ERP Project Research Articles

Presentation of the model for readiness assessment of ERP implementation in Iranian small and medium enterprises

In recent years, with the enterprise resource planning ERP systems production for small and medium enterprise SMEs, the demand has increased due to ERP implementation in SMEs. These systems are one of the latest information technologies which can help SMEs to overcome their limitations. However, due to the limited resources in small and medium enterprises, if the implementation project is unsuccessful, the chance of surviving or re-achieving the previous status seems to be unlikely. Therefore, it is necessary to represent a model for assessing the readiness of SMEs which take into consideration the specific characteristics and critical success factors of the enterprises. A model that can identify the weaknesses of enterprises prior to the establishment of ERP system. So, this paper proposes a new framework based on INQA model for assessing the readiness of small and medium enterprises in Iran to perform the ERP project. In this model, organisational readiness is examined in five areas named, management, processes, employees, resources, and particular area for ERP. This strategy can be used to determine the current status of enterprise and identify necessary changes prior to system implementation.

Project Team Right-sizing for the Successful ERP Implementation

ERP becomes one of the important enterprise IT applications which enables the standard business process and integrated database. ERP implementation project is a complex, cumbersome and expensive initiative and change management is regarded as one of the most important factors for the successful ERP implementation. Change management includes stakeholder management, communication, end-user education and training and after go-live operation support. End user education and training is considered as the most resource requiring work stream which proceeds with migration data and system validation. This paper presents an empirical framework for the estimation of the dedicated resources of the project which is based on the resource requirement of user-training and system validation of ERP systems. Two user participation frameworks are defined–two-tier of users and three-tier of users. For each framework, a rule is proposed for calculation FTE of ERP implementation project. Future plans include for the verification of this empirical framework by an investigation of the ERP project case studies and is expected to do further research for the staff sizing and organization operation types to manage change management after ERP deployment.

The Effect of ERP Implementation CSFs on Business Performance: An Empirical Study on Users’ Perception

This study is conducted on 220 employees involved in ERP implementation project in a multinational consumer goods company to investigate the CSFs and their effect on ERP implementation success from users’ point of view. Findings indicate there are differences in which CSFs are perceived important and actually have effect on ERP implementation success. Interestingly, none of the ERP adopting organization environment CSFs had influence on project success. Nevertheless, ‘careful selection of ERP software’, ‘software analysis, testing and troubleshooting’, and ‘vendor support’ explain ERP project outcomes.

Enhancing RCIES Model

Risk identification and prioritization is very essential activity in any successful strategic risk management process. Developing a plan for dealing with such problems reduces the impact of unexpected risks and failures while prioritizing risks draws attention, efforts and resources to the risks with great impact on projects success. The aim of this paper, is to identify the critical risk factors in an ERP project through a case study of a successful implementation of an ERP system in a Sudanese organization and to understand how the organization implemented the appropriate controls to minimize its business risks impact. To achieve this objective, a number of key articles were reviewed and analyzed to understand the different critical risk factors influence ERP implementation. New risk factors and controls influence ERP implementation have been identified. A new model of ERP implementation critical risk factors was developed. Furthermore, the risk factors were classified into categories, probability, impact and proximity, then using a prioritizing tool, the results of this study contributes to risks identification and prioritization by pointing to the less priority and the most critical risk factors.

Evaluating ERP Projects with multi-attribute decision support systems

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate global ERP implementation projects through their project lifecycle. In this process, prevalent critical success factors are transformed into five so called global efficiency factors (GEF's) and applied in a multi-attribute evaluation model. The GEFs represent the elements of the global ERP project design: (1) Business process re-engineering based on ERP system requirements, (2) Legacy systems, (3) System configuration, (4) Alignment with the corporate level and (5) Project Synergy. The evaluation model evaluates each project phase from the perspective of these GEFs. We analyzed five case studies to show the impact of the GEFs on each project outcome.

Value Additive Activities in ERP Projects: A Consultant's View

Resource Planning system in present days has become mandatory Enterprise solution software mostly for large and medium scale industries. There are involvement of Project managers, Business users, super users, top management from the business, vendors and many other stake holders. As the enterprise system is a complex one to implement, each and every stakeholder are equally important in the project. A consultant from functional and technical side of ERP product has a bigger role to play in any of such projects. It is imperative that a consultant plays a major role in the ERP project in order to make the project a real success to the business. Consultants are like a catalyst in the project that plays the most important role to smoothen the work flow of a project in order to complete it successfully; however, at the end of the project they remain unchanged or unmoved, although they become richer in knowledge and experience. This study explores the role of consultants in ERP project life cycle and its importance. KeywordsEnterprise Systems, Consultant, SME, LE, Value.

A dynamic ERP critical failure factors modelling with FCM throughout project lifecycle phases

Implementation of enterprise resource planning systems (ERPs) is a complex and costly task which usually results in serious failures. Numerous factors affect these projects implementation due to their size, complexity and high chance of failure. Therefore, identifying these factors in ERP projects is a critical issue. The majority of previous publications have been conducted in identifying ERP critical success factors (CSFs) rather than critical failure factors (CFFs). In order to help practitioners, this article studies the CFFs in ERP implementation projects. The implications of interdependency among failure factors are also usually overlooked by project managers due to perceived complexity in modelling and analysing influential factors. With this in mind, we have proposed a fuzzy cognitive map (FCM)-based dynamic model of ERP failure factors through project lifecycle phases. The main advantage of FCM lies in them being capable of modelling complex phenomena based on the experts’ perceptions. This tool models uncertainty and related events, imitating human reasoning. Moreover, FCMs enable the developing of forecasting exercises through simulations. Practitioners would thus assess the joint influence of ERP implementation failure factors on project outcomes. The results make known to practitioners which problems will arise if the failure factors are not treated, and how these will impact on the outcomes of projects. Therefore, the proposed approach would help them to manage ERP implementation projects in a more effective and proactive way.

Balancing the costs of human resources on an ERP project

ERP projects cannot be completed without external consulting support due to insufficient expertise of internal resources. The need for external consulting during project execution could be reduced if the capabilities of internal resources are improved through team training that is provided before the commencement of a project. Previous studies demonstrate that the most cost-effective approach to ERP implementation is to balance formal initial team training with external consulting support. This paper expands previous research by adding a decision model that allows a manager to: (1) assess the impact of a training strategy on the accumulative weekly cash outflows, (2) forecast the performance and track the progress of an ERP implementation, and (3) calculate the amount and experience level of the consulting support required to reduce the duration of a project. Feedback from practitioners suggests that this type of tool would be welcomed by the project management community.

EAZY Business Solutions

EAZY Business Solutions was incorporated in 2007, under the aegis of the Singhal Group, one of NCR's most reputed compa - nies in Financial Services and Real Estate Solutions. The Singhal Group has been at the forefront of creating brands such as Krish in Real Estate, and offers a wide range of financial consulting ser - vices in Personal, Industrial, Business and Institutional segments. Today, with a team of dynamic and experienced professionals at its helm, EAZY Business Solutions has become one of the fastest growing ERP Product, Project Development and IT consulting companies. It has a veritable Pan-India presence, allowing great reach and accessibility to companies across the nation.

Increasing ERP Implementation Success Ratio by Focusing on Data Quality & User Participation

ERP systems projects have been spread widely across many organizations in general and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular. Regrettably, failures were the results for most of the ERP implementations. As a result of that, critical failure and success factors (CFFs & CSFs) have been identified with the help of large number of researches. Accordingly, data quality and user participation were categorized as two of the most critical factors that threaten the success of the ERP projects. In order to raise the success percentage of such projects, a data cleansing methodology and some guidelines for user participation have been proposed.

Key Success Factors Analysis in the Context of Enterprise Resourcesplanning Systems Projects Implementation

The authors of the paper have systematized key factors, which influence ERP projects implementation success at the different stages of its life cycle. The authors develop the dynamic model of stage-by-stage diagnostic readiness assessment of company potential regarding ERP project. Fours authors’ hypotheses were suggested and tested in the context of the offered model. The paper identifies and systematizes key factors influencing the success of Enterprise Resources Planning System project implementation (ERP systems). The paper reveals stage-by-stage diagnostic potential assessment of a company regarding project implementation, which can be used by company heads, practical persons and scholars for the purpose of the identification of soft critical factors of ERP projects success, wrong treatment of which can lead to their transformation into risk factors, which endanger project successful completion.

ERPs: Beyond and Above 'Moderately Successful' Pro-Active Progressive Value Realisation

The success of ERPs installations (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a strongly debated subject. The average outcome of ERP projects seems to be “moderately successful”. This leaves room for improvement. The question is: how do the companies organise the improvement and evolution of their ERP in the most efficient manner?For most organisations, another big installation project is out of question and the ticket-based approach is designed to deliver repairs, not improvements. Combining a review of articles published on the subject and practical lessons learned on numerous projects, the author proposes a third, novel, way: The pro-Active progressive value realisation (P2VR). P2VR solution design relies on a mix of training, IT system, business process and organizational changes. It leverages the system understanding of business people to identify optimal trade-offs as well as opportunities. It takes advantage from the fact that ERP can be modified with literally a few clicks. P2VR explicitly trades time for money, using a small team of experts and decision makers.P2VR projects follow a “climbing route” to deliver, from the onset, a permanent, structured, stream of improvements. The steady flow of good news enhances the standing of the IT function within the company.The specific advantages of the P2VR can be seen on both the input and output side. It lowers external costs as well as optimizes use of internal resources. It creates a constant stream of benefits that improves the ROI and enhances the reputation of the IT department.

Examining the Role of Organizational Readiness in Erp Project Delivery

Research studies have shown that organisational readiness (OGRD) is a significant antecedent to the adoption and post-implementation success of enterprise resource planning (ERP). However, whether OGRD is associated with factors critical to achieving the implementation of ERP has not been examined. We report an empirical study that examines whether OGRD is associated with four critical success factors (CSFs) known to be critical in helping to achieve effective implementation of ERP projects. These CSFs are project management, business process re-engineering, training and education and system integration. A conceptual model derived from the literature was tested on data collected from 217 organisations using structural equation modelling. The results show that OGRD is significantly and positively associated with all four CSFs. Theoretically, our findings extend knowledge of the relationships among factors considered antecedent to different stages of ERP projects. Managerially, this knowledge can help in better planning, management and control of ERP projects.

Can Organizational Structure Influence ERP Success?

Implementing enterprise resource planning systems is a sophisticated, lengthy and costly process which tends to face serious failure. Though many contributing factors have been cited in the literature, the authors argue that the integrated nature of ERP systems, which generally requires an organization to adopt standardized business processes reflected in the software, is one of the key factors contributing to these failures. The integration and standardization imposed by most ERP systems may not be suitable for all types of organizational structures and it seems that some characteristics in organizational structures affect the likelihood of implementation success or failure. Based on the theory of organizational structure, this paper analyzes how the traditional variables which define a firm's organizational structure such as formalization, complexity, and centralization along with two variables of size and CIO position in an organization influence ERP projects success. The paper tests five hypotheses using a sample of 203 Iranian cases. The results show that all of the research variables on organizational structure exert a positive influence on ERP success which confirms all the research hypotheses.

An Empirical Study on the Effect of Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) on Organizational Performance

ERP is a new generation of software which provides internal and external agencies real-time access to the systems data. But, ERP projects always contain a high level of risk and uncertainty. The purchase of ERP software is a high-expenditure activity that consumes a significant portion of the capital budget. A wrong ERP project selection would either fail the project or weaken the system to an adverse impact on the company's performance. This paper focuses on effect of ERP on organizational performance. Balance Score Card (BSC) model is used as a basis for measuring different parameters of organizational performance. Results showed that ERP significantly affects the over-all organizational performance.

ERP Institutionalisation- A Quantitative Data Analysis Using The Integrative Framework of IS Theories

There is a wide agreement that IT projects have disappointing success rates and often generate less value than originally promised. In the context of ERP systems, the same statistical reports exist which demonstrate an overwhelming number of failures in ERP implementations. A thorough review of IS literature, however, leads us to believe that organisations that broadly deploy and routinise IT (in particular, ERPs) into their day-to-day work procedures realise the greatest productivity benefit and business values, and in return perceive to be more successful. The stage wherein ERP is fully assimilated, widely accepted and routinised is also referred to as institutionalised ERP in the extant IS literature of institutional theory. As a result, the authors of this paper believe that studying the influence of various social, environmental, technological and organisational factors on ERP institutionalisation has significant potential in improving the chance of successful ERP projects. In doing so, this paper introduces an integrative framework of IS theories based on an in-depth review of IS literature. The survey instrument is developed to gather data on possible impacts of factors derived from each theory on ERP institutionalisation. The gathered data is then analysed using quantitative data analysis methods to shape the final hypothetical inferences. Finally, based on the data analysis results, this paper proposed valuable suggestions to business and IT managers to improve the chance of ERP success in their organisations.

An Extended Framework for ERP Post-Implementation Success Assessment

Implementing enterprise resource planning systems is a sophisticated, lengthy and costly process which tends to face serious failure. Thus, it is essential to perform the success assessment at the post-implementation stage of an ERP project to evaluate how much the system has succeeded in achieving its predetermined objectives. This paper proposes a practical and extended framework for assessing a firm's ERP post-implementation success. The factors contributing to the post-implementation success assessment have been adapted from the original model of Ifinedo et al. (2010) encompasses service quality, system quality, information quality, individual impact, workgroup impact, and organizational impact surrogates. Also, a new surrogate of inter-organizational impact proposed in this research. Using this model, the firm's ERP system success can be determined and the required improvement projects can be proposed to promote the success level. The proposed model is then applied to a real international company in the field of manufacturing and supplying turbines to measure the firm's ERP post-implementation success. Finally, the results of the assessment are discussed.

The Communication Management Research in the Process of ERP Implementation

Communication is a major content of human social life and basic way of communication is the key factor in successful project management. In this paper, combined with the feature of ERP project implementation to study how to interact with customers. Articles about the basic concept of communication first, then further explains the implementation of ERP in the process of how to interact with the customer. Through the understanding of the definition of project communication management, project communication management techniques and methods are analyzed in detail, expounds the importance of project communication. Hope can increase awareness of the project communication.

Pharmaceutical Companies SaaS Cloud Services Management Platform Based Design and Application

Summery: The pharmaceutical enterprise SaaS is based on the cloud services, the management platform follows the newest GMP criterion and ERP project matchmaking of modern enterprise. In carrying through it, high efficiency, low costs, simplified management, easy maintain, all these achieve idea of platform SaaS. The scope of implementation is based on the related pharmaceutical enterprise in Jilin province.

The Critical Success Factors Of The ERP System Project: A Meta-Analysis Methodology

Many articles have been written on enterprise resource planning success in the last two decades in both the public and private sector. An important number of empirical studies attempt to delineate the steps of ERP project integration and their specificities. These research works can be divided into two principal phases: the implementation and the post-implementation. The complex nature of the ERP system and its implementation stages lead us to investigate about the critical success factors mentioned in both phases of integration. Recently, several studies have tried to assess the success of ERP system and highlight the CSFs based on some theoretical models. This study uses a meta-analysis methodology to highlight the principal factors leading to ERP success, and it evaluates the weight of CSFs in the process of implementing the ERP project. Based on the best studies published in the last years about ERP success, we conduct this research to determine the most important factors highly correlated with the ERP success. Eleven CSFs are identified in our meta-analysis and classified according to their significant importance based on the correlation coefficients finding in 32 articles focus only on the ERP system. Some criteria were selected to choose studies such as: Sample size, the availability of correlation coefficient finding (quantitative empirical data), the availability of reliable constructs (Cronbachs alpha), and the measurement scale of each factor.