Development and Evaluation of a Customer-Centered ERP Implementation Method

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are widely implemented in companies’ operation management and there are already a number of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) ERP products on the market. However, companies often have difficulty in identifying the requirements for selecting an ERP system, and also in specifying their objectives in an ERP implementation project. Despite the available information on ERP implementations, companies need a how-to method to support them in gathering and analyzing their ERP requirements. This qualitative empirical research deals with the development of a Customer-Centered ERP Implementation (C-CEI) method for the analysis of ERP system requirements. The development is conducted using an action research approach. The C-CEI method utilizes the principles and process of User-Centered Design (UCD) that aims at involving end users in the early stages of the product development. The results of this research are divided into four parts: (1) the C-CEI method itself, (2) the lessons learned from four companies that participated in the development of the C-CEI method, (3) content analysis of C-CEI documents produced in the companies, and (4) interviews of the companies’ personnel who had participated in the development of the C-CEI method. This research guides practitioners in how the ERP implementation can be approached employing a pre-defined method, and how the shared understanding of the ERP project objectives and activities are achieved within the organization. For academics, this study directs the research interest towards developing scientifically-based ERP implementation methodologies to complement those currently provided by ERP vendors and consultants

Risks in ERP Project – Case Study of IS/ICT Management Capability Maturity Level and Risk Assessment

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects are considered to be expensive, time-consuming, difficult to manage, and extremely risky. ERP projects are risky from the strategic, operational, technical and organisational perspectives. The risks and critical success factors of ERP projects have been widely studied, and the management of risks is crucial to a successful ERP project. Generic risk analyses have faced inflation, and in the worst case companies do not manage risks in their ERP projects at all. This paper presents the early stage assessment of ERP project risks in three firms’ ERP projects. The focus is on company-specific risk identification. Companies of this study have limited maturity in IS/ICT management capabilities. Understanding of capability maturity level is useful to efficient risk management in an ERP project. In this paper we compare the company-specific risks to common risk list found in the literature. Qualitative case study of three firms provides empirical evidence of uncovered ERP risks if only common risk list is used. As a result we claim that in addition to generic project management risks there is also a need to assess company-specific-risks. In fact, company-specific risks are usually critical to company’s ERP project success

Applying User-Centred Design in ERP Implementation Requirements Analysis

Companies adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in order to streamline their business processes and to integrate their information systems. ERP implementations have reported failures e.g. because of a lack of integration into existing legacy systems or insufficient training and support for the business processes. User-Centred Design (UCD) aims at improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of the system to be designed. In a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) -type ERP system implementation, the user requirements are not used for designing an ERP system. Instead, the existing functionality of an ERP system is matched with the user requirements. Either the organisation adapts to the ERP system functionality or the ERP system is modified according to organisational requirements. UCD has been utilised in ERP system feature development, but it has not been systematically applied in COTS-type ERP system implementation. This dissertation provides a model of how UCD can be applied in the ERP implementation process. The focus is on how UCD can be applied in ERP implementation requirements analysis, with the aim to improve the success of ERP implementation. In this research, a Customer-Centred ERP Implementation (C-CEI) method has been developed adapting action research approach. The C-CEI method attempts to develop an ERP implementation into a more holistic and multidisciplinary process by its three analyses: operational, contextual, and risk analysis. Operational analysis produces the requirements for an ERP system, and risk analysis considers the company-specific risks of an ERP implementation. The novelty of the C-CEI method is the adoption of UCD principles. For example C-CEI promotes user involvement in various levels of the company, as opposed to those analyses that focus on the management level. Furthermore, CCEI requires a multidisciplinary design team, iteration of design results, i.e. requirements, and allocation of users and an ERP system s function. The second novelty of the C-CEI method is the contextual analysis that applies a UCD method called Contextual Design in analysing the context of use. The results of this analysis reveal the need for changes in the organisation and its workers processes. In addition, the method is vendor-independent and thus focuses on customer needs without the limitations of a specific COTS product. The C-CEI method has been developed in cooperation with four companies. Even though not all the companies involved have yet selected an ERP system, the effect of the development of the C-CEI method has been studied from various perspectives. Content analysis of the documents produced during the development process reveals that the C-CEI method supports the identification and prioritisation of a company s requirements for the system, requirements for organisational change, and requirements for risk management during the implementation of ERP. Interviews with staff members from the participating companies highlight the benefits and challenges of the C-CEI method from the organisational perspective. The study of how C-CEI had affected the ERP implementation critical success factors in an organisation provided promising results. Overall, the positive responses (38) exceeded the negative ones (4) by far. In particular, C-CEI was commented on as having positive effects on top management support for the implementation of ERP and on the careful selection of an ERP system. Furthermore, interviews with ERP system vendors revealed that the results of C-CEI were supportive for their role in preparing the proposal for the customer. In summary, the results show that UCD has the potential to be included as a part of the ERP implementation process in order to support the achievement of ERP implementation objectives. This research has opened a new dialogue between UCD and ERP research communities

Applying User-Centred Design in ERP Implementation Requirements Analysis

Companies adopt Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in order to streamline their business processes and to integrate their information systems. ERP implementations have reported failures e.g. because of a lack of integration into existing legacy systems or insufficient training and support for the business processes. User-Centred Design (UCD) aims at improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction of the system to be designed. In a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) -type ERP system implementation, the user requirements are not used for designing an ERP system. Instead, the existing functionality of an ERP system is matched with the user requirements. Either the organisation adapts to the ERP system functionality or the ERP system is modified according to organisational requirements. UCD has been utilised in ERP system feature development, but it has not been systematically applied in COTS-type ERP system implementation. This dissertation provides a model of how UCD can be applied in the ERP implementation process. The focus is on how UCD can be applied in ERP implementation requirements analysis, with the aim to improve the success of ERP implementation. In this research, a Customer-Centred ERP Implementation (C-CEI) method has been developed adapting action research approach. The C-CEI method attempts to develop an ERP implementation into a more holistic and multidisciplinary process by its three analyses: operational, contextual, and risk analysis. Operational analysis produces the requirements for an ERP system, and risk analysis considers the company-specific risks of an ERP implementation. The novelty of the C-CEI method is the adoption of UCD principles. For example C-CEI promotes user involvement in various levels of the company, as opposed to those analyses that focus on the management level. Furthermore, CCEI requires a multidisciplinary design team, iteration of design results, i.e. requirements, and allocation of users and an ERP system s function. The second novelty of the C-CEI method is the contextual analysis that applies a UCD method called Contextual Design in analysing the context of use. The results of this analysis reveal the need for changes in the organisation and its workers processes. In addition, the method is vendor-independent and thus focuses on customer needs without the limitations of a specific COTS product. The C-CEI method has been developed in cooperation with four companies. Even though not all the companies involved have yet selected an ERP system, the effect of the development of the C-CEI method has been studied from various perspectives. Content analysis of the documents produced during the development process reveals that the C-CEI method supports the identification and prioritisation of a company s requirements for the system, requirements for organisational change, and requirements for risk management during the implementation of ERP. Interviews with staff members from the participating companies highlight the benefits and challenges of the C-CEI method from the organisational perspective. The study of how C-CEI had affected the ERP implementation critical success factors in an organisation provided promising results. Overall, the positive responses (38) exceeded the negative ones (4) by far. In particular, C-CEI was commented on as having positive effects on top management support for the implementation of ERP and on the careful selection of an ERP system. Furthermore, interviews with ERP system vendors revealed that the results of C-CEI were supportive for their role in preparing the proposal for the customer. In summary, the results show that UCD has the potential to be included as a part of the ERP implementation process in order to support the achievement of ERP implementation objectives. This research has opened a new dialogue between UCD and ERP research communities