Date of Award

1999

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Business Administration

Department

Business

Abstract

This thesis will focus on the impact of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software applications, mainly SAP, and the impact they have on business functions and efficiency.

Businesses have been able to take advantage of improvements in computer technology to make improvements to their every-day processes and procedures. One category of software applications they can use are ERP applications. ERP's provide many advantages for companies - faster access to more reliable data with which to make better decisions, and more efficient use of company resources. These advantages can only be achieved though, if the application is produced and used correctly, which is a challenging task.

These implementations are complex processes, requiring extensive modification of company procedures, and a major commitment of employees, time and money. Upper management must plan out the project from beginning to end, considering all the options along the way. One way to make this monstrous task more manageable is by breaking down the implementation into phases: strategy, initiation, definition, transition and improvement. If this project is not planned out appropriately, tragic consequences may occur, including, failure of the system, late or missed orders and squandering the company's money and time.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how successful the integrated approach and methodology of an ERP, such as SAP, can be within an organization. Specifically, it is hypothesized that each phase of an implementation will have a serious impact on the successful completion of the project.

Numerous case studies of previous implementations were analyzed in this study. These case studies were evaluated by the researchers to determine whether the project was a success or failure, and why. There were also interviews conducted with people who had implemented SAP, and also users of the system. These people had the expertise of doing implementations, the knowledge of how the phases effect one another and how to avoid pit-falls along the way.

Results of this analysis produced evidence that the hypothesis be accepted and to conclude that, within the scope of this study, without careful planning, the different phases of an implementation can have a serious impact on the overall success of the implementation project.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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