Description
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have emerged as the core of successful information management and the enterprise backbone of organizations. The difficulties of ERP implementations have been widely cited in the literature but research on the critical factors for initial and ongoing ERP implementation success is rare and fragmented
Implementation
of enterprise
systems
285
Business Process Management
Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3, 2001,
pp. 285-296. # MCB University
Press, 1463-7154
Critical factors for successful
implementation of enterprise
systems
Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah and Janet Lee-Shang Lau
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, and
Jinghua Kuang
University of Texas-Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Keywords Systems integration, Implementation, Resource management
Abstract Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have emerged as the core of successful
information management and the enterprise backbone of organizations. The difficulties of ERP
implementations have been widely cited in the literature but research on the critical factors for
initial and ongoing ERP implementation success is rare and fragmented. Through a
comprehensive review of the literature, 11 factors were found to be critical to ERP
implementation success ± ERP teamwork and composition; change management program and
culture; top management support; business plan and vision; business process reengineering with
minimum customization; project management; monitoring and evaluation of performance;
effective communication; software development, testing and troubleshooting; project champion;
appropriate business and IT legacy systems. The classification of these factors into the respective
phases (chartering, project, shakedown, onward and upward) in Markus and Tanis’ ERP life
cycle model is presented and the importance of each factor is discussed.
Introduction
Businesses today face a stark reality: anticipate, respond, and react to the
growing demands of the marketplace, or perish. In a fiercely competitive
environment, business strategy not only determines success, it governs
business survival. Now, more than ever, effective business strategy centers on
aggressive, efficient use of information technology. An enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system is a packaged business software system that enables a
company to manage the efficient and effective use of resources (materials,
human resources, finance, etc.) by providing a total, integrated solution for the
organization’s information-processing needs. It supports a process-oriented
view of the business as well as business processes standardized across the
enterprise. Among the most important attributes of ERP are its abilities to:
.
automate and integrate an organization’s business processes;
.
share common data and practices across the entire enterprise; and
.
produce and access information in a real-time environment.
The difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been
widely cited in the literature (Davenport, 1998), but research on critical success
The research register for this journal is available athttp://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available athttp://www.emerald-library.com/ft
The authors acknowledge the research support provided by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Layman Fund and Faculty Fellowship.
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factors (CSFs) in ERP implementation is rare and fragmented. To date, little
has been done to theorize the important predictors for initial and ongoing ERP
implementation success (Brown and Vessey, 1999). This research is an effort to
achieve that. It identifies the CSFs in ERP implementation, categorizes them
into the respective phases in the ERP life cycle model proposed by Markus and
Tanis (2000), and discusses the importance of these factors in ERP
implementation.
Literature review
ERP systems hold the promise of improving processes and decreasing costs.
Furthermore, two important new frontiers for ERP are electronic business
(e-business) and supply-chain management (Wang and Nah, 2001). By linking
supply-chain applications with other business systems, users can slash cycle
times and reduce inventory. They can also reach beyond their own corporate
walls to better connect with suppliers, distributors, and customers to engage in
e-business.
However, there are always two sides to the story. In reality, ERP
implementation is costly. Although ERP software is expensive, an even more
substantial amount of business cost is typically spent on consulting to
overcome difficult software implementation. ERP is a packaged solution with
long complicated interrelated code containing a set process. Usually businesses
have their own existing proven competitive advantage processes set in place.
Businesses will have to change their proven processes to fit the software in
order to take advantage of future releases, benefit from the improved processes,
and avoid costly irreparable errors.
Methodology
The high failure rate of ERP implementation calls for a better understanding of
its critical success factors (Somers et al., 2000). Through an extensive literature
review, we found ten articles that provide answers to the question: what are the
key critical factors for ERP implementation success? These ten articles were
identified through a computer search of databases of published works and
conference proceedings in the information systems area. The articles were
searched by the title based on the following two criteria:
(1) it must contain either the keyword ``success/succeed’’ or ``critical issues/
factors’’, and
(2) it must contain the term ``ERP’’ or its equivalent, such as MRPII.
In the case where the authors published more than one article in the area, only
the latest publication will be used. Among the ten articles identified, Roberts
and Barrar (1992) was the earliest published work, whereas the other nine
articles were published between 1998-2000 ± the main reason being that
Roberts and Barrar studied key factors for success in material requirements
planning 2 (MRP-II) implementations. Because ERP evolved from MRPII, the
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CSFs in MRPII implementations would apply to ERP as well. Table I
summarizes the results of the review.
From the review, 11 factors emerged as critical to the successful
implementation of ERP systems. These 11 factors were obtained after careful
analysis and grouping of related sub-factors. These 11 factors are inclusive of
all the sub-factors identified in the review.
Theoretical framework
A process theory approach (Markus and Tanis, 2000) was used to classify the
CSFs identified. The process theory focuses on the sequence of events leading
up to implementation completion.
Markus and Tanis (2000) identified the following four phases in an ERP life
cyle:
(1) chartering ± decisions defining the business case and solution
constraints;
(2) project ± getting system and end users up and running;
(3) shakedown ± stabilizing, eliminating ``bugs’’, getting to normal
operations;
(4) onward and upward ± maintaining systems, supporting users, getting
results, upgrading, systemextensions.
The chartering phase comprises decisions leading to funding of the ERP
system project. Key players in the phase include vendors, consultants,
company executives, and IT specialists. Key activities include initiation of idea
to adopt ERP, developing business case, decision on whether to proceed with
ERP or not, initiation of search for project leader/champion, selection of
software and implementation partner, and project planning and scheduling.
The project phase comprises system configuration and rollout. Key players
include the project manager, project team members (mainly from business
units and functional areas), internal IT specialists, vendors, and consultants.
(We will refer to this group of people as the implementation partners.) Key
activities include software configuration, system integration, testing, data
conversion, training, and rollout. In this phase, the implementation partners
must not only be knowledgeable in their area of focus, but they must also work
closely and well together to achieve the organizational goal of ERP
implementation.
The shakedown phase refers to the period of time from ``going live’’ until
``normal operation’’ or ``routine use’’ has been achieved. Key activities include
bug fixing and rework, system performance tuning, retraining, and staffing up
to handle temporary inefficiencies. In this phase, the errors of prior causes can
be felt, typically in the form of reduced productivity or business disruption
(Markus and Tanis, 2000). Hence, it is important to monitor and constantly
make adjustments to the system until the ``bugs’’ are eliminated and the system
is stabilized.
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Table I.
Survey of critical
success factors in ERP
implementations
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The onward and upward phase refers to ongoing maintenance and
enhancement of the ERP system and relevant business processes to fit the
evolving business needs of the organization. It continues from normal
operation until the system is replaced with an upgrade or a different system.
Key players include operational managers, end users, and IT support personnel
(internal and external). Vendor personnel and consultants may be involved
when upgrades are concerned. Key activities include continuous business
improvement, additional user skill building, upgrading to new software
releases, and post-implementation benefit assessment.
The phases in Markus and Tanis’ (2000) ERP life cycle model are in line with
the stages of the traditional systems development life cycle, as presented in
Figure 1. As different factors are important in different stages, it is important to
classify the 11 CSFs identified into the phases of ERP implementation life cycle
where the factors may come into play (see Figure 1). Figure 1 shows the
classification of these factors into an integrative framework.
Critical factors of ERP implementation success
This section discusses the 11 factors that are critical to ERP implementation
success.
ERP teamwork and composition
As shown in Figure 1, ERP teamwork and composition is important
throughout the ERP life cycle. The ERP team should consist of the best people
in the organization (Buckhout et al., 1999; Bingi et al., 1999; Rosario, 2000; Wee,
2000). Building a cross-functional team is also critical. The team should have a
mix of consultants and internal staff so the internal staff can develop the
necessary technical skills for design and implementation (Sumner, 1999). Both
business and technical knowledge are essential for success (Bingi et al., 1999;
Sumner, 1999).
The ERP project should be their top and only priority and their workload
should be manageable (Wee, 2000). Team members need to be assigned full
time to the implementation (Wee, 2000). As far as possible, the team should be
co-located together at an assigned location to facilitate working together (Wee,
2000).
The team should be given compensation and incentives for successfully
implementing the system on time and within the assigned budget (Wee, 2000).
The team should be familiar with the business functions and products so they
know what needs to be done to support major business processes (Rosario,
2000).
The sharing of information within the company, particularly between the
implementation partners, and between partnering companies is vital and
requires partnership trust (Stefanou, 1999). Partnerships should be managed
with regularly scheduled meetings. Incentives and risk-sharing agreements
will aid in working together to achieve a similar goal (Wee, 2000).
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Figure 1.
Classification of CSFs of
ERP implementation
into Markus and Tanis’
(2000) process-oriented
ERP life cycle model
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Top management support
Top management support is needed throughout the implementation. The
project must receive approval from top management (Bingi, 1999; Buckhout,
1999; Sumner, 1999) and align with strategic business goals (Sumner, 1999).
This can be achieved by tying management bonuses to project success (Wee,
2000).
Top management needs to publicly and explicitly identify the project as a
top priority (Wee, 2000). Senior management must be committed with its own
involvement and willingness to allocate valuable resources to the
implementation effort (Holland et al., 1999). This involves providing the needed
people for the implementation and giving appropriate amount of time to get the
job done (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Managers should legitimize new goals and objectives. A shared vision of the
organization and the role of the new system and structures should be
communicated to employees. New organizational structures, roles and
responsibilities should be established and approved. Policies should be set by
top management to establish new systems in the company. In times of conflict,
managers should mediate between parties (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Business plan and vision
Additionally, a clear business plan and vision to steer the direction of the
project is needed throughout the ERP life cycle (Buckhout et al., 1999). A
business plan that outlines proposed strategic and tangible benefits, resources,
costs, risks and timeline is critical (Wee, 2000). This will help keep focus on
business benefits.
There should be a clear business model of how the organization should
operate behind the implementation effort (Holland et al., 1999). There should be
a justification for the investment based on a problem and the change tied
directly to the direction of the company (Falkowski et al., 1998). Project mission
should be related to business needs and should be clearly stated (Roberts and
Barrar, 1992). Goals and benefits should be identified and tracked (Holland et
al., 1999). The business plan would make work easier and impact on work
(Rosario, 2000).
Effective communication
Effective communication is critical to ERP implementation (Falkowski et al.,
1998). Expectations at every level need to be communicated. Management of
communication, education and expectations are critical throughout the
organization (Wee, 2000). User input should be managed in acquiring their
requirements, comments, reactions and approval (Rosario, 2000).
Communication includes the formal promotion of project teams and the
advertisement of project progress to the rest of the organization (Holland et al.,
1999). Middle managers need to communicate its importance (Wee, 2000).
Employees should be told in advance the scope, objectives, activities and
updates, and admit change will occur (Sumner, 1999).
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Project management
Good project management is essential. An individual or group of people should
be given responsibility to drive success in project management (Rosario, 2000).
First, scope should be established (Rosario, 2000; Holland et al., 1999) and
controlled (Rosario, 2000). The scope must be clearly defined and be limited.
This includes the amount of the systems implemented, involvement of business
units, and amount of business process reengineering needed. Any proposed
changes should be evaluated against business benefits and, as far as possible,
implemented at a later phase (Sumner, 1999; Wee, 2000). Additionally, scope
expansion requests need to be assessed in terms of the additional time and cost
of proposed changes (Sumner, 1999).
Then the project must be formally defined in terms of its milestones (Holland
et al., 1999). The critical paths of the project should be determined. Timeliness
of project and the forcing of timely decisions should be managed (Rosario,
2000). Deadlines should be met to help stay within the schedule and budget and
to maintain credibility (Wee, 2000).
Project management should be disciplined with coordinated training and
active human resource department involvement (Falkowski et al., 1998).
Additionally, there should be planning of well-defined tasks and accurate
estimation of required effort. The escalation of issues and conflicts should be
managed (Rosario, 2000).
Delivering early measures of success is important (Wee, 2000). Rapid,
successive and contained deliverables are critical. A focus on results and
constant tracking of schedules and budgets against targets are also important
(Wee, 2000).
Project champion
Project sponsor commitment is critical to drive consensus and to oversee the
entire life cycle of implementation (Rosario, 2000). Someone should be placed in
charge and the project leader should ``champion’’ the project throughout the
organization (Sumner, 1999).
There should be a high level executive sponsor who has the power to set
goals and legitimize change (Falkowski et al., 1998). Sumner (1999) states that a
business leader should be in charge so there is a business perspective.
Transformational leadership is critical to success as well. The leader must
continually strive to resolve conflicts and manage resistance.
Appropriate business and legacy systems
Appropriate business and legacy systems are important in the initial
chartering phase of the project. According to Roberts and Barrar (1992), a
stable and successful business setting is essential. Business and IT systems
involving existing business processes, organization structure, culture, and
information technology affect success. It determines the IT and organizational
change required for success (Holland et al., 1999). Roberts and Barrar also
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argue that success in other business areas is necessary for successful MRPII
implementations.
Change management program and culture
Change management is important, starting at the project phase and continuing
throughout the entire life cycle. Enterprise wide culture and structure change
should be managed (Falkowski et al., 1998), which include people, organization
and culture change (Rosario, 2000).
A culture with shared values and common aims is conducive to success.
Organizations should have a strong corporate identity that is open to change.
An emphasis on quality, a strong computing ability, and a strong willingness
to accept new technology would aid in implementation efforts. Management
should also have a strong commitment to use the system for achieving business
aims (Roberts and Barrar, 1992). Users must be trained, and concerns must be
addressed through regular communication, working with change agents,
leveraging corporate culture and identifying job aids for different users
(Rosario, 2000).
As part of the change management efforts, users should be involved in
design and implementation of business processes and the ERP system, and
formal education and training should be provided to help them do so (Bingi et
al., 1999; Holland et al., 1999). Education should be a priority from the
beginning of the project, and money and time should be spent on various forms
of education and training (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Training, reskilling and professional development of the IT workforce is
critical. User training should be emphasized, with heavy investment in training
and reskilling of developers in software design and methodology (Sumner,
1999). Employees need training to understand how the system will change
business processes. There should be extra training and on-site support for staff
as well as managers during implementation. A support organization (e.g. help
desk, online user manual) is also critical to meet users’ needs after installation
(Wee, 2000).
Business process reengineering (BPR) and minimum customization
Another important factor that begins at the project phase is BPR and minimum
customization. It is inevitable that business processes are molded to fit the new
system (Bingi et al., 1999). Aligning the business process to the software
implementation is critical (Holland et al., 1999; Sumner, 1999).
Organizations should be willing to change the business to fit the software
with minimal customization (Holland et al., 1999; Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Software should not be modified, as far as possible (Sumner, 1999).
Modifications should be avoided to reduce errors and to take advantage of
newer versions and releases (Rosario, 2000). Process modeling tools help aid
customizing business processes without changing software code (Holland et al.,
1999).
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Broad reengineering should begin before choosing a system. In conjunction
with configuration, a large amount of reengineering should take place
iteratively to take advantage of improvements from the new system. Then
when the system is in use reengineering should be carried out with new ideas
(Wee, 2000).
Quality of business process review and redesign is important (Rosario,
2000). In choosing the package, vendor support and the number of previous
implementers should be taken into account (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Software development, testing and troubleshooting
Software development, testing and troubleshooting is essential, beginning in
the project phase. The overall ERP architecture should be established before
deployment, taking into account the most important requirements of the
implementation. This prevents reconfiguration at every stage of
implementation (Wee, 2000).
There is a choice to be made on the level of functionality and approach to
link the system to legacy systems. In addition, to best meet business needs,
companies may integrate other specialized software products with the ERP
suite. Interfaces for commercial software applications or legacy systems may
need to be developed in-house if they are not available in the market (Bingi et
al., 1999).
Troubleshooting errors is critical (Holland et al., 1999). The organization
implementing ERP should work well with vendors and consultants to resolve
software problems. Quick response, patience, perseverance, problem solving
and firefighting capabilities are important (Rosario, 2000). Vigorous and
sophisticated software testing eases implementation (Rosario, 2000).
Scheer and Habermann (2000) indicate that modeling methods, architecture
and tools are critical. Requirements definition can be created and system
requirements definition can be documented. There should be a plan for
migrating and cleaning up data (Rosario, 2000). Proper tools and techniques
and skill to use those tools will aid in ERP success (Rosario, 2000).
Monitoring and evaluation of performance
Finally, monitoring and evaluation come into play at the shakedown phase.
Milestones and targets are important to keep track of progress. Achievements
should be measured against project goals. The progress of the project should be
monitored actively through set milestones and targets.
Two criteria may be used (Roberts and Barrar, 1992). Project management
based criteria should be used to measure against completion dates, costs and
quality. Then operational criteria should be used to measure against the
production system. Monitoring and feedback include the exchange of
information between the project team members and analysis of user feedback
(Holland et al., 1999).
There should be an early proof of success to manage skepticism (Rosario,
2000). Reporting should be emphasized with custom report development, report
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generator use and user training in reporting applications (Sumner, 1999).
Management needs information on the effect of ERP on business performance.
Reports or processes for assessing data need to be designed. These reports
should be produced based on established metrics. It must include effective
measurable project goals that meet business needs and are reasonable.
Additionally, performance should be tied to compensation (Falkowski et al.,
1998).
Conclusions
A total of 11 critical success factors for ERP implementation have been
identified, based on a review of the ERP literature. Teamwork and composition
in the ERP implementer-vendor-consultant partnership is a key factor
influencing ERP implementation success. Good coordination and
communication between the implementation partners are essential. Since ERP
covers a wide range of functional areas, it is also important to have a cross-
functional ERP core team. It is extremely critical that partnership trust is
present and the team members are working well together. Another very critical
factor is change management program and culture. An organizational culture
where the employees share common values and goals and are receptive to
change is most likely to succeed in ERP implementation. Furthermore, user
training, education and support should be available and highly encouraged.
Change agents should also play a major role in the implementation to facilitate
change and communication, and to leverage the corporate culture. Other critical
factors include top management support, business plan and vision, BPR and
minimum customization, effective communication, project management,
software development, testing and troubleshooting, monitoring and evaluation
of performance, project champion, and appropriate business and IT legacy
systems.
In the next stage of this research, we will send out survey questionnaires to
companies to evaluate the degree of criticality and importance of the success
factors identified in the ERP literature. We are also interested in studying how
the perceived importance of these factors may differ across implementation
partners such as top executives, users, project team members, internal IT
specialists, vendors, and consultants. With a better understanding of the issues
involved in ERP implementations, management will be able to make critical
decisions and allocate resources that are required to make ERP implementation
a success.
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Wang, B. and Nah, F. (2001), ``ERP + e-business = a new vision for enterprise system’’, in
Dasgupta, S. (Ed.), Managing Internet and Intranet Technologies in Organizations:
Challenges and Opportunities, Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, pp. 147-64.
Wee, S. (2000), ``Juggling toward ERP success: keep key success factors high’’, ERP News,
February, availablehttp://www.erpnews.com/erpnews/erp904/02get.html.
doc_346673722.pdf
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have emerged as the core of successful information management and the enterprise backbone of organizations. The difficulties of ERP implementations have been widely cited in the literature but research on the critical factors for initial and ongoing ERP implementation success is rare and fragmented
Implementation
of enterprise
systems
285
Business Process Management
Journal, Vol. 7 No. 3, 2001,
pp. 285-296. # MCB University
Press, 1463-7154
Critical factors for successful
implementation of enterprise
systems
Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah and Janet Lee-Shang Lau
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, and
Jinghua Kuang
University of Texas-Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Keywords Systems integration, Implementation, Resource management
Abstract Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have emerged as the core of successful
information management and the enterprise backbone of organizations. The difficulties of ERP
implementations have been widely cited in the literature but research on the critical factors for
initial and ongoing ERP implementation success is rare and fragmented. Through a
comprehensive review of the literature, 11 factors were found to be critical to ERP
implementation success ± ERP teamwork and composition; change management program and
culture; top management support; business plan and vision; business process reengineering with
minimum customization; project management; monitoring and evaluation of performance;
effective communication; software development, testing and troubleshooting; project champion;
appropriate business and IT legacy systems. The classification of these factors into the respective
phases (chartering, project, shakedown, onward and upward) in Markus and Tanis’ ERP life
cycle model is presented and the importance of each factor is discussed.
Introduction
Businesses today face a stark reality: anticipate, respond, and react to the
growing demands of the marketplace, or perish. In a fiercely competitive
environment, business strategy not only determines success, it governs
business survival. Now, more than ever, effective business strategy centers on
aggressive, efficient use of information technology. An enterprise resource
planning (ERP) system is a packaged business software system that enables a
company to manage the efficient and effective use of resources (materials,
human resources, finance, etc.) by providing a total, integrated solution for the
organization’s information-processing needs. It supports a process-oriented
view of the business as well as business processes standardized across the
enterprise. Among the most important attributes of ERP are its abilities to:
.
automate and integrate an organization’s business processes;
.
share common data and practices across the entire enterprise; and
.
produce and access information in a real-time environment.
The difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been
widely cited in the literature (Davenport, 1998), but research on critical success
The research register for this journal is available athttp://www.mcbup.com/research_registers
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available athttp://www.emerald-library.com/ft
The authors acknowledge the research support provided by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
Layman Fund and Faculty Fellowship.
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factors (CSFs) in ERP implementation is rare and fragmented. To date, little
has been done to theorize the important predictors for initial and ongoing ERP
implementation success (Brown and Vessey, 1999). This research is an effort to
achieve that. It identifies the CSFs in ERP implementation, categorizes them
into the respective phases in the ERP life cycle model proposed by Markus and
Tanis (2000), and discusses the importance of these factors in ERP
implementation.
Literature review
ERP systems hold the promise of improving processes and decreasing costs.
Furthermore, two important new frontiers for ERP are electronic business
(e-business) and supply-chain management (Wang and Nah, 2001). By linking
supply-chain applications with other business systems, users can slash cycle
times and reduce inventory. They can also reach beyond their own corporate
walls to better connect with suppliers, distributors, and customers to engage in
e-business.
However, there are always two sides to the story. In reality, ERP
implementation is costly. Although ERP software is expensive, an even more
substantial amount of business cost is typically spent on consulting to
overcome difficult software implementation. ERP is a packaged solution with
long complicated interrelated code containing a set process. Usually businesses
have their own existing proven competitive advantage processes set in place.
Businesses will have to change their proven processes to fit the software in
order to take advantage of future releases, benefit from the improved processes,
and avoid costly irreparable errors.
Methodology
The high failure rate of ERP implementation calls for a better understanding of
its critical success factors (Somers et al., 2000). Through an extensive literature
review, we found ten articles that provide answers to the question: what are the
key critical factors for ERP implementation success? These ten articles were
identified through a computer search of databases of published works and
conference proceedings in the information systems area. The articles were
searched by the title based on the following two criteria:
(1) it must contain either the keyword ``success/succeed’’ or ``critical issues/
factors’’, and
(2) it must contain the term ``ERP’’ or its equivalent, such as MRPII.
In the case where the authors published more than one article in the area, only
the latest publication will be used. Among the ten articles identified, Roberts
and Barrar (1992) was the earliest published work, whereas the other nine
articles were published between 1998-2000 ± the main reason being that
Roberts and Barrar studied key factors for success in material requirements
planning 2 (MRP-II) implementations. Because ERP evolved from MRPII, the
Implementation
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CSFs in MRPII implementations would apply to ERP as well. Table I
summarizes the results of the review.
From the review, 11 factors emerged as critical to the successful
implementation of ERP systems. These 11 factors were obtained after careful
analysis and grouping of related sub-factors. These 11 factors are inclusive of
all the sub-factors identified in the review.
Theoretical framework
A process theory approach (Markus and Tanis, 2000) was used to classify the
CSFs identified. The process theory focuses on the sequence of events leading
up to implementation completion.
Markus and Tanis (2000) identified the following four phases in an ERP life
cyle:
(1) chartering ± decisions defining the business case and solution
constraints;
(2) project ± getting system and end users up and running;
(3) shakedown ± stabilizing, eliminating ``bugs’’, getting to normal
operations;
(4) onward and upward ± maintaining systems, supporting users, getting
results, upgrading, systemextensions.
The chartering phase comprises decisions leading to funding of the ERP
system project. Key players in the phase include vendors, consultants,
company executives, and IT specialists. Key activities include initiation of idea
to adopt ERP, developing business case, decision on whether to proceed with
ERP or not, initiation of search for project leader/champion, selection of
software and implementation partner, and project planning and scheduling.
The project phase comprises system configuration and rollout. Key players
include the project manager, project team members (mainly from business
units and functional areas), internal IT specialists, vendors, and consultants.
(We will refer to this group of people as the implementation partners.) Key
activities include software configuration, system integration, testing, data
conversion, training, and rollout. In this phase, the implementation partners
must not only be knowledgeable in their area of focus, but they must also work
closely and well together to achieve the organizational goal of ERP
implementation.
The shakedown phase refers to the period of time from ``going live’’ until
``normal operation’’ or ``routine use’’ has been achieved. Key activities include
bug fixing and rework, system performance tuning, retraining, and staffing up
to handle temporary inefficiencies. In this phase, the errors of prior causes can
be felt, typically in the form of reduced productivity or business disruption
(Markus and Tanis, 2000). Hence, it is important to monitor and constantly
make adjustments to the system until the ``bugs’’ are eliminated and the system
is stabilized.
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Table I.
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Implementation
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systems
289
The onward and upward phase refers to ongoing maintenance and
enhancement of the ERP system and relevant business processes to fit the
evolving business needs of the organization. It continues from normal
operation until the system is replaced with an upgrade or a different system.
Key players include operational managers, end users, and IT support personnel
(internal and external). Vendor personnel and consultants may be involved
when upgrades are concerned. Key activities include continuous business
improvement, additional user skill building, upgrading to new software
releases, and post-implementation benefit assessment.
The phases in Markus and Tanis’ (2000) ERP life cycle model are in line with
the stages of the traditional systems development life cycle, as presented in
Figure 1. As different factors are important in different stages, it is important to
classify the 11 CSFs identified into the phases of ERP implementation life cycle
where the factors may come into play (see Figure 1). Figure 1 shows the
classification of these factors into an integrative framework.
Critical factors of ERP implementation success
This section discusses the 11 factors that are critical to ERP implementation
success.
ERP teamwork and composition
As shown in Figure 1, ERP teamwork and composition is important
throughout the ERP life cycle. The ERP team should consist of the best people
in the organization (Buckhout et al., 1999; Bingi et al., 1999; Rosario, 2000; Wee,
2000). Building a cross-functional team is also critical. The team should have a
mix of consultants and internal staff so the internal staff can develop the
necessary technical skills for design and implementation (Sumner, 1999). Both
business and technical knowledge are essential for success (Bingi et al., 1999;
Sumner, 1999).
The ERP project should be their top and only priority and their workload
should be manageable (Wee, 2000). Team members need to be assigned full
time to the implementation (Wee, 2000). As far as possible, the team should be
co-located together at an assigned location to facilitate working together (Wee,
2000).
The team should be given compensation and incentives for successfully
implementing the system on time and within the assigned budget (Wee, 2000).
The team should be familiar with the business functions and products so they
know what needs to be done to support major business processes (Rosario,
2000).
The sharing of information within the company, particularly between the
implementation partners, and between partnering companies is vital and
requires partnership trust (Stefanou, 1999). Partnerships should be managed
with regularly scheduled meetings. Incentives and risk-sharing agreements
will aid in working together to achieve a similar goal (Wee, 2000).
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Figure 1.
Classification of CSFs of
ERP implementation
into Markus and Tanis’
(2000) process-oriented
ERP life cycle model
Implementation
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systems
291
Top management support
Top management support is needed throughout the implementation. The
project must receive approval from top management (Bingi, 1999; Buckhout,
1999; Sumner, 1999) and align with strategic business goals (Sumner, 1999).
This can be achieved by tying management bonuses to project success (Wee,
2000).
Top management needs to publicly and explicitly identify the project as a
top priority (Wee, 2000). Senior management must be committed with its own
involvement and willingness to allocate valuable resources to the
implementation effort (Holland et al., 1999). This involves providing the needed
people for the implementation and giving appropriate amount of time to get the
job done (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Managers should legitimize new goals and objectives. A shared vision of the
organization and the role of the new system and structures should be
communicated to employees. New organizational structures, roles and
responsibilities should be established and approved. Policies should be set by
top management to establish new systems in the company. In times of conflict,
managers should mediate between parties (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Business plan and vision
Additionally, a clear business plan and vision to steer the direction of the
project is needed throughout the ERP life cycle (Buckhout et al., 1999). A
business plan that outlines proposed strategic and tangible benefits, resources,
costs, risks and timeline is critical (Wee, 2000). This will help keep focus on
business benefits.
There should be a clear business model of how the organization should
operate behind the implementation effort (Holland et al., 1999). There should be
a justification for the investment based on a problem and the change tied
directly to the direction of the company (Falkowski et al., 1998). Project mission
should be related to business needs and should be clearly stated (Roberts and
Barrar, 1992). Goals and benefits should be identified and tracked (Holland et
al., 1999). The business plan would make work easier and impact on work
(Rosario, 2000).
Effective communication
Effective communication is critical to ERP implementation (Falkowski et al.,
1998). Expectations at every level need to be communicated. Management of
communication, education and expectations are critical throughout the
organization (Wee, 2000). User input should be managed in acquiring their
requirements, comments, reactions and approval (Rosario, 2000).
Communication includes the formal promotion of project teams and the
advertisement of project progress to the rest of the organization (Holland et al.,
1999). Middle managers need to communicate its importance (Wee, 2000).
Employees should be told in advance the scope, objectives, activities and
updates, and admit change will occur (Sumner, 1999).
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Project management
Good project management is essential. An individual or group of people should
be given responsibility to drive success in project management (Rosario, 2000).
First, scope should be established (Rosario, 2000; Holland et al., 1999) and
controlled (Rosario, 2000). The scope must be clearly defined and be limited.
This includes the amount of the systems implemented, involvement of business
units, and amount of business process reengineering needed. Any proposed
changes should be evaluated against business benefits and, as far as possible,
implemented at a later phase (Sumner, 1999; Wee, 2000). Additionally, scope
expansion requests need to be assessed in terms of the additional time and cost
of proposed changes (Sumner, 1999).
Then the project must be formally defined in terms of its milestones (Holland
et al., 1999). The critical paths of the project should be determined. Timeliness
of project and the forcing of timely decisions should be managed (Rosario,
2000). Deadlines should be met to help stay within the schedule and budget and
to maintain credibility (Wee, 2000).
Project management should be disciplined with coordinated training and
active human resource department involvement (Falkowski et al., 1998).
Additionally, there should be planning of well-defined tasks and accurate
estimation of required effort. The escalation of issues and conflicts should be
managed (Rosario, 2000).
Delivering early measures of success is important (Wee, 2000). Rapid,
successive and contained deliverables are critical. A focus on results and
constant tracking of schedules and budgets against targets are also important
(Wee, 2000).
Project champion
Project sponsor commitment is critical to drive consensus and to oversee the
entire life cycle of implementation (Rosario, 2000). Someone should be placed in
charge and the project leader should ``champion’’ the project throughout the
organization (Sumner, 1999).
There should be a high level executive sponsor who has the power to set
goals and legitimize change (Falkowski et al., 1998). Sumner (1999) states that a
business leader should be in charge so there is a business perspective.
Transformational leadership is critical to success as well. The leader must
continually strive to resolve conflicts and manage resistance.
Appropriate business and legacy systems
Appropriate business and legacy systems are important in the initial
chartering phase of the project. According to Roberts and Barrar (1992), a
stable and successful business setting is essential. Business and IT systems
involving existing business processes, organization structure, culture, and
information technology affect success. It determines the IT and organizational
change required for success (Holland et al., 1999). Roberts and Barrar also
Implementation
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argue that success in other business areas is necessary for successful MRPII
implementations.
Change management program and culture
Change management is important, starting at the project phase and continuing
throughout the entire life cycle. Enterprise wide culture and structure change
should be managed (Falkowski et al., 1998), which include people, organization
and culture change (Rosario, 2000).
A culture with shared values and common aims is conducive to success.
Organizations should have a strong corporate identity that is open to change.
An emphasis on quality, a strong computing ability, and a strong willingness
to accept new technology would aid in implementation efforts. Management
should also have a strong commitment to use the system for achieving business
aims (Roberts and Barrar, 1992). Users must be trained, and concerns must be
addressed through regular communication, working with change agents,
leveraging corporate culture and identifying job aids for different users
(Rosario, 2000).
As part of the change management efforts, users should be involved in
design and implementation of business processes and the ERP system, and
formal education and training should be provided to help them do so (Bingi et
al., 1999; Holland et al., 1999). Education should be a priority from the
beginning of the project, and money and time should be spent on various forms
of education and training (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Training, reskilling and professional development of the IT workforce is
critical. User training should be emphasized, with heavy investment in training
and reskilling of developers in software design and methodology (Sumner,
1999). Employees need training to understand how the system will change
business processes. There should be extra training and on-site support for staff
as well as managers during implementation. A support organization (e.g. help
desk, online user manual) is also critical to meet users’ needs after installation
(Wee, 2000).
Business process reengineering (BPR) and minimum customization
Another important factor that begins at the project phase is BPR and minimum
customization. It is inevitable that business processes are molded to fit the new
system (Bingi et al., 1999). Aligning the business process to the software
implementation is critical (Holland et al., 1999; Sumner, 1999).
Organizations should be willing to change the business to fit the software
with minimal customization (Holland et al., 1999; Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Software should not be modified, as far as possible (Sumner, 1999).
Modifications should be avoided to reduce errors and to take advantage of
newer versions and releases (Rosario, 2000). Process modeling tools help aid
customizing business processes without changing software code (Holland et al.,
1999).
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Broad reengineering should begin before choosing a system. In conjunction
with configuration, a large amount of reengineering should take place
iteratively to take advantage of improvements from the new system. Then
when the system is in use reengineering should be carried out with new ideas
(Wee, 2000).
Quality of business process review and redesign is important (Rosario,
2000). In choosing the package, vendor support and the number of previous
implementers should be taken into account (Roberts and Barrar, 1992).
Software development, testing and troubleshooting
Software development, testing and troubleshooting is essential, beginning in
the project phase. The overall ERP architecture should be established before
deployment, taking into account the most important requirements of the
implementation. This prevents reconfiguration at every stage of
implementation (Wee, 2000).
There is a choice to be made on the level of functionality and approach to
link the system to legacy systems. In addition, to best meet business needs,
companies may integrate other specialized software products with the ERP
suite. Interfaces for commercial software applications or legacy systems may
need to be developed in-house if they are not available in the market (Bingi et
al., 1999).
Troubleshooting errors is critical (Holland et al., 1999). The organization
implementing ERP should work well with vendors and consultants to resolve
software problems. Quick response, patience, perseverance, problem solving
and firefighting capabilities are important (Rosario, 2000). Vigorous and
sophisticated software testing eases implementation (Rosario, 2000).
Scheer and Habermann (2000) indicate that modeling methods, architecture
and tools are critical. Requirements definition can be created and system
requirements definition can be documented. There should be a plan for
migrating and cleaning up data (Rosario, 2000). Proper tools and techniques
and skill to use those tools will aid in ERP success (Rosario, 2000).
Monitoring and evaluation of performance
Finally, monitoring and evaluation come into play at the shakedown phase.
Milestones and targets are important to keep track of progress. Achievements
should be measured against project goals. The progress of the project should be
monitored actively through set milestones and targets.
Two criteria may be used (Roberts and Barrar, 1992). Project management
based criteria should be used to measure against completion dates, costs and
quality. Then operational criteria should be used to measure against the
production system. Monitoring and feedback include the exchange of
information between the project team members and analysis of user feedback
(Holland et al., 1999).
There should be an early proof of success to manage skepticism (Rosario,
2000). Reporting should be emphasized with custom report development, report
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generator use and user training in reporting applications (Sumner, 1999).
Management needs information on the effect of ERP on business performance.
Reports or processes for assessing data need to be designed. These reports
should be produced based on established metrics. It must include effective
measurable project goals that meet business needs and are reasonable.
Additionally, performance should be tied to compensation (Falkowski et al.,
1998).
Conclusions
A total of 11 critical success factors for ERP implementation have been
identified, based on a review of the ERP literature. Teamwork and composition
in the ERP implementer-vendor-consultant partnership is a key factor
influencing ERP implementation success. Good coordination and
communication between the implementation partners are essential. Since ERP
covers a wide range of functional areas, it is also important to have a cross-
functional ERP core team. It is extremely critical that partnership trust is
present and the team members are working well together. Another very critical
factor is change management program and culture. An organizational culture
where the employees share common values and goals and are receptive to
change is most likely to succeed in ERP implementation. Furthermore, user
training, education and support should be available and highly encouraged.
Change agents should also play a major role in the implementation to facilitate
change and communication, and to leverage the corporate culture. Other critical
factors include top management support, business plan and vision, BPR and
minimum customization, effective communication, project management,
software development, testing and troubleshooting, monitoring and evaluation
of performance, project champion, and appropriate business and IT legacy
systems.
In the next stage of this research, we will send out survey questionnaires to
companies to evaluate the degree of criticality and importance of the success
factors identified in the ERP literature. We are also interested in studying how
the perceived importance of these factors may differ across implementation
partners such as top executives, users, project team members, internal IT
specialists, vendors, and consultants. With a better understanding of the issues
involved in ERP implementations, management will be able to make critical
decisions and allocate resources that are required to make ERP implementation
a success.
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