Knowledge‑based systems (KBSs) implement the heuristic human reasoning through specific techniques, procedures and mechanisms, in order to solve problems that do not have a traditional algorithmic solution. Research on this topic is being done in numerous organisations all over the world, from higher education laboratories to research institutes and software development organisations. A first research project, aimed at gathering information about the State‑of‑the‑Practice in building knowledge‑ based systems with practical applications, needed a preliminary study to ascertain if KBSs still exist today as a research topic, or the interest in them actually faded. The study was also required for finding organisations currently building KBSs for different domains. The project's aim was to catalogue the software andor knowledge engineering methods employed by the listed organisations, in order to draw a comprehensive image (State‑of‑the‑ Practice) of the field. The current paper contains the results of this preliminary study only. A second research project re‑used the results of the preliminary study, focusing on the study of KBSs' successful implementations as a basis for building a method that would allow practitioners to choose the most appropriate KM tools for each organisation's specific problems and situations. A trigger for this second project was the interest in studying the causes of KBSs rejection by the end‑users. An attempt to map the identified applications of KBSs to different phases of knowledge management lifecycle is also presented.

Despite the importance of post‑merger IS integration to the success of the whole merger, post‑merger IS inte‑ gration literature remains scarce. This paper attempts to synthesise the often implicit or vague definitions of post‑merger IS integration success with those provided in the vast body of literature on IS evaluation. As a result, four categories of success issues for post‑merger IS integration are proposed: User satisfaction with the integrated software's system and information quality as well as its use; Efficient and effective IS integration management; Efficient IS staff integration; and IS ability to support the underlying motives of the merger.

A number of regional Internet electronic marketplaces (REMs) have failed or are floundering, partly due to the lack of proper evaluation of their costs and benefits. This paper uses a conceptual REM Success Model to examine the costs and benefits of a REM in Western Australia. The model has been derived from an extension to the Updated DeLone & McClean IS Success Model. The findings from the case study indicate that the REM Success Model, which includes cognisance of SME‑profile and motivation of the market maker, allows up‑front identification of the costs and benefits to all stakeholders.

The information systems (IS) project management profession has been faced with numerous socio‑technical challenges. As part of its analysis, research has expressed discontent with the traditional measures used to assess the success or failure of these projects, i.e. conformance to time, schedule and specification requirements espoused by the project management (PM) standard bodies. Despite this, research has also revealed that industry continues to place high reliance on this approach in determining the outcome of their projects. These developments imply, in part, a misalignment between research and practice and a scarcity of appropriate measurement tools that are aligned to the realities of different project contexts. The research presents a Project Objectives Measurement Model (POMM) that attempts to address some of these concerns through the development of project measures that are aligned to key project stakeholders' values and objectives within the unique project contexts. It is argued that objectives are the key performance criteria of the project hence measures must be aligned to these criteria and formal procedures should be in place to assure that these objectives and measures are carefully developed and reflective of the persons to which the project matters, the stakeholders. The POMM is grounded on several principles of the Value Focused Thinking (VFT) and Goal Question Metric (GQM) techniques. The evaluation of the proposed model was performed in two parts: a team of industry experts examined the principles of model and provided feedback on its practicability to practice, and a case study of a Caribbean educational institution's IS graduate programme development was used to illustrate the procedures of the model. The research provides theoretical and practical implications for IS evaluation particularly within the project management and performance measurement domains. The research aims to extend the debate on suitable evaluation methods for IS projects while providing project practitioners with an alternative approach that can enhance their decision making processes during the life of the project.

Since the advent of the Internet, B2C e‑Commerce has grown substantially across the globe. Whilst much research has examined factors influencing adoption of e‑commerce, not as many studies have investigated the post‑ adoption phenomenon of success. Those studies that have investigated IS success and the extensions required to accommodate e‑commerce have mainly been conceptual. Few have attempted to test and validate the models empirically. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap. By drawing from the technology acceptance model, expectation‑confirmation theory and IS success theory, a revised conceptual model was derived. The model and relationships were tested and validated using data gathered from 166 online consumers in South Africa. 7 interrelated dimensions of B2C e‑commerce success were confirmed, namely service quality, system quality, information quality, trust, perceived usefulness, user satisfaction and continuance intentions. Direct relationships between dimensions were identified. These showed that user intentions to continue using an online retail site are directly influenced by perceived usefulness, user satisfaction and system quality. User satisfaction is directly influenced by service quality and perceived usefulness, whilst perceived usefulness is directly influenced by trust and information quality. Trust in the online retailer is directly influenced by service quality and system quality. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

The Internet and related technologies have made a substantial impact on the way organisations conduct business in Australia and around the world. Australian organisations like their international counterparts have invested heavily to leverage the Internet and transform their traditional businesses into e‑businesses in the last seven years. E‑business investments are claiming a sizeable share of overall IT budgets in most organisations whether they are small, medium or large. However, managers are under constant pressure to justify e‑business costs and to ensure that these investments keep paying off. Earlier research on e‑business in Australia addressed issues of the rate of e‑business uptake and the application of the Internet to certain business processes. Research discussed in this paper is one of the first attempts to evaluate the value of e‑business. It is based on data collected, collated and analysed from the responses received from IT and e‑business managers throughout Australia. Research presented in this paper is based on a model developed in the USA (Barua et al, 2001) to identify the impact of e‑business drivers on operational excellence of firms which influence financial improvements. It was initiated to quantify the success of e‑business in Australia after huge losses from e‑business projects were reported by a few large organisations. The paper includes a review of literature on e‑business evaluation, research methodology, analysis techniques, a discussion of e‑business performance in Australia and presents the impact of e‑business on operational excellence and financial performance of the organisation.

The business community in the past decade has been characterised by debate over the value or effectiveness of e‑Commerce and how this type of technology needs to be implemented. During this period the business world has witnessed many examples of failures of Internet based business. There is little doubt that the high failure rate in Dot.Coms had much to do with misconceptions regarding the ease with which e‑Commerce could be implemented. Unrealistic expectations caused tried and tested business rules to be abandoned as hyperbole over took sound business sense. Although it is clear today that the Internet and the Web can facilitate business processes to add value to organisations, this technology has to be managed with considerable care. This paper reports on a case study conducted in kalahari.net, a well known South African e‑Tailing business. This case study highlights several valuable lessons to do with the evaluation of an e‑Commerce investment and how to ensure its success. Specifically the case study closely examines aspects of kalahari.net's IS management policy, and identifies a set of preliminary e‑Commerce success dimensions.