Critical Factors for Implementation Success of ERP Systems

Abstract

Research on enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems implementation has drawn much at-tention, in the last decade. Identifying and testing the critical factors that affect implementation success for this type of systems is one of the important streams of research in this field. Based on data gathered from a sample of 70 respondents, actively involved in their companies’ ERP implementation process, this study aims to extend this stream of research with another framework of success factors based on a developing country setting, namely Bahrain. The influences of some selected critical factors were examined on two success dimensions: project success and business metrics success. Results support previous research findings in this area concerning the impact of factors such as project planning, organizational resistance, and ease of use on ERP project success metrics. Also, the study results show that project planning, business process reengineer-ing, and organizational fit have significant influence on business success metrics. However, no significant impact was found for some classical success factors such as top-management support, technical fit, training, competitive pressure, and strategic fit on both project and business success. The article ends with implications for these findings and possible extensions for the study.