The influence of organisational support, transactive memory system and information technology competencies for facilitating knowledge transfer in enterprise resource planning success

The successes of the ERP system in an organisation depend on knowledge transfer activities made and the effectiveness of the transferred knowledge between the parties involved. It is crucial to determine a set of knowledge transfer activities that need to do besides the efforts taken by the organisation in ensuring ERP success. Currently, there is still a lack of standard knowledge transfer measurement and empirical study on the impact of organisational support towards ERP system success, especially from the context of food manufacturing. Previous research has reported various factors impacted the transfer of knowledge in strategic alliances and joint venture. Nonetheless, organisational support is the least factor mentioned, especially studies from Malaysia. For bridging the gap, two theories employed, Knowledge-Based View (KBV) theory and Organisational Learning Theory (OLT) as the fundamental theories to observe the phenomenon and further incorporate with measurement theories. The main purpose of this study is to empirically validate the KT model with three main factors that influenced the ERP success, specifically for food manufacturing in Malaysia. The study developed a Knowledge Transfer (KT) validated measurement scale based on rigorous steps to increase the reliability and validity values. A total of 56 respondents have responded to the survey from 65 companies that yield 86 per cent response rate. The respondents were selected from the executive level and above from large food manufacturing in Malaysia. Five hypotheses were accepted. The study highlighted that IT Infrastructure (0.304) is found as the most influential factors while Communication (-0.093) and Retrieval (-0.110) factors were insignificant factors that affect KT activities towards ERP success. From the results, it concluded that organisation with better infrastructure leads to increasing rates of ERP success. The proposed infrastructure is any customised system application that helps organisations stay successful in their business. However, the inability to deliver a clear message in the organisation through communication and lack of retrieval practices in Transactive Memory System (TMS) has affected the overall ERP success level whereby the current level is moderate. Therefore, based on the result, it is clear that having the correct system is very helpful in achieving ERP success in an organisation

The ERP post-implementation stage: a knowledge transfer challenge

This paper examines the knowledge transfer process in ERP post-implementation projects, and specifically between the ERP project teams and the IT support team. Case studies were conducted in three large organizations and data was collected via semi-structured interviews. Descriptive and graphical representations were used to analyze knowledge transfer processes for each case and a cross-case analysis was performed. Results from this exploratory study shed light on the relation between the ERP evolution structure and the use of knowledge transfer mechanisms based on different types of knowledge (functional and technical). This paper highlights the necessity of relying on both formal and informal knowledge transfer mechanisms to cover recurring and ad hoc exchanges between the different stakeholders responsible for the evolution of an ERP. The paper also highlights the impact of the ERP integrator and its different inclusion strategies that are critical for the knowledge being shared by the ERP project stakeholders

Cloud ConsultingCrowdsourcing-Based Framework for ERP Consulting

Information Technology (IT) altered the way of running businesses in all fields. The installation and integration of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a critical process. With the emergence of Web 2.0, many businesses were created or reengineered to gain an advantage from this technology. This offers an enormous network of users with different interests and skills, and support knowledge transfer. Our expectation is that ERP consulting business will be the next to be changed. In this work, a cloud consulting framework will be provided to enhance the services offered based on crowdsourcing. After examining literature on crowdsourcing and ERP consulting, the following research question was stated: “How can cloud consulting employ crowdsourcing to improve ERP consultancy?” Thus, the research objective is to develop a cloud consulting framework for ERP consulting based on crowdsourcing

Consultant supported ERP implementation – a learning opportunity?

Management consultants are often described as accumulators, generators and disseminators of knowledge in the business world. Little research has however been devoted to the extent to which and the processes by which organizations hiring management consultants learn. This issue is addressed in the current paper based on a study of a consultant-supported ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation project. It is concluded, that projects in which consultants and employees of the hiring organization interact extensively provide large opportunities for individual learning. This learning is facilitated by the braking down of organizational boundaries in the improvement project, enabling open and intense interaction. Tensions were however observed between the improvement project and employees in day-to-day operations. The collaboration in this interface was more strained and thus impeded learning and knowledge creation within the day-to-day business. These barriers between the improvement project and the daily operations were created by the same forces that created the open atmosphere between consultants and client personnel in the project.Management Consulting; Learning; Knowledge transfer; ERP implementation

The Design and Implementation of a bespoke Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) for an acoustical engineering company

This paper will describe the tasks completed so far as part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership between the University of Hertfordshire and Acoustical Control Engineers (ACE) a ‘small and medium sized enterprise’ (SME) based in Cambridgeshire, UK. ACE’s 25 personnel design, manufacture and install noise and vibration control systems to solve a wide range of acoustic problems. The projects undertaken include acoustic enclosures for supermarket refrigeration plant and for generators used in many situations, together with other more diverse applications such as controlling noise in the workplace and even on a luxury boat. Before the current KTP project the company used some partially computerised systems consisting of spreadsheets to perform acoustic analyses, pricing and project management functions supplemented with a paper based system to ‘fill the gaps’. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems provide an integrated database for all parts of the organisation allowing decisions to be based on a complete understanding of the organisation’s information, avoiding the problems due to duplication of data and ensuring that the consequences of decisions in one part of the organisation are reflected in the planning and control systems of the rest of the organisation. ERP systems became popular from the 1990’s mainly in relatively large organisations due to the complexity and cost of these systems. This project is unusual in that rather than adapting an off-the-shelf ERP solution to ACE’s very specific and specialised requirements we are taking an ERP development approach in an SME whose legacy systems are made up of spreadsheet and paper based systems. For the software development an Agile approach has been used. Agile involves software development methods based on iterative and incremental development. The initial attempt was to start developing the ERP from an Open Source ERP Source Code; however this effort was futile as a result of the bespoke nature of ACE’s business and product lines. Mapping ACE’s data model to the database which any existing ERP system could be adapted to, proved to be a very difficult problem. Therefore, developing the ERP from first principles was inevitable. Several of the ERP modules have been developed, user training has taken place and the core modules have been signed off. The project is due to complete in September 2014 and by this time we will have further information on how the ERP system has increased the competitiveness of the company, as well as experience of introducing an ERP into an SME. However, as would be expected the work undertaken developing the system so far has had several significant effects on ACE and acted as a catalyst for change in various parts of ACE’s business.Non peer reviewe

KTP Case Study 3 - Dowty Propellers

The Knowledge Transfer Partnership collaboration between aerospace company Dowty Propellers and the University of Gloucestershire provided the company with the opportunity to implement a new integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system based on new database technology. It also supported and promoted the re-modelling of core business processes across the Dowty Propellers organisation

Organisational support in knowledge transfer activities towards ERP success scale development and validation

The successes of ERP system in an organization depend on knowledge transfer activities being made and the effectiveness of the transferred knowledge between the parties involved. It is important to determine a set of knowledge transfer activities that need to be done besides efforts undertaken by the organisation in ensuring ERP success. Currently, there is still lacking of standard knowledge transfer measurement and organisational support that impacted ERP system. Previous research has reported various factor impacted the transfer of knowledge in strategic alliances and joint venture. Nonetheless, organisational support is the least factor mentioned especially studies from Malaysia. Addresses this gap, the main purpose of this study is to develop a validated scale of organisational support in supporting knowledge transfer activities towards ERP system success. The study has adapted six stages of scale development and validation of measurement items according to legitimate measures. The measurement scales formed are based on literature review and field studies conducted to increase the reliability and validity values. Organisational support constructs were divided into Top Management Support, Communication and User Training and Education. Total of 16 items have been successfully established for further validation

A Framework proposal for monitoring and evaluating training in ERP implementation project

During the last years some researchers have studied the topic of critical success factors in ERP implementations, out of which 'training' is cited as one of the most ones. Up to this moment, there is not enough research on the management and operationalization of critical success factors within ERP implementation projects.Postprint (published version

Factors impacting knowledge transfer success in information systems outsourcing

Despite increased research interest on knowledge transfer in information systems (IS) outsourcing, the field still lacks sound and holistic understanding of the key factors influencing knowledge transfer success. The present paper attempts to provide a synthesis of existing theoretical perspectives and empirical findings related to the factors that facilitate or hamper knowledge transfer success in IS outsourcing. The data collection method is discussed and the key findings are presented. Conclusion is drawn and further research is suggested

Preliminary Results in a Multi-site Empirical Study on Cross-organizational ERP Size and Effort Estimation

This paper reports on initial findings in an empirical study carried out with representatives of two ERP vendors, six ERP adopting organizations, four ERP implementation consulting companies, and two ERP research and advisory services firms. Our study’s goal was to gain understanding of the state-of-the practice in size and effort estimation of cross-organizational ERP projects. Based on key size and effort estimation challenges identified in a previously published literature survey, we explored some difficulties, fallacies and pitfalls these organizations face. We focused on collecting empirical evidence from the participating ERP market players to assess specific facts about the state-of-the-art ERP size and effort estimation practices. Our study adopted a qualitative research method based on an asynchronous online focus group