Introduction Organizations are becoming increasingly serious about the notion of "data as an asset" as they face increasing pressure for reporting a "single version of the truth." In a 2006 survey of 359 North American organizations that had deployed business intelligence and analytic systems, a program for the governance of data was reported to be one of the five success "practices" for deriving business value from data assets. In light of the opportunities to leverage data assets as well ensure legislative compliance to mandates such as the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) Act and Basel II, data governance has also recently been given significant prominence in practitioners' conferences, such as TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute) World Conference and DAMA (Data Management Association) International Symposium. The objective of this article is to provide an overall framework for data governance that can be used by researchers to focus on important data governance issues, and by practitioners to develop an effective data governance approach, strategy and design. Designing data governance requires stepping back from day-to-day decision making and focusing on identifying the fundamental decisions that need to be made and who should be making them. Based on Weill and Ross, we also differentiate between governance and management as follows: • Governance refers to what decisions must be made to ensure effective management and use of IT ( decision domains ) and who makes the decisions ( locus of accountability for decision-making ). • Management involves making and implementing decisions. For example, governance includes establishing who in the organization holds decision rights for determining standards for data quality. Management involves determining the actual metrics employed for data quality. Here, we focus on the former. Corporate governance has been defined as a set of relationships between a company's management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders that provide a structure for determining organizational objectives and monitoring performance, thereby ensuring that corporate objectives are attained. Considering the synergy between macroeconomic and structural policies, corporate governance is a key element in not only improving economic efficiency and growth, but also enhancing corporate confidence. A framework for linking corporate and IT governance (see Figure 1) has been proposed by Weill and Ross. Unlike these authors, however, we differentiate between IT assets and information assets: IT assets refers to technologies (computers, communication and databases) that help support the automation of well-defined tasks, while information assets (or data) are defined as facts having value or potential value that are documented. Note that in the context of this article, we do not differentiate between data and information. Next, we use the Weill and Ross framework for IT governance as a starting point for our own framework for data governance. We then propose a set of five data decision domains, why they are important, and guidelines for what governance is needed for each decision domain. By operationalizing the locus of accountability of decision making (the "who") for each decision domain, we create a data governance matrix, which can be used by practitioners to design their data governance. The insights presented here have been informed by field research, and address an area that is of growing interest to the information systems (IS) research and practice community.

Identifying the best way to organize the IS functions within an interprise has been a critical IS management issue since the mid-1980s. Yet to date, MIS researchers have offered little empirical evidence on which to base guidelines for the practitioner. This study seeks to explain a firm's IS organization design decision for a decentralized, centralized, or "hybrid" locus of responsibility from an expanded set of environmental overall organizational, and IS-specific antecedents as well as a larger concept of organizational alignment. Potential antecedents (drivers or enablers) are selected from prior contingency research and the IS literature; other variables emerge from the data collection. Data collected via on-site interviews from IS and general managers in six multi-divisional firms, paired by industry, confirm that centralized, decentralized, and hybrid IS structures exist-but often not in "pure" form-and that industry type is not a strong predictor. Data was also collected via survey form to capture ratings of importance for drivers (for enablers) for a recent IS design change in each firm. Based on both qualitative and quantitative data, four configurations are discussed: patterns of antecedents that are associated with (1) highly centralized or (2) highly decentralized IS structures; and patterns of antecedents that explain a firm's choice to (3) decentralize or (4) recentralize systems development and application planning functions in particular. A mode/based on these configurations is then proposed, The article concludes with implications for researchers and practitioners.

This study contributes to the growing body of literature on the value of enterprise resource planning (ERP) investments at the firm level. Using an organization integration lens that takes into account investments in complementary resources as well as an options thinking logic about the value of an ERP platform, we argue that not all ERP purchases have the same potential impact at the firm level due to ERP project decisions made at the time of purchase. Based on a sample of 116 investment announcements in United States–based firms between 1997 and 2001, we find support for our hypotheses that ERP projects with greater functional scope (two or more value-chain modules) or greater physical scope (multiple sites) result in positive, higher shareholder returns. Furthermore, the highest increases in returns (3.29%) are found for ERP purchases with greater functional scope and greater physical scope; negative returns are found for projects with lesser functional scope and lesser physical scope. These findings provide empirical support for prior theory about the organizational integration benefits of ERP systems, the contribution of complementary resource investments to the business value of IT investments, and the growth options associated with IT platform investments. The article concludes with implications of our firm-level findings for this first wave of enterprise systems.

Abstract:Horizontal mechanisms are structural overlays (such as roles and groups) and nonstructural devices (such as physical co-location) that are designed to facilitate cross-unit collaboration. The objective of this study is to increase our cumulative knowledge about what top-down mechanisms are being used to promote the coordination of IS activities across corporate/division boundaries. Propositions about how mechanism usage differs under Centralized versus Federal IS organization contexts are developed based on a synthesis of prior organization science and empirical IS literature. Multiple methods are used to collect data from IS and non-IS senior managers from two case sites with theoretically different IS coordination needs. As predicted, multiple types of structural and non-structural mechanisms were implemented for business-IS coordination in the company with a Centralized IS context, and for corporate IS-decentralized IS coordination in the company with a Federal IS context. An unexpected finding was that mechanisms for both of these kinds of IS coordination were valued at each case site. The prediction that a formal group mechanism would be perceived as more effective for achieving cross-unit coordination than an integrator role mechanism was not supported. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for research and practice.

The prior IS literature points to the importance of organizational context for predicting a firm’s IS governance solution. However, for the most part this literature assumes that firms adopt a uniform IS governance solution for all business units and that this solution can be predicted by context variables at the overall organization level. The purpose of this study is to increase our knowledge about why firms implement a hybrid IS governance solution in which a subset of IS functions that includes systems development is decentralized to some business units, but not to other business units, in the same enterprise. A theoretical framework of context variables at the business unit level is first developed. An embedded, single case study provides an initial test of eight propositions derived from the framework, as well as an opportunity for theory building. Data are collected utilizing both deductive and inductive methods from IS and non-IS executives of a divisionalized Fortune 500 firm in which a uniform decentralized solution for systems development in place for almost a decade has recently been replaced by a hybrid solution. The case study findings suggest that a configuration of four variables characterizes a business unit context conducive to decentralized systems development governance (organic decision-making, high business unit autonomy, a differentiation competitive strategy, and an unstable industry environment). As predicted, however, the influence of these variables is likely to be overridden and a “deviant” solution adopted when deficiencies in IT capabilities are perceived and there is a culture that supports structural change at the business unit level. Additional interview and survey data collected from the key stakeholders are then analyzed in order to develop a richer understanding of the dimensions of the IT capabilities construct at the business unit level. The notion of absorptive capacity provides a theoretical argument for the emergent findings. Implications for researching today's increasingly complex IS governance forms are then drawn.

Increasingly, scholars and practitioners acknowledge that information technology (IT) human capital is a strategic resource and that its effective management represents a significant organizational capability. We use configurational theory to examine organizational practices related to the management of IT human capital. In contrast to much prior work in IT human resource management (HRM) that is focused at the individual level, our inquiry is focused at the organizational level of analysis. Building on strategic human resource management (SHRM) research in general and research on the management of IT professionals in particular, we examine the broad question: Are different configurations of IT HRM practices associated with different IT staff turnover rates? A multidimensional view of IT HRM practices is presented, based on prior IT and SHRM literature. We formalize hypotheses regarding the relationship of turnover with configurations of IT HRM practices grounded in prior theory and empirical research. Based on survey responses from 106 organizations, IT HRM dimensions and configurations are derived and the hypotheses are tested. A five-configuration solution, obtained via cluster analysis, includes two contrasting configurations consistent with two archetypes found in the prior literature. Specifically, the configuration with a human capital focus has lower turnover than the task-focused configuration, providing support for our first hypothesis. Although the hypothesis on intermediate configurations and their relationship with turnover is not supported, we discover and interpret three additional configurations that embody patterns of practices with unique emphases. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Optomechanical systems couple an electromagnetic cavity to a mechanical resonator which is typically formed from a solid object. The range of phenomena accessible to these systems depends on the properties of the mechanical resonator and on the manner in which it couples to the cavity fields. In both respects, a mechanical resonator formed from superfluid liquid helium offers several appealing features: low electromagnetic absorption, high thermal conductivity, vanishing viscosity, well-understood mechanical loss, and in situ alignment with cryogenic cavities. In addition, it offers degrees of freedom that differ qualitatively from those of a solid. Here, we describe an optomechanical system consisting of a miniature optical cavity filled with superfluid helium. The cavity mirrors define optical and mechanical modes with near-perfect overlap, resulting in an optomechanical coupling rate ~ 3 kHz. This coupling is used to drive the superfluid; it is also used to observe the superfluid's thermal motion, resolving a mean phonon number as low as 11.Light confined in a cavity exerts forces on the components that form the cavity. These forces can excite mechanical vibrations in the cavity components, and these vibrations can alter the propagation of light in the cavity. This interplay between electromagnetic (EM) and mechanical degrees of freedom is the basis of cavity optomechanics. It gives rise to a variety of nonlinear phenomena in both the EM and mechanical domains, and provides means for controlling and sensing EM fields and mechanical oscillators. 1 If the optomechanical interaction is approximately unitary, it can provide access to quantum effects in the optical and mechanical degrees of freedom. 1 Optomechanical systems have been used to observe quantum effects which are remarkable in that they are associated with the motion of massive objects. 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 They have also been proposed for use in a range of quantum information and sensing applications. 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 Realizing these goals typically requires strong optomechanical coupling, weak EM and mechanical loss, efficient cooling to cryogenic temperatures, and reduced influence from technical noise.To date, nearly all optomechanical devices have used solid objects as mechanical oscillators.However, liquid oscillators offer potential advantages. A liquid can conformally fill a hollow EM cavity, 23 allowing for near-perfect overlap between the cavity's EM modes and the normal modes of the liquid body's vibrations. In addition, the liquid's composition can be changed in situ, an important feature for applications in fluidic sensing. 24 However, most liquids face two important obstacles to operation in or near the quantum regime: their viscosity results in strong mechanical losses, and they solidify when cooled to cryogenic temperatures. Liquid helium is exceptional in both respects, as it does not solidify under its own vapor pressure and possesses zero viscosity in its purely superfluid state. In addition, liquid He has low EM lo...

The authors develop theory for predicting the distribution of decision making between the corporate and business-unit levels of management for a subset of information systems (IS) resources referred to as systems development. Drawing on literature from the fields of MIS, strategic management, and organization theory, they first determine how potentially influential context factors are likely to affect the locus of the lead decision-making role from a multiple-contingencies perspective. Then they theorize how conflicting corporate and business-unit contingencies are likely to be resolved. They present a set of six propositions that predict a centralized, decentralized, or compromise design solution for a given business unit on the basis of (1) business-level strategy, (2) whether or not information technology (IT) plays a strategic role for the business unit, (3) the degree of line managers' IT knowledge at the business-unit level, and (4) the level at which opportunities for IT-related synergies across business units are being pursued at the corporate level.