Case of ERP implementation

Case of ERP implementation

1. Case of ERP implementation failure


Besides the popularity of ERP systems in business circles, their implementation is often found to be turbulent, time-consuming and hard. The later is supported by the results from a survey conducted by the Conference Board which states that 40% of ERP projects did not meet their expectations and ultimately their executions were regarded as unsuccessful (Cooke, 2001). More importantly, ERP systems have to be seen as long-term strategic tools for corporations which require several years of execution and supplementary post-execution activities.
California-based multinational group was selected for a case study. The company was established in 1958 and mostly of its business units located in Asia-Pacific region (Hong Kong, Macao, China, Taiwan and Australia). Due to legal infringement of information disclosure, the real identity of the organisation is hidden (Chen, 2009).
In essence, the corporation had several attempts to implement ERP. Unfortunately, all efforts turned out to be failures. In the following sections the Phase 1 of ERP implementation will be comprehensively analysed throughout its four stages – launch and planning, contagion, control and monitoring, execution – in the light of project management knowledge areas.

2. ERP implementation process

2.1. Launch and planning stage

The urgent need to replace the outdated legacy systems triggered the management to pull initiative for adoption of ERP system. Project responsibility was passed to the MIS department which significantly lacked expertise, experience and resources to solely develop and execute the system. Thus, it was decided to implement off-the-shelf package, supplied by American ERP vendor.
The management brought a decision for adoption of “vanilla” ERP package which required minimum system modifications. The later move was considered to reduce risk associated with modules customization. Nonetheless, due to poor users’...