My research strategy is to investigate the effects of the integration of information systems in the organisation. The trend to include more and more of what businesses do under the umbrella of centralised (or “enterprise”) information systems appears to be driven by two factors. Senior management require control of resources. Vendors of information systems require their products to be deployed to the greatest number of users in the organisation. My research is focused on establishing to what extent the first goal is served by the second. The theoretical foundations of this research are based on three research dimensions: organisational, decisional and informational. Research on the configuration of organisations describes how business functions articulate around one another to achieve a common goal (March & Simon, 1958; Child, 1973; Galbraith, 1983). The second dimension looks at how managers translate organisational goals into reality, and specifically what processes they utilise in decision making (Simon, 1972; Winter, 1985; March & Simon, 1993; Langley et al., 1995). Finally, research in information systems highlights to what extent the signals managers receive reflect the reality they are supposed to represent (Ackoff, 1967; Gorry & Scott Morton, 1971; Earl & Hopwood, 1980).

Top three research outputs: Carton, F. and Adam, F., Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation, 2003, 6(2) Analysing the Impact of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Roll-outs in Multi-National Companies, 1566-6379. Carton, F., Adam, F. and Sammon, D., International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, 2008, 1(1), pp106-124, Project Management for ERP Implementations - A Case Study of Successful Implementation, 1753-8378.Carton, F and Adam, F, Electronic Journal of IS Evaluation, 2008, Volume 11 Issue 2, April 2008, 51-60, ERP and functional fit: how integrated systems fail to provide improved control. 1566-6379. Significance The effects of the integration of information systems in the organisation are important to understand both from a theoretical perspective, and from the point of view of providing insights to practitioners in approaching these projects. Vendors are constantly re-inventing and re-packaging new approaches to integration, seemingly without regard with what has been tried in the past. Most large organisations are, on the other hand, constantly implementing or re-implementing systems to better integrate the management of information flows with the existing systems infrastructure, including interfaces to existing legacy systems. These publications are significant in this regard because EJISE is listed on the International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS) as a key contributor in evaluating the benefit of investment in information systems. The IJMPB, on the other hand, is a peer reviewed journal that appeals to practitioners and academics alike.

Although organisations invest significantly in information technology in order to introduce efficiencies and control in the execution and monitoring of their key activities, inevitably the focus is on the technology rather than the information. While technology vendors maximise their revenues for each customer implementation, the users of the resulting solutions are frequently ill prepared to exploit the benefits of visibility and control that their investments afford them. My teaching aims to provide students at undergraduate, post-graduate and executive levels the necessary critical skills to understand and evaluate the contribution of information technology by focusing on the value of the underlying information and its decision support potential. Whether this is a "Final Year Project" for a BIS undergraduate student, an "IS performance" exam for a Masters programme, or a "Cloud Strategy" blueprint for an executive education programme, the goal is to develop among students a level of confidence in analysing organisational activities and related decisions, prior to designing and implementing information technology solutions. These critical analysis skills are honed using real world case studies and drawing on the practical experience of the students themselves. Therefore students acquire confidence in applying tools and techniques to deconstruct and re-assemble the processes and key information requirements of any organisation, be it private, public or community.