Enterprise systems (ES) implementation, especially Enterprise Resource Planning systems (ERP), is an extensively researched topic in recent years. Existing papers focus mainly on the success or failure of the project analyzed from the client’s standpoint. Although authors agree that a successful implementation requires the participation of consultants from a Value-Added Reseller (VAR), little or no work has been published that examines the topic from this perspective. While it is true that this kind of implementation is not strictly related to the traditional software development lifecycle, the two have many things in common and the former can benefit from software engineering techniques. Intellectual capital found in the heads of consultants, developers, project managers, and all other project stakeholders is VAR’s main asset as well as in most of software-related organizations. Hence, it is critical to preserve it in order to safeguard the foundation of these organizations. The goal of this paper is to propose rationale management as the basis of knowledge preservation for enterprise systems VARs. Enterprise systems implementation process, including its actors, challenges, and the knowledge that surrounds it, is examined to justify the proposal. To assess the perception of real-world VARs about knowledge management applicability and their existing strategies, a questionnaire was applied to 3 executives. Their answers confirmed that knowledge is considered vital to their organizations but the methodologies as well as the tools currently utilized to preserve it are rudimentary and distant from the theoretical literature. / text

Šiame darbe bus išanalizuoti pagrindiniai verslo valdymo sistemų diegimo modeliai ir apibendrintos jų charakteristikos. Darbo tikslas - apibendrinti esamus verslo valdymo sistemų diegimo modelius, tam kad jų diegimas taptų paprastesnis ir būtų sumažinta nesėkmingo adaptavimo rizika. Taip pat reikalinga pasiūlyti verslo valdymo sistemų diegimo metodiką, kurią būtų galima pritaikyti diegiant tokias sistemas. Diegiant ERP sistemas dažnai susiduriama su įvairiomis diegimo problemomis ir sunkumais. Pagrindinė jų - neteisingas sistemos integravimas ir adaptavimas prie konkretaus vartotojo poreikių, todėl reikalinga metodika padedanti šį procesą įvykdyti sklandžiai ir nepriekaištingai. / In this job the methods of Enterprise Resource Planning implementation and problems associated with a particular case of their adjustment are analyzed. The characteristics of these methods are summarized here. The most usable methods of Enterprise Resource Panning implementation are described here. The purpose of this job is to offer the optimum implementation method of Enterprise Resource Planning systems. Also it is necessary to generalize the main existing ERP implementation methods thereto its installation will be simpler and unfortunate adaptation risk will be reducing to the minimum.

Atlikus kritinių sėkmės faktorių, taip pat charakteristikų, naudojamų pasirenkant verslo valdymo sistemą, analizę siūlomas verslo valdymo sistemų pasirinkimo procesas. Aptariami reikalavimų nustatymo žingsniai, taip pat išskiriami pagrindiniai kriterijai sistemoms specifikuoti ir atrinkti. / Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software selection is problematic nowadays. It was performed analysis on critical success factors and characteristics usage during enterprise resource planning software selection. It was proposed enterprise resource planning software selection process. Discussed steps to identify software requirements and extract main criteria to specify and select system.

This is an ethnographic study of the creation of a particular type of standard enterprise software package: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, which support wide-ranging organisational functions within large and medium sized enterprises. Drawing upon the Social Shaping of Technology perspective and recent related attempts to theorise the Biography of Artefacts, this thesis addresses the under-researched area of ERP system development and ERP system support. In providing a system vendor’s viewpoint, it seeks to overcome current shortcomings in social research, notably from Information Systems and Organisational Studies, which focus almost exclusively on a user organisation perspective. Mostly concentrating on the moment of implementation, existing studies do not help us to better understand the software producer’s viewpoint or to find explanations as to how ERP systems are produced and supported in such a way that they can meet the specific requirements of their highly diverse users (the current market leader SAP had over 12 million users (2008)). Overall, we have very limited understanding of what happens within software package laboratories and how such organisations organise their relationship with their wide and diverse user base throughout the different phases of the product life cycle. Addressing this gap in the social study of software packages, this research offers an ethnographical insider’s perspective of the day-to-day working practices within one of the world’s leading ERP system providers, encompassing both its development and support functions. Based on rich ethnographic data, the study demonstrates first, how a supplier manages its relationship with its diverse user base during the moment when the system re-enters the vendor’s circle of responsibility through the software packages support channel. The sophisticated and mature mechanisms and policies are highlighted, which allow the vendor - not without challenges – to accommodate competing exigencies of its user base at this moment of product life cycle. Second, this research highlights how the software development phase is organised, by empirically describing and analysing from a social viewpoint, the software development process during a period of organisational change, in which the vendor reorganises itself in search for a new way to respond to the expectations of the market. Third, the account reveals unexpected communitarian behaviour amongst software developers at all levels, demonstrating the social character of programming, a feature which has not been adequately recognised by current studies in this area. Fourth, overall, this study highlights the need for a change of the current research agenda in social software package research towards a vendor organisation’s perspective, if we aim for a more complete understanding of the social aspects such type of technology.

Las organizaciones continuamente se ven desafiadas a repensar y adaptar sus estructuras, procesos, objetivos y tecnologías; para mantener su ventaja competitiva. Es así como muchas han optado por implementar sistemas integrados de recursos empresariales o Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), como facilitadores para adaptarse a los cambios en estos entornos de negocios tan dinámicos. Dada la trascendencia de las PYMES en la economía del país y la importancia que tiene un sistema ERP para alcanzar la competitividad que hoy día se requiere, la presente investigación empírica pretende contribuir al limitado conocimiento existente en materia de implementación de ERP en las PYMEs locales mediante el análisis de los factores que influyen en un resultado exitoso en estas empresas.

The adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning tools has improved business processes in organisations. This increase has, however come with challenges for the small and medium business sector. First the adoption and deployment of proprietary ERP comes at great cost for organisations whilst it is also difficult for the organisations to ensure that scalability is introduced due to the dynamic change in the SME sector. The adoption and use of open source ERP tools then presents an opportunity for the SME sector. The usage of open source software has increased over the years. This increase has also extended to open source ERP tools. These tools offer the same functions as the proprietary at a fraction of the cost. Despite the benefits that open source ERP offers diffusion of this technology into the SME sector in South Africa has been minimal. This means the SME sector in South Africa is not benefiting from the widely available cost effective open source ERP available in the market. An opportunity therefore exists for them to utilise the technology to gain competitive advantage. The research was done primarily to determine the open source ERP adoption patterns of SMEs in the Vaal region. The research sought to determine the drivers for ERP adoption and barriers to adoption. Focus was specifically extended to investigating knowledge on open source alternatives. The results from the research indicate that the SMEs understand the benefits of adopting ERP for their businesses. The research further revealed that the adoption factors identified in the literature are still relevant in South Africa. The factors identified included costs, lack of training, lack of support, lack of knowledge and the lack of open source vendors. The empirical research also identified that the SME still harbour fear about open source ERP tools due to lack of training ,support and knowledge .From the study it is clear that a new approach needs to be taken to encourage adoption of open source ERP. These approaches include giving incentives to SMEs to adopt open source ERP. These incentives may be in the form of training packages and skills workshops to help overcome the barriers and improve implementation of open source ERP. The research identified the critical need for increased formal education and training in open source software development and emphasis on ERP tools. Government research bodies need to play a role in this area. For an example, there is need for SME and university collaborations in open source ERP deployment, whereby the latter needs to include software development tools in their curricula for SMEs so as to increase awareness. Clear–cut comparisons of existing proprietary systems against open source systems by focusing on functional and technological requirements need to be undertaken. This will help to reflect a cost benefit analysis as well as interoperability between the open source ERP and existing systems. During the adoption process, SME are encouraged to go through the full life cycle of open source ERP adoption. In this cycle the SME needs to do a thorough analysis regarding selection, implementation, integration, migration, training and evaluation of installed tools. That way they will gain the competitive advantage afforded by the tools. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The adoption of Enterprise Resource Planning tools has improved business processes in organisations. This increase has, however come with challenges for the small and medium business sector. First the adoption and deployment of proprietary ERP comes at great cost for organisations whilst it is also difficult for the organisations to ensure that scalability is introduced due to the dynamic change in the SME sector. The adoption and use of open source ERP tools then presents an opportunity for the SME sector. The usage of open source software has increased over the years. This increase has also extended to open source ERP tools. These tools offer the same functions as the proprietary at a fraction of the cost. Despite the benefits that open source ERP offers diffusion of this technology into the SME sector in South Africa has been minimal. This means the SME sector in South Africa is not benefiting from the widely available cost effective open source ERP available in the market. An opportunity therefore exists for them to utilise the technology to gain competitive advantage. The research was done primarily to determine the open source ERP adoption patterns of SMEs in the Vaal region. The research sought to determine the drivers for ERP adoption and barriers to adoption. Focus was specifically extended to investigating knowledge on open source alternatives. The results from the research indicate that the SMEs understand the benefits of adopting ERP for their businesses. The research further revealed that the adoption factors identified in the literature are still relevant in South Africa. The factors identified included costs, lack of training, lack of support, lack of knowledge and the lack of open source vendors. The empirical research also identified that the SME still harbour fear about open source ERP tools due to lack of training ,support and knowledge .From the study it is clear that a new approach needs to be taken to encourage adoption of open source ERP. These approaches include giving incentives to SMEs to adopt open source ERP. These incentives may be in the form of training packages and skills workshops to help overcome the barriers and improve implementation of open source ERP. The research identified the critical need for increased formal education and training in open source software development and emphasis on ERP tools. Government research bodies need to play a role in this area. For an example, there is need for SME and university collaborations in open source ERP deployment, whereby the latter needs to include software development tools in their curricula for SMEs so as to increase awareness. Clear–cut comparisons of existing proprietary systems against open source systems by focusing on functional and technological requirements need to be undertaken. This will help to reflect a cost benefit analysis as well as interoperability between the open source ERP and existing systems. During the adoption process, SME are encouraged to go through the full life cycle of open source ERP adoption. In this cycle the SME needs to do a thorough analysis regarding selection, implementation, integration, migration, training and evaluation of installed tools. That way they will gain the competitive advantage afforded by the tools. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

In this study, a research is developed to establish a comprehensive framework for ERP systems selection process and provide guidance for better ERP systems selection and evaluation by investigating all the aspects of the selection process. The research is conducted through a comprehensive study prior to key information systems journals, conferences, overall enterprise information systems materials in electronic databases, and also in practitioner journals. As a result, the study is able to present a comprehensive framework for ERP systems selection process, identify the problematic issues, reveal the ways to improve the selection activities, and present a road-map for the selection process.

The construction industry has long been criticized as being not advance enough to use information communication technology (ICT) and slow to adopt knowledge management (KM). This research demonstrates how using an effective and efficient ICT systems can improve KM, and that an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can be one tools to help improve KM. An ERP system is also a powerful tool to help integrate business processes which has particular use in the construction industry. The principle objective of this research was to explore the drivers and inhibiters that determined successful adoption and use of an ERP system at its actual implementation stage. Secondly, it aimed to identify successful factors of a partnering strategy and its integration into the ERP system. The third objective was to investigate the appropriate leadership style that influenced the ERP system and the partnering strategy, and to identify the impact of culture on the leadership style. The research was conducted within the context of a Hong Kong construction organization. This research makes a contribution in two spheres: PM and the construction industry. The first implication for PM theory is to illustrate how knowledge has been efficiently managed within a construction organization by using ICT/ERP.

The value of information technology investments is becoming a topical issue for corporate governance under the recent regulations enacted in the US (Sarbanes Oxley Act, US Congress, 2002). Increasingly, it is becoming clear that the absence of a definitive approach to evaluating IT investments is an impediment to the governance of corporations. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) information systems are a key IT implementation that has been promoted in both vendor and practitioner communities alike as a panacea for informed enterprise performance management. This research sets out a methodology for the evaluation of ERP’s contribution to enterprise value. This issue is important because billions of dollars of corporate funds have been invested in these systems since the early 1990s. Shareholders and management require a justification of ERP based upon its proven contribution to enterprise and shareholder value.The study develops a theory for the value relevance of ERP information by showing how ERP meets the requirement of a management and organizational innovation. Such an innovation promotes enterprise operations, improves enterprise performance, supports value creation, and increases shareholder wealth. A model is presented for testing the value of ERP adoption. Empirical testing proceeds in two phases. The first phase develops a model for forecasting normal performance. Performance is shown to be a function of autoregressive earnings moderated by macroeconomic factors impacting operations. The latter are associated with the business cycle. The estimated coefficients of the model are used for predicting the earnings performance of the firm. The residuals of actual earnings less the predicted represent abnormal performance. This represents the unique improvement in performance over the prior year after adjusting for macroeconomic effects. The second phase tests the value relevance of ERP information. A returns–earnings model developed by previous research is adapted with ERP–earnings interaction terms representing the ERP system’s effect on performance. Two classes of tests are performed on the model: tests of performance relevance of ERP systems, and tests of value relevance. The former tests ERP performance across several accounting metrics identified as indicators of firm performance level change. The latter tests the market response to these changes in a bid to determine if, in the perception of the market, the changes in the performance level attained to by the firm are associated with ERP adoption. These tests are performed for each year of a 5–year period following adoption. The results of the tests of performance relevance show that ERP–adopter firms do not achieve significant abnormal earnings in years 1 and 2 of the test period. They realize significant, negative, abnormal earnings in year 3. In years 4 and 5, they attain significant, positive, abnormal earnings. The tests of value relevance show that the market responds significantly to ERP adoption in year 2 of the test, but not in other years. The early response immediately after the year of adoption would seem to indicate a significant early expectation from these systems. However, this does appear to translate into long–term value relevance for ERP.