Going Live is not the end of the ERP Journey

This article discusses the stages and benefits of an ERP systems journey. It explains why going live is not the end of the journey and provides insights into the implementation process. The article also includes a case study of LG Electronics and their experience with ERP systems.

Running head: ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS
Enterprise Resource Planning Systems
Topic: Going Live is not the end of the ERP Journey
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Example of a case study in context........................................................................................3
Why and ERP systems journey may never end?....................................................................5
What are the possible stages in an ERP systems journey?.....................................................6
What are the potential benefits of each stage?.......................................................................8
Identification of the drivers and barriers for companies to move from one stage to the next
..............................................................................................................................................10
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
References................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
It is often assumed that an organization has been facing a lot of trouble with the
management of information in the organization. With the advancement in the technology, the
organizations realise that there is a requirement of handling the implications that the
organization has been facing in the recent times, and one of the primary ways by which these
can be done is formulated with the help of the adoption of the new technologies. Various
technological advancements have been found not just to be providing benefits to the
organization, but also solving various problems regarding the business process (Surendro
2016). One of the major problems found in the organizations in the latest times have been the
issues that the organizations have been facing in handling the business information. The
issues can be eliminated with ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning systems software that has
the ability to feasibly handle the business information systems and allows the organization to
automate their back-office functions and manage the business as a whole related to the
technology as well as the operations of the human resources department. Therefore,
organizations have been found to be using the ERP systems as a solution to the acquired
problems (Erazo, Arboleda and Pino 2017). At the same time, the organizations are often
found to be having an idea about the employment plan of the ERP systems that it is a one-
time activity, and this is presumably thought of as a misconception. The following report
would thus clarify how the reimbursements of the ERP system is not acquired proximately
after the enactment and how the benefits can occur over time and what is required to handle
the benefits provided the various stages in the organization. This report would thus enable the
understanding over the various ERP system journey and the ERP maturity.

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Example of a case study in context
In this context, about describing the journey of the employment of ERP systems
within an organization, it is required that the organization in which the employment
procedure is occurring, understands the need of business requirements as well (Hustad,
Haddara and Kalvenes 2016). It is understandable that business organizations require the
employment plan at such a great level that they could solve all the possible business problems
that they have within the business systems. The organizations should understand all the
business requirements that an organization needs to implement within the business system.
The effective employment of the business system requires a thought of the business
requirements behind the entire plan. It also needs to consider what the business engagement
requires and how will it be influential given the requirements of the stakeholders. In this
particular phase, it is required that an example is presented on the basis of the discussion of
the ERP solution employment in the organization of LG clarifying the HRMS ERP system
employment.
LG is required as a global giant in the world. It has more than 114 subsidiaries and
has over 82,000 employees and the employees been spanned over 40 countries (Alles et al.
2018). The company faced huge challenges when it required the employment of the
harmonious Human Resource Management functions in the entire organization. The ways by
which the employment plan faced a huge amount of maintenance cost, made the organization
go through a lot of difficult situations like the lack of transparency in the local costs, the
problems in the decision-making systems, the problems occurring in the resource allocation
and utilization and many others (Oseni et al. 2017). This problem made it very problematic
for LG to function as a global organization and therefore, the company decided to implement
the benefits that organizations enjoy through the employment of the ERP system.

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During this, the company faced a lot of challenges, like the following:
 There were problems regarding the system where there was a huge
requirement of the top-level reporting but it was not achievable.
 There was a provision of optimum utilization of the resources as well.
 The employees within the organization was lacking in the local level
transparency and also when it required global reporting.
 The employees were found to be disengaged and it was also found that the
outlook towards the deliverables was requiring the sharing of resources and
information sharing was not possible (Goyette et al. 2015).
 There was a limited localized resource available and for that reason, the
organization faced a lot of trouble.
 There was difficulty in making essential decision and it affected the business
in the most impactful way possible.
LG was found to be familiar with the Oracle enabled technology solutions and it was
thus extremely easy to finalize a solution for implementing the ERP systems in the
organization. The Oracle technology that the organization used was susceptible to the data
hosting and it was extremely easy to host the data, migrate the data in the most feasible and in
the easiest way possible. The scalability of data was possible in the most feasible way and
also multiple modules were assessed to find out the most centralized access control (Bjelland
and Haddara 2018). The organization of LG thus hired the organization of LG for building up
of a single-handed centralized system that has the ability of integrating the available Oracle
Human Resource Modules and at the same time replaced all the system dependency in the
locations.

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For this, the organization of LG achieved a huge amount of benefits. This included the
following:
 Minimal maintenance cost for the singular centralized system.
 Transparent recruitment system available with processes like employee
appraisal, hiring process, employee engagement, rewarding performance
schemes and right competencies (Harwood 2017).
 Reporting to the higher management in real time and tracking of the set goals.
 Informed decision-making systems accessible in the easiest way possible.
Why and ERP systems journey may never end?
An ERP Systems would be defined as a form of integrated solutions based on
different software solutions that helps in the integration of several processes of the business.
The flow of information throughout the entire organisation would be made easy with the help
of the ERP systems. In the recent times, there are several kinds of companies who make use
of the best form of ERP software solutions through which they would be able to provide the
better kind of services to their customers (Galy and Sauceda 2014). Based on the desired
form of service, the company would be able to benefit by gaining huge business revenue. The
employment of ERP systems within any company based on SAP and Hybris platforms could
be termed as a certain form of process that would require a continuous form of development.
This is mainly due to the reason that the post-production support would be continuously be
required within the project. The technology that is being employed by different companies is
changing at a fast pace and therefore it would be highly beneficial for them to install the
updates within the system.

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The ERP employment at companies are taking pace at a rapid form and thus these
companies have made varied use of different processes that would help them to identify the
basic factors, which would lead to the success. Based on the different kind of needs of the
arrangement, it can be discussed that ERP employment is regarded as a non-stop process (Ha
and Ahn 2014). With the help of this form of project, the employment phase would not end
till the completion of the go-live process would begin. However, with the employment of the
ERP systems within the organisation, there are several forms of post-production activities,
which would be highly required that should be taken in a serious manner (Ram, Wu and Tagg
2014). Based on the employment of such kind of processes, there would not be any kind of
issues with the factors of quality and performance of the various ERP systems.
Based on the perspective of the development of systems within a company, it can be
discussed that there are human aspects and organisational changes within the company. The
high usage of Information Systems would play a major role for the development of
knowledge within the various processes of the business (Zach, Munkvold and Olsen 2014).
Hence, with the proper form of employment procedures of the ERP systems, the entire
community of end users would be highly benefited. Many kind of organisational benefits that
includes high profitability iof the business processes would be included. Hence, from the
discussion supported, it can be further discussed that with the employment of such kind of
process, the organisations would be able to better reach to the customers and thus higher
benefits.
What are the possible stages in an ERP systems journey?
As ERP employment is considered, the success has never been leaving any clue. Here,
in the case of LG Electronics, the clues indicate the ways towards the phased deployments.
This accounts for various myriad needs. Here, this is distilled into various stages of ERP

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implementing. This seems to be consistent and common among various successful
organizations other than LG. These are demonstrated hereafter.
Pre-evaluation screening:
Prior to observing any solution, LG first requires to identify their organizational
needs. They must comport a thorough and careful inventory for their needs. This involves the
participants from various representatives and discipline from all the group who are using the
system of ERP. Here, the aim is to achieve the complete and comprehensive analysis of the
organization needs, challenges, resources and tools (Shatat 2015).
Evaluation:
As the evaluation phase continues, the organizations look at various vendors and have
been offering and analysing the benefits and drawbacks of each. Here, they have been
matching the necessities of those ERP Systems for finding one that has been addressing the
maximum necessities at the best price (Alcivar and Abad 2016).
Gap analysis:
This is a smart idea for LG to go to the vendors and as hen bout the ways to mitigate
the gaps. Moreover, there are extra tools from a similar organization that can quickly and
easily address those concerns. Otherwise, a custom solution can be needed.
Training:
Further, all the people who have been using the ERP system requires training. Here,
this is needed for the needs, schedules and training scopes of LG.

8ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS
Testing:
Prior the system gets rolled out throughout LG. This must be examined through for
assuring that, it has been using information properly. This is helpful to deliver the intended
data (Chofreh et al. 2016).
It must be reminded, that it has been the time for rolling out for LG. As the system is
in a proper place, LG must document all the queries and issues that are noticed. They should
place expertise as the keeper of the queries and collect all the elements together and resolve
the issues. This has been simpler to have the point of contact and system of experts in the
proper place. Here, the people can react to fast questions regarding the system, and they must
contact the vendors for the responses (Sun, Ni and Lam 2015). Hence, it can be said that the
ERP system can distil and share data from across the business of LG to data and reports. This
can develop all the aspects of LG's business. Apart from this, the sales, marketing, operations,
supply chains, human resources and finances of LG can gain benefits from the latest system.
As the system is in the proper place, the silos get broken down and the information helps all
the people to be contributed to the company for making it see-through. Moreover, the
business decisions can be performed on the basis of the information, instead of any
guesswork. Here the positive benefits gained from the transition is also high. Lastly, it can be
said that success leaves clues and the steps discussed above can help LG to smoothly transit
in the innovative word of ERP.
What are the potential benefits of each stage?
The potential benefit of the above stated stages in the journey of the ERP systems can
be summarized in the following paragraphs:

9ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING SYSTEMS
The planning and discovery phase is important due to the fact that this stage will help
in the employment of the ERP system with the customized structure based on the current
issues as well as providing the significant solutions regarding it (Nwankpa, 2015). Moreover,
in the planning phase of the ERP systems it can be determined that the system can amplify
the efficiency of the overall system. The planning of the ERP system can help the unified
overall structure to be an effective one.
Moreover, the designing phase is necessary to effectively design the various
configurations of the new system such as defining the roles in accordance to the successful
employment of the ERP systems within an organization (Harwood, 2017). In this phase the
visibility of the whole ERP system is described as there is an availability of the overall
company’s information in which the ERP is to be implemented.
The development procedure enhances the designed customizations that are developed
for the effective user interaction within eth ERP Systems. This phase readily enhances the
reporting as well as planning of the ERP Systems. By customising the ERP Systems for an
organization, it is very easy to handle a single unified system of reporting for the entire
department.
The testing phase helps the process to verify the employment as well as configuration
of the whole implemented ERP systems. This phase is necessary as it checks the overall
procedure for defining the customizations as well as the testing of the whole ERP system
before it has gone live (Badewi et al., 2018). As this phase checks about the overall
employment of the ERP systems this can built a strong database for the customizations that
has been taken place in a specific organization.
The deployment stage helps the ERP systems to effectively used by the customers as
well as the project team that are associated with the employment of the ERP systems

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(Greasley and Wang, 2017). After the deployment of the ERP systems it can be said that the
efficiency of the overall ERP employment is depicted in this phase.
Moreover, with the employment of the ERP systems data security as well as quality is
maintained at an enhanced level. As ERP deals with mainly with the data of an organization
it very necessary for the organized employment of the ERP so that the organization can avail
a great and enhanced data storage as well as security.
Identification of the drivers and barriers for companies to move from one stage
to the next
There are diverse types of barriers and challenges associated in the transition phase
where LG changes their ERP employment from one stage to the other. The most significant
drivers come from the consumers of LG Corporation who want real time data analysis. All
the decision making of the organization which have a momentous impression on the
development and productivity of LG Corporation has to be aligned during the employment of
the ERP system (Teo 2017). The other driver of the employment is the reduction of the cost
of the new ERP system, at the same it can also be said that the new business plan are the most
significant drivers of the ERP employment. The increased competition between the other
similar organizations is the other driver regarding the employment of a new ERP system
(Nwankpa 2015). All the business contacts must be aligned with the employment procedure
of the ERP system, at the same time it can be also said that the dynamic stock exchange of
LG Corporation can be a driving forces regarding the employment transitional journey of the
ERP system. It can be said that all the essential business functions of LG such as the Human
Resource department, Operations and Logistics department and sales and marketing
department has to contribute during this transitional phase so that it is easier for the IT
experts to change from one phase to another.

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At the same time, it can also be said that there are numerous blockades
associated with the transition of ERP system one phase to other such as the resistance to
change. All the internal stakeholders of LG Corporation must be understanding the exact
reason behind the change and its impact on their personal growth. Inadequate funds and
financial management is the other limitation associated in this transitional phase (Li, Chang
and Yen 2017). The expectation of the stakeholders associated with the ERP must be
understood by the IT expert team who is trying to make all the necessary changes. Poor
project management may also have a significant impact during this transitional phase. The
confusion of the cost associated with ERP system can have a significant impact on the
employment of the ERP system as well. It can be said that change management plan can be
very much beneficial for business organizations. LG Corporation have been having a
professional change management plan which created and maintained professional expects.
The chances of failure of the project has to be pre-calculated and analysed by experienced IT
experts. It can be said that maintaining the new ERP system can be a huge concern for LG
Corporation as separate investments are required for employment of the plan along with the
change management plan (Feldman et al. 2016). All the probable factors which are reason
behind the failed employment of the ERP system has to be studied in the first places so that
there are no real issues while moving from one step to another. The ensuing unit of the paper
will be discussions the suppositions which can be concluded from this paper.
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be stated that as technology has been developing,
organizations have been looking for ways that could be used for the purpose of mitigating
numerous issues faced in their operations. One of the issues that are being mitigated by the
organizations with the use of technologies includes management of business information.

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ERP systems have been considered as a bug ticket projects that requires incurring of high
costs along with varying timeframes. Various case studies that represent the successful
employment of ERP systems allow organizations to make their choices wisely. These choices
made in the aspects of vendors, solutions and systems, good understanding of the present
gaps as well as the objectives that are to be met by the organization. Leaving the entire
process on vendors might prove to be the worst decisions. It is assumed by various
researchers that organizations have been facing numerous issues in their operations tend to
implement Enterprise and Resource Planning for the purpose of resolving them. Numerous
issues similar to these are mitigated with the help of implementing ERP, it has the ability to
handle various business information systems along with allowing the organization in
automating their operations and hence manage the entire business. Numerous organizations
have been found that use the ERP systems in the form of a solution to the problems that are
being faced by them in various aspects. Besides this, the organizations are found to acquire
an idea regarding the employment plan of ERP systems as a dynamic process. This particular
report, would discuss regarding the fact that after the employment of ERP systems, the
benefits are not usually acquired by the organizations in the initial stages, it further discusses
regarding the ways how the benefits are acquired by them gradually. This happens into
various stages.

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