The Bentley College Invision Project

THE BENTLEY COLLEGE INVISION PROJECT
The Impacts of Information Visibility in Interorganizational Relations

Information Visibility is the sharing of privileged information by an organization with one or more partner organizations for transactional or planning and decision-making purposes. Information visibility is characterized by improved transaction processing benefits (information transparency and process streamlining or reengineering) and the potential for enhanced planning or decision-making support.

The Invision Project is examining information visibility in cyberchains--information-intensive, technology-supported business relationships for sharing information across business processes and organizational boundaries. Achieving information visibility in cyberchains usually requires heightened data and process integration among three or more interdependent organizations (e.g., a manufacturer and its first and second tier suppliers or a manufacturer, its distribution channels, and its customers, or a manufacturer, its customers and its suppliers).

The objective of this research project is to identify the impacts of information visibility and to explain when and why they occur. Impacts of interest include:

Impacts inside the focal organization and impacts external to the focal organization (e.g., in the cyberchain, on competitors, consumers and citizens, etc.)
Impacts in two domains: economic (e.g., efficiency benefits, improved forecasting and planning or sense and respond), and sociopolitical impacts (e.g., changes in relations with business partners, changes in decision-making processes)
Costs, benefits, and risks (i.e., intended and unintended consequences, both positive and negative).

In light of these objectives, we will focus on settings where considerable information visibility already exists, but occurred relatively recently, so that it is possible to examine the impacts closely. We are currently exploring case studies of information visibility in different settings, such as manufacturing or retail supply chain logistics (e.g., CPFR, or Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, and Replenishment), health care (e.g., HIPAA, or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), and government (e.g., U. S. Treasury Electronic Payments Project). Research in other settings is also under consideration.

Principal Investigator:
Jane Fedorowicz, Ph.D.
Rae D. Anderson Chair in Accounting and Information Systems
Phone 1-781-891-3153
Fax 1-781-891-2896
Email: TheInvisionProject@bentley.edu