Insights from ERP Implementation Projects

Introduction:

That article is based on an Open Research Published Paper written on SAP by Mellyuni Sitinjak Riyanto Jayadi in explaining a Qualitative case study from critical success factors in three ERP Implementation projects that article is very informative and has many learning lessons that need to be taken into consideration while implementing ERP projects. It has an analysis for the gaps and learning lessons from previous projects. That paper is full of fruitful information that can be written in a simple simplified way to help in spreading the success of ERP projects.

Paper Discussion Flow:

The paper is emphasizing on how companies are looking forward to advance in the digital technology by the way of standardization and best practices from existing business processes, as that method make the implementation more easier as you are having like a reference or guide you follow. As you are using a standardized way, you are saving time and effort while you are reducing the probability of failure and increasing the probability of having a successful implementation. Reaching to that high level of standardization will make you confident at the start of the project implementation with this in mind.

"You are entering that project and You are scheduling the Go Life date with confidence. Your team members feel no stress as they are assured with the project success".

We need to keep learning from ERP Implementation failures to keep improving our process and to not repeat the same failure. There must be high commitment from the top level management on the implementation of the project. It is a huge investment in the industry, it needs the alignment of all efforts to be able to succeed in the project. There must be an effective change management strategy that starts from the smallest unit in the organization to the largest unit. Change management is changing a mindset with proven words, actions and plan to be able to create the unity needed in the success of the projects with a complete belief in SAP ERP System.

That implementation is a huge added value to the organizational assets. There must be precise planning for every action taken with it's consequences and the expected solution. You need the initial implementation to succeed as you want the implementation to match what is required to be delivered. Aligning the implementation with project management to be able to overcome the challenges, optimize the performance and achieve better success is way of creating a leading company with a successful project Implementation that have a strong experience in the SAP ERP System, which can be a source of improvement in the project management and a guide in any similar implementation with being a pillar in facing any critical challenges of SAP Implementations in the future.

For the Implementation you need to ensure the quality of the vendor from all the surrounding aspects with looking at the vendor portfolio to be sure with high probability in the success of the implementation. The paper addresses the part of the maturity level process where it helps the organization in determining the priorities for the processes that need to be improved from the maturity perspective.

It starts with the initial level which is processes that has no standard procedures and weak documentation. The second level with increase in maturity is the repeatable processes which are basic processes and rules developed but with no standardization but there is a start in the existence of documentation while there is no relationship between the documentation activity with another. The dependency is very low.

The third level is defined where you covered the case of the standardization and documentation where the maturity level is increasing. Increasing the level of maturity of the process where the project progress with the plan is being monitored, reported and controlled. Taking to the highest maturity level is where you are always optimizing the project performance, that is the stage where you keep improving.

There should be always adjustment and adaptations in the project approach or direction of the project as recalling the last maturity level there are always areas for optimizing to reach to the most optimized model for running the processes. The adjustment is circling the project from the whole directions in the process flow, project stages, deliverables, assignments, culture and values in the organization.

The study in the paper is clear about the following aspects that can ensure the success of a project from the stakeholders performance, team performance in the area of team building and their adaptability to the project environment with collaboration and cooperation between the team. The project needs to be consistent, well supervised and monitored. There is another domain which is the planning performance where it needs to be well prepared and documented. Going to another domain which is the project work performance that is the functions and activities conducted within the project. Another domain is the delivery performance in the project scope, quality of achievements and documentation.

From the reasons that ERP Implementations might have a failure is the lack of approach which leads to being lost during the project as there is no aligning between the project objectives and the goals with the needs of the company. The confusion due to the unclear matching between all the involving aspects in the project. Communication is a crucial factor in the project that can cause misalignment between the team members.

Any project to succeed needs motivation and a leader in the company that can take that project to the success. It needs full commitment and detailed view from the top management on the plan and they have to monitor all the critical decisions that are taken in the project and to be involved for support and taking the decisions. There must be a clear definition for the functional requirements to be clear with the solution developed to help the project manager to analyze and map out the needs related to the solution and take it as a milestone in the success of the ERP Implementation.

Conclusion:

ERP Implementations are one entity that need high commitment from all the team members to ensure the success of the project with high communication and clear requirements with following the standardization and best practices to ensure the success of the project and minimize the failure probability as much as possible. Every successful implementation is a value added to SAP as every successful implementation has a learnt lesson and an area of improvement that can make the organization a leader in facing the challenges of SAP.