Complexity impact factors on the integration process of ERP and non ERP systems: a basis for an evaluation instrument

This study shows an expert confirmed initial list of factors which influence the complexity of the integration process of ERP systems and non ERP systems. After a thorough search for complexity factors in scientific literature, a survey amongst 8 experts in a leading European long special steel products company, which was recently composed out of independent international companies, was conducted. The participants confirmed the retrieved list from literature, consisting of 5 quantitative and 21 qualitative factors. The participants added one extra qualitative factor and scored the importance of all factors. Three quantitative factors, i.e. a technology, a business and a project factor, scored highest. When dealing with integration issues, this initial list of factors can provide awareness for organizations to support activities such as planning, control and risk management

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history

Coupling Performance Measurement and Collective Activity: The Semiotic Function of Management Systems. A Case Study

Theories about management instruments often enter dualistic debates between structure and agency: do instruments determine the forms of collective activity (CA), or do actors shape instruments to their requirements, or are instruments and concrete activity decoupled, as some trends of new institutionalist theory assume? Attempts to overcome the dualistic opposition between structure and activity stem from diverse sources: actors’ networks theory, structuration theory, pragmatism, theory of activity, semiotics. Performance measurement and management systems can be defined as structural instruments engaged in CA. As such they constrain the activity, but they do not determine it. Reciprocally, they are modified by the way CA uses them and makes sense of them. The central thesis of this paper will be that it is impossible to study the role of performance measurement as a common language in organizations independently from the design of the CA in which it is engaged. There is a not deterministic coupling between structure (i.e. management technical tools) and CA (i.e. business processes). The transformation of CA entails a transformation in the meaning of the “performance” concept, in the type of measurement required and in the performance management practices. The relationship between performance measurement and CA is studied here in the production division of a large electricity utility in France. The research extended over several years and took place when two new management systems were simultaneously implemented: a new management accounting system and an integrated management information system (ERP), both in the purchasing process. The new management accounting system was designed by the purchasing department; the new management information system was designed by the operational departments. Whereas the coherence between both projects could have been given by their common subordination to the rebuilding of CA (the purchasing process), their disconnection from concrete CA opened the possibility of serious dissonances between them. Both the new performance management system and the new ERP met difficulties to provide common languages, since the dimension of CA was taken for granted and consequently partly ignored in the engineering of both systems. When CA incurs radical transformations, actors’direct discursive exchanges about it, “collective activity about collective activity”, become necessary to ensure a flexible and not deterministic coupling between CA and new management systems. This reflexive and collective analysis of the process by actors themselves requires the establishment of “communities of process”, which can jointly redesign the CA and its performance measurement system. We conclude that performance measurement can be a common language as far as there is a clear and shared understanding of how CA should concretely take place and should be assigned to the different categories of actors.Business Process; Collective Activity; Community of Process; Management Instruments; Performance Measurement; Semiotics; Theory of Activity

Examining ERP Committee Beliefs: A Comparison of Alternative Models

Various models have been proposed to explain information technology (IT) adoption behavior. However, these models are based primarily on logical deliberation. In reality, it is impossible to obtain perfect information for a rational evaluation of new or emerging IT. In this situation, sometimes the “best alternative” is imitation. We believe that two opposing forces influence the beliefs of enterprise resource planning (ERP) committee members: rational and imitative. We propose here an integrated model and examine it together with diffusion of innovation (DOI) and imitation models. The study findings indicate that our integrated model has better explanatory power. In addition, imitative forces are shown to have a consistent direct effect and significant indirect effect on beliefs. Hence, imitative forces play a crucial role in the decision-making process, which opens up a new avenue for research into technology adoption

Understanding the determinants of evaluation, adoption and routinisation of ERP technology (Enterprise Resource Planning) in the context of agricultural farms

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor in Information Management, specialization in Information and Decision SystemsThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate the determinants of the adoption of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) technology in agricultural farms in Brazil. The data were collected in 502 personal interviews with farmers of soy, corn, cotton, coffee, beans, wheat, peanuts, fruits, sugarcane and cattle raising, The data gathering instrument used for the quantitative research was built based on the result of the qualitative study in combination with three theories: Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI), Technology-Organization-Environment Framework (TOE), and Interorganizational Relations (IORs). Structural Equations (SEM) methodology was used to analyze the data and hypothesis. The results indicate the significant drivers for Evaluation, Adoption, and Routinisation. Also, we analyzed the ERP impact on farm performance based on resource-based view (RBV). We hope this work can bring a theoretical and practical contribution for the agribusiness field and also increase debates about the platforms on cloud computer based on ERP, Enterprise 2,0 and Industry 4.0. The results this thesis provide information to agribusiness owners, managers and administrators to promote and incentivize the use of ERP

ERP projects : an examination of the factors influencing additional unplanned effort in the project life-cycle

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 125-143).For over a decade, ERP systems have been the target of significant amounts of investment in organisations. Some have reaped the benefits anticipated while others struggle to achieve the required level of success. In fact, based on available statistics, numerous organisations have faced problems in keeping their allocated budget and time schedules on track often facing the threat of failure, escalation or significant redirection in their projects. As a result, organisations are seen to spend what can be termed as additional unplanned effort (AUE) in order to try and achieve a certain level of success given budget and time constraints. Using the concept called AUE, derived from topics such as ERP project success and failure, the ERP life-cycle framework and critical success factors (CSFs) relevant to the life-cycle phases, this study attempted to investigate the factors that influence AUE in the phases ofthe ERP life-cycle which in this study consist of the pre-implementation and implementation phases specifically. A sub-objective was also to investigate the possible influence that the presence of factors, responsible for escalation of commitment (EoC) in IT projects, have on AUE in ERP projects. Based on a qualitative mUltiple case-study of 5 ERP projects at different organisations, results showed that there are several factors that influence AUE in satisfying CSFs in each phase of the life-cycle. Particularly, in the pre-implementation phase, factors such as the justification for ERP adoption, the formalisation of an ERP vision, the finalisation of an ERP package choice, the stability of organisational structure, the organisation and flow of the acquisition process, the nature of market conditions and the type of internal and external partnership were found important in influencing AUE in that phase. In the implementation phase factors such as the formalisation of an implementation strategy, the management of organisational momentum and resistance to change, the maintenance of external partnership relationships, conditions external to the organisation, the nature of the organisation and the management of project factors were found important

Using the partial least squares (PLS) method to establish critical success factor interdependence in ERP implementation projects

This technical research report proposes the usage of a statistical approach named Partial Least squares (PLS) to define the relationships between critical success factors for ERP implementation projects. In previous research work, we developed a unified model of critical success factors for ERP implementation projects. Some researchers have evidenced the relationships between these critical success factors, however no one has defined in a formal way these relationships. PLS is one of the techniques of structural equation modeling approach. Therefore, in this report is presented an overview of this approach. We provide an example of PLS method modelling application; in this case we use two critical success factors. However, our project will be extended to all the critical success factors of our unified model. To compute the data, we are going to use PLS-graph developed by Wynne Chin.Postprint (published version

Investigating Successful Enterprise Resource Planning Implementation in Higher Education Institutions

This thesis investigates the successful implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). ERP is a business management system that has emerged to support organisations with a system of integrated applications to enhance their Information Technology (IT) infrastructures, enhance business processes and deliver a high quality of services. Research indicates limited success for implementing numerous ERP ventures and failure rates estimated between 60% and 90%. The failure of ERP implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide is much higher in comparison to other sectors, such as banking or manufacturing, yet limited research has been conducted on this issue. There is a lack of sufficient knowledge, expertise and training to implement such sophisticated integrated systems and top management lacks the ability to take appropriate decisions for ERP implementation. However, merely focusing on several factors influencing ERP implementation may not suffice, as there is a need for a systematic decision-making process for adopting and implementing ERP systems in HEIs. The limited number of ERP applications being used in HEIs has resulted in inadequate research and many issues which require further exploration. Despite this, all the implications for successful implementation of ERP systems have yet to be assessed in HEIs, making it a relevant area for study and creating a need for a unique piece of research work. Thus, the researcher demonstrates that it is of high importance to investigate this area and contribute towards successful ERP implementations. The present study adopted an interpretivist research philosophy and the approach was inductive in nature. To collect the data from the selected case studies, a semi structured interview protocol was designed in accordance with the research objectives which was aimed at getting the views and opinions of both the higher management personnel as well as technical level staff from the selected sample of universities. The study was focused on the implementation of ERP systems for higher education institutions in Jordan. Jordan has the highest demand for higher education in the region and the number of enrolments is growing annually. The demand for ERP systems in Jordan is rising owing to the rapid growth of the Internet and mobile users and the increase in the literacy rate. The content analysis technique was used supported by NVivi11 software to process the data gathered from the sample. The key success factors identified from the participants were split into technical, organizational, project and project support categories. This research made several contributions to knowledge. These included 1) the identification and characterisation of three new sector and context-specific KSFs, namely: the selection of the right ERP system; the need for qualified IT staff for in-house maintenance and fair vendor relations. 2) The development of a framework for enhancing ERP implementation. 3) Evaluation measures of ERP performance from an organisational, technical, project, and project support system perspective. 4) Development of a synthesized model that contains mapped and prioritised KSFs on the ERP implementation lifecycle based on their importance for successful implementation. In addition to these reflected theoretical contributions, this research also highlights the implications on the practices of higher education institutes, particularly for, but not limited to, Jordanian HEIs. The research findings provide an insight into the KSFs that are important for the successful implementation of ERP systems, identifying two new implementation lifecycle stages, the influential factors being mapped across the lifecycle phases providing a more detailed and in-depth understanding of what is required

Factors influencing ERP projects success in the vendor selection process

Successful implementation of an ERP system is the result of knowledgeable and dedicated people working together. It entails company-wide commitment, openness to change, good planning and experienced guidance. These primary criteria determine the probability of gaining significant return on investment (ROI) from an ERP system. Using these criteria as guidelines during the system selection process and subsequent implementation can ensure that the chosen system will support and enable the business improvements envisioned. Among the numerous critical success factors (CSFs) in the implementation of ERP systems, identified and demonstrated by practitioners and academic researchers in the last few years, we will synthesize and analyze the vendor selection issues, in connection to the implementation aspects, as we consider implementation the essential “ingredient” of the ERP success.ERP implementation, ERP vendor selection process, critical success factors, ROI, ERP success

Critical Success Factors ofService Orientation inInformation Systems Engineering: Derivation and Empirical Evaluation ofaCausal Model

Service orientation has been a major buzz-word in recent years. While the buzz is on a decline, organizations are slowly, but steadily moving towards service oriented designs. However, service orientation turns out to be as much of a managerial challenge as of a technical one. The most important complexity drivers in the service oriented design of information systems seem to be (a) inconsistent design goals of stakeholders and (b) the pursuit of exhaustive service orientation coverage. This research focuses on the following two questions: (1)What are the characteristics of successful implementations of service oriented information systems, and (2)what are the critical success factors influencing, driving and/or, determining these characteristics? Data of an empirical analysis is used to test a set of cause-effect relationship hypotheses based on nine latent variables. In the core of this model we differentiate the variables "overall service orientation infrastructure success” and "service orientation project success”. The hypothesized interrelationships between the nine variables lead to a causal model which is proven to hol