Implementation of ERP in Middle East Organizations: A Case Study of National Bank of Oman

The report presents a case study of the implementation of ERP in the National Bank of Oman, focusing on the strategies necessary for successful implementation. The report identifies the ways in which the use of ERP can be made for proper implementation in the organization. The research helps in the identification of the ways in which the uses of the ERP system can be achieved.

Implementation of ERP
Introduction:
The report presents the implementation of
the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in the
organizations of the Middle East. The report focuses
on the usage of the use of the ERP technology can
be made for the carrying out of the various
processes. The report satisfies the second learning
outcome, which involves the stating the various
ways in which the use of ERP can be made for the
proper implementation in the organization. The
various tools of the ERP system is mentioned and
how the monitoring of the ERP model may be done
is also stated in the report. There are various
important solutions that are put forward in this
report for the proper implementation of the ERP.
There are various organizations in the Middle East
such as Oman Oil Company and the National Bank
of Oman which make the use of the ERP for the
obtaining of the competitive advantage and for the
carrying out of the various important operations of
the organization. The Enterprise Resource Planning
is largely used in the various industries specially the
newer organizations for the establishment and the
planning of the newer organizations.
Research Aim:
The aim of this research is to formulate the various
strategies that are necessary for the implementation
of the ERP system in the National Bank of Oman.
The research helps in the identification of the ways
in which the uses of the ERP system can be
achieved.
Research Objective:
 To introduce and define the various
strategies of the ERP system for the
successful implementation and planning of
the work flow of the National Bank of
Oman.
 To formulate the various ways in which the
ERP system solutions can be achieved. The
only implementation is not important. The
achieving of the strategies in a proper
manner is important.
 To lay down some of the research questions
and put forward the ways in which the

solution to the research question may be
achieved.
The Objective of the Case Study
The objective of the case study is to find out
all the challenges of implementing ERP within the
Government of Saudi Arabia.
Data Collection
The collected data from various interviews
with the project management of system provide the
brief idea. The top management of the organization
provides simple survey that is being distributed or
conducted to all the employees or end users for
measuring the acceptance of the users and finally
getting feedbacks from the experience about the
system.
Organization Technology Background
From 1977, this organization has satisfied
all the transfer of technology or research needs of
the government. It started by utilizing the separated
legacy system for various purposes for
warehousing, finance, human resources and
budgeting. All the systems are working alone. In the
year 2009, the top management has realized to
establish a new solution for integrating the
functions of the system.
Needs and Motivation for ERP
The top management of this organization
had decided to move on their enterprise systems in
the year 2009. The structure of the systems as per
the organizational road map is given below:
Figure 1: Structure of Systems
(Source: [2])
Initiation Phase
The first phase is in the initiation phase. The
top management of this organization started this
phase in the year 2010 with the higher level
planning such as estimating the total budget of the
project, getting the approval from the board of
directors as well as reserving the amount from the
Government budget.
Planning Phase

The second phase is the planning phase.
Here the approval of the authorized person is
ensured for supporting the finance properly. This
phase concerns about the team building.
Design Phase
This phase describes about the design of
product. This designing should be done properly for
understanding the entire product properly.
Realization Phase
This phase helps to realize the product
properly. This phase is very important for the
organization and thus should be properly utilized.
Go-Live and Support Phase
The final phase provides a brief discussion
on going live and finally supporting phase. It is the
most important phase as it delivers the proper
product.
Strategies to implement ERP system:
The ERP implementation is not an easy process.
There are various sectors of ERP that have to be
addressed in order to implement ERP in a proper
and effective manner. The ERP is used in the
various businesses and the ERP process has to
follow some of the strategies, which are important
for the achieving of the ERP in a successful manner.
Some of the strategies that may be used are given as
follows:
Defining of the requirements:
The requirements have to be defined in a clear
manner if the concept of Enterprise Resource
Planning is to be implemented. The scope of the
project has to be defined clearly before the decision
is taken regarding the implementation of the ERP
systems. The improper implementation will result in
the production of the wrong results.
Single step implementation:
The process of single step implementation can help
in the achieving of the scope of the project. The use
of the single step can be used by the organization
that are not large enough and the smaller
organization can implement this process. The use of
the single step ERP implementation helps in the
obtaining of the information that is involved with
the scope of the project and the maximum part of
the project is involved and achieved if the use of
Single step ERP implementation is made.
Phased Rollout process:

The Phased rollout process helps in the
achieving of the requirements when any form of
changes is made to the systems. It takes time for the
systems to adapt and adjust to the change in the
structure of the system. This will allow in the saving
of the time for the installation of the platform that
requires the adjusting to the new structure of the
system.
Parallel Adoption:
The parallel adoption helps in the learning
process while carrying out the various tasks that is
related to the project. The parallel adoption concept
helps in the identification of the various new
strategies of the system that needs to be followed in
order to implement the ERP in a better way. The
information about the new systems are also given
by the parallel adoption process.
Research questions:
1. Where is the concept of ERP used?
2. What are the ways in which the ERP strategies
can be applied?
3. What are the issues that may be faced by the
ERP?
Ways to achieve solution to the research questions:
In order to achieve the answers to the research
questions that is put forward the proper analysis of
the system has to be done. The field in which the
ERP is applied has to be researched is checked and
analyzed. The ERP is used for the planning of the
various operation of the organization. The use of
the ERP concept is made for the providing of the
solutions to the various issues of the organization.
The use of ERP helps in the obtaining of the
technology that is helpful in the knowing of the
various technologies that may be used for the
solving of the various issues that may arise. The
analyzing of the concept of the ERP is helpful for
the identification of the ways in which the proper
implementation can be done. There can be a
number of issues that may be faced on the usage of
the ERP.
Research gap:
The use of the ERP is made in the various sectors.
However there are a number of issues that is faces
by the ERP due to which there are a number of
organization that faces various forms of threats. By
the use of the ERP concept the organizations
depend too much on the use of automation. It may

so happen that at times the planning that is made by
the use of ERP is not good enough to satisfy the
structure of the organization. The various
architecture models are put forward in the usage of
the ERP. There are always a limited number of
models to which the ERP sticks for the making of
the decisions or the plans. Many a times the
planning requires the knowledge that is out of the
structure of just these models. In that case the
planning of the organization goes wrong. A similar
kind of fault is also obtained in the case of the
decision making which is made using the use of
ERP. Even in the case of the decision making there
is limited number of resources or the limited
number of situation that is concerned. The decision
making mat not be only restricted to the use of these
models situations, thus making the decisions to go
completely wrong. There are a large number of
organization that depend on the ERP for the making
of the smart decisions and for the processing of the
various product analyses and giving the various
profit and investment solutions for a particular
project. Thus, too much dependency of the ERP
may often result in the taking of the wrong decision
or he improper planning of the organizational
structure. The other sections in which the of the
ERP is made is the putting forward if he best
possible solution with regards to the various aspects
which may involve the solving of the issue relating
to the Cyber security issues or the issues that are
related to the use of the proper technology. The best
possible technology or the best possible solution
may not be put forward at all the times as the data
on the basis of which the solution is put forward
may be corrupted due to various reasons. Thus, the
result may be the use of the wrong concept for the
problem solving. Thus, the actual problem would
not be solved.
Research methodology:
A proper analysis is required for the achievement
of the aim of the research. Enough research should
be done on the various organizations that use the
concept of ERP for carrying out its operation. The
use of the data that is collected from the various
organizations is compared and on the basis of that
the issues and the problems in relation to the use of
ERP the solution is decided and implemented. The
use of these data is made in order to find the major

issue that is involved in the organizations. The
analysis would involve the proper checking of the
solution that is put forward by the usage of the ERP.
The dependency should not be completely on the
automation for the making of the decisions or the
planning. After the solution is obtained there should
be skilled professional who can check and review
whether the solution that is put forward are correct
or not. The quantitative method of analysis may be
used for the carrying out the research and providing
the best possible solution.
Conclusion:
Therefore, from the above discussion,
conclusion can be drawn that ERP is the most
significant and important requirement within the
organization. This ERP implementation has to face
many challenges and the study had helped in
understanding the deployment of the activities for
the development of the activities. The analysis of
the ERP implementation had resulted in the
formation of the issues of design issues,
incompatibility of the data, loss of the information,
and the consumption of the excess resources.
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