E.R.P. Implementation Problems

Enterprise Recourses Plan implementation issues

• Introduction

Implementation of an E.R.P. System is a huge complex process, because an E.R.P. combines or integrates the all processors in an organization in to a single operating entity and implementation process shouldn’t disturb the normal production process.

R.Appuswamy , the Department of Engineering and Technology, Deakin University, Australia says, “Based on the implementation experiences of a few companies like Cable Systems International (Appleton et al.1997),Amoco Corp (Jesitus,1997) McKesscn Corp(Wilder,1998), BCAG, Ansett Australia the issues that confront ERP implementation are People, Business Process Reengineering, Data migration, Hardware and Network topology and configuration issues , Enormity of the effect (ie interruptions to production processes) of go-live on production ,integration of existing legacy systems to ERP and above all the massive cost associated with a ERP Project which may result in cost overruns.” The overwhelming effect of some or all of these issues have resulted in abandoning the ERP software midstream by a number of companies (WM, 1999]. Therefore there is enormous risk associated with such bold initiative. As in all projects, risk management of ERP project will need extreme attention in project management strategy. A quick appraisal of Project Management strategies required for ERP implementation compared to traditional IT project is not out of place”.

In the statement, R.Appuswamy hints us not only about the complexity, but also about the cost and the possible risk.

• Budget and cost schedules

White Papers on “www.projectperfect.com“say,

“Implementation effort will be bigger then ever talked about or even imagined. We are yet to hear from an organization who have implemented ahead of schedule and under budget.” This statement address the same issue R.Appuswamy hinted by his statement. Actually meeting the cost and schedule budgets is one of top requirement in project management, but still failing to achieve on implementation stage. Specially achieving cost budget is critical, since that influence the loss or profit of the particular project.

• Poor Project Management

“Very few organizations have the experience in house to run such a complex project as implementing a large-scale integrated solution. It usually requires outside contractors to come in and manage such a major exercise. It can be a fine line between abdicating responsibility and sharing responsibility. Many consulting firms do a disservice to their clients by not sharing the responsibility. “As mentioned on above hiring outside contractors for project management or consultancy, is very important for companies which do not have previous experience in complex project handling.

• Poor Planning

“Planning covers several areas such as having a strong Business Case, having proper cost and time schedules, achieving required Performances and recruiting suitable users, to the investing in a plan that captures all the issues associated with implementing it.” But still poor planning guide implementations to fail.

• Do Not Identifying The Proper Scope

One reson for most E.R.P. implementation failures is, not Identify the real project scope.

• Insufficient Requirement Gathering

Number one reason for most E.R.P. implementation failures is insufficient requirement gathering, and poor user communication to users while identifying requirements.

• Technology Trials

“The effort to build interfaces, change reports, customize the software, optimizing performances, transferring and convert the data is normally underestimated. To collect new data, and clean the data being converted, will also require an effort that is beyond what is normally expected“Actually adopting proper technology through out the whole project, from designing is very important to the successful implementation. Always the technology should be compatible with the technology which client have, or the client should be agreed to adopt the require technology, since higher technologies may have higher cost

• Low Executive Involvement

“Implementation projects need Senior Executive, or senior management involvement to ensure the right participation mix of Business and IT, and to resolve conflicts.” But in most cases the top level management or executives do not pay there proper involvement for projects from bingeing to end.

• Poor Teem work

E.R.P. implementation is not a one man show. From the beginning to end it requires number of skilled persons from deferent areas, like analyzing, designing, engineering, networking, communicating,