Proposed Approach to Implementing an ERP System

This is an implementation guide for ERP in the case study company. The study highlights the essential elements of a project implementation process. These are research, client meeting, project plan, risk identification, expert opinion, meeting with stakeholders and measuring the success of the implementation process.

Running head: IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
Proposed Approach to Implementing an ERP System
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

1IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
Executive summary
This is an implementation guide for ERP in the case study company. The study highlights the
essential elements of a project implementation process. These are research, client meeting,
project plan, risk identification, expert opinion, meeting with stakeholders and measuring the
success of the implementation process.

2IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
Table of Contents
1. A proposed approach to implementing the ERP system into a full production enterprise system
.........................................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Research.................................................................................................................................3
1.2 Client Meeting.......................................................................................................................3
1.3 Project plan............................................................................................................................3
1.4 Risk identification..................................................................................................................4
1.5 Expert opinion.......................................................................................................................4
1.6 Meeting with stakeholders.....................................................................................................4
1.7 Approval plan........................................................................................................................4
1.8 Initiate the project..................................................................................................................4
2. Proposed measurements to determine if the ERP implementation was successful.....................5
References........................................................................................................................................6

3IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
1. A proposed approach to implementing the ERP system into a full production enterprise
system
1.1 Research
At this stage of the implementation process, primary and secondary data analysis will be
performed to be able to manage the process (O'Leary, 2017). Moreover, adequate information
required to undertake the implementation process will be gathered. Issues that may certainly
arise will also be understood.
1.2 Client Meeting
Once the research phase is over the next big thing for the CIO would be to meet the
clients. Their individual requirements will be checked. Once the individual demands have been
assessed planning will accordingly be made (Papke-Shields & Boyer-Wright, 2017). This is one
of the most important aspects of the entire implementation process. After when the project
requirement of each client is understood, the task could then be preceded.
1.3 Project plan
At this stage of the project, an ERP or Enterprise Resource Management will be
integrated with customer Relationship Management and Supply Chain Management. It is needed
because information generated in the case study company is increasing exponentially with each
passing day. It is just impossible to handle such a large-scale information without an ERP system
(Tarhini et al., 2015). A feasible ERP implementation coupling the SCM and CRM together
should meet the following requirements:
 Selecting the appropriate ERP system: There are so many ERPs software are available
in market. All ERPs can never be fruitful and feasible as well to the case study company

4IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
as different ERPs serve different purpose. Additionally, vendor selection is another
important activity to avoid unnecessary high-pricing for the purchase (Haddara, 2018).
1.4 Risk identification
Some of the risks are as follows:
 Poor planning and execution of the project: Underestimating the projects’ complexity is a
major issue. This is also why many ERP implementation processes do fail (Kerzner &
Kerzner, 2017). The execution process fail to act parallel to the project goals.
 Security: Unauthorised access to the data stored in the form of a database in ERP can be
accessed and hacked (Gupta & Misra, 2016).
 Complexity: Data validation and conversion in the entire process is very difficult to be
conducted (Gupta et al., 2017). This affects the deadline and project budget.
1.5 Expert opinion
Once done with the planning and performing risk assessment, the entire planning needs to
be shown to the experts to know more about the project implementation issues.
1.6 Meeting with stakeholders
This will also be done to identify the risks associated to individual needs of the ERP
system.
1.7 Approval plan
Everything now will be presented to the CE of the business and the board of directors.
They will further assess the project and check the severity of the issue. Once they are satisfied
with it, approval will be sent.

5IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
1.8 Initiate the project
Once the plan gets approved, the project will be initiated.
2. Proposed measurements to determine if the ERP implementation was successful
The success of the ERP implementation can be measured using the following mentioned metrics
(Jayawickrama, Liu & Hudson Smith, 2017):
1. Measuring the Downtime
2. Measuring Hard Numbers
3. Linking Measurement to the KPIs
4. Measuring Strategic Benefits
5. Measuring Intangible benefits
6. Measuring Employee Engagement

6IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
References
Gupta, S., & Misra, S. C. (2016). Compliance, network, security and the people related factors in
cloud ERP implementation. International Journal of Communication Systems, 29(8),
1395-1419.
Gupta, S., Misra, S. C., Singh, A., Kumar, V., & Kumar, U. (2017). Identification of challenges
and their ranking in the implementation of cloud ERP: A comparative study for SMEs
and large organizations. International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, 34(7), 1056-1072.
Haddara, M. (2018). ERP systems selection in multinational enterprises: a practical
guide. International Journal of Information Systems and Project Management, 6(1), 43-
57.
Jayawickrama, U., Liu, S., & Hudson Smith, M. (2017). Knowledge prioritisation for ERP
implementation success: perspectives of clients and implementation partners in UK
industries. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 117(7), 1521-1546.
Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning,
scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.
O'Leary, Z. (2017). The essential guide to doing your research project. Sage.
Papke-Shields, K. E., & Boyer-Wright, K. M. (2017). Strategic planning characteristics applied
to project management. International Journal of Project Management, 35(2), 169-179.

7IMPLEMENTING THE ERP
Tarhini, A., Ammar, H., Tarhini, T., & Masa’deh, R. E. (2015). Analysis of the critical success
factors for enterprise resource planning implementation from stakeholders’ perspective:
A systematic review. International Business Research, 8(4), 25-40.