The contribution of different types of agents to efficient use of a PLMS

Abstract

The manner by which an enterprise system (ES) is used by individuals can lead toinformation system inefficiencies. This article deals with managers’ and IS departments’roles in the control of ES usages. With a qualitative approach, we study the use of a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management)system in an automotive manufacturer. These systems are usually implemented in order toimprove the information integration during the New Product Development process (NPD).We analyze the respective contributions of users, managers and the software in activatingand maintaining the PLM system’s informational potential. Our results on PLM systems’ uses give concrete recommendations for managersresponsible for an efficient usage of these systems. These results permit to distinguishbetween aspects related to the software’s use needing strict rules (common to the differentusers) and those that require some leeway for the users in order to avoid preventing theirappropriation of the software system. Nevertheless, the main contribution of this article liesin its modeling of use situation and of the role that can, and should, play managers andIS departments throughout the life of the system. These results pave the way for furtherstudies that would focus on comparing between enterprise systems based on the need tocontrol their uses. Finally, from a methodological point of view, we operationalize Grieves’informational integration model (2006) in a new way