Enterprise Systems : Achieving an appropriate fit between ERP systems and business processes

Sammanfattning: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system which first emerged in the early 90’s, have become so popular today that almost every large business corporation uses one. Recent years have seen increased spending on this software application package, but sadly not all organizations which invest in ERP systems have gotten back their money’s worth. There have been many instances of unsuccessful ERP implementation attempts and in some cases total failure. Researchers and scholars have long since studied these systems in a bid to provide explanations for the complexity and failure of implementation attempts. This has led to the establishment of critical success factors (CSF), which slightly vary with different authors but have some strong common points. Prominent among these CSF’s is alignment between business processes and ERP built-in processes. This project therefore focuses on alignment issues that arise between the software package and the organization’s business processes during ERP implementation efforts. The main purpose of the work is to establish a set of ‘best practices’ that must be considered or executed in order to secure a good alignment between the system and software package. In order to achieve the main goal of this work, a case study approach has been used. The case in question is a small manufacturing firm in Vetlanda called T-Emballage, which uses an ERP system Jeeves. Mainly using scientific research techniques which comprise a deductive approach and a mixed mode data collection method, some valuable conclusions are drawn from the analysed data. The critical points that are worth considering during ERP implementation, when trying to achieve alignment, arrived at in this study include: carrying out a proper gap analysis, top management leading and following up, choosing software according to needs, simplicity, flexibility, communication and liability of data. This project further investigates the advantages and disadvantages of adapting or altering the software package to fit the organization’s business processes and vice versa. Finally, the work also tries to assess the alignment maturity level that has been attained in the organization by applying the Luftman’s alignment maturity model.