Changeable Order Management

The environment of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany is characterized by constantly changing boundary conditions. To cope with these external influences, these enterprises have to adapt their internal organization structures and processes permanently. However, necessary changes often cannot be realized due to the rigidity of today’s order management information systems (OMS). The motivation of this paper is the resulting need to design the cooperation of organization and OMS changeable and adaptable. Therefore, characteristics and boundary conditions of SMEs are presented. Furthermore, the rigidity of OMS is analyzed. Based on this analysis, an interdisciplinary approach is elaborated, concerning organizational and informationtechnical views on order management. This concept is based on certain definitions, which are described first. Subsequently, a cybernetic model of order management is developed, clarifying the co-operation of organization and OMS by control loops. In order to develop a changeable order management, this cybernetic approach communicates a mutual understanding of the interdisciplinary synergy of organization and OMS.