Assignment Question:
A one-page write-up on “Discuss and analyse the Critical Success factors in ERP
implementation”
Guidelines:
A one-page write-up is approximately 1500 words
Be short, concise, and point wise
Use: https://scholar.google.com/ or other publication website.
You are expected to do some intensive research
Reference should be from recent (within 5 years) journals and professional publications
Use Harvard referencing style. (http://www.harvardgenerator.com/references/electronic-journal-article)
Those who will mention uncommon but proven / validate “Critical Success factors” will get
bonus marks.
, Introduction
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a merged system, which is made of several integrated
applications (Deshmukhet al., 2015). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is one the recent
technologies that almost every enterprise have worked on and it is one of the information system
that has been crucial in operating and succeeding process efficiently and effectively (Hilletofth et
al., 2010). Business organizations around the globe have been introducing ERP systems since the
1990s not only to have a single information system but also to reorganize the processes in each of
their organizations. The implementation of an ERP system has an impact on individuals at several
levels of an organization because it has effects on all operational units and without planning or
supporting procedure, firms may spend a lot of money, resource, and time on ERP implementation.
A successfully implemented ERP system has the advantages of reducing cost and high system
quality but yet failure continue to happen because organization can’t cope with their primary scope,
budget and planning (Mu et al.,2015). Identifying the factors that will raise the chance of success of
an implementation project is very crucial; these factors are known as critical success factors (CSFs).
Good knowledge of these CSFs and their impact on the implementation project will definitely
diminish the probability of failure, these factors are:
1. Top management involvement and commitment.
The first role of executive management for achieving the implementation project is to identify the
key metrics of measurable value that the system should be provided and the budget needed (George
Sagen, 2013). According to George Sagen (2013) executive managers must set objectives and
strategic goals to the selected team and support them all the time when needed if they want ERP to
be successfully implemented.
2. Training
Training is a determinant factor that guarantees the success of the ERP implementation. ERP
implementation and training successful implementation was found to have a fundamental
connection (Costa et al., 2016; Rajan & Baral, 2015).To know how the ERP system functions users
must get training and they must know how it is related with the organization’s business processes.
Anxiety and stress will be reduce with proper training on how to use the system and provide better
knowledge on how they can gain from it for their job functions (D. Lee, Lee, Olson, & Chung,
2010; Rajan & Baral, 2015). The outcome of the training will be a boost in confidence and fewer
mistakes in completing the business works using the system.
3. Project management
Many studies have recognized effective project management as an essential factor for the successful
implementation of the ERP systems (Tsai et al, 2011). The main reason is that the implementation
of such systems is a complicated process. So, effective project management is crucial for the
success of the implementation process. It allows businesses to plan, coordinate, and monitor several
implementation tasks. Moreover, Zhu, Li, Wang, and Chen (2010) mentioned that effective project
management guarantee the successful automation of several routine operations by the system, which
result to many operational gains, including high processing speed and productivity.
Page 2 of 8
A one-page write-up on “Discuss and analyse the Critical Success factors in ERP
implementation”
Guidelines:
A one-page write-up is approximately 1500 words
Be short, concise, and point wise
Use: https://scholar.google.com/ or other publication website.
You are expected to do some intensive research
Reference should be from recent (within 5 years) journals and professional publications
Use Harvard referencing style. (http://www.harvardgenerator.com/references/electronic-journal-article)
Those who will mention uncommon but proven / validate “Critical Success factors” will get
bonus marks.
, Introduction
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a merged system, which is made of several integrated
applications (Deshmukhet al., 2015). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is one the recent
technologies that almost every enterprise have worked on and it is one of the information system
that has been crucial in operating and succeeding process efficiently and effectively (Hilletofth et
al., 2010). Business organizations around the globe have been introducing ERP systems since the
1990s not only to have a single information system but also to reorganize the processes in each of
their organizations. The implementation of an ERP system has an impact on individuals at several
levels of an organization because it has effects on all operational units and without planning or
supporting procedure, firms may spend a lot of money, resource, and time on ERP implementation.
A successfully implemented ERP system has the advantages of reducing cost and high system
quality but yet failure continue to happen because organization can’t cope with their primary scope,
budget and planning (Mu et al.,2015). Identifying the factors that will raise the chance of success of
an implementation project is very crucial; these factors are known as critical success factors (CSFs).
Good knowledge of these CSFs and their impact on the implementation project will definitely
diminish the probability of failure, these factors are:
1. Top management involvement and commitment.
The first role of executive management for achieving the implementation project is to identify the
key metrics of measurable value that the system should be provided and the budget needed (George
Sagen, 2013). According to George Sagen (2013) executive managers must set objectives and
strategic goals to the selected team and support them all the time when needed if they want ERP to
be successfully implemented.
2. Training
Training is a determinant factor that guarantees the success of the ERP implementation. ERP
implementation and training successful implementation was found to have a fundamental
connection (Costa et al., 2016; Rajan & Baral, 2015).To know how the ERP system functions users
must get training and they must know how it is related with the organization’s business processes.
Anxiety and stress will be reduce with proper training on how to use the system and provide better
knowledge on how they can gain from it for their job functions (D. Lee, Lee, Olson, & Chung,
2010; Rajan & Baral, 2015). The outcome of the training will be a boost in confidence and fewer
mistakes in completing the business works using the system.
3. Project management
Many studies have recognized effective project management as an essential factor for the successful
implementation of the ERP systems (Tsai et al, 2011). The main reason is that the implementation
of such systems is a complicated process. So, effective project management is crucial for the
success of the implementation process. It allows businesses to plan, coordinate, and monitor several
implementation tasks. Moreover, Zhu, Li, Wang, and Chen (2010) mentioned that effective project
management guarantee the successful automation of several routine operations by the system, which
result to many operational gains, including high processing speed and productivity.
Page 2 of 8
