Strategic Control Systems – Current Challenges and Future Directions

Information Systems (IS) are defined as systems of people, data records and activities that process data and information in an organization, and they include the organization’s manual and automated processes aimed at supporting managers. Broadly speaking, IS should support the development and execution of strategies at various management levels (Turban et al., 2006). At a lower level IS support business operations, while at a higher level they support more complex managerial activities. Two separate but connected computer based environments has been developed to back up those operations: On Line Transaction Processing (OLTP) is devoted to support operational tasks, and On Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) should support higher level tasks. The paper will focus on the second environment, analyzing the definition, the evolution and future perspectives of OLAP systems, which are aimed to support strategic planning and related management activities. Similarly to OLTP systems, OLAP systems are characterized by a relatively long evolution path, that lead to systems aimed to fully support strategic activities and enhance corporate performance. For this reason, the latest OLAP approach refers to “Performance Measurement”, including also “Performance Management”. In the literature many definitions of Performance Measurement and Performance Measurement System can be found. While “Performance Measurement can be defined as the process of quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of action”, a “Performance Measurement System can be defined as the set of metrics used to quantify both the efficiency and effectiveness of actions” (Neely et al., 1995). Moreover, it should be pointed out that these definitions focus on reference theoretical models rather than on operational models to be effectively used in a company. The implementation of these conceptual models using information technology is known as “Business Performance Management” (BPM): BPM is defined “as a set of integrated, closed-loop management and analytic processes, supported by technologies, that address financial and operational activities. BPM helps businesses define strategic goals and measure and manage performance against those goals” (Whiting, 2004). In other words, “BPM can be described as a series of business processes and applications designed to optimize both the development and the execution of business strategy” (Frolick and Ariyachandra, 2006; Eckerson, 2005). The paper will present: • A theoretical framework aimed to define and describe BPM systems, properly connecting them to other corporate information subsystems; • The evolution path of OLAP systems and the description of BPM systems marketplace, reporting also the main vendors of BPM systems themselves; • Some implementation experiences, focusing on expected versus obtained results, difficulties found and lessons learned; • Emerging trends, future development directions and unfulfilled challenges.