Quantifying What Research Has Taught Us about ERP Projects: A Proposed Research Design

Abstract

The worst kept secret in Information Systems (IS) might be that Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems possess enormous potential for mismanagement, unfulfilled expectations, and outright failure. While some organizations manage to report on-time schedules, intact budgets, and systems capable of providing measurable value to the organization, those that fall woefully short are much more prevalent. The objective of this research project is to focus on organizational reliability. Specifically, this paper will outline a proposed research design that will lead to the capability to quantify the impact of organizational factors on ERP projects. Those factors will be categorized in five broad categories: risk factors, expectations, resources, organizational competence, and consequences. It is hoped that the benefit of this research for practitioners will be the ability to assess organizational readiness for undertaking an ERP project, identify areas of weakness, and predict with a degree of confidence the outcome of the project in terms of common project metrics (i.e., budget, schedule, system capability, etc.). This would enable ERP project managers to understand project vulnerability better and strengthen areas of weakness before the project begins.