Abstract
M.Tech. (Operations Management)
One of the aspect of the greener future is about reengineering information technology (IT) through system integration. The thesis challenges the concept of Business Process Reengineering (BPR) in integrating enterprise resource planning (ERP) and bank systems in consulting companies. This thesis is based on the research carried out at Parity software, as the biggest consulting company in South Africa that uses business systems and develop additional management systems to meet customer’s expectations. The four big South African banks namely First National Bank, Absa, Standardbank and Nedbank are already offering online business banking applications that can be easily integrated with other payment software through cloud computing. However, point-to-point integration between financial ERP and bank systems remain a huge challenge. The thesis aims at designing a business integration model that will be the backbone of new software development in the field of automatic and direct payment transactions between corporate and bank systems. Using model-driven architecture, the designed model intends to present benefits of direct integration that will reduce long payment process and end import and export of bank files. Following theoretical, conceptual and empirical approaches, the literature review shows the gap between standard business process reengineering and business process reengineering applied to system integration and thus define survey items. The research methodology used is a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods. The thesis uses qualitative research design to develop reengineering model using cross-functional flowchart design process from Microsoft Visio professional. Quantitative research design is used to analyse data collected from the likert scale questionnaire and to interpret descriptive statistics and correlational method to test hypothesis. Research findings showed that there is a positive and statistical significant relationship between dependent variables namely business factors, financial ERP system and IT architecture and the BPR Integration (BPRI) model known as independent variables. Additionally, interviews regarding customer’s expectations showed that 85% of customers are looking forward for a direct and automated payment solution that will reduce payment cycle and increase their profitability. Extensive research should be done to redesign the proposed integration model using computer and data language to facilitate execution by IT people.