A conceptual model and IS framework for the design and adoption of environmental compliance management systems

Abstract

Environmental concerns have led to a significant increase in the number and scope of compliance imperatives governing electrical, electronics, and IT products across global regulatory environments. This is, of course, in addition to general compliance and risk issues generated by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, data protection and information privacy legislation, ethics and integrity regulations, IT governance concerns, and so on. While the latter dimensions of enterprise-wide governance, compliance, and risk (GRC) are far from straightforward, the complexity and geographical diversity of environment-based regulatory sources cause considerable problems for organisations in the electrical, electronics and IT sectors. Although a variety of enterprise-level information systems are presently available to help manage compliance and reduce risk across all areas, a majority of firms still employ ad-hoc solutions. This paper focuses on the very-much underexplored issue of environmental compliance and risk. The first objective of this exploratory study is to delineate the problems facing GRC and Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) functions in dealing with environmental regulations globally and to identify how these problems are being solved using Environmental Compliance Management Systems (ECMS). The second objective is to propose a processbased conceptual model and related IS framework on the design and adoption of ECMS that will inform future research and, it is hoped, the IS adoption decisions of GRC and EH&S practitioners.

The Implementation of Governance, Risk, and Compliance IS: Adoption Lifecycle and Enterprise Value

“…The main focus of this study (Scott & Perry, 2012) is to report on risk management practices and identify related best practices in the energy sector. Similarly, a research by Butler and McGovern (2012) analyses environmental compliance Information Systems and presents a framework for the design of environmental compliance management systems. Other research directions propose a solution to a compliance problem in the area of software licensing (Gangadharan, D'andrea, De Paoli, & Weiss, 2012)-this approach adopts the Open Digital Rights Language for checking compatibility of free and open source software licenses and mostly focuses on compliance issues.…”

Understanding governance, risk and compliance information systems (GRC IS): The experts view

“…At the same issue Ly et al (2012) discuss the requirements that must be met by process management systems to support semantic constraints and the criteria that enable integrated compliance support through the entire process lifecycle through Semantic Technologies approaches (Ly et al 2012). A research by Butler and McGovern analyse environmental compliance Information Systems and they propose a framework for the design of environmental compliance management systems (Butler and McGovern 2012). This research focuses on the GRC in the environmental management area.…”

The Current State of Product Life-Cycle Management

“…Data is also important to provide the knowledge necessary to improve the efficiency of program management as well as generating information to feed into product and process design in order to reduce their environmental impacts. 16 However, little research has been conducted on how to use information systems to improve environmental performance. 17 One of the main problems is that many smaller organizations in the product lifecycle management chain will have only basic management information systems, and are often reluctant to adopt more advanced systems due to the costs and efforts involved.…”