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Justifying the cost of EMIS: Piloting lessons from Rhone‐Poulenc
Author(s) -
Dray Jim,
Heptinstall James W.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
environmental quality management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.249
H-Index - 27
eISSN - 1520-6483
pISSN - 1088-1913
DOI - 10.1002/tqem.3310060210
Subject(s) - work (physics) , business , upgrade , process management , information system , environmental resource management , order (exchange) , computer science , knowledge management , risk analysis (engineering) , engineering , economics , finance , mechanical engineering , electrical engineering , operating system
Two worlds are colliding as many companies are integrating environmental management with business management. Nowhere is this more evident than in the hundreds of companies that are now working to upgrade their environmental management information systems (EMIS), which are a critical component of business integration. Building a business case for EMIS requires crossing many disciplinary boundaries—knowing the language of information systems, accounting, business management, and environmental management. Hence, it is a very valuable skill for environmental managers to develop in order to build their function and their own careers. Some environmental and information systems professionals are attempting to develop a general set of guidelines for justifying the cost of EMIS—in particular, the useful emerging work of the Environmental Health and Safety Software Development Group. This article relates the experience of an EMIS development effort at Rhone‐Poulenc, Inc.