Enterprise Resource Planning

This document discusses the different stages of the ERP journey, including discovery and planning, design, development, testing and deployment, ongoing support, and continuous improvements. It also highlights the benefits and challenges associated with each stage, with reference to case studies. The implementation of ERP systems is a continuous process that requires ongoing support and continuous improvement.

Running head: ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING
Enterprise Resource Planning
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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................2
ERP stages and Benefits:.................................................................................................................2
Discovery and the Planning stage:...............................................................................................2
Design Stage:...............................................................................................................................3
Development stage:.....................................................................................................................4
Testing and Deployment stage:...................................................................................................5
Ongoing support:.........................................................................................................................6
ERP Systems Journey May Never End:..........................................................................................6
Final Documentation:..................................................................................................................7
Help desk and On-site Support:...................................................................................................8
Additional Training:....................................................................................................................8
Scalability and Upgrades.............................................................................................................9
Continuous improvements:..........................................................................................................9
Drivers and barriers in the process of moving from one stage to another:....................................10
Conclusion:....................................................................................................................................11
References:....................................................................................................................................12

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Introduction:
ERP or the Enterprise Resource Planning is considered to be a software associated with
managing the business process and is mainly associated with providing of an integrated platform
for helping and managing the entire business activities along with the different back office
functions as well which are seen to be associated with the organizations functions (Hustad,
Haddara and Kalvenes 2016). The ERP implementation is associated with including a step by
step approach.it is also considered that whenever a new ERP system is released and the same
goes live then the task comes to an end. Despite of all this there still exists numerous post related
to go-live work along with the assistance which are necessary for the implementation of the
system. This document would be associated with discussing about the different stages of the ERP
journey along with highlighting the benefits associated with each stage (Nassar, Warrad and
Siam 2017). Besides this there also exists certain barriers which are seen to be present in the
processes related to moving from one stage to another and all this have been presented in this
report. For reference, in this report different case studies have been considered so as to explain
the concepts that are related to the journey of an ERP.
ERP stages and Benefits:
Discovery and the Planning stage:
This is the first stage of the journey is discovery and planning which is associated with
initiating the design and implementing the ERP system. This stage is seen to be responsible for
including the identification of the goals and objectives along with the business needs of an
organization by means of an analysis and conducting of studies assisted by different kind of
meeting arrangements so as to discuss about the business (Chofreh, Goni and Klemeš 2018).

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Another major constituent of this stage is the identification of the team members along with their
respective duties and responsibilities which are to be allocated to them. This stage generally acts
as a foundation of the entire ERP journey which is also associated with including the
documentation of the main processes as well as the requirements. Some of the other activities
which are seen to be included in this stage involves the risk analysis, identifying the gaps which
are potential along with having a understanding of the solutions which are possible to be
implemented (Shatat 2015). The final result includes putting forward of a project plan which
would be consisting of all the details in a document.
The stage is associated with putting forward of several benefits for the overall ERP
journey. The first and the foremost benefit is the identification and finalization of the ERP
foundation. Secondly this particular stage is including the senior management along with the
project leader who would be having the capability of understanding the requirements and
specifications of the ERP system. Besides this, the discovery and planning stage is also
associated with helping in putting forward of a wide picture of the steps which are to be adopted
in the later section of the journey along with reviewing them (Chofreh, Goni, and Klemeš 2017).
Deloitte is a leading multi-national professions service firm which is having its headquarter
situated in United States have been associated with suggesting the fact that this particular stage
of the ERP journey is the most significant one and is associated with following the same during
the complete implementation of the ERP.
Design Stage:
The stage followed by the first one is the designing stage. In this stage the main details as
well as the records which the client provides are reviewed which is followed by carrying out of
the alignment and the thorough analysis of the ERP system for the project resources as well as

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for the stakeholders. Besides this the stage is associated with including the establishment of the
initial system configuration setting (Mendes 2018). Key activities of this stage is associated with
including the creation of prototypes and defining the roles of the users. The result of this stage is
associated with including a document which would be consisting of all the ERP procedures.
The major benefits which is put forward to the ERP journey by this stage is the
identification of the prototypes of the design along with the defining the roles which would be
played by the users while using the ERP systems (Antero 2015). Besides this the project team is
also made capable of understanding the overall design of eth system which are seen to required
and are to be implemented.
Development stage:
Followed by the designing phase is the development stage which is having the primary
objective of developing an environment which would be helpful for the creation of the ERP
system and would also be helping in preparing the system for going live so as to put forward a
system that has been created by considering certain specifications along with the requirements.
The development stage along with including the customization of the ERP system is also
associated with including the incorporation of different qualities which mainly involves the
scalability, flexibility and the adaptability (Bentley et al. 2016). Besides this the codes which are
required are also created for the purpose of preparing the system for going live along with which
the unit testing is conducted for identifying the initial set of bugs existing in the ERP system
along with the defects.
This stage is also associated with including the simulation of the live environment and is
associated with putting forward of numerous benefits and the reason behind this the end product
and the performance of the end product that is the ERP system is dependent upon the activities

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which are conducted in the development stage (Chofreh, Goni and Klemeš 2016). In addition to
all this the stage is also associated with including the process related to validating of the system
which has been developed with respect to the specifications which is mainly done for the
purpose of validating the system which has been developed against the specification so as to
make sure of identifying the changes in a timely manner.
Testing and Deployment stage:
This particular stage is associated with including the testing of the activities by which the
system has been developed so as to validate and verify them against the specifications and the
requirements. This testing is aimed at validation of the ERP system as well as its functionalities
which are mainly applied in contradiction to the specifications as well as the requirements which
have been put forward by the clients (Thakur 2016). This stage is also aimed at establishing the
proficiency of the end users along with being associated with configuration tuning as well.
This particular stage is also associated with including different activities like the testing
of the user acceptance which is carried out by the team associated with testing as well as by a
end-user group. In addition to this different kind of testing are also carried out such as the testing
of performance of the system and the security of the system and many more. The journey of
implementing an ERP is not an easy one and the reason behind this includes the transition which
is seen to be taking place while moving to new systems from the older ones. The stage associated
with testing is also associated with covering the process of establishing the cut-off strategy as
well as the process of adjusting the configurations.
The deployment stage is associated with including the Go-live stage and is associated
with including the assessing and establishment of the proficiency of the end users. This stage is
also associated with including a decision related to moving forward or not along with the loading

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of the bot the type of data that is the dynamic data and the static data (Gavidia 2017). The stage
is also seen to be associated with validation and balancing of the ERP system against the legacy
system and lastly the users are provided or delivered with a system consisting of all the
components as well as functions.
The benefits associated with this stage are numerous and the reason behind this is the
identification of the defects along with different kind of deviations in the functionality. Besides
this the stage also includes management of the changes assisted with the end-user proficiency
assessment as well (Al-Sabaawi 2015). Another major benefit of this stage is the enhancement of
the usability and satisfaction along with the end-user experience by means of numerous activities
included in this stage.
Ongoing support:
This stage is which is associated with including the providing of post-production support
for the users in terms of the assistance for the different functions of the system along with
providing the users with resolutions for the queries. This is the stage which is also associated
with including of providing the end users with a user manual or system documentation for the
purpose of providing them with trainings for the system.
ERP Systems Journey May Never End:
Infosys is considered to one of the major technological firm which is associated with
providing of IT related solution for businesses along with services which are dedicated towards
the customers. In addition to this, the organization is also associated with providing of e-
commerce based solution as well for the Becton, Dickinson and Company DB on Hybrid
platforms along with SAP solutions for the back-end processes. The implementation of the ERP

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which has been successfully done by the organization in the hybrid and SAP platforms are
termed as the processes which are seen to be requiring a continuous development (Ali and Miller
2017). The reason behind this is the post-production support which were seen to be required for
the project were associated with continuously working even after the deployment for a long
period. Technology is considered to be something which is associated with encountering
frequent changes at a very high speed which has initially been resulting in the need of installing
updates into the ERP systems which has already been deployed.
The implementation of ERP at Hershey was seen to be a huge failures which was
encountered during the implementation. The reason behind the failure included issues related to
the testing, scheduling of the project and overall management of the project. the organization had
been associated with making some major mistakes in the process of estimating the demands of
the users and has also been associated with missing out of the key activities like the testing and
providing of training to the users (Bento et al. 2015). Hershey had been associated with
indulging itself in the process of big band implementation rather than the adaptation of the step
wise approach resulting in the big failure. In addition to this the organization had been associated
with making a demand related to 30 months turnaround time instead of the schedule of 48
months which was estimated. This existing errors of the process related to estimating and
calculating added with the incapability of accomplishing the journey of the ERP journey and
inadequate organizing and management was initially responsible for the failure of the entire
project.
Final Documentation:
Documenting the project rights is extremely necessary in a right way so as to make sure
that it is possible use these documents later not only as a reference but also as a mean of

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understanding the issues in an easy way during different stages of a project. For example, the
project resources are not capable of clearly outlining the major risks associated with the project
and this risks mainly includes those that were identified at the deployment stage without the
existence of a proper project plan. In a similar way absence of a user manual would be associated
with leading to improper execution a particular function (Arthur 2016). The final document
should not be associated with covering all the documents which are highlighted in the
deliverables of the project but should also be associated with including the information related to
the decisions which were taken at the project lifecycle along with the lessons which were
acquired by the resources of the project in addition to the details present in the approvals and in
the sign offs.
Help desk and On-site Support:
Various kind of scenarios might be put forwards once the project deployment is
completed which is to be faced by the users and this might be including the issues related to
execution of a particular functionality or the inability of resolving a particular error and many
more. The implementation of the ERP might seem to be varying in accordance to the
organization type and size and for this reason it is not possible to define or provide a generalized
guideline for the users. For this reason there is an essential need of setting up of a help desk
which would be associated with recording and providing resolutions to the different incidents
(Chofreh 2015). Besides this there is also a need of setting up an on-site support which would be
helping in making sure of the fact that the users are being assured related to the assistance by
means of simply clicking a button at any time.

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Additional Training:
The project team resources which are seen to be beginning with the ERP system project
is not necessarily be associated with continuing with the organization throughout their entire life.
There might be existing certain resources which would join the team when the project is going
on or after the go live stage. For this reason, it is essential that training documents are present in
each organization, which is to be provided to the team members as well as to the end users.
Besides this the training programs which are generally designed by considering the end-users
should be associated with considering the perspective of the users belonging to all age groups as
well as categories like the individual users, senior citizens, business users and many more.
Scalability and Upgrades
The rapid scale of changes taking place in the technology is associated with giving rise to
the need of making sure that the ERP systems are being designed and implemented as per the
technologies changing nature. Besides this it is also to be made sure that automatic as well as
manual upgrading of the systems are being done within a fixed time interval, along with which
there should also exist a scope of scaling up or scaling down of the system in accordance to the
requirements as well as preferences (Badewi 2016). This type of practices would not only be
associated with leading to the enhancement of the experiences of the user but would also be
associated with providing an increased security for the entire system.
Continuous improvements:
From the discussion it can be stated that an ERP journey is continuous in nature
associated with achieving of improvements as well as enhancements. There is a requirement of
adequate planning along with designing, development and testing along with deployment and
endless support after production during successful ERP implementation. For example the

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organization LG electronics have been capable of successful implementation of the ERP solution
in the infrastructure as well as in the processes by means of continuous improvements (Lepistö
2015). The project was achieved by implementation of five phase planned process and along
with the existence of the post production support for the users as well as the stakeholders helped
in making sure of the fact that exists no issues in terms of the performance and the usability.
Drivers and barriers in the process of moving from one stage to another:
There exists certain challenges as well as barriers which are encountered by organizations
while implementing and completing the projects related to ERP. One of the major barrier is
associated with including the issues related to compatibility which exists between different ERP
modules along with the problems related to getting integrated with these particular module as
one unit (Swanier 2016). The issues related to compatibility is associated with leading to rise of
barriers in the process of moving to the next stage.
The form of the approach is another major barrier and this approach generally refers to to
the one that the project follows. Often it has been seen that the approach which is adopted is
traditional and is associated with including of the total completion of the one stage so as to move
toward the next stage. For this reason it is suggested to make use of the agile methodology as a
replacement of the traditional means so as to make sure that testing can be conducted throughout
the project (Asprion, Schneider and Grimberg 2018). This in turn would be helping in making
sure of the fact that clients are being involved actively during the process of implementing ERP
so as to provide valuable feedbacks as well as comments.
Another major issue which is to be considered is the form of skills that the resources of
the project are having in addition to the changes which are seen to be appearing at time of

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migrating and transiting the existing system to the new system. Numerous changes are put
forward because of the ERP implementation and this are seen to be related to the business
processes and the operations in addition to the methodologies which are followed (Tao et al.
2018). Besides this the skill sets of the project resources are also sometimes seen to be not falling
in line with the set of skills or abilities that are required. It is possible to overcome all this issues
or changes by means of training sessions which needs to be organized for the project team
members.
Conclusion:
The usage of the ERP systems are seen to have become an integral part of the
organizations existing in today’s world and it is necessarily to be made sure that these type of
implementations are being done in a correct way. The journey of an ERP is considered to be a
process which never ends and continues even after project goes live. The ERP journey is can be
classified into different stages which includes the discovery and planning stage, designing stage,
development stage, deployment and testing stages and is also associated with including the
ongoing support. The last stage which includes the ongoing support or the support after
production is associated with including different operations like the documentation, help desk
and onsite support, continuous improvement and upgrades. In addition to all this there also exists
certain challenges that are encountered by the ERP systems implementation process such as
compatibility issues changes and many more.

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References:
Ali, M. and Miller, L., 2017. ERP system implementation in large enterprises–a systematic
literature review. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 30(4), pp.666-692.
Al-Sabaawi, M.Y.M., 2015. Critical success factors for enterprise resource planning
implementation success. International Journal of Advances in Engineering & Technology, 8
Antero, M.C., 2015. A Multi-case Analysis of the Development of Enterprise Resource Planning
Systems (ERP) Business Practices. Morten Friis-Olivarius The Associative Nature of Creativity.
Arthur, E.A., 2016. Successful Enterprise Resource Planning System Implementation: A Higher
Education Managerial Perspective.
Asprion, P.M., Schneider, B. and Grimberg, F., 2018. ERP Systems Towards Digital
Transformation. In Business Information Systems and Technology 4.0 (pp. 15-29). Springer,
Cham.
Badewi, A. (2016). Investigating benefits realisation process for enterprise resource planning
systems.
Bentley, T., Rizer, M., McAlearney, A.S., Mekhjian, H., Siedler, M., Sharp, K., Teater, P. and
Huerta, T., 2016. The journey from precontemplation to action: Transitioning between electronic
medical record systems. Health care management review, 41(1), pp.22-31.
Bento, R., Bento, A., Bento, A. and ISTM, M., 2015. How fast are enterprise resource planning
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p.35.

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Chofreh, A.G., 2015. A Masterplan for the Implementation of Sustainable Enterprise Resource
Planning System (Doctoral dissertation, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia).
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Gavidia, J.V., 2017. A model for enterprise resource planning in emergency humanitarian
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Hustad, E., Haddara, M. and Kalvenes, B., 2016. ERP and organizational misfits: An ERP
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Lepistö, L., 2015. On the use of rhetoric in promoting enterprise resource planning
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Nassar, M., Warrad, L. and Siam, Y.A., 2017. The Implementation of Enterprise Resource
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