the so lu t ion o f s t ri c t ly r es t r i c ted p rob lem s. T oda y the ob jec t o r i en teda p p r o a c h e s a r e w i d e n in g t h e i r i m p a c t o n t h e M I S a p p l i c a t io n s ( J a c o b s o n e t a l . ,1992) .

Qu i t e ea r ly Acko f f (1967) c ri t i c i zed the M ISs and c l a im ed tha t t hey p ro -d u c e d t o o m u c h u n n e c e s s a r y b u t n o t e n o u g h n e c e s s a r y i n f o r m a t i o n f o r t h e a c t ua lmanager i a l u se . S evera l sci en ti s ts have s t i l l l a t e ly ag reed w i th Acko lVs op in ionsa b o u t th e p r o b l e m s o f th e M I S s ( E i n - D o r a n d S e g e v , 1 9 7 8 ; G i n z b e r g , 1 9 8 1;S i lver , 1991) . Al so Ho ugh and D uf fy (1987) cons idered the M ISs f a i l ed in t r y ingt o s a ti s fy t h e i n f o r m a t i o n n ee d s o f e x e c u t iv e s . H o w e v e r , t h e y s a w t h a t t h e M I S sh a v e s u c c e e d e d a s i n f o r m a t i o n s y s te m s o f t a c ti c a l a n d e s p e c i a l l y o p e r a t iv e m a n -a g e m e n t b e c a u s e t h e d e c i s i o n m a k i n g o n t h o s e l e v e l s o f t e n i s c o n c e r n e d w i t hs t ruc tu red t asks ( see a l so Al t e r , 1980 ; Sen and Bi swas , 1985) .

Thus , t he M ISs a r e use fu l i n rou t ine t asks bu t - - though they a l so f ac i l i t a t ethe s to r ing o f opera t ive da ta in to da taba ses - - they a r e no t su i t ab le too l s fo re x e c u t i v e s . F o r c o n t i n u o u s ly c h a n g i n g d e c i s i o n - m a k i n g t a s k s s u c h i n f o rm a t i o nsys tems a r e needed tha t f ac i l i t a t e con t ingency r e l a t ed ana lyses . Tha t k ind o fin fo rmat ion sys t ems a r e d i scussed in the fo l lowing paragraphs .2 . 2 . D e c i s i o n S u p p o r t S y s t e m s

G o r r y a n d S c o t t M o r t o n ( 19 7 1 ) i n tr o d u c e d t he c o n c e p t o f D S S . T h a t n a m ei s u s e d o f a n M I S w h i c h s u p p o rt s t h e s o l u t io n o f s e m i s t r u c tu r e d o r u n s t r u c t u r e dp r o b l e m s . T h i s f e a t u r e i s s ee n a s a b a s i c d i f f e re n c e b e t w e e n t h e c o n c e p t s M I Sa n d D S S ( G i n z b e r g e t a l . , 1982) . Bu t though the DSSs a r e o f t en cons idered ane v o l u t i o n a r y d e v e lo p m e n t a l s t ep a f t e r t h e M I S ( G o r r y a n d S c o t t M o r t o n , 1 9 7 1 ;Roc kar t and De Lo ng , 1988 ; Sprague , 1987 ; Sprague and W atson , 1986) theDSS s shou ld , i n genera l , be cons idered as d i f f e r en t t oo l s based on d i f f e r en t


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Perspect ives on Executive Information Systems 555

,, EtS .1/

I \Fig . 1 . Da ta sources ofM IS, DSS and EIS . Note that functionally MIS is mainly used for operationalmanagement while DSS is a tool for problem solving and EIS for p roblem detection and identifi-cation.

f r a m e w o r k s ( s e e B o n c z e k e t a l . , 1981) . The y u t i l i z e s e ve ra l MISs a nd a re a b l et o ha nd l e d i f f e re n t bus i ne s s func t i ons a s a who l e a s sho wn i n F i g . 1 ( c f . a l soSpra g ue a nd Ca r l son , 1982) .

S p r a g u e ( 1 9 8 7 ) d e s c r i b e d h o w t h e D S S s w e r e c r e a t e d t h r o u g h a m u t u a le f f ec t o f t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f i n f o r m a t io n t e c h n o l o g y ( I T ) , m a n a g e m e n t s c i e n c ea n d o p e r a t i o n s r e s e a r c h . T h e e x p e r t s o f I T d e v e l o p e d s t o r i n g a n d m a n a g e m e n tt e c hnq i ue s fo r da t a to a fu r the r e x t e n t. A t t he s a m e t i me the m a na ge m e nt s c i -e n t is t s a n d o p e r a t i o n s r e s ea r c h e rs d e v e l o p e d m a t h e m a t i c a l m o d e l s a n d m e t h o d sf o r m o d e l i n g a n d s o l v i n g t h e m a n a g e r i a l p r o b l e m s . I n t h e D S S s b o t h t h e d a t aa c c e s s p r o p e r t i es o f d a t a b a s e t e c h n o l o g y a n d t h e o p t i m i z a t io n a n d s i m u l a ti o nt e c h n iq u e s o f m a t h e m a t ic a l m o d e l s w e r e u n i t e d .

Ke e n a nd Sc o t t Mor t on (1978) ma i n t a i n t ha t t he DSSs a re a b l e t o suppor tt he de c i s i on m a ki ng o f on l y s t ruc tu re d o r s e m i s t ruc t u re d t a sks bu t no t o f uns t ruc -t u re d t a sks (s e e a l so Mi l l e t a nd Ma wh i nne y , 1990) . So m e sc ie n t i s ts do no t sha ret he i r op i n i on (Ho ugh a nd Duf fy , 1987 ; Ke e n , 1987 ; S i lve r , 1991) . M os t DSSsfac i l i t a te a d h o c que r i e s . I t i s j us t t h i s f e a t u re t ha t f a vo urs t he op i n i on t ha t t heDSSs suppor t a l so t he so l u t i on o f uns t ruc t u re d p rob l e ms . S i l ve r (1991) p re se n t st he fo l l owi ng p rope r t i e s o f t he DSSs :

Ad hoc que r i e s whi c h fa c i l it a t e c on t i ng e nc y re l a t e d da t a ba se que r i e s f roms e v e r a l d a t a b a s e s a t t h e s a m e t i m e ( s e e a l s o H o u g h a n d D u f f y , 1 9 8 7 ;Ke e n , 1987) ,

Re pre se n t a t i on o f da t a in d if f e re n t fo rm s , suc h a s t e x t , t a b l e s , g ra ph i c sa nd c o l o r s ; t h is g roup i nc l ude s a l so e xc e p t i on re po r t s , t a il o r i ng o f s c re e nsa nd g ra ph i c s , a nd


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* Reg ress ion ana lys i s , t ime se r ies ana lys i s , op t imiza t ion meth ods , and s im-u la t ion , espec ia l ly wha t - i f ana lys i s .

Al t e r ( 1980) has shown tha t a t i t s bes t t he DSS cou ld inc rease the e f f ec -t i ve n e s s o f m a n a g e m e n t b y i n c re a s in g t h e p e r s o n a l e f f e c t iv e n e s s o f m a n a g e r s ,by a id ing in p rob lem so lv ing , by o f f e r ing too l s fo r i n t e rper sona l comm unica t ion ,by p romot ing l ea rn ing abou t the o rgan iza t iona l f unc t ions , and by inc reas ing thecon t ro l i n s ide the o rgan iza t ion . The se capab i l i t ie s , h ow eve r , a r e r a re . The use r so f D S S s a r e l o c a t e d o n o p e r a t iv e , t a ct ic a l a n d s o m e t i m e s e v e n s t ra t e g ic m a n a -g e r i a l l e v e l s ( H o u g h a n d D u f f y , 1 9 8 7 ; R o c k a r t a n d D e L o n g , 1 9 8 8 ; S e n a n dBiswas , 1985 ; Sprague , 1980) .

T h e g e n e r a l a i m w a s t o c o n s t r u c t D S S s t o s e r v e t h e m a n a g e m e n t a s e a s y -t o - u se i n f o r m a t i o n sy s t em s . H o w e v e r , t h e e a s e o f u s e o f t h e D S S s w a s s o o ncr i t ic i zed by severa l au thor s (Rockar t and D eL on g , 1988 ; Sen and Bi sw as , 1985 ;S i l v e r, 1 9 9 1) . A n y h o w , t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f d at a c o m m u n i c a t i o n t e c h n iq u e s ,m i c r o c o m p u t e r s a n d s o f tw a r e h a s r e m a r k a b l y i n c re a s e d t h e u s e o f th e D S S s( K e e n , 1 9 8 7 ). A l s o t he e x e c u t i v e s fo u n d t h e i n f o rm a t i o n a c c e s s a n d d a t a m o d -e l ing p roper t i es in the DSSs r a the r use fu l i n dec i s ion m ak ing (H oug h and Du f fy ,1 9 8 7 ) . F u r t h e r o n , t h e D S S s b r o u g h t a l o n g t h e I T o n m a n y d i r e c t o r s ' t a b l e s .T h i s m o t i v a t e d th e s u p p l ie r s o f t h es e s y s t e m s t o f u r t h e r d e v e l o p m e n t . A p o o ruser in t e r f ace i s t he weak es t po in t i n the D SSs , and i t res t r i c ted the i r i n t roduc t ionto the h ighes t m anager i a l l eve l . The D SSs d id no t o f f e r t he exec u t ives the too l sthey need ed . T hus , t he re st il l was l ack o f p rop er in fo rmat ion sys t ems fo r exec-u t ives .

2 . 3 . E x e c u t i v e In f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m sW h i l e i n t r od u c i n g t he c o n c e p t E I S R o c k a n a n d T r e a c y ( 1 9 8 2 ) d i s t in g u i s h ed

the E IS f rom the DSS by the f ac t t ha t t he E ISs suppor t t he l ess s t ruc tu reddec i s ion-mak ing t asks than the DSSs and a r e thus be t t e r ab le to u t i l i ze in fo r -mat ion sources ou t s ide the o rgan iza t ion . I n 1983 these sys t ems were t e rmedExecu t ive Suppor t Sys tems (ESS) in (Rockar t and T racy , 1982) , and tha t t e rmw a s u s e d t h r o u g h o u t t h e 1 9 8 0s ( H o l s a p p l e a n d W h i n s t o n , 1 9 8 7 , H o u d e s h e l a n dW a t s o n , 1 9 8 7 , W e s t l a n d , 1 9 9 0 ) . T h e t e r m s E I S a n d E S S a r e n o w a d a y s s y n -o n y m s ( K e e n , 1 9 8 7) b u t t h e n e w e s t l i te r a tu r e h a s t a k e n E I S i n t o u s e a n d E S Shas f a l l en in to d i suse (Chr i s todou lak i s e t a l . , 1 9 8 4 , V o l o n i n o a n d W a t s o n , 1 9 9 0 ,W a t s o n e t a l . , 1992 , W es t l and , 1990) .

In the 1980s , r a ther con t r ad ic to ry def in i tions o f the E IS app eared in thel i te r a tu re . Som e sc i en t is t s de f ine the E IS as a subc lass o f t he D SS tha t i s in t endedf o r t h e u s e o f th e to p m o s t m a n a g e r s ( H o l s a p p l e a n d W h i n s t o n , 1 9 8 7; K e e n ,1 9 8 7 ). S o m e s c ie n t is t s s ee t h e E I S a s a m o r e d e v e l o p e d v e r s i o n o f t h e D S S( H o u g h a n d D u f f y , 1 9 87 ; I y e r a n d S c h k a d e , 1 9 8 7 ; R o c k a r t a n d T r e a c y , 1 9 8 2 ).


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Perspectives on Executive Information Systems 557S y n n o t t ( 1 9 8 7 ) l o c a t e s t h e E I S s o m e w h e r e b e t w e e n t h e M I S a n d t h e D S S f r o mt h e v i e w p o i n t o f t h e s t ru c t u r ed n e s s o f d e c i s i o n m a k i n g t a sk s . R o c k a r t a n dD e L o n g ( 1 9 8 8 ) c o n s i d e r t h e E I S t o ta l l y ap a r t f r o m t h e D S S t h o u g h t h e f o r m e ri n c lu d e s e v e r a l f u n c ti o n s o f t h e l a tt e r (c f . H o u g h a n d D u f f y , 1 9 8 7) . T h e k e ypo in t i s t ha t t he EIS se rves h ighe r manage r i a l t a sks t han t he DSS and i s morei n f o r m a t i o n a c c e s s o r i e n t e d t h a n m o d e l o r i e n t e d , c o n t r a r y t o t h e D S S . T h eE x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t em s a r e s p e c i f i e d f o r w i d e o r g a n i z a t io n a l o b j e c t i v e sw h i c h c a n b e c o n t r a d ic t o r y ( s e e a l s o H o u d e s h e l a n d W a t s o n , 1 9 8 7 ; W a t s o n e ta l . , 1992) .

Acco rd ing t o Houdeshe l and Wat son (1987 ) t he EISs a re t he l a t e s t e f fo r tt o s a t is f y t h e i n fo r m a t i o n r eq u i r e m e n t s o f t o p m o s t m a n a g e r s . T h e y s e e s e v e r a ld i f f e r e n c e s b e t w e e n t h e E I S a n d t h e D S S o w i n g t o t h e f o l lo w i n g p r o p e r ti e s : T h eh i g h e r m a n a g e m e n t u s e s t h e E I S w i t h o u t a n y o n e i n t e rv e n i n g . T h e E I S f a c i l it a te seasy on l ine access t o i n fo rma t ion abou t t he p re sen t s t a t e o f t he o rgan i za t i on ,a n d t h e c r i t ic a l s u c c es s f a c t o rs o f m a n a g e m e n t h a v e b e e n t a k e n i n to a c c o u n t i nthe EIS des ign ( see a l so Vo lon ino and Wat so n , 1990 ) . Th e EIS a l so u t il i ze s th em o s t m o d e m m e t h o d s o f c o m m u n i c a t i o n , g r a p h ic s , d a t a s t o r in g a n d d a t a a c c e ss .Car l i s l e and A lamedd ine (1990 ) desc r ibe how the EIS can co l l ec t a l l t he ITs e r v i c e s t ha t th e m a n a g e m e n t n e e d s u n d e r o n e u s e r i n t er f a c e . I n t h is k i n d o f as y s t e m t h e D S S i s o n ly o n e i n t e gr a t ed p a r t o f t h e E I S ( c f . R o c k a r t a n d D e L o n g ,1988 ; Tu rban and Wat son , 1989 ) .As a s t a r t i ng po in t fo r t he ana ly s i s o f t he p rope r t i e s o f EIS we accep t t heEIS de f in i t i on g iven by Car l i s le and A lame dd ine (1990 ) : " ' A n E I S is a c o m p u t e rb a s e d s y s t e m w h i c h c o l le c ts u n d e r o n e u s e r i n t er f a c e a l l th e I T s e r v i c e s n e e d e db y t h e m a n a g e m e n t . "

2 . 4 . G e n e r a l i z a ti o n T r e n d s i n I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s f o r M a n a g e r i a l U s eIn F ig . 1 , t he mu tua l t echn ica l re l a t ions o f the M ISs , t he DSSs an d the

EISs a re i l l u st ra ted in te rms o f tb e i r da t a sou rces . I t shows how the MISs p ro ducenea r ly a l l t he i n t e rna l i n fo rma t ion needed by t he DSSs and the EISs . The EISsu t i l ize t he da tabases o f t he MIS s a s we l l a s t he da t a m ode l s and da t a o f theD S S s . T h e E I S c a n a l s o i m p o r t e x te r n a l d a ta f r o m o u t s i d e th e o r g a n i z a ti o n . T h ea rch i t ec tu re in F ig . 1 i s qu i t e com m on in the m anage r i a l suppo r t env i ronm en t so f t o d a y .

From t echn ica l and u se r - i n t e r face po in t s o f v i ew we can expec t t ha t mu l -t imed ia fac i l i t i e s , knowledge base t echn iques and g roup dec i s ion suppor t sy s -t e m s a r e g o i n g t o h a v e d e e p i m p a c t s o n t h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f E I S p r o d u c t s i n th enea r fu tu re (Chr i s todou lak i s e t a l . , 1984 , Johan sen , 1988 ) .

T h e r e l a t io n s o f t h e M I S , t h e D S S a n d t h e E I S c a n a l so b e a n a l y z e d f r o mt h e v i e w p o i n t s o f th e u s e r g r o u p s . O r i g i n a l ly t h e M I S s w e r e m a r k e t e d a s i n f o r -ma t ion sys t ems fo r t op manage rs i n t he 1960s a s we l l a s t he DSS s a t t he beg in -


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5 5 8 P a r t a n e n a n d S a v o l a i n e n

n i n g o f t h e 1 9 7 0 ' s a n d t h e E I S s a t t h e e n d o f t h e 1 9 8 0s . T h e M I S s o p e r a t i n gi n a m a i n f r a m e e n v i r o n m e n t in t h e 1 9 7 0s w e r e c o m p l e x i n u s e a n d c o u l d o n l yo f f e r a w i d e s e t o f s t a n da r d r e p o r ts . T h e t o p m o s t m a n a g e m e n t d i d n o t m u c h u s et h e m b u t t h e y b e c a m e e s s e n ti a l t o o ls o f t h e o p e r a t i v e a n d t a c ti c al m a n a g e m e n t .T h e D S S s a n d t h e i r u s e r in t e r fa c e s w e r e d e v e l o p e d a l o n g w i t h m i c r o c o m p u t e r sa n d b e c a m e s o m e w h a t m o r e g e n e r a l a l s o a m o n g m a n a g e r s o n h i g h e r l e v e l s .A c c o r d i n g t o a s tu d y o f H o u g h a n d D u f f y ( 1 9 8 7 ) , o v e r 3 0 % o f 2 8 5 i n t e r v i e w e dm a n a g e r s u s e d D S S s t h e m s e l v e s o r t h r o u g h t h e i r s e c r e t a r i e s . H o w e v e r , t h em a j o r i ty o f t h e u s e rs o f t h e D S S s b e l o n g e d t o t h e m i d d l e m a n a g e m e n t . A s t u d yo f H a r v e y a n d M e i k l e j o h n ( t 9 9 0 ) s h o w e d t h a t th e w o r l d w i d e s a le s o f th e E I S sincreased by 82% in 1989 and th i s i nc rease i s p r ed ic t ed to con t inue . The sames tudy a l so showed tha t t he num ber o f E IS user s wi th in each o rgan iza t ion inc reasesf a i r ly qu ick ly .

Our empi r i ca l s tudy has r evea led tha t t he inc reased IT u t i l i za t ion amongthe execu t ives i s due to a t l eas t two r easons . F i r s t , pe r sona l com pute r s and the i ru s e r - fr i e n d l y p r o g r a m s h a v e b e c o m e m o r e c o m m o n . T h e y o f f e r t r u e a i d in g t o o l sfo r manag er i a l ta sks and r a i se the d i r ec to r s ' mo t iva t ion to use com pute r s . Sec-ond , t hose d i r ec to r s who ear l i e r on the t ac t ica l l eve l used to u t i l ize IT too l s haveb r o u g h t I T w i t h th e m o n m o v i n g o v e r to t h e to p m o s t m a n a g e m e n t . A l s o , a ssoon as the o ther d i r ec to r s d i scovered the advan tages o f IT , t hey s t a r t ed to usethe com pute r . Sec t ion 7 in th i s paper a ims a t i l lu s t r a ting fo r examp le the ex ten tt o w h i c h t h e E I S h a s b e e n a c c e p t e d a n d i n t ro d u c e d b y t h e e x e c u t i v e s o f t o d a y .

3 . F R A M E W O R K F O R E V A L U A T I N G E IS P R O D U C T SCar l i s l e and Alamedd ine (1990) s tud ied the p roper t i es o f E IS app l i ca t ion

genera to r s in the U.S . marke t . They g rouped these p roper t i es in to seven se t s :app l i ca t ions o f o f f i ce au tomat ion , app l i ca t ions to su ppor t da ta ana lys i s , t a i lo r ingproper t i es , g r aph ics p roper t i es , app l i ca t ions to suppor t p l ann ing , use r in t e r f aceproper t i es , and i ssues concern ing E IS in t roduc t ion . Rockar t and DeLong (1988)s tud ied how the E ISs a r e used in o rgan iza t ions and c l ass i fi ed the E IS p roper t i esin to two g roups : app l i ca t ions o f o f f ice au tom at ion , and app l i ca t ions to suppo r tp lann ing and con t ro l . Drury and Russe l ( 1990) inves t iga ted wha t cou ld be donewi th ver sa t i l e E IS so f tware . They def ined the E IS charac te r i s t i cs under fourc l asses : usa ge charac te r i s t i c s , p r esen ta t ion p rop er t i es , f ea tu res o f adap t ing thes y s t e m t o u s e r ' s n e e d s a n d to u s e e n v i m o m e n t , a n d f u n c t io n a l p r o p e rt i e s .

Th ese sc i en t is t s c l assi f ied the E IS p ro per t i es in d i f f e r en t way s to se rve the i rd i f fe r e n t r e s e a rc h p u r p o s e s . H o w e v e r , t h e y a s s o c i a t e d m a i n l y t h e s a m e f u n c -t i on a l f e a t u r e s w i th t h e E I S c o n c e p t . H e r e t h e s e f e a t u re s a r e c o l l e c t e d t o g e t h e rt o b e t t e r s e rv e a s a b a s is o f c o n s t r u c t in g a n E I S e v a l u a t i o n a n d c o m p a r i s o nf r a m e w o r k w h i c h w i ll f a c i li ta t e th e s e l e c t i o n o f t h e s e s o f t w a r e p r o d u c t s f o r t h eorgan iza t ions . We c l ass i fy the E IS charac te r i s t i cs in to f unc t i ona l c apabi l i t i e s ,


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P e r sp e c tiv e s o n E x e c u t iv e In fo r m a t ion S y s te m s 5 5 9

q u a l i t a t i v e p r o p e r t i e s , a n d t e c h n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s . I n a d d i t i o n t o t h e s e , t h e c o s tf a c t o r s w e r e s t u d i e d i n o u r p r o j e c t . T h e f u n c t i o n a l c a p a b i l i t i e s a r e t h o s e f e a t u r e st h at s h o u l d b e m a t c h e d t o sp e c if ic m a n a g e r i a l n e e d s , h o w e v e r , a l s o t h e q u a l i -t a ti v e p r o p e r ti e s a r e i m p o r t a n t i n th i s s e n s e . T e c h n i c a l p r o p e r t ie s s h o u l d b em a t c h e d t o o t h e r o r g a n i z a t io n a l c o n t i n g e n c i e s . I n t h i s s e c t io n w e s h a l l c o n s t r u c tt h e f r a m e w o r k a n d s h o w i ts e f f e c t i v e n e s s b y a p p l y i n g i t t o a s e t o f E I S p r o d u c t st h at c o v e r o v e r t w o - th i r d s o f th e E I S m a r k e t s t o d a y . T h e w h o l e f r a m e w o r k c a nb e s e e n i n T a b l e I I.

Ta bl e II. Classification of EIS Characteristics as a Basis for the Evaluation Frameworki

F u n c t io n a l c a p a b i l it i e s o f th e E IS sy s te m sOffice support attributesElectronic mailElectronic notice boardNews serviceAnalytical support attributes

Ad hoc questionsW hat-if questionsGraphically represented trendsKey word searchTracking of critical success factorsProject ma nagement attributesProject planningProject monitoringQualita t ive properties o f the EIS systemsCustomization attributesTask oriented reportsUser oriented reportsCustomized graphicsGraphics attributes

Graphics supportedPresentation graphicsControl attributesUser interface

Learning timeEase of u seT e c h n ic a l p r o p e r t i es o f th e E IS sy s te m sTechnical attributesRemote accessPlatformMicro network

Word processingElectronic calenda rTick ler filesException reportingDrill down investigationPossibility to add textual explanations to graphicpages

Project document controlCom munication tools

Customized menusCustomized information sequencing

Graphical menusColored graphicsNavigation modeControl deviceHelp function

ArchitectureSecurity mechanismToolkit


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560 P a r t a n e n a n d S a v o l a i n e n

The EIS products that were analyzed in our project are: Command Center(Pilot Ltd., England), Commander EIS (Comshare Inc., USA), EIS-Epic (Plan-ning Sciences Ltd., England), Focus EIS (Information Builders Ltd., England),Holos (Holistic Systems Ltd., England), IBM Executive Decisions and IBMPersonal Application Systems/2 (IBM Corp., USA), Info Manager EIS (InfoManager Oy, Finland), Lotus Notes (Lotus Development Ltd., England), Man-agement View (Brossco Oy, Finland, Resolve 2000 (Metapraxis Ltd., England),SAS products (SAS Institute Inc., USA), TC-Boss (Tricons Oy, Finland) andVantage Point (Execucom Ltd., USA, bought by Comshare Inc., USA). Theleading EIS products in the world market are Commander EIS (26% of themarket share), Pilot (16%), EIS-Epic (9%), Express (7%), Resolve 2000 (6%),Holos (6%), and IBM Executive Decisions (3%) (Harvey and Meiklejohn, 1990).Express was not available for our analysis. Our study has been carried out mainlyon the basis of system tests on the vendors' sites and on what the vendors ofthe EIS systems have announced. The vendors have checked the functional datapublished in this paper. We also interviewed several EIS users and collectedexperiences and opinions of 132 EIS users.4. FUNCTIONAL CAPABILITIES OF EIS PRODUCTS

The functional capabilities of the EIS products are related applications bymeans of which some independent task can be performed, for example electronicmail, drill-down investigation and project monitoring. The functional capabili-ties are classified as follows: of f ice support , analy t ical support , and pro jec tma nage men t a t tr ibutes (see Carlisle and Alameddine, 1990; Drury and Russel,1990; Rockart and DeLong, 1988).Office support attributes are considered to include electronic mail, elec-tronic not iceboard, new s serv ice , w ord proc ess ing, e lec tronic calendar , andtickler file s (Christodoulakis et a l . , 1984; Drury and Russel, 1990; Rockart andDeLong, 1988). Today also a spreadsheet tool (Rockart and DeLong, 1988) andin the near future a voice mail could be included to the office support applica-tions. Our analysis (see Table III) revealed that Lotus Notes and Vantage Pointprovide the most of these attributes while some EIS products could not berecommended at all. Several EIS products work in such interfaces as Windows3.0, Macintosh and Presentation Manager and offer through them many officesupport attributes. Especially electronic mail, news service, and connection tocommercial databases are quite common and their importance, is still increasingalso in business management. For example in the U.S., access to Dow JonesNews and United Press International is considered important among the EISuse rs .Analytical support attributes are the following: ad ho c ques t ions to supportthe solutions of unstructured managerial problems, wh at - i f ques t ions to support


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semis t ruc tu red dec i s ion mak ing t asks , graphical ly represented trends , cont inu-ous t racking o f cri ti ca l success fac tor s , key wo rd search, dr i l l dow n inves tiga-tion, exception reporting, a n d poss ibl i ty to ad d textual explanat ions to gra phicp a g e s ( B e r g e r o n an d R a y m o n d , 1 99 2; C a r l is l e a n d A l a m e d d i n e , 1 9 9 0 ; D r u r yand Russe l , 1990 ; Rock ar t and DeL ong , 1988) . M ost o f t hese a tt r ibu tes a r ec ruc ia l a s func t iona l capab i l it i e s o f E IS sys t em s , and T ab le I l l i nd ica tes ho wsix E IS p ro duc t s can o f f e r a t l eas t seven ou t o f e igh t poss ib l e a t t ribu tes in th i sg roup . Ana ly t i ca l suppor t a t t r ibu tes enab le se l ec t ive access to o rgan iza t iona lda ta sources . Som e EIS p roduc t s even f ac i l i ta t e d i r ec t da tabases qu er i es th roughra ther use r - f r i end ly use r - in t e r faces where the u se r on ly def ines wha t in fo rm at ioni s neede d and the E IS sys t em i t se l f de f ines how to f ind i t. O ur case s tudyeva lua ted the a na ly t i ca l suppor t a tt r ibu tes accord ing to the i r imp or t ance in e igh tEng l i sh and F inn i sh u se r o rgan iza t ions . Th e r esu l t s can be seen in Tab le IV .

Some sc i en t i s t s have po in ted ou t t ha t a d h o c quer i es a r e very use fu l app l i -ca t ions espec ia l ly fo r the execu t ives (Drury and Russe l , 1990 ; Rocka r t andDe Lon g , 1988) . Ou r s tudy r evea led tha t a d h o c quer ies are s t i l l inf requent lyu t i li zed amo ng execu t ives because o f the i r unwi l l ingness to l ea rn th i s f a i r lyc o m p l e x f u n c ti o n . M a n y r e s e a rc h e r s ( B e r g e r o n a n d R a y m o n d , 1 9 9 2; D r u r y a n dRusse l , 1990 ; Rockar t and DeL ong , 1988) have a l so po in ted ou t t he fo r ecas t ingfea tu res o f E IS p roduc t s . Forecas t ing i s suppor t ed by a d h o c q u e s t i o n s , w h a t -i f ques t ions a r e g r aph ica l ly r ep resen ted t r ends which a l r eady a r e inc luded in th i sf r amew ork . Forecas t ing is no t cons id ered an independe n t a tt r ibu te in th i s s tudy .

Project m ana gem ent at tr ibutes as pa n o f E IS a r e a l l t he f ac i l i ti e s o f p ro je c tp lann ing and con t ro l : projec t p lanning, projec t moni tor ing , projec t documentcontrol, a n d inter-project communication tools. O u r s t u d y i n d i c a te s t h a t o n l y af ew EIS p rod uc t s inc lude these f ac i l it i e s ( see Tab le I I I ) . Lo tus N otes i s a pos i t iveexce p t ion and inc ludes a l l t hose p roper t i es . Ho w eve r , severa l sc i en t i s ts ( see ,e . g . , C a r l is l e an d A l a m e d d i n e , t 9 9 0 ; D r u r y a n d R u s s e l , 1 9 9 0; R o c k a r t a n dD e L o n g , 1 9 8 8 ) e m p h a s i z e t h e i m p o r t a n ce o f t h e a v a i l a b il it y o f t h e s e a t t ri b u te si n E IS s y s t e m s . O u r s e p a ra t e f ie l d s t u d y i n d i c a te d t h a t s o m e p r o j e c t m a n a g e m e n t

Tab le IV. Importanceof Analytical Suppon Attributes ina DescendingOr der in E ight OrganizationsI I I I I I I1. Graphically epresented rends2. Drill dow n investigation3. Exception eporting4. Continuous racking of critical succe ss factors5. Possibility o add textua l explanations o g raphic pages6. Ad hoc questions7. What-ifquestions8. Key word search

I


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P e r s p e c t i v e s o n E x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s 563too l s were genera l ly used bu t t he use r s d id no t necessa r i ly wan t to in t eg ra t ethem to E IS sys t ems .

5 . Q U A L I T A T I V E P R O P E R T I E S O F E I S P R O D U C T STh e qua l i t a t ive p roper t i es o f E IS p rod uc t s inc lude the capab i l it i e s to con t ro l

the sys t em , i t s use r in t e r face and da ta p r esen ta t ion . T hese a t t ribu tes a r e c l ass i fi eda s f o l lo w s ( B e rg e r o n a n d R a y m o n d , 1 9 9 2 ; C a rl is l e a n d A l a m e d d i n e , 1 9 9 0;Drury and Russe l , 1990 ; Rockar t and DeLong , 1988) : customization, graphicsand control attributes. C u s t o m i z a t i o n m e a n s h e r e t h at t h e e x e c u t i v e s t h e m s e l v e scan t a i lo r t he E IS . The fo l lowing paragraphs wi l l p r esen t t hese charac te r i s t i cs .

A c c o r d i n g t o m a n y r e s e a r c h e r s (B e r g e r o n a n d R a y m o n d , 1 9 9 2; C a r l i s leand Alam edd ine , 1990 ; Drury and Russe l , 1990 ; Rockar t and De Lo ng , 1988)customization attributes c o n t a in c u s t o m i z e d p r o d u c t i o n o f task-oriented reportsan d user-oriented reports, graphics, menus, an d information sequencing. T h e s ea t t ribu tes desc r ibe how f l ex ib ly the use r in t e r f ace and da ta r ep resen ta t ion o f theE I S c a n b e t a il o re d a c c o rd i n g t o t h e u s e r ' s n e e d s . R o c k a r t a n d D e L o n g ( 1 9 8 8 )a n d D r u r y a n d R u s s e l ( 1 9 9 0 ) e m p h a s i z e t h e i m p o r t a n c e o f t h e c a p a b i l i t i e s o ft a i lo r ing menus and r epor t s . The E IS user mus t f ee l t ha t t he sys t em of f e r s thenecessa ry in fo rmat ion in a p l e asa n t fo rm - -o th erw ise the use r s t a rt s u t i l iz ingo ther in fo rmat ion sources . Tab le V sh ows tha t n ine ou t o f 12 E IS p roduc t s o f f e ra t l eas t f our o f t hese f ive a tt r ibu tes .Graphics attributes, i .e , graphics supported interface, presentation graph-ics, graphical menus, an d colored graphics, a r e c o n s i d e r e d t h e f u n d a m e n t a lf ea tu re o f E IS by many r esearch er s (Bergeron and Raym ond , 1992 ; Car l i s l e andAlam edd ine , 1990 ; Drury and Rus se l , 1990 ; M i l l e t and M aw hinne y , 1990 ;Rockar t and DeLong , 1988) . Graph ics a r e a l so inc luded in many def in i t ions o fEIS . For example Houdeshe l and Watson (1987) see tha t i t i s t he g r aph ics tha td i s t ingu i sh the E IS f rom DSS and M IS ( see a l so Rockar t and DeLong , 1988) .Graph ics can be r egarded as a too l f o r u t i l i z ing modern IT in bus iness o rgan i -za t ions and i t i s e ssen t i a l f o r management g roups . For ins t ance Car l i s l e andAlamedd ine (1990) and M i l l e t and M awhinney (1990) po in t ou t t ha t t he E IShas to p r esen t i n fo rmat ion in the fo rms the use r s need . I n bus iness env i ron me nt stha t ve ry o f t en means the use o f bus iness g r aph ics . Graph ics a t t r ibu tes inc ludegraph ic da ta p r esen ta t ion and co lo red g raph ics (C ar l is l e and Alam edd ine , 1990) .As our Tab le V shows, a l l t he ana lysed E IS p roduc t s sa t i s fy g r aph ics a t t r ibu ter equ i r ement s qu i t e wel l .

T h e m e a s u r em e n t o f control attributes was a much more d i f f i cu l t t a sk inour p r ac ti ca l ana lys i s o f E IS p roduc t s ( c f . Car l i s l e and Alamed d ine , 1990 ; D ruryand Russe l , 1990 ; Rockar t and De Lo ng , 1988) and i t dem anded p ro fou nd d is -c u s s i o n s a m o n g t h e s u p p l i e r s a n d t h e E I S u s e r s . T h e y e s / n o a n s w e r s a r e n o tsu f f ic i en t ly in fo rmat ive as can be see n in Tab le V . The se con t ro l a t t ribu tes a r e :


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P e r sp e ct iv es o n E x e c u t iv e In fo r m a t io n S y s te m s 56 5

s t a n d a r d o r o w n u s e r i n te r f a ce w h i c h c a n b e e i th e r o n e ' s o w n o r W i n d o w s 3 . 0o r P r e s e n t a t i o n m a n a g e r ( O S / 2 ) o r A p p l e M a c i n t o s h o r S A A ( i n I B M m a i n -f r a m e s ) , e a s e o f l e a r n e x p r e s s e d i n l e a r n i n g h o u r s , e a s e o f u s e e x p r e s s e d i nsca le f rom 1 (d i ff i cu l t ) to 5 ( ea sy ) , n a v i g a t i o n m o d e i n th e s c r e e n s c o n t r o l w h i c hc a n b e w i n d o w s , m e n u s , i c o n s o r f u n c t i o n k e y s , c o n t r o l d e v i c e , i . e . , m o u s e ,k e y b o a r d o r r e m o t e c o n t r o l , a n d h e l p f u n c t i o n .

A s a w h o l e , t h e h i g h ly d e v e l o p e d e a s y c o n t r o l f u n c t io n s a n d c u s t o m i z a t i o np r o p e r t i e s h a v e m a d e t h e e x e c u t i v e s a c c e p t t h e m o d e m i n f o r m a t i o n t e c h n o l o g yi n to t h e i r o w n p e r s o n a l m a n a g e r i a l u se . T h e E I S f u n c t i o n s h a v e b e e n a u t o m a t e d ;the use r ac t s to ta lly on the w h a t l e v e l w i t h o u t a n y n e e d t o k n o w h o w t h e s y s t e ma c t s. D r u r y a n d R u s s e l ( 19 9 0 ) r e g a r d t h e e a s e o f u s e a s p e c t a s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n tf e a t u r e o f t h e E I S . O u r s t u d y p r o v e d t h e l e a r n i n g t i m e s s u r p r i si n g l y s h o r t , t h e i rm e d i a n b e i n g I h o u r a c c o r d i n g t o v e n d o r s ' o p i n i o n a n d 2 h o u r s a c c o r d i n g t ou s e r s ' o p i n i o n . I n g e n er a l w e c a n c l a i m t h a t a c c o r d i n g t o o u r s t u d y t h e e a s y - t o -u s e r e q u i r e m e n t s o f t h e E I S c o n t r o l f u n c t i o n s s e e m t o b e s a t is f ie d q u i t e w e l l i nE I S p r o d u c t s t o d a y .

6 . T E C H N I C A L P R O P E R T I E S O F E I SThe t e c hn i c a l a t t r i bu t e s w h i c h a r e o f t e n i m p o r t a n t to b e m a t c h e d t o e x i s t i n g

s t a n da r d s a n d o t h e r c o n t i n g e n c i e s a r e ( B e r g e r o n a n d R a y m o n d , 1 9 9 2; C a r l i sl eand A lam edd ine , 1990 ; Dru ry and Russe l , 1990): r e m o t e a c c e s s , p l a t f o r m ,m i c r o n e t w o r k , a r c h i t e c t u r e (d i s t r ibu ted o r open) , s e c u r i t y m e c h a n i s m , an dtoolk i t . E s p e c i a l l y t h e i s s u e s o f m i c r o a n d n e t w o r k e f f e c t i v e n e s s a n d d a t a b a s ec o n n e c t i o n s a r e d e c i s i v e t o d a y w h e n v a s t i n f o r m a t i o n m a s s e s a r e t r a n s m i t t e da n d p r o c e s s e d .

O u r s t u d y i n d i c a te d t h a t t h e p l a t f o r m c a n b e e i t h e r I B M P C c o m p a t i b l e ( o rA p p l e M a c i n t o s h ) o r m a i n f r a m e o r b o t h . T h e E I S p r o d u c t c a n b e e i t h e r a c o n -s i st e n t p a c k a g e o r b u i lt o n a f a m i l y o f p a c k a g e s . T h e l a t te r i s t h e c a s e w i t h S A Sp r o d u c t s ( S A S / E I S , S A S / G R A P H a n d B a s e / S A S ) , F o c u s E I S ( P C / F o c u s a n dF o c u s / E I S ) a n d I B M ( I B M E x e c u t i v e D e c i s i o n s a n d P e r s o n a l A p p l i c a t i o n S y s -t e m s / 2 ) . S o m e E I S p r o d u c t s h a v e b e e n b u i l t o n a D e c i s i o n S u p p o r t S y s t e mw h i c h f a c i l i t a t e s t h e d a t a m o d e l i n g a n d a n a l y s i s p r o p e r t i e s , e . g . , E I S - E p i c ( o nM a s t e r M o d e l l e r D S S ) a n d V a n t a g e P o i n t ( o n I F P S D S S - I n t e r a c t i v e F i n a n c i a lP l a n n i n g S y s t e m ) . S o m e E I S p r o d u c t s a r e n e a r l y o n l y u s e r f r i e n d l y u s e r i n t e r -f a c e s f o r d a t a p r e s e n t a ti o n a n d n e e d a D S S f o r t he a n a l y s i s c a p a b i l i t i e s. S u c hs y s t e m s a r e C o m m a n d e r E I S (u s in g O n e - u p o r S y s t e m - W D S S s ) , I B M E x e c u t i v eD e c i s i o n s ( u si n g IB M P e r s o n a l A p p l i c a t i o n S y s t e m / 2 ) a n d S A S / E I S ( u s i n g S A S /O R s o f t w a r e ) . H o l o s i n c lu d e s b o t h E I S a n d D S S p r o p e r t i e s i n t h e s a m e p r o d u c t .T h e t e c h n i c a l a t t r i b u t e s a r e a n i n t e r e s t i n g a r e a . H o w e v e r , t h e y a r e n o tp r o b l e m s o f e x e c u t i v e s b u t t h e m a j o r c o n c e r n o f te c h n i c a l s t a ff . O u r p r o j e c tm a de a l so an ana lys i s o f these i s sues bu t un fo r tuna te ly th i s i s no t the r igh t fo rumfor p resen t ing i t s fu r the r de ta i l s . F o r a rough ins igh t , s ee T ab l e VI .


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Perspectives on Executive Information Systems 5677 . C O S T I S S U E S

W e a n a l y z e d a l s o t h e p r i c e d i s t r i b u t i o n o f E I S p r o d u c t s . O u r a t t r ibu tes o fEIS cos t s a re pr ice o f u ser l icense o f EIS produc t , l eng th and cos t o f E ISimp lemen ta t ion process , to ta l p r ice fo r a 10 users sy s tem, annua l ma in tenancecost , a n d cos t o f vendor suppor t . M o s t c o m m o n c o s t s fo r a 1 0 u s e r s ' s y s t e mw e r e U . S . $ 5 0 , 0 0 0 - 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 r a n g in g f r o m U . S . $ 4 , 0 0 0 - 4 0 0 , 0 0 0 . I m p l e m e n -t a t io n t i m e s r a n g e d f r o m 1 d a y t o I y e a r f o r 1 0 u se r s s y s t e m , a q u i te c o m m o nt i m e b e i n g 1 m o n t h . A p p r o x i m a t e l y , l i c e n ce s f o r m o n e h a l f a n d c o n s u l t in ga n o t h e r h a l f o f t h e t o ta l E I S c o s t s .

I t s hou ld be no ted tha t the f ina l to ta l cos t s a r e d i f f i cu l t to p red ic t thought h e p r ic e o f a u s e r l i c e n c e i s k n o w n . A l s o , i t s h o u l d b e r e a l iz e d a l r e a d y a t t h ev e r y b e g i n n i n g o f t h e E I S a c q u i r in g p r o c e s s t h a t t h e u s e r ' s E I S i s n e v e r r e a d ya n d f i n a l - - i t w i ll b e m o d i f i e d c o n t i n u o u s l y . W e f o u n d o u t t h a t t h e b u i ld i n g c o s t so f E I S i n a s m a l l o rg a n i z a t i o n a r e a l m o s t t h e s a m e a s t h o s e i n a l a r g e o r g a n i z a t i o nb e c a u s e t h e s a m e r e q u i r e m e n t a n a l y s i s , d e s i g n a n d s e l e c t i o n t a s k s m u s t b e p e r -f o r m e d .T h e E I S p r o d u c t s a r e n o t y e t c o m m o n l y u s e d i n s m a l l a n d m e d i u m s i z eo r g a n i z a t i o n s b e c a u s e t h e y a r e f a i r ly e x p e n s i v e a n d s m a l l e r o r g a n i z a t i o n s a r ee a s i l y c o n t r o l la b l e w i th o u t a n E I S . A n y w a y , t h e t re n d g o e s n o w f r o m m a i n f r a m eE I S s t o m i c r o E I S s , a n d t h e l a t t e r a r e e s s e n t i a l l y c h e a p e r t h a n t h e f o r m e r .

8 . U S E R S ' E X P E R I E N C E ST h e a p p l i c a t i o n o f o u r e v a l u a t i o n f r a m e w o r k a n s w e r e d t o s u c h q u e s t io n s

as "Are the EIS sys tems easy- to- learn , easy- to-use and easi ly customizable? '"" 'Do they u t il i ze the newes t in format ion techno logy , e .g . , g raph ics and m oderninter face technology? . . . . Can they work in d i f f e ren t compu ter ne tworks?" W econduc ted a cas e s tudy in o rder to f ind ans w er s to the fo l low ing ques t ions ino u r r e s e a r c h : "What EIS app l ica t ions are u t i l i zed in bus iness o rgan iza t ions?Ho w wide ly can they be in t roduced in leadersh ip leve l s ?"

T h e c o m p a n i e s i n v o l v e d i n t h i s s t u d y w e r e s e l e c t e d w i t h s p e c i f i c c a r e .A b o u t 3 0 F i n n i s h a n d 2 0 E n g l is h c o m p a n i e s w e r e c o n t a c t e d b y t e le p h o n e . B a s e do n t h e c o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h th e I T s t a f f, f o u r F i n n i sh a n d f o u r E n g l i s h c o m p a n i e sw e r e s e l e c t e d f o r o u r m o r e p r o f o u n d a n a l y s i s . E a r l y i n t r o d u c ti o n o f E I S , a h i g hn u m b e r o f u s e r s a n d t h e a d v a n c e d f u n c t i o n a l i t y o f E I S w a s t a k e n a s a c r i t e r i o no f c h o i c e . T w o t y p e s o f q u e s ti o n n a i r e s , w i t h a r e q u e st t o c o l le c t e x p e r i e n c e s o fa l l t h e u s e r s i n t h e c o m p a n y , w e r e s e n t t o e v e r y c o m p a n y , o n e a d d r e s s e d t o t h eI T p e r s o n n e l a n d a n o t h e r t o t h e E I S u s e r s . T h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e s c o n s i s t e d o f 3 4q u e s t io n s . O u r e v a l u a t io n f r a m e w o r k w a s a p p l i e d t o t h e c o n s t r u c t io n o f m u l t i p l e -c h o i c e q u e s t i o n s . T h e r e s p o n d e n t s c o m p l e t e d t h e q u e s t i o n n a i r e s , b u t w e w i s he s p e c i a l l y t o p o i n t o u t t h a t t h e a n s w e r s w e r e s p e c i f i e d w i t h f a c e - t o - f a c e i n t e r -v i e w s w i t h t h e s e 1 6 p e r s o n s d u r i n g 1 - t o 2 - d a y v i s i t s t o t h e c o m p a n i e s . I n t h e s e


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e igh t compan ies we were ab le to co l lec t the exper iences o f 132 EIS use rs ande igh t IT exper t s , em phas iz ing bo th E IS usage and techn ica l i s sues .The E IS o rgan iza t ions exp lo red had emp loyees f rom 11 .700 to 90 .000averag ing abou t 40 .000 . The tu rnover o f these com pan ies ranged f rom $460mto $12 .594m, averag ing $4 .620m. The case o rgan iza t ions rep resen ted the fo l -lowing l ines o f bus iness : m anufac tu r ing (3 ), t r ade (3 ) , f inancia l se rv ices (1 ) ,and transporta t ion (1) .In th i s sec t ion we wi l l c la ri fy the exp lo ra t ion o f the func t iona l , qu a l i tat ive ,and techn ica l p roper tie s o f the E IS sys tem s in these e igh t com pan ies .8 .1 . Ut i l iza t ion o f the Funct iona l Propert ies o f EIS

Tab le V II f i rs t i l lus tra tes the dis tr ibution o f office support application users .The f igu res on each o rgan iza t iona l leve l ind ica te the number o f o rgan iza t ionsin which that par t icular applicat ion is represented. This s tudy shows that off icesuppor t app l ica t ions a re qu i te sca rce in E IS sys tems . Abou t 25% of these sys -

T a b l e I I . U s a g e o f O f fi c e S u p p o r t a n d A n a l y t i c a l S u p p o r t A p p l i c a t io n s i n E ig h t C a s eO r g a n i z a t i o n s "

I

U s e r s " p o s i t io n s i n o r g a n i z a t i o n sT o p M i d d l e O p e r a t .

A p p l ic a t io n m a n a g e m e n t m a n a g , m a n a g . O t h e r T o t a lOffice support applications

E l e c t r o n i c m a i l 2 2 2 2 3E l e c t r o n i c n o t i c e b o a r d l I 1 - - 2N e w s e r v i c e 3 3 3 3 3W o r d p r o c e s s i n g 1 3 3 3 3E l e c t r o n i c c a l e n d a r 1 1 1 1 1Tic k l e r f i l es 1 1 1 t 1

Analytical support applicationsAd hoc q u e s t i o n s 1 3 1 2 4W h a t - i f q u e s t i o n s 2 1 - - 2 5G r a p h i c a l l y r e p r e s e n t e d t r e n d s 8 6 3 4 8T r a c k i n g o f c r i ti c a l s u c c e s s f a c t o r s 5 4 3 3 5K e y w o r d s e a r c h 3 2 2 2 3D r i l l d o w n i n v e s t i g a t i o n 6 5 2 3 8E x c e p t i o n r e p o r t i n g 8 6 3 3 8P o s s i b i l i t y t o a d d t e x t u a l

e x p l a n a t i o n s t o g r a p h i c p a g e s 5 5 2 2 7i II

" T h e c o l u m n " ' t o t a l " i n d ic a t es th e t ot al n u m b e r o f o r g a n i z a t i o n s w h e r e t h e a p p l i c a ti o n c o n c e r n e dh a d b e e n i n s t a l l e d .


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Perspect ives on Executive Information Systems 569

t ems d id no t con ta in any o f fi ce suppo r t app l i ca t ions . I n one E IS sys t em on lythe news se rv ice was ins t a l l ed .

Tab le VI I shows tha t t he mos t f r equen t ly ins t a l l ed app l i ca t ions were e l ec -t ron ic mai l , w ord p rocess ing , and new s se rv ice . E lec t ron ic ca l en dar and t ick le rf i le s tended to be in f r equen t app l i ca t ions , b o th ins t a l l ed in on ly o ne E IS sy s t em.A m o n g t h e t o p m a n a g e m e n t t h e m o s t c o m m o n a p p l i c a t i o n s w e r e n e w s s e r v i c e sin th r ee and e l ec t ron ic mai l i n two ou t o f e igh t E IS sys t em s . A mo ng the low erl e v e l m a n a g e m e n t a n d o t h e r s t a ff t h e n e w s s e r v i c e , w o r d p r o c e s s i n g a n d e l e c -t ron ic mai l were the mos t popu la r app l i ca t ions . Al so a sp readshee t t oo l wasin teg ra t ed in some EIS sys t ems .In the f ir st p l ace , one exp lana t ion fo r in f r equen t ins t a ll a t ions o f o f f i ce sup-por t app l i ca t ions i s tha t t he manag er s hav e no t used these app l i ca t ions p r io r tothe E IS sys t em. Wi th in E IS they have found e l ec t ron ic mai l and news se rv iceu s e f u l a n d e a s y t o u s e b y t h e m s e l v e s. H o w e v e r , w o r d p r o c e s s i n g , c a l e n d a r in g ,and t i ck le r f i le s a r e s ti ll sek re t e r i a l du t ies . Seco nd , midd le and op era t iona l m an-agem ent u t i li ze o f f ice au tomat ion d i s t inc t ly f rom EIS sys t em . Th i rd , som e EISproduc t s do no t i nc lude any o f f i ce suppo r t app l i ca t ions no r f ac il i t a te use r in t e r -f ace bu i ld ing to the ex i s ting o f fi ce au tom at ion sys t em s . O ur case s tudy sh owe dtha t t he access to da ta ou t s ide the o rgan iza t ion i s s t i l l a t echn ica l cha l l enge tomany o rgan iza t ions . Access to th i s da ta i s no t t he main p rob lem bu t i t s i ncom-pa t ib i l i t y causes add i t iona l work fo r which o rgan iza t ions a r e no t r eady . Thenews se rv ices a r e found usefu l bu t t he connec t ions to ex te rna l da tabases a r econs idered too expens ive in some o rgan iza t ions .

Analytical suppo rt applications are a l so p resen ted in Tab le VI I . Ana ly t i ca lsuppor t app l i ca t ions a r e essen t i a l E IS charac te r i s t i cs . The use r s o f t hese app l i -ca t ions can be found th roughou t the ver t i ca l o rgan iza t ion , t hough the top man-agem ent domina tes . O ver 50% of a tt r ibu tes i l l u s tr a t ed in Tab le V I I werei m p l e m e n t e d in e a c h E I S s y s t e m .

Dr i l l down, g r aph ica l ly r ep resen ted t r ends and excep t ion r epor t ing werebu i l t in every E IS sys t em w e su rveye d . A poss ib i l i t y to add t ex tua l exp lana t ionsto g raph ics pages was inc luded in near ly a l l o f E IS sy s t ems . W hat - i f ques t ionsand key word sea rch were l ess f r equen t ly in t eg ra t ed E IS app l i ca t ions .

T h e t o p m a n a g e m e n t h a s u t i l iz e d g r a p h i c a ll y r e p r e s e n t e d t re n d s a n d e x c e p -t i o n r e p o r t i n g i n e a c h E I S s y s t e m w e e x p l o r e d . C o m m o n a p p l i c a t i o n s a m o n gthe top management were a l so d r i l l down ana lys i s and poss ib i l i t y to add t ex tua lexp lana t ions to g r aph ics pages . A d hoc and w hat - i f ques t ions t ende d to be r a r e lyinstal led appl icat ions.

T h e m i d d l e m a n a g e m e n t ' s v i e w o f t h e E I S i s s im i l a r to t h e t o p m a n a g e -m e n t ' s v i e w . G r a p h i c a ll y r e p re s e n t e d t re n d s a n d e x c e p t i o n r e p o r t in g w e r e r e p -r esen ted in 75% and d r i l l down and poss ib i l i t y to add t ex tua l exp lana t ions tog r a p h i c s p a g e s i n 6 2 % o f E I S s y s t e m s . Q u i t e a n i n t e re s t in g q u e s t i o n i s w h y a dhoc q u e s t io n s a r e u s e d o n l y r a r e ly a m o n g t h e t o p m a n a g e m e n t b u t q u i t e o f t e n


20/25

57 0 Partanen and Savolainena m o n g t h e m i d d l e m a n a g e m e n t . T h e m i d d l e m a n a g e m e n t h a s t r ad i ti o n a ll y p e r -f o r m e d t h e a d h o c ana lyses and a d h o c ques t ion ing . Now EIS r equ i r es a b roadu n d e r s ta n d i n g o f t h e sy s t e m a n d m a y n e e d t o m u c h t i m e f r o m t h e v e r y b u s yt o p m a n a g e m e n t . W h a t - i f q u e s t io n s w e r e i n te g r a te d i n o n l y 1 2% o f m i d d l em a n a g e m e n t E I S s y s t e m s . A n y h o w , i t w a s b r o a d l y u s e d b e c a u s e i n m a n y o ft h e n o w e x p l o r e d o r g a n iz a t io n s t h e w h a t - i f q u e s t i o n s w e r e p e r f o r m e d b y d i s t in c tsp readshee t t oo l s .

E IS ins t a l l a t ions in case o rgan iza t ions were found more f r equen t ly in useo f t h e t o p m a n a g e m e n t b e c a u s e m a n y E I S s y s t e m s h a v e i n i t ia l ly b e e n b u i l t f o rt h e t o p m a n a g e m e n t . T h e m i d d l e a n d p a r t i c u l a r l y t h e o p e r a t i o n a l m a n a g e m e n ts t a r t u t i l i z ing the E IS l a t e r . Our s tudy ind ica tes tha t t he age o f E IS sys t em andthe use r s" o rgan iza t iona l l eve l co r r e l a t e s t rong ly . The o lder the E IS sys t em i s ,t he low er the l eve l o f t he use r s in the o rgan iza t ion i s . F or exam ple , i n th r ee o fo u r e ig h t c a s e c o m p a n i e s w h i c h h a v e i n s ta l le d t h e E I S a l s o f o r t h e u s e o fo p e r a t io n a l m a n a g e m e n t , t h e a v e r a g e a g e o f t h e E I S s y s t e m w a s 5 . 3 y e a r sr a n g i n g f r o m 2 t o 9 y e a r s , T h e a v e r a g e a g e o f t h o s e s y s t e m s w h i c h h a v e n o texp lo i t ed E IS on the opera t iona l l eve l was 2 .0 year s .

Project management appl icat ions w e r e i n c l u d e d in o n l y 1 % o f th e e i g h tE I S s y s t e m s o f th e c a s e o rg a n i z a ti o n s . P r o j e c t m a n a g e m e n t s y s t e m s w e r e u s e din ma ny o f the compan ies su rveye d bu t they w ere no t i n t eg ra ted in the E ISsys tem . O ur s tudy ind ica ted tha t p ro jec t mana gem ent i s f a i r ly excep t iona l i n theEIS .

8 . 2 . U t i l i z a t io n o f t h e Q u a l i t a ti v e P r o p e r t i e s o f E I SIn th i s sec t ion we i l l u s t r a t e the g r aph ics , u se r in t e r f ace , and cus tomiza t ion

proper t i es o f t he E IS .The co lored graphics p r o p e r ty b e l o n g s to e v e r y s u r v e y e d E I S s y s t e m . F o r

example g raph ica l ly r ep resen ted t r ends were inc luded in each E IS sys t em. Dur -ing the d i scuss ions on the s i t e , co lo red g raph ics were c l ea r ly ev iden t in everycase o rgan iza t ion .

User interface proper t i es were c l ea r ed up by inqu i r ing the op in ions o f E ISuser s . I n these e igh t com pan ies , near ly 25 % o f the use r s be longed to the topm a n a g e m e n t a n d t h e r es t o f u s e rs o f t h e m i d d l e m a n a g e m e n t . T h e e a s e - o f - l e a r na s p e c t w a s e v a l u a t e d b y a s k in g t h e u s e r s h o w q u i c k l y t h e y h a v e l e a r n e d t o u s et h e c u r r e n t E I S s y s t e m . L e a r n i n g t i m e s r a n g e d f r o m 1 t o 4 h o u r s a v e r a g i n g 2h o u r s . E a c h u s e r h a d u t i l iz e d c o m p u t e r s b e f o r e t h e i n s ta l la t io n o f t h e E I S w h i c hf a s t e n e d t h e l e a r n i n g p r o c e s s . H o w e v e r , t h e E I S c a n b e r e g a r d e d a s e x t r e m e l ye a s y t o l e a r n . T h e e a s e - o f - u se a s p e c t w a s e v a l u a t e d b y a 5 - s t ep s c a l e w h e r e 1s t a tes d i t Ii cu l t t o use and 5 easy to use . T he m arks r anged f rom 4 to 5 ave rag ing4 . 5 . T h i s i n d ic a t e s c l e a rl y t ha t t h e u s e r s f i n d th e E I S e x t r e m e l y e a s y t o u s e .T h e c o n t r o l l i n g d e v i c e w a s s u r v e y e d b y a s k i n g t h e u s e r s t h e i r t o o l f o r c o n tr o l l in g


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Perspectives on Executive Information Systems 571E I S f u n c t i o n s . M o s t i n t e r v ie w e e s c o n t r o l th e E I S w i t h a m o u s e . T h e o l d e s t E I Ss y s t e m w a s c o n t r o l l e d o n l y w i t h a k e y b o a r d , a n d t h e i n t e r v i e w e e u s i n g t h a ts y s t e m e n c o u n t e r e d p r o b l e m s i n l e a r n i n g t h e k e y b o a r d u s e a n d r e m e m b e r i n gk e y b o a r d f u n c t i o n s . S y s t e m s w h i c h c a n b e c o n t r o l l e d w i t h a m o u s e w e r e a l s oe a s y t o l e a r n a n d u s e . T h e h e l p f u n c t i o n w a s n e e d e d o n l y b y o n e i n t e r v i e w e e .T h i s c a n b e a t t r i b u t e d t o t h e e a s e - o f - u s e a s p e c t s o f t h e E I S .

T h e E I S u s e r s w e r e a s k e d t o s ta t e w h i c h E I S a p p l i c a t i o n s t h e y o c c a s i o n a l l yc u s t o m i z e . F i v e u s e r s t a i lo r e d g r a p h i c s a n d f o u r ta i l o r e d r e p o r t s. M e n u s a n di n f o r m a t i o n s e q u e n c e w e r e c u s t o m i z e d b y o n l y s o m e i n t e r v i e w e e s . O n e t h i r d o ft h e u s e r s d i d n o t c u s t o m i z e t h e i r E I S s y s t e m a t a l l . T h e c u s t o m i z a t i o n a c t i v i t yd e p e n d s p a r t l y o n t h e E I S p r o d u c t b y w h i c h t h e s y s t e m i s c o n s t r u c t e d . S o m ep a r t i c u l a r E I S p r o d u c t s p o s s e s s e a s e - o f - l e a r n a n d e a s e - o f - u s e c u s t o m i z a t i o nc a p a b i l i t i e s w h e r e a s o t h e r s r e q u i r e t r a i n i n g . W e b e l i e v e t h a t a l s o t h e u s e r s 'p e r s o n a l a t t i t u d e t o w a r d i n f o r m a t i o n t e c h n o l o g y a n d t h e i r s k i l l s i n f l u e n c e t h ew i l l in g n e s s t o c u s t o m i z e t h e E I S s y s t e m .

T h e d e v e l o p m e n t o f th e E I S h a s r e a c h e d a s t a g e w h e r e t h e i r u s e r i n te r f a c ea n d u s a g e h a v e b e c o m e p a r t i c u l a r l y e a s y a n d t h e f u n c t i o n a l p r o p e r t i e s m a t c ht h e m a n a g e r s ' n e e d s . T h e s e a r e t h e e s s e n t ia l c r i t e r ia f o r a s y s t e m t o b e c o n s i d -e r e d a s a n E I S .

8 . 3 . U t i l iz a t i o n o f t h e T e c h n i c a l P r o p e r t i e s o f E I ST h e f o l l o w i n g t e c h n i c a l p r o p e r t i e s w e r e e x a m i n e d : r e m o t e a c c e s s , a r c h i -

t e c t u r e , s e c u r i t y m e c h a n i s m , a n d h a r d w a r e a n d n e t w o r k s e t t i n g s .R e m o t e a c c e ss w a s b u i l t in t h re e o f t h e s e e i g h t E I S s y s t e m s . T h e u s e r s a r e

a c c e s s i n g t h o s e s y s t e m s a l s o f r o m g e o g r a p h i c a l l y d i s ta n t p l a c e s . F o r e x a m p l et h e E I S u s e r s o f o n e c a s e o r g a n i z a t io n r e s i d e in H o n g K o n g , T o k y o , N e w Y o r k ,a n d L o n d o n . R e m o t e a c c e s s w a s t e c h n i c a l l y p o s s i b l e i n e v e r y c o m p a n y b u t ith a d n o t b e e n i m p l e m e n t e d in t w o f i r m s f o r s e c u r i ty r e a s o n s . T h e o t h e r c o m -p a n i e s w h i c h h a d n o t i m p l e m e n t e d th i s f e a t u r e s i m p l y d i d n o t n e e d i t. T h ea r c h i t e c tu r e w a s o p e n i n e a c h c a s e . A n o p e n a r c h i t e c t u re i s f l e x i b le f o r e n v i -r o n m e n t a l c h a n g e s .

Secur i t y mechan i sms w e r e f o u n d i n e v e r y s u r v e y e d E I S s y s t e m . T h e s e c u -r i ty w a s d o u b l e - g u a r a n t e e d . F i r st t h e s y s t e m c o n t r o l s l o g - i n b y p a s s w o r d s . S e c -o n d t h e E I S s y s t e m c o n t r o ls t h a t th e u s e r c a n a c c e s s o n l y t h e d a t a h e o r s h e i sa u t h o r i z e d t o , i . e . , t h e u s e r h a s a p e r s o n a l v i e w t o t h e E I S s y s t e m .

H a r d w a r e a n d n e t w o r k s e t t in g s : T w o E I S s y s t e m s i n o u r c a s e o r g a n iz a t io n sw e r e r u n n i n g o n l y i n m a i n f r a m e s . T h r e e E I S s y s t e m s o p e r a t e d i n m i c r o n e t -w o r k s . A n o t h e r t h r e e E I S s y s t e m s w e r e o p e r a t i n g i n m i c r o n e t w o r k s a n d t h e yu s e d m a i n f r a m e s a s d a ta s t o r a g e s . T h e l a s t a p p r o a c h i s u s u a ll y q u i t e a n e f f ic i e n ts o l u t i o n e s p e c i a l l y w h e n t h e d a t a b a s e s a r e l a r g e . I n m i c r o n e t w o r k s l a r g e d a t a -b a s e s r e q u i r e a u s e r - s e r v e r a r c h i t e c tu r e , i n w h i c h t h e s e r v e r m a c h i n e s t o r e s a n d


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572 Partanen and Savolainenp r o c e s s e s d a t a a n d se n d o n l y th e r e s u l ts to t h e u s e r ' s P C . T h e u s e r ' s P C p r e s e n t st h e i n f o r m a t i o n in a p a r t i c u l a r f o r m . S o m e i n t e r v i e w e e s m e n t i o n e d t h a t o v e r l o a do f t h e m i c r o c o m p u t e r i s t h e m a j o r p r o b l e m i n t h e ir E I S s y s t e m . T h i s s h o r t a g ec a n b e o v e r c o m e b y u s i n g a u s e r - s e r v e r a r c h i t e c t u re .

8 . 4 . I s s u es i n C o n s t r u c t i o n , I n t r o d u c t i o n a n d U s e o f E I ST h e i s su e s i n u ti l iz i n g E I S p r o d u c t s i n b u s i n e s s o r g a n i z a t i o n s w e r e s t u d i e d

b o t h a m o n g t h e t e ch n i c a l s t a ff a n d a m o n g E I S u s e r s . T h e r e o c c u r r e d p r o b l e m sa t th ree s t ages : cons t ruc t ion , in t roduc t ion , a nd use o f E IS sys te m s . In th i s s ec t ionw e d o n o t e n t i r e l y s o l v e t h e s e p r o b l e m s b u t b r i n g t h e m u p a s f u t u r e r e s e a r c htop ics .

At the construction stage w e f o u n d r a t h e r g e n e r a l p r o b l e m s a l r e a d y k n o w nin the l it e r a tu re (Keen and Sco t t M or ton , 1978 ; Spragu e and Car l so n , 1982) . I tw a s q u i t e u s u a l t h a t t h e u s e r s w e r e n o t a b l e t o i n d i c a te t h e i r i n f o r m a t i o n n e e d s .P r o t o t y p i n g m a y e a s e t hi s p r o b l e m . T h e r e s i s ta n c e o f t h o se w h o e a r l i e r h a d b e e nr e s p o n s i b l e f o r a c q u i ri n g t h e d a t a w a s a l s o r e c o g n i z e d . T h i s p r o b l e m w a s o f t e ns o l v e d b y g i v i n g t h e m r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s i n u p d a t i n g d a t a f o r t h e E I S . A l s o d a t ac o l l e c t i o n w a s f o u n d r a t h e r c o m p l i c a t e d : s o m e t i m e s th e o p e r a t i v e s y s t e m s w e r ed e f e c t i v e , d i s p e r s e d , a n d t e c h n i c a l l y i n c o m p a t i b l e .

At the introduction stage, t h e p r o b l e m s w e r e m o s t l y i n d i v i d u a l . I n s o m ec a s e s t h e u s e o f t h e k e y b o a r d w a s d i ff i cu l t to l e a r n . S o m t i m e s t h e p r o d u c t i o no f a h i g h n u m b e r o f r e p o rt s w a s r e g a r d e d a s a p r o b l e m . Q u i t e o f t e n t h e E I So f f e r e d s o m e d i r e c t o r s a n a c c e s s t o t h e i n f o r m a t i o n i n o t h e r s ' r e s p o n s i b i l i t ya r e a s , a n d t h i s c a u s e d p r o b l e m s .

A l s o at the use stage t h e p r o b l e m s v a r i e d q u it e a t o t. A l a r g e n u m b e r o fp r o b l e m s a p p e a r e d d u e t o i n c o r r e c tn e s s a n d u n t i m e l i n e s s o f d a t a . M o s t o f th e s ep r o b l e m s c a n b e s o l v e d b y p r o p e r l y a s s i g n i n g r e s p o n s i b i l i ti e s f o r a c q u i ri n g a n du p d a t i n g d a t a i n t i m e . I f th e E I S s y s t e m i s s e e n a s a c o n t i n u o u s l y d e v e l o p i n g ,e t e rn a l p r o t o t y p e , t h e r e s p o n s i b i li t y f o r m a i n t a i n i n g t h e E I S i n t h e c h a n g i n go r g a n i z a t i o n a l e n v i r o n m e n t c a n b e k e p t a c t i v e . E x t e r n a l i n f o r m a t i o n i s o f t e n i ni n c o r r e c t f o r m s f o r th e E I S a n d e x t e r n a l s o u r c e s o f f e r i t e x c e s s i v e l y . N a t u r a l l y ,a l s o m i c r o n e t w o r k s f r e q u e n t l y c a u s e p r o b l e m s .

9 . S U M M A R YT h i s p a p e r h a s o f f e r e d a n i n t r o d u c t i o n t o i n f o r m a t i o n s y s t e m s f o r m a n a -

g e r i a l u se . O u r m a i n a i m w a s t o a n a l y s e t h e s t a t e o f t h e a r t i n th e f i e ld o fE x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s a n d t o c l a r i fy t h e i s s u e s in d e f i n in g t h e E I S a n di n t r o d u c i n g i t i n b u s i n e s s o r g a n i z a t i o n s . T h r o u g h a h i s t o r i c a l s u r v e y w e p r o -c e e d e d t o a n e x a c t d e f in i t io n o f th e E I S s y s t e m s a n d c o n s t r u c t e d a f r a m e w o r kf o r a n a l y s i n g E I S s y s t e m s a n d t h e i r u s e f u l n e s s . O u r f i e l d s t u d y a m o n g 1 3 2


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P e r s p e c t i v e s o n E x e c u t i v e I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m s 573F i n n i sh a n d E n g l i s h E I S u s e r s a n d e i g h t t e c h n i c a l s t a f f m e m b e r s r e v e a l e d t h eapp l ica t ions used , the i r r ea l u se r s in d i f f e ren t m anager ia l l eve l s , and p rac t i ca lp r o b l e m s i n t h e i n t ro d u c t io n a n d u s e o f E I S . O u r d i s c u s s i o n s i n th e f i e ld a l s oc l e a r l y i n d i c a t e d t h e f a c t t h a t t h e E I S i s b e c o m i n g m o r e a n d m o r e a t o o l o nl o w e r m a n a g e m e n t l e v el s.

T h e p r o b l e m o f f i n d in g a n e f f e c t i v e E I S f o r th e o r g a n i z a t i o n c a n b e s o l v e dm a i n l y in t w o s t e p s : A p r e c o n d i t i o n f o r s u c c e s sf u l s e l e c t i o n o f t he E I S p r o d u c ti s a p r o p e r d e fi n it i on o f t h e o r g a n i z a t io n a l c o n t i n g e n c y f a c t o r s a n d e x e c u t i v e s 'r e q u i r e m e n t s f o r t h e c o m p u t e r i z e d s u p p o r t in t h e i r d e c i s i o n m a k i n g . O u r E I Se v a l u a t i o n a n d c o m p a r i s o n f r a m e w o r k c a n b e u s e d a s a t o o l i n t h e p r o c e s s o fa c q u i r i n g a n E I S p r o d u c t t o m a t c h t h e m a n a g e r i a l n e e d s a n d o r g a n i z a t i o n a lc o n t i n g e n c i e s. O u r f r a m e w o r k h e l p s i n r e v e a l i n g th e p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e a v a i l a b l eE I S p r o d u c t s . T h e m a t c h o f t h e r e q u i r e m e n t s a n d t h e p r o p e r t i e s o f t h e E I S s i st h e n m a x i m i z e d t o f i n d t h e m o s t s u i t a b l e E I S p r o d u c t .

T h e e f f e c ti v e n e s s o f th e f r a m e w o r k w a s d e m o n s t r a t e d b y e v a l u a t i n g 1 3 E I Sproduc t s ava i l ab le in the m arke t . O ur ana lys i s r esu l ts (desc r ibed in t ab les ) showedbo th s im i la r i t i e s and d i f f e rences in the i r func t iona l capab i l i t i e s , the i r qua l i t a t iveand techn ica l p roper t i es , a s we l l a s the i r cos t f ac to r s . I t m eans tha t the o rgan i -z a t i o n s w i t h d i ff e re n t m a n a g e r i a l s u p p o r t r e q u i r e m e n t s h a v e s e v e r a l a l t e r n a t i v e st o c h o o s e . I n p r a c ti c e , b o t h t h e d e f in i t io n o f th e s e s u p p o r t r e q u i r e m e n t s a n d t h ef ina l s e lec t ion o f the E IS p roduc t a r e d i f f i cu l t p rob lem s in p rac t i ce . Our f r am e-w o r k c a n p a r t ly g u i d e i n s o l v i n g b o t h o f t h e m .

I f w e w e r e t o c h a r a c te r i z e t h e E I S p r o d u c t s i n g e n e r a l , w e c o u l d s a y t h a tt h e y a r e w e l l e q u i p p e d w i t h a n a l y t ic a l s u p p o r t c a p a b i l

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