International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015

E-ISSN: 2348-5523

Analysis of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

(ERPs) with Technical aspects
1

Zille Subhan1, Ali Tariq Bhatti2

National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences (NUCES), Lahore Pakistan
zsubhan@hotmail.com
2
North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro NC USA
atbhatti@aggies.ncat.edu, ali_tariq302@hotmail.com

Abstract:- In the past few years, the information

technology has emerged as a key driving force for
growth of business organizations. The trend of
implementing the latest tools and technologies has
reached to maximum extent. The majority of business
organizations has adopted new and innovative tools
to manage their business tasks effectively. In this
scenario, an enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system is a huge information system that
organizations implement to manage their business
tasks. This is a huge information system which links
almost all the business departments and functional
areas. This report presents a detailed analysis of an
enterprise
resource
planning
system.
The
implementation of an enterprise resource planning
system requires taking into consideration various
critical factors, which are essential to be considered
in order to make this implementation fruitful. This
report presents a detailed discussion on the
advantages provided by ERPs to business
organizations. The basic purpose of this report is to
analyze critical success factors involved in the
implementation of ERPs. This report also presents
recommendations with every factor that an
organization can follow to make best use of these
systems.
Keywords: ERP, Business
Organizational Integration

strategy,

Cross-

1. INTRODUCTION
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is
regarded as a huge, complex, unified, allencompassing, a suite of tools and services that is
developed to provide support for major serviceable
departments of a business organization or industry. In
addition, a huge system of an enterprise resource
planning is required for information storage that
collects and combines data and information from a
wide variety of sources (such as departments and

other entities), existing within as well as outside the

corporation. However, it can also be used to supply
instantaneous data and information to business
workers as well as other associates. In the past few
years, the majority of large organizations has adopted
a wide variety of ERP solutions as a fundamental tool
for their businesses to combine systems such as
supply chain management (SCM) and put together an
inter-organization and global combined processes
across whole organizational processes. In this
scenario, the implementation of these ERP systems
ensures the reduction in time to carry out business
activities as well as help business organizations
improve their information sharing capabilities,
supporting a coordinated and integrated workflow
among various supply chain stakeholders [1, 2, 3, 4].
In addition, the adoption of ERP system in
conjunction with other information systems normally
involves three life cycle stages comprising
assortment, application and process. Additionally, the
final stage can be further extended in two stages
known as a stabilization stage and a routine stage. In
this scenario, the existing researches and studies on
ERP systems have always paid attention to either
assessing the suitability and effectiveness of the ERP
system in comparison with software, specialists, or
solution providers or determining critical success
factors (CSFs) which can have tremendous impact on
the assortment and execution of an ERP system,
however the literature does not show any
considerable endeavor to determining the possible
post-implementation impact [1, 2, 3, 4].
Additionally, up till now a large number of
researches have been conducted to determine a wide
variety of precarious success factors which revealed a
number of critical success factors involved in the
selection and application of enterprise resource
planning systems. Some of these critical success
factors include obvious implementation goals, top
management assistance and participation, scope of
implementation and planning, implementation
objectives, project team capabilities and management

International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
of these team members, user education and effective
communication,
training,
business
process
reengineering, change management, stakeholders
participation
and
communication,
project
management, data analysis and conversion; experts
and consultants, selection of architecture, project
sponsor, and marginal customization [1, 2, 3, 4].
Though, these critical success factors are not for all
the time significant at all stages of the ERP lifecycle,
but the majority of them have significant impact on
implementation as well as operational efficiency. In
this scenario, the greater impact of these achievement
factors with regard to ERP implementation remains
in the operational stage. While the stabilization stage
requires the ERP systems to undergo a postimplementation breaking-in period in which
efficiency and effectiveness would not be typical of
the enduring effects that a business firm can face. On
the other hand, in the routine phase, the application of
an enterprise resource planning system can be
regarded as a success only from a technical point of
assessment, however at this stage the success of the
implementation completely relies on the users of that
enterprise resource planning system and their
attitudes toward the implementation and particular
function for which this system is being implemented
[1, 2, 3, 4].
It is an admitted fact that the business organization
can attain a large number of benefits from the use of
enterprise resource planning systems simply to the
extent that their employees acknowledge and use
them normally and broadly. Hence, with the purpose
of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of ERP
systems in the operation stage, a firm needs to carry
out extensive research in order to determine factors
that can affect their employees satisfaction. In this
scenario, there is a commonly used model to
determine behavioral intent and usage of the system.
This model is known as technological acceptance
model (TAM). In fact, this model can help business
organization understand influences that improve the
effectiveness and efficiency of ERP system
utilization. Though, in their researches a number of
researchers and scholars have adopted TAM to
observe the usage of an ERP system, however some
researchers took into consideration a wide variety of
external aspects and elements that that can affect
ERP system procedure in the stabilization stage or
intent to use an ERP system. In view of the fact that a
small number of external elements do not clarify
employees perspectives on the subject of specific
systems, however the majority of researchers
concentrates on simply a small number of external
factors [1, 2, 3, 4].

The basic purpose of this research paper is to assess

the usefulness of ERPs for business organizations.
This research paper will discuss a number of critical
success factors collected from different researches.
The basic purpose of this research is to determine the
impact of these critical factors on ERP
implementation.
2.

BENEFITS OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE

PLANNING SYSTEMS (ERPS)
In this ever-increasing and extremely
competitive worldwide business atmosphere,
business organizations always look for tools and
techniques to improve or retain their level of
competitiveness by making use of information
systems to effectively support customer service,
minimize expenditure and cut down cycle times. In
this scenario, enterprise resource planning systems
offer a large number of advantages to business
organizations with the intention that they can get
together varying prospects by offering precise,
appropriate, and combined information to improve
the capability of decision making. Additionally,
researches conducted to determine the efficiency of
ERP systems shown vague results. Some studies have
shown that business organizations can attain
considerably greater stock returns upon publicizing
the implementation of an enterprise resource
planning system. However, some studies point out
considerably higher long-standing return on assets
(ROA) for ERP adopters compared with nonadopters [5, 6, 7].
In view of the fact that the implementation
and use of an enterprise resource planning system has
turned out to be a focal point of organizations and
technology planning, however this implementation is
still time consuming and costly with a large number
of projects costing more, taking longer, and providing
less than anticipated. In addition, adoption,
configuration, and integration of information flows
and business processes highly depend on an
organizations ability. Without a doubt, an
organization can put into practice enterprise resource
planning system, however it needs to effectively and
successfully adopt, reconfigure, and put together its
data and information flows as well as business
operations on a long-term base for the reason that
markets and trends transform quickly and every day a
new technology is invented. Additionally, in order to
successfully implement an ERP system it needs to
effectively redesign business tasks from a rigid,
mass-transaction direction to a lean, agile, and
knowledge-based process. In this scenario, all

International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
through business process change endeavors, business
organizations must integrate matching education and
training courses, working actions, and information
technologies to provide support for the new
environment. Moreover, the successful and
appropriate implementation of ERP will result in
improved organizational efficiency mainly because of
redesigned business processes, quick reporting
cycles, integrated administrative tasks, and extended
information potential [5, 6, 7].
3.

BUSINESS STRATEGY
In their paper (HassabElnaby et al., 2012)
discuss four classes of business strategy
organizations. These four classes include defenders,
prospectors, analyzers, and reactors. In this scenario,
each class of business strategy encompasses an
exclusive configuration of structural and contextual
factors. In this scenario, this idea is practical for the
reason that it relies on an organizations productmarket orientation strategy that takes into
consideration the environmental factors [5, 6, 7].
How does the Implementation of an ERP System
improve the business strategy
The implementation of huge information
systems for instance ERP has serious impact on
business strategies of organizations. In this scenario,
a business strategy can require long-standing
planning and can include various actions such as
market segmentation, supplier and customer
relationship management, mergers and acquisitions,
capital formation, products sourcing, and product
improvement. It is an admitted fact that an
organizations capability to have access to required
information helps them attain a competitive edge
over their competitors and initiate various strategic
programs. In this scenario, the implementation
ofenterprise resource planning systems provides
excellent support and capabilities for business
organizations to carry on and become accustomed.
Additionally, business organizations need to put into
practice processes, actions, practices, systems, and
metrics that can be helpful in supporting their
business strategy. In view of the fact that an
enterprise resource planning system can quickly
provide a wide-ranging collection of interconnected
data and information to business executives to
support them in decision making, business
organizations can attain competitive edge and
strategic
objectives
for
instance
market
differentiation, cost management. In fact, ERP
systems facilitate business organizations to follow
tactical choices for instance product improvements,

mergers and alliances, cost management, and market

differentiation and segmentation. In this scenario, the
implementation of an ERP system has an optimistic
effect on the implementation of prospector-type
business strategy for the reason that it efficiently
supports this strategy [5, 6, 7].
4.

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPABILITIES
The research has shown that ERP systems
have considerable impact on organizational
capabilities, which are an organizations abilities to
carry out a wide variety of jobs by making use of
business resources. Additionally, the basic purpose of
business organizations behind the development and
management of these organizational capabilities is to
attain a competitive edge by developing organizationspecific potentials. In this scenario, with constant
utilization, organizations abilities turn out to be
much stronger and more complicated for opponents
to copy. Hence, the business organizations invest its
time and money in information technology (IT) to
make its operational tasks more well-organized and
competent (HassabElnaby et al., 2012; Shatat &
Udin, 2012; Sanchez & Yague, 2010). (See appendix
for more detail)
How does the Implementation of an ERP System
improve the organizational capabilities
It is an admitted fact that ERP systems have
a significant impact on business abilities. Up till now,
the majority of researches and studies conducted to
determine the impact of enterprise resource planning
on business organizations have demonstrated that
ERP systems are advantageous to attain tactical,
managerial, operational, management and IT
infrastructure objectives. In this scenario, ERP
systems facilitate business organizations with more
accurate, precise and appropriate information
synchronization. Hence, it helps organization
minimize managerial and inventory expenditures and
increases receptiveness to market variations and
trends. In addition, reduction of buffer inventory and
lead times improve the flexibility and efficiency of
the business organization. As a result, in both
practical and theoretical viewpoint, it is important for
business organizations to determine the impact of
ERP systems on organizations [5, 6, 7].
Moreover, various researches and studies
have shown that organizations can improve their
capabilities by implementing enterprise resource
planning systems. In this scenario, precise and quick
access to information allows a companys employees
to collaborate and coordinate across business tasks all
the way through various departments. In fact, they

International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
can share data, information, knowledge resources,
thoughts, and easily work together in the form of a
group, as well as attain common objectives
cooperatively with other workers from different
departments as well as with other organizations and
stakeholders located at different locations.
Additionally, the implementation and use of an ERP
system also provide an excellent support for the
establishment of data warehouses with the intention
that business executives can be able to have quick
access to correct data and information when it is
required for effective decision making and
management. According to cybernetic control theory,
if a firm wants to become accustomed as well as
carry on in its setting, its decision makers should
have quick response on major efficiency and
performance indicators in adequate time to become
aware of unforeseen divergence, take suitable acts
and monitor system responses. The implementation
of an effective ERP system allows an organization to
effectively detain, process, and distribute a wide
variety of important performance indicators in (close
to) instantaneous, and a way that allows business
executives to direct and share their decisions across
the firms. Hence, an effectively implemented ERP
system improves organizational capabilities such as
product diversity, information access, process
improvement, and monetary flexibility [5, 6, 7].
The majority of business organizations
expects their latest ERP systems should allow process
improvements.
As
discussed
above,
the
implementation of an ERP system also helps business
organizations improve their existing processes
through which they carry out their business tasks. In
this scenario, enterprise resource planning systems
develop a bridge between information technologies
and business processes into a coordinated set of
processes, metrics and applications that go beyond
firm boundaries. In addition, effectively managing a
product range is not simply a production issue,
however a major confront for sales also. In this
scenario, the implementation of an ERP system
facilitates business organizations to organize products
professionally and create superior diversity
competently. Moreover, ERP systems help business
organizations improve their management and
execution capabilities through which they can more
voluntarily recognize market opportunities and risks,
produce innovative concepts and ideas. Furthermore,
the latest researches have shown that enterprise
resource planning systems have a positive effect on a
firm's financial performance. In fact, the
implementation of ERP systems can lead an

organization to continued operational performance

and enhanced overall liquidity [5, 6, 7].
5.

EXAMPLES OF ERPS
Some of the well-known enterprise resource
planning systems include SAP/R3, Oracle and
PeopleSoft which provide suites of software
packages that assure the flawless incorporation of a
wide variety of information flowing in all directions
all the way through the business organization, such as
information on accounting and economics, supply
chains, human resources and sales and customers. In
addition, these ERP systems are normally advertised
as standard information technology solutions that
allow business organizations to attain quicker the
processes on the earth and are able to engage
sequence times, minimized expenditures, and
enhanced customer service. In fact, a wide variety of
advantages and opportunities offered by these ERP
systems have caught the attention of a large number
of firms to implement ERPs in the past few years. In
addition, the superiority and sophistication of ERP
systems have not simply improved the capability of
business firms to get together more data and
information in depth and in instantaneous ways, but
they have also brought about the more widespread
lateral and vertical dispersion of information all the
way through the enterprise. Moreover, the exhaustive
utilization of information as a tool to manage and
control business tasks has been recommended by a
large number of researchers. Without a doubt, the
easily accessible information makes sure that
business executives stay well-informed on
themselves in the decisions of the subordinates [8].
6.

COST OF ERP IMPLEMENTATIONS

In the past few years the majority of
business organizations has adopted these innovative
information systems. The research shows that more
than 70% organizations having a staff of more than
2500 resources have implemented enterprise resource
planning systems. On the other hand, some of the
business
organizations
believe
that
the
implementation of an ERP system is expensive. In
this scenario, these expenses can include the price of
implementing an ERP, associated incremental
hardware, software, training and implementation
support, which can be more than $200,000 for smallsize organizations (just about $10M to $20M annual
sales), more than a few million dollars or even more
for large-size organizations and approximately
$600,000 to $800,000 for a midsize organizations
(just about $40M to $80M annual sales)Hence, the
investment of these huge resources, business

International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
organizations anticipate major benefits such as
increased competitiveness and operational efficiency
[9].
Analysis of Critical Success Factors (CSFs)
The research shows that business
organizations implement enterprise resource planning
systems for achieving a wide variety of goals such as
cost reductions, legacy systems replacement and
faster information transactions. In spite of all these
challenges and risks associated with the adoption of
ERPs, the implementation and adoption of ERP
systems carry on growing internationally. However,
most of the researches and existing literature in the
information systems and the trade press domain
spotlight the adoption and successful implementation
of enterprise resource planning systems, but simply a
small number of researchers talk about the critical
success factors and aspects of such systems in the
implementing organizations. In their research article,
(Ifinedo & Nahar, 2006) refer ERP success to
making use of ERP systems that can play a
significant role in increasing organizational
efficiency. In this scenario, (Ifinedo & Nahar, 2006)
stress that the success they mention differentiates
in extent of various other aspects such as technical
installations required for ERP adoption and
implementation success. (Ifinedo & Nahar, 2006)
also present the analysis of other theories. According
to their point of view, the quality and role of vendors
and consultants all the way through the lifecycle of
any ERP implementation is very important no matter
what method has been adopted to measure ERP
success. Various researches have pointed out the role
of vendors and consultants in the success of an ERP
implementation. In fact, trust on vendors and
consultant as a major issue in ERP implementations
that is why these systems are believed to be different
from other IT projects. In this scenario, ERP
implementation success model presented by (Ifinedo
& Nahar, 2006) takes into consideration six main
dimensions (as shown in Figure 1). In fact, this model
takes into consideration various measures such as
perceptual, attitudinal and other applicable measures
linked to the information system [10].

Figure 1ERP Implementation Success model

presented by (Ifinedo & Nahar, 2006), Image
Source: [10]
The research has shown that more than 70%
of ERP implementations remain unsuccessful in
achieving their predictable benefits. However, the
major reasons that are cited behind these failures
include ineffective business strategies, cost overruns,
underestimation of the endeavor required for
effective change management, and project delays. In
addition to that ERP implementation are believed to
be of increasing complication as organizations join
other companies as well as their sustaining systems
cross beyond organizational boundaries. Hence, there
is an increasing need for a well-organized and wellmanaged integration both among the associated
organizations and among different systems.
Additionally, system and organization system
integration that involves an ERP system goes in
parallel with business change. Hence, it creates an
increasing need for watchful business change
planning and control. In some cases, organizations
need to revise or extend their existing business
change approaches with the intention that they could
successfully help business change analysts in ebusiness integration and cross-organizational ERP
scenario [11, 12].
7.

ERP
SUPPORT
FOR
CROSSORGANIZATIONAL INTEGRATION
An enterprise resource planning system is a
huge set of software applications that work together
to provide effective support for most of an
organizations information needs inside as well as
closely linked departments in an organization.
Contemporary ERP systems with back-end support of

International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
transaction processing systems serve as the basis for
a wide variety of internet based integration and ebusiness model inside an organization and all the way
through its value chain. In this scenario, such crossorganizational ERP implementations provide the
business organizations with an excellent support for
collaboration and coordination among several
organizations in a value network by computerizing
tasks and data control flows and work flows shared
by the business stakeholders and associates [11].
8.

ERP IMPLEMENTATION MODELS

In their paper, (Eckartz et al., 2009)
differentiate between ERPI and ERPII. According to
their viewpoint, traditional systems known as ERPI
takes into consideration the incorporation of backoffice information systems, while ERP II particularly
focuses on improving the relationships between the
organizations and their customers (front-end). Some
of the well-known examples of these systems can
include vendor such as supply chain management
(SCM) and customer relationship management
(CRM). In addition, the differences between ERP I
and ERPII have been discussed by a number of
researches with respect to the architecture of the
system and application domain. In this scenario, ERP
I systems are normally implemented by
manufacturing firms in the distribution and
manufacturing areas as well as having a web-aware
however comparatively closed architecture, on the
other hand ERP II systems support all the areas and
departments of an organization and are based on a
web-based open architecture. Additionally, these
differences need to be considered when we have to
determine their success criteria, conceptualizing
benefits and expenditures in the business change
management. In this scenario, the success criteria that
is adopted to determine the success of ERPI systems,
cannot be completely suitable measurement for ERP
II success, as these systems are comparatively huge
and complex [11].
9.

CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS IN ERP

IMPLEMENTATION
In view of the fact that ERP systems are
more complex than traditional information systems,
hence the adoption and implementation of these
systems are also more complex than traditional
information system implementations and for this
reason these implementations are more likely to be
unsuccessful. However, if organizations effectively
deal with these challenges and issues, ERP
implementations can provide a large number of
benefits. In this scenario, an organization must lead

this implementation with an effective implementation

plan that is able to imitate the complicated
environment of ERP system implementations [11].
According to (Maditinos et al., 2012), in
spite of all the characteristics and key benefits
attained through the implementation of ERP systems,
the adoptions and implementations of these systems
are not for all time successful. In their paper
(Maditinos et al., 2012) cite the reasons of this
failure. According to their point of view the majority
of business organizations are not capable of
completely justifying their funds in ERP system, in
view of the fact that the most of ERP benefits remain
unseen. According to their research, more than 25
percent of ERP implementations go beyond the early
cost plan and more than 20 percent cannot be
completed. In addition, in some cases ERP systems
frequently fail to get together business objectives
afterward their adoption. Moreover, the major cause
of the wide-ranging dissatisfaction on the subject of
ERP system efficiency remains in numerous reasons,
comprising a misapprehension regarding the system's
potential [13].
In addition, the success of the
implementation of an enterprise resource planning
system depends on various factors in which some
factors are believed to be critical. However, the
definition of success varies from system to system
and heavily depends on the needs and requirements
of an organization. In the beginning the successful
implementation is believed to be the completion of a
project in time, to satisfactory standards, within
financial plan and in time. However, the last stages of
ERP implementation are mainly concerned with the
apparent participation of the system to business
performance. All the way through, the ERP
implementation success is determined from the
standpoint of top management. In this scenario,
critical success factors have been identified as those
which are critical parts where things must move
correctly for the organization to be successful. In
fact, in the previous researches these rules have been
used for a number of aspects of information systems
consisting of reengineering, manufacturing systems
implementation, project management, and, more
recently, these rules are being applied to determine
the implementations of ERP systems. In addition,
critical success factors are mainly practical to
practitioners for the reason that they offer obvious
direction on where an organization should pay
attention to the resources needed in the project.
Additionally, prior researches on conducted
to determine the CSFs in the implementations of
enterprise resource planning systems took into

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International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
consideration prioritized sets of factors. In this
scenario various researchers formed these groups on
the basis of tactical and strategic factors, by this
means offering further support to team leads and
managers who are assigned the role of planning ERP
implementation projects. In their paper (Shanks et al.,
2000) outlines a list of eleven critical success factors
involved in the implementation of an ERP system.
Additionally, this list contains eleven most important
critical success factors for ERP systems
implementation. These factors are determined on the
basis of literature and viewpoints of different authors.
These factors include [14, 13]:

(a) Top management support

First most important critical factor that most
of the literature discusses is the support from the top
management, which encompasses several attributes
such as the enthusiasm, support of senior
management and positive commitment all the way
through ERP implementation. However, according to
several researches, the role of top management
support in implementation of an enterprise resource
planning system does not seem to be much greater
than the one played by users, for the reason that
higher management has to play their role simply in
the situation of conflicts (and this factor is not
directly linked with ERP system successful
implementation), on the other hand user support has a
significant impact on both communication success as
well as, more significantly, knowledge transfer and
sharing (without a doubt this factor is directly linked
with ERP systems successful implementation).
Hence, an organization should ensure user support
with the purpose of implementing a successful ERP
system. However, there are certain steps that can be
taken in order to ensure user participation [14, 13]:
Users should be allowed to present their
ideas on the need for the implementation
Organizational workers should be involved
in the specifications of the system
They should actively take part in the
implementation process
A wide variety of reward systems should be
introduced in order to support to successful use of the
newly accomplished enterprise resource planning
system
Without a doubt, fully contribution of users
throughout the system implementation is essential. In
other words, in the absence of the active involvement
and the fully recognition and approval of its users,
every enterprise resource planning system, regardless
of its style and cost, is intended to create ineffective

outcomes that the ones predicted, or even stop

working despondently [14, 13].
(b) External expertise
Without a doubt, the implementation of an
ERP is believed to be a large size project. Hence,
throughout the implementation of this huge project
the use of the experience and expertise of outside
experts plays a significant role. The research has
shown that the effective support of outside
consultants is vital for the successful implementation
of enterprise resource planning systems. It is an
admitted fact that the support presented by external
experts is vital, in fact it is more important than the
support that is offered by higher management. In
addition, the role played by the external consultant in
the implementation process has also been proved by a
large number of researches. In view of the fact that
external expertise is an aspect that has significant
influence on implementation of an effective ERP
system, hence business organizations need to pay
more and more attention on searching and selecting
the true and expert consultant groups for the
particular business setting. In this scenario,
organizations should not think that the efforts they
are paying towards consultant selection is not a time
wasting process, in view of the fact that the
knowledge of the external firm in a related business
environment, the dedication towards attaining joint
objectives and the common attitude of the two
vendors are of critical importance for effective
implementation. In addition, organizations should not
hire external consultants for only acquiring their
technical expertise; however they should also keep in
mind a wide understanding of the individual business
procedures and an authentic dedication towards
dealing with daily problems regarding ERP system
implementation. In this scenario, it is recommended
for adopting organizations to establish an agreement
between the improvements to be made in particular
sectors of business activity and fees paid to the
consultant team. On the whole, this external group
should be considered as a precious supporter
throughout the implementation of ERP system. On
the other hand, these consultants need the effective
support as well as the approval of the business
employees with the purpose of completely integrating
their precious knowledge and establish a considerable
distinction in the effective ERP implementation. In
this scenario, if system users do not adopt a positive
approach towards cooperating and collaborating with
an external team, it will certainly produce ineffective
results [14, 13].

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International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
(c) Balanced project Team
In order to make the implementation of an
ERP system a success, an organization should form a
mixture of business and IT workers with a wide
understanding of business processes. The research
has shown that ERP adopting organization should
develop the required environment with the intention
of supporting the procedure of knowledge transfer
among various entities. In this scenario, IT personnel
should cooperate with non-technical personnel and
they need to learn more about their new
organizational tasks and procedures apart from the
training about the newly implemented ERP
technology. In addition, these employees should
enthusiastically attempt to obtain utmost results from
the implementation of the ERP system, in view of the
fact that inactive approach will not lead to successful
ERP implementation [14, 13, 15].

(h) Education and Training

In view of the fact the implementation of an
ERP system requires a lot of people to work on
different processes, in the same way the adoption of
this system heavily relies on users. In this scenario,
for the successful implementation of ERP project an
organization must ensure effective training and
education of both technical expertise regarding the
ERP system and its associated models and knowledge
about its working and use for both business and IT
employees [14, 13].

(d) Data Accuracy

In order to make the implementation of an
ERP system a success, an organization must make
sure that they collect high quality data from existing
legacy systems. The organization must implement
strategies to make this data consistent and clean so
that it could be used beneficially for the effective
implementation of an enterprise resource planning
system [14, 13].

(j) Minimizing Customization

This factor involves minimizing the amount
of customization and scope of the ERP system
implementation and alternative choice [14, 13].

(e) Clear Goals

Before the initiation of this implementation
project an organization must define its goals clearly
and these goals must be well-understood before
further proceeding [14, 13].
(f) Project Management
Without a doubt, there is dire need for
effective project management capabilities for the
successful accomplishment of this implementation
process. In order to make this project a success an
organization must develop and maintain a thorough
project plan covering the project goals should be
established and maintained [14, 13].
(g) Change Management
Without a doubt, change is inevitable at
every stage of system implementation. In order to
deal with these emerging changes an organization
must pay careful attention to change management,
seeing that the ERP implementation will engage a
wide variety of changes to business processes [14,
13].

(i) Presence of a Champion

There should be a person who works as a
leader, an individual, who is not always a senior
manager, but responsible for explaining the benefits
of the ERP system throughout the implementation
process [14, 13].

(k) Hiring Best people full-time

The project team should be formed within
the firm should be completely released from other
tasks and responsibilities during the ERP
implementation project. This team should be assigned
a full-time responsibility of the implementation [14,
13].
10. CONCLUSION
In the past few years, the implementations of
ERP systems to manage business tasks has become
an attractive trend. There are many well-known
vendors that provide excellent ERPs solutions to deal
with business processes effectively. This research
paper has presented a detailed analysis of enterprise
resource planning system and various associated
aspects. This research paper has discussed the ways
enterprise resource planning systems support
business organizations. At the present, business
organizations use ERPs for the management and
integration of different business processes. Without a
doubt, the successful implementation of an ERP
ensures maximum business efficiency and
competitive edge. The research paper has shown that
EPR is a huge information system and its
implementation requires huge investment and time as
well as involves various critical issues. In order to
make this implementation fruitful organizations must
take into consideration these critical factors. Different
researches have outlined different factors depending

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International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
on the nature and size of the organization. This
research paper has combined critical factors from
various researches. This research paper has collected
eleven critical factors from different researches. This
research paper has also discussed the solutions to
issues that can arise during implementation of ERPs.
In this scenario, user involvement plays a significant
role throughout the implementation of ERPs. They
should be educated and trained regarding the use of
ERP in order to make effective use of the system.
REFERENCES
[1] S. Sternad, M. Gradisar and S. Bobek, "The
influence of external factors on routine ERP
usage," Industrial Management and Data
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[2] M. Al-Mashari, "Enterprise resource planning
(ERP) systems: a research agenda," Industrial
Management & Data Systems, Volume 102
Issue 3, pp. 165-170, 2002.
[3] R. C. Beatty and C. D. Williams, "ERP II: best
practices for successfully implementing an ERP
upgrade," Communications of the ACM, vol. 49,
no. 3, pp. 105-109, 2006.
[4] W. Brown, "Enterprise resource planning (ERP)
implementation planning and structure: a recipe
for ERP success," in SIGUCCS '04 Proceedings
of the 32nd annual ACM SIGUCCS fall
conference, Baltimore Maryland, USA., 2004.
[5] H. R. HassabElnaby, W. Hwang and M. A.
Vonderembse,
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impact
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[7] J. L. Sanchez and A. Yague, "Competitive
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[8] S. K. Sia, M. Tang, C. Soh and W. F. Boh,

"Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems as
a technology of power: empowerment or
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systems: the macro level, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 2337, 2002.
[9] A. Ragowsky and D. Gefen, "What makes the
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[10] P. Ifinedo and N. Nahar, "Prioritization of
enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems
success measures: viewpoints of two
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Applied computing, Dijon, France, 2006.
[11] S. Eckartz, M. Daneva, R. Wieringa and J. v.
Hillegersberg,
"Cross-organizational
ERP
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2009 ACM symposium on Applied Computing,
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[12] A. Singh and J. Wesson, "Evaluation Criteria for
Assessing the Usability of ERP Systems," in
SAICSIT '09 Proceedings of the 2009 Annual
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Technologists, Riverside, Vanderbijlpark, South
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[13] D. Maditinos, D. Chatzoudes and C. Tsairidis,
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[14] G. Shanks, A. Parr, B. Hu, B. Corbitt, T.
Thanasankit and P.Seddon, "Differences in
Critical Success Factors in ERP systems
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[15] B. Scholtz, C. Cilliers and A. Calitz,
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International Journal of Advent Research in Computer and Electronics (IJARCE)

Vol. 2, No. 6, June 2015
E-ISSN: 2348-5523
Research Conference of the South African
Institute of Computer Scientists and Information
Technologists, Bela Bela, South Africa, 2010.
BIOGRAPHY

Ali Tariq Bhatti received his

Associate degree in Information System Security
(Highest Honors) from Rockingham Community
College, NC USA, B.Sc. in Software engineering
(Honors) from UET Taxila, Pakistan, M.Sc in
Electrical engineering (Honors) from North Carolina
A&T State University, NC USA, and currently
pursuing PhD in Electrical engineering from North
Carolina A&T State University. Working as a
researcher in campus and working off-campus too.
His area of interests and current research includes
Coding Algorithm, Networking Security, Mobile
Telecommunication, Biosensors, Genetic Algorithm,
Swarm Algorithm, Health, Bioinformatics, Systems
Biology, Control system, Power, Software
development,
Software
Quality
Assurance,
Communication, and Signal Processing. For more
information, contact Ali Tariq Bhatti at
ali_tariq302@hotmail.com.

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