Towards a Model for Evaluating Organizational Readiness for ERP and Data Warehousing Projects

The need for an integrated enterprise-wide set of management information pronounced Data Warehousing the ‘hot topic’ of the early-to-mid 1990’s, however, it became unfashionable through the mid-to-late 1990s, with the approach of Y2K and the widespread implementation of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. However, in recent times, the re-emergence of Data Warehousing, coupled with ERP implementations, to address the limitations and unrealised benefits of ERP systems in the area of reporting, provides researchers and managers with new challenges. This paper lays the foundation for a model of organisational prerequisites for enterprise-wide integration projects. The model is aimed at the ‘Intelligence’ phase of managerial decision making for such projects and should help managers assess their organisation’s readiness for ERP and data warehousing projects .The main objective of the paper is to present a literature-based model which lists the key prerequisites that organisations should assess prior to undertaking these expensive projects

Benefit realisation through ERP: the re-emergence of data warehousing

The need for an integrated enterprise-wide set of management information pronounced Data Warehousing the ‘hot topic’ of the early-to-mid 1990’s, however, it became unfashionable through the mid-to-late 1990s, with the approach of Y2K and with it the widespread implementation of ERP systems. However, in recent times, the re-emergence of Data Warehousing, to address the limitations and unrealised benefits of ERP systems implementation, provides researchers with a new challenge in understanding the ‘double learning curve’ for an organisation, undertaking in quick succession both an ERP systems project and a Data Warehousing project, in an attempt to finally achieve the benefits expected but never realised

Decision Making in the ERP Community

This paper, although bibliographical in nature, stresses the importance of researching ERP from the perspective of the ERP community, defined here as a triadic group composed of (1) an ERP vendor, (2) an ERP consultant and (3) an implementing organisation; and focuses on understanding the relationships and inter-dependencies that exist between these actors. In this novel perspective, the second contribution of this paper is to introduce the concept of category manipulation – that is to say non-decision making - to the area of IS in general and more specifically to ERP research. As far as the authors are aware, this paper is the first to examine the ERP decision making process under this light. The researchers\u27 objective is to structure their ideas in an effort to lay the foundations for a model of ERP decision making that can inform both the practice and investigation of ERP implementation

The impact of social constructivism on ERP systems security: A critical social review

Little is understood about the effects of social constructivism that shapes conflicting concerns regarding Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) security and usability during implementation. This work looks at social constructivism as produced and reproduced by stakeholders in the ERP systems implementation phase. Social constructivism is characterised by the embedded trade-off for usability, espoused by end-user and security, espoused by developers. Social constructivism was conceptualised qualitatively from a selected case study. Critical Social Theory (CST) was used as the theoretical lens. Stakeholders concerned with ERP security aspects in the implementation phase were interviewed and data transcribed and interpreted. Hermeneutical interpretation was applied towards understanding social constructivism. Exegesis techniques used include textual criticism and reduction criticism. The contribution of the work is twofold: the work provides insights regarding ERP systems security by attempting to explain how social constructivism shapes outcomes of ERP security; the article also shows how hermeneutics could be applied in the discipline of information systems security. Findings for this case reveal that social constructivism does shape ERP security in insightful ways

Making sense of the Master Data Management (MDM) concept: Old wine in new bottles or new wine in old bottles?

This paper presents an insight into the emerging concept of Master Data Management (MDM) and highlights issues that both academics and business managers should consider to better understand the meaning of this ‘hot topic’. This critical reflection paper is forward looking and attempts to make sense of the MDM concept and highlight the issues associated with implementation. We argue that both the Data Warehousing and ERP concepts are the forerunners to the emergence of MDM. We argue that MDM is effectively Data Warehousing branded with ERP market rhetoric and contains an added repository of ‘master data’. We see MDM as another attempt at data integration due to the failure of previous Data Warehousing, ERP and ERPII/BI initiatives. Finally, we argue that more research should be conducted to fully appreciate the true meaning of the concept of MDM and MDM implementation

Understanding Project Team Composition in Enterprise System Adoption: Preliminary Findings from a Field Study

This study’s goal is to investigate and better understand the issues connected with project teams’ building in enterprise system (ES) implementation. The analysis builds on two-phased research conducted among two groups of enterprises introducing ES into their organizations. The investigated issues include the project team composition, the involvement of a system provider’s representatives, project manager’s characteristics, and the composition of a steering committee. The defined issues were investigated in an exploratory manner during the first phase of the study. Next, in the second phase, this study seeks to discover their impact on the ES adoption success using multiple regression techniques. The main findings suggest the importance of a complete implementation team building and the necessity of keeping a high status of the project by appointing people holding high managerial positions within the company. Finally, recommendations regarding the implementation team composition conclude the paper

Defining value-based objectives for ERP systems planning

The planning and subsequent implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems still present a significant challenge for most organizations. Although consulting firms and customer enterprises have been aquiring more experience and expertise in the field, the level of sophistication of these systems and their wide organizational and social impact frequently leads to failed ERP implementations. In an attempt to minimize these failure rates, this paper defines a set of value-based objectives that could be used to enrich the ERP systems planning process. ERP systems planning objectives grounded by stakeholder values can be used as a conceptual guide for enhancing the decision making processes involved in ERP projects. Using Keeney's value-focused thinking approach, a set of means and fundamental objectives was identified using data collected via in-depth interviews in three large European firms. The relationships and interdependancies among these objectives are also presented and provide a starting point for further research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Updated ERP Systems Annotated Bibliography: 2001-2005

The goal of this study is to provide an updated annotated bibliography of ERP publications published in the main IS conferences and journals during the period 2001-2005, categorizing them through an ERP lifecycle based framework that is structured in phases. The first version of this bibliography was published in 2001 (Esteves and Pastor, 2001c). However, so far, we have extended the bibliography with a significant number of new publications in all the categories used in this paper. We also reviewed the categories and some incongruities were eliminated. Furthermore, we present topics for further research in each phase

Justifying an ERP Investment: Critical Success Factors for Transformation Investments

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects often lead to disappointing outcomes, even downright failures, which is not in keeping with the vast investments they require. It is argued in this paper that a lack of managerial focus on the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for ERP implementation at the outset of their project (however well captured they have been in the literature to date) is the root cause of organisations not achieving the expected outcomes from their Transformation investment. This paper examines the ERP project implementations of four organisations where data and observations were collected over a two year period. From this rich body of empirical evidence, we propose to contribute to our collective understanding of the CSFs for ERP implementation that play a key role in ensuring that investments in ERP packages (Transformation investments) have a greater likelihood of producing desired project outcomes. This research paper also contributes to increasing the perceived usefulness of CSFs to managers and practitioners and illustrates the fact that organisations should undertake self-assessment exercises to improve their preparations for ERP project implementations

An Updated ERP Systems Annotated Bibliography: 2001-2005

This study provides an updated annotated bibliography of ERP publications published in the main IS conferences and journals during the period 2001-2005, categorizing them through an ERP lifecycle-based framework that is structured in phases. The first version of this bibliography was published in 2001 (Esteves and Pastor, 2001c). However, so far, we have extended the bibliography with a significant number of new publications in all the categories used in this paper. We also reviewed the categories and some incongruities were eliminated.ERP