La contribution des différents types d’agents à un usage performant d’un PLMS

The manner by which an enterprise system (ES) is used by individuals can lead to information system inefficiencies. This article deals with managers' and IS departments' roles in the control of ES usages. With a qualitative approach, we study the use of a PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) system in an automotive manufacturer. These systems are usually implemented in order to improve the information integration during the New Product Development process (NPD). We analyze the respective contributions of users, managers and the software in activating and maintaining the PLM system's informational potential. Our results on PLM systems' uses give concrete recommendations for managers responsible for an efficient usage of these systems. These results permit to distinguish between aspects related to the software's use needing strict rules (common to the different users) and those that require some leeway for the users in order to avoid preventing their appropriation of the software system. Nevertheless, the main contribution of this article lies in its modeling of use situation and of the role that can, and should, play managers and IS departments throughout the life of the system. These results pave the way for further studies that would focus on comparing between enterprise systems based on the need to control their uses. Finally, from a methodological point of view, we operationalize Grieves' informational integration model (2006) in a new way.