Annotated Bibliography: ERP Best Practices

Kumar, P. (2010). Successful implementation of ERP in a large organization International journal of engineering science and technology. Vol. 2(7), 3218-3224. Retrieved from http://www.ijest.info/docs/IJEST10-02-07-151.pdf

Foremost among these is that the ERP implementation efforts of many of their larger counterparts have resulted in partial failure, and in some cases total abandonment. Moreover, small manufacturers tend to lack the financial resources to adopt the entire system and may be forced to adopt a piecemeal approach to integrating the typically expensive ERP systems into their services. It is also felt that the lower staff levels in smaller enterprises when compared to their larger counterparts are inadequate for the rigorous and extensive IT training and development requirements for implementing an ERP project. It is however important for these firms to ensure that they make adequate studies of ERP systems before deciding to do away with them altogether because it has been found that they can be of use to the success of the business, especially after successful

Adoption of an ERP system enables an organization to eliminate dozens or even hundreds of separate systems and replace them with a single, integrated set of applications for the entire enterprise.

ERP implementation is unlikely experience that any company will have. It has to be planned prepared and stimulated from the entire stakeholder otherwise it will sunk the millions of dollar and it drain the companies market. In case of Nestle USA, it confronted a lot of difficulties due to improper implementation plan yet be able to recover as a successful project. Many organisations have gone through the similar situation that there are plenty of lesson to be learned. We can conclude that ERP implementation needs big consideration on business requirement, business process reengineering, stakeholder’s involvement, hardware and software and other units.

In order to survive in this competitive business world, every business must produce or offer not only a better product or service, they must also offer better customer service, reduce their production costs and overhead costs, have a more well-planned management system, a highly reliable infrastructure, and the list is endless. Many of these can be achieved through a customized enterprise resource planning system (ERP). ERPs serve as “one comprehensive database to house all of the company’s corporate information”. However if these systems are not used correctly with the necessary change in management of people and technology it can result in failure.

In the years following the formal introduction Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in the early 1990s, there have been few ERP implementations that have been managed successfully, including those introduced by large corporations. Although much capital is usually put into ERP implementation, lack of key business practices has prevented extensive success. This paper reviews failed ERP implementations in three large organizations. It analyzes the reasons for the failures as well as the lessons to be learned so other organizations can avoid similar scenarios.

To avoid struggling with integrating myriad IT applications, many companies implemented ERP systems that required substantial investment of time, internal resources, and capital, resulting in significant organizational change (Dorien & Wolf, 2002). Often, ERP system implementation is accompanied by other improvements and enhancements in existing legacy systems. Due to many simultaneous changes that accompany ERP system implementation, it is hard to attribute any performance changes after ERP system installation solely to ERP systems. However, ERP system implementation is, by far, the most criticized aspect of IT investments. ERP systems require outlays ranging from a few million dollars to several hundred million dollars (Mabert et al., 2001). Despite high expenditures, ERP implementations have resulted in problems. Rushed software installations and inadequate training are blamed for well-publicized troubles with ERP. In 1999, soon after the rollout of its ERP system, Hershey Food Corp., in the third quarter of that year, lost $60.4 million due to problems in customer service, warehousing, order processing, and

ERP systems not only differ by the size of businesses but also by industry in the sense that different industries use different ERP software’s.

ERP system is based on the single database system this database access to everyone in the department which provides very significant impact on the operational command on the business. It also makes easier to decision making process in the business. According to data in 2000 organization spend over 20 billion USD for ERP planning. Which rises 6.7 billion only in a year and they estimated that will be more than 27 billion next 8 years. (Wang, 2008)

Company A being a leading value added distributor for Telecom hardware platform and services in APAC can benefit largely from the implementation of an ERP system. The ERP system will be their business management tool to assist them to use a system of applications which are integrated to manage their regular activities. The ERP system will incorporate all aspects of the entire organization including finance and accounting, human resources, manufacturing and supply chain management, project management, customer relationship management, data services and control of access ADDIN EN.CITE Wallace2001619(Wallace & Kremzar, 2001)6196196Wallace, T.F.Kremzar, M.H.ERP: making it happen : the implementers' guide to success with enterprise resource planning2001New YorkWiley9780471392019http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=Wa3vIn5DKc8C( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_10" o "Wallace, 2001 #619" Wallace & Kremzar, 2001).

Dezdar, S., & Ainin, S. (2011). The influence of organizational factors on successful ERP implementation. Management Decision, 49(6), 911-926.

In this world with a high level of competition at the top, companies have turned to ERP to gain a competitive advantage over rivals. ERP systems are an instrument used to “build strong capabilities, improve performance, undertake better decision making and achieve competitive advantage” (Keong, Ramayah, Kurnia and Chiun, 2012) (Al-Mashari and Al-Mudimigh, 2003) (2 and 3)

Implementing the ERP system was an essential changing process for Omantel to develop. ERP is a complex system, so the difficulties and limitations are unavoidable. Communication, training and risk management are some of the main obstacles that any organizations that use ERP should put into considerations. Although there are several difficulties, the result of Omantel has been quite positive. Most of Omantel’s employees believe that the new system has made a positive change in their work (Maguire, S., Ojiako, U. & Said, A., 2010). Because of the limitation of available information of Omantel’s implementation result, Omantel ERP system is considered as partly

Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP) integrates the external and the internal management of information across the organization. ERP systems automate the different business processes like sales and service, customer relationship management, finance, accounting, manufacturing with an integrated software application. It is a complex software package that integrates the data and the processes across the organization. Separate systems were maintained in 1960’s by the organizations for different business functions which required frequent updates and lead to ineffeciences in the organization. Since it’s inception in 1990’s ERP systems have been developed drastically with top players like SAP and Oracle. These systems have improved data efficiency, improved data accuracy, improved efficiency and productivity. Many companies tried to implement ERP, some failed while some successfully implemented it. The following paper describes what were the factors that lead to industy’s biggest ERP failures and what companies did the right things for successful ERP implementations.

Anderson (2014) said “ERP implementations rarely fail in formulation; however, they frequently fail in implementation.” It does not in with just purchasing an ERP system. A well designed implementation plan is the company’s ticket to success. A well designed implementation plan addresses all potential bottlenecks like execution problems such as lack of training, attitude and participation of the entire workforce from leaders to staff, and member selection for the whole ERP project implementation team. An ERP project is