Enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages touch many aspects of a company's internal and external operations. Consequently, successful deployment and use of ERP systems are critical to organizational performance and survival. This paper presents the results of a study of the problems and outcomes in ERP projects which was conducted under the sponsorship of an ERP systems vendor. Two basic research questions were addressed. First, how successful are companies at different points in time in their ERP experiences and how are different measures of success related? (That is, can early success be followed by failure and vice versa?) Second, what problems do ERP adopters encounter as they implement and deploy ERP and how are these problems related to outcomes? The findings showed that the success of ERP systems depends on when it is measured and that success at one point in time may only be loosely related to success at another point in time. Companies experience problems at all phases of the ERP system life cycle and many of the problems experienced in later phases originated earlier but remained unnoticed or uncorrected. These findings suggest that researchers and companies will do well to adopt broad definitions and multiple measures of success and pay particular attention to the early identification and correction of problems.

Complications occur regardless of the management strategy chosen for DIACFs and despite management by experienced surgeons. Complications are a cause of significant morbidity for patients. Outcome scores in this study tend to support ORIF for calcaneal fractures. However, ORIF patients are more likely to develop complications. Certain patient populations (WCB and Sanders type IV) developed a high incidence of complications regardless of the management strategy chosen.

One of the most enduring research topics in the eld of information systems (IS) is that of system success (Lyytinen and Hirschheim, 1987;deLone and McLean, 1992;Ballantine et al., 1996). Prior research has addressed the measurement of success, the antecedents of success and explanations of success or failure. Yet for each new type of information technology (IT) or application the question of success comes up again. In the case of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems success takes on a special urgency, since the costs and risks of these massive technology investments rival their potential pay-offs. Failures of ERP system implementation projects have been known to lead to organizational bankruptcy (Bulkeley, 1996;Davenport, 1998;Markus and Tanis, 2000).Brie y, ERP systems are commercial software packages that enable the integration of transactionsoriented data and business processes throughout an organization. From a base in manufacturing and nancial systems, ERP systems may eventually allow for integration of interorganizational supply chains (Davenport, 1998;Markus and Tanis, 2000). Because these systems touch so many aspects of a company's internal and external operations, their successful deployment and use are critical to organizational performance and survival.This paper describes the results of a study of problems and outcomes in ERP projects. The study was conducted under the sponsorship of an ERP vendor who was interested in helping its customers be more successful in ERP implementation. Two basic research questions are addressed: First, how successful are companies at different points in time in their ERP experiences, and how are different measures of success related? (That is, can early success be followed by failure and vice versa?) Second, what problems do ERP adopters encounter as they implement and deploy ERP, and how are these problems related to outcomes? Enterprise resource planning (ERP) packages touch many aspects of a company's internal and external operations. Consequently, successful deployment and use of ERP systems are critical to organizational performance and survival. This paper presents the results of a study of the problems and outcomes in ERP projects which was conducted under the sponsorship of an ERP systems vendor. Two basic research questions were addressed. First, how successful are companies at different points in time in their ERP experiences and how are different measures of success related? (That is, can early success be followed by failure and vice versa?) Second, what problems do ERP adopters encounter as they implement and deploy ERP and how are these problems related to outcomes? The ndings showed that the success of ERP systems depends on when it is measured and that success at one point in time may only be loosely related to success at another point in time. Companies experience problems at all phases of the ERP system life cycle and many of the problems experienced in later phases originated earlier but remained unnoticed or uncorrected. These ndings suggest that...

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Objective:To determine the inter-observer agreement on triage assignment by first-time users with diverse training and background using the Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale (CTAS).Methods:Twenty emergency care providers (5 physicians, 5 nurses, 5 Basic Life Support paramedics and 5 Advanced Life Support paramedics) at a large urban teaching hospital participated in the study. Observers used the 5-level CTAS to independently assign triage levels for 42 case scenarios abstracted from actual emergency department patient presentations. Case scenarios consisted of vital signs, mode of arrival, presenting complaint and verbatim triage nursing notes. Participants were not given any specific training on the scale, although a detailed one-page summary was included with each questionnaire. Kappa values with quadratic weights were used to measure agreement for the study group as a whole and for each profession.Results:For the 41 case scenarios analyzed, the overall agreement was significant (quadratic-weighted κ = 0.77, 95% confidence interval, 0.76–0.78). For all observers, modal agreement within one triage level was 94.9%. Exact modal agreement was 63.4%. Agreement varied by triage level and was highest for Level I (most urgent). A reasonably high level of intra- and inter-professional agreement was also seen.Conclusions:Despite minimal experience with the CTAS, inter-observer agreement among emergency care providers with different backgrounds was significant.