Project Management: Hershey ERP Implementation

Running head: PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Project Management: Hershey ERP Implementation
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Executive Summary
The main purpose of the report is to evaluate different project management concepts, knowledge
of which helps in successful implementation of a project. The report discusses project
management case associated with the implementation of ERP in Hershey. The report evaluates
the responsibilities of the project client and the project members in successful completion of the
project along with the importance of project scope in project implementation. For a complex
project like ERP implementation, it is essential to properly plan the implementation process. The
report recommends certain approaches that are needed to be considered in order to mitigate
potential problems associated with the project. Choosing an accurate methodology for project
implementation is essential for successful implementation of the project.

2
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
1. Evaluation of project Scope.............................................................................................3
1.1. Aims, Objectives and Project Scope.........................................................................4
1.2. Amended Scope........................................................................................................5
2. The Role of Client and Project manager..........................................................................6
3. Impact of using Big Bang Approach...............................................................................9
4. Potential Challenge........................................................................................................11
4.1. Challenges Faced....................................................................................................11
4.2. Impact of the Challenges Identified........................................................................12
4.3. Recommendations...................................................................................................13
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................14
References..........................................................................................................................15

3
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Introduction
ERP implementation by Hershey was a huge project that was implemented in year
1996-1999. The project was considerably complex as the entire project was to be implemented in
30months instead of 48 months. The project failed incurring a huge loss to the company. The
major reason being the impropriate project management and lack of involving the accurate
project management tools in implementation of the project. A successful implementation of a
project involves organizing and supervising all the major steps involved in a project, especially
the testing phase. A series of project management incompetency has led to the failure of the
project leading to a loss of orders worth $100 million. According to Curko, Stepanic and Varga
(2012), the project management team is responsible for planning and supervising a project till its
successful completion. Proper planning holds a very important place in project management life
cycle. Improper scope evaluation further leads to failure of the projects, similar to the ERP
implementation failure of Hershey. ERP or Enterprise resource planning system integrates all the
vital operations of an organization. Hershey wanted to implement the ERP system in order to
integrate their business process and supply chain. The order processing was supposed to be
automatic with the integration of ERP (Leon 2014). However, an improper planning and
execution of the project in a constricted time led to the failure of the same. The report discusses
the different project management issues associated with the ERP implementation by Hershey.
According to Ram and Corkindale (2014), project manager is an integral part of any project and
successful implementation of the same largely depends on the project manager. The report
identifies the role of the project manager in the ERP implementation project and identifies a
potential challenge to the successful completion of the project.
1. Evaluation of project Scope