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Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
Abstract:
ERP is one the latest technologies that many organizations have undertaken. Typically,
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are software packages composed of several
modules, such as human resources, sales, finance and production, providing cross-
organizational integration of transaction-based data management throughout embedded
business processes support. These software packages can be customized up to a certain limit
to the specific needs of each organization. ERP was characterized as the most important
development in the corporate use of technology in the 1990s. Unfortunately, many ERP
projects have not been effective enough and hence have been unable to achieve all the results
envisaged. As the cost of an ERP implementation project is very high, it is critical for an
organization to make the project a success and start obtaining benefits out of it as fast as
possible. But what is it that makes an ERP implementation project successful?
To address this issue we propose the use of a Critical Success Factors (CSF) approach to
manage ERP implementation projects. After an extensive literature review on ERP research
and ERP implementation project studies, we have studied and have proposed results along the
following issues:
The identification and definition of a comprehensive list of CSF.
The relevance of CSF along the typical ERP implementation phases.
The definition of Key Performance Indicators (KPI) for CSF.
The analysis of CSF management in some organizational contexts.
A theoretical framework was developed in order to aid the process of answering the implied
research questions. In order to accomplish the research aims of this research, we have
proposed an interpretive research approach and a multimethod research framework that
combines various research methods, both quantitative and qualitative, with predominance of
qualitative ones. Several results have already been produced out of our research project, with
our chosen theoretical and research framework:
An annotated bibliography on ERP research.
A CSF unified model for ERP implementation projects.
A CSF relevance schema along the typical ERP implementation phases.
A new criticality indicator for Process Quality management (PQM) method.
A tentative set of KPI for some CSF and a systematic approach to develop the rest of
KPI.
An ERP implementation model.
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A CSF management analysis in two organizational contexts: a small and midsized
enterprise and a public higher education institution.
With regard to the case studies conducted, the first was a pilot case study of an ERP
implementation in a Portuguese small and midsized enterprise. The second one was an in-
depth case study of an ERP implementation in a big Spanish public higher educationinstitution. The different organizational contexts provided valuable insights in CSF
management as well as implications from the emergence of patterns of communality between
both case studies. The research results evidence that:
Most of the problems that arise in ERP implementation projects are associated with
the activities identified as CSF in this research,
The main concerns are organizational rather than technological.
The management of CSF is influenced by the context and,
When managers have taken into account the CSF identified, some of project problems
have been avoided or their impact significantly reduced in ERP implementation
projects, and the organization is more likely to use more effectively the ERP system
after its implementation.
A CSF approach is also helpful to avoid problems on the long term since most of the
CSF identified are strategic.
It is hoped that future ERP research and ERP implementations can draw upon and learn from
this thesis.
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Fig. 1. Research Diagram.
Some Results:
Strategic Tactical
Organizational
- Sustained management support
- Effective organizational change
management
- Good project scope management
- Adequate project team composition
- Comprehensive business process redesign
- Adequate project sponsor role
- Adequate project manager role- User involvement and participation
- Trust between partners
- Dedicated staff and consultants
- Strong communication inwards and
outwards
- Formalized project plan/schedule
- Adequate training program
- Preventive trouble shooting
- Appropriate usage of consultants
- Empowered decision-makers
Technological
- Adequate ERP implementation strategy
- Avoid ERP customization
- Adequate ERP version
- Adequate Infrastructure and interfaces
-Adequate legacy systems knowledge- Formalized testing plan- Adequate data migration process
Fig. 2. A Critical Success Factors Unified Model for ERP Implementations.
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Fig. 3. Critical Success Factors Relevance Along SAP Implementation Phases(ICEIS 2001,AMCIS 2001).
Figure - Most relevant CSFs along ERP implementation phases.
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Fig. 4 - ASAP Work Packages Criticality Analysis Along ASAP Phases (ICEIS 2002 conference paper).
Fig 5. Relationship between ERP project sponsor, project manager and ERP project success
(ECIS 2002).
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Fig. 6 - An ERP training monitoring and evaluation framework (ECITE 2002).
Fig. 7 - BPR concerns in the ERP context (AMCIS 2002).
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Fig. 8 - A framework to evaluate and monitor training in ERP projects.
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2
I have seen multiple ERP implementations each with varying degree of
success. I have seen multiple occasions where customers arent sure of what to
expect while implementing an ERP system. In some other instance, the
customers Technology Select the right technology and ERP package for
yourself. This is critical as the entire program is dependent on the choice that
you make at this stage. Also the following are the other salient points that your
should consider
Does the ERP package has a fitment to your industry vertical?
How easy is it to install access and maintain the infrastructure for this
package
What is the level of customization that you foresee in the package to make it
suit your business process
The above questions will drill into whether the package is a fitment for you
and brings you value add by suggesting you a best practices.
Vendor Selection: Selecting a vendor with enough expertise is a key to
success. In many occasions client interview the key stakeholders from the
vendor to be sure of the depth of understanding of technology and business
domain. Recently, I have seen companies employing multiple vendors to avoid
vendor lock in.
People: You may have the best ERP package and the best solution, but until
and unless you have the right person to use it, it doesnt work for you. You
should involve key end users right from the scratch. The key users should be
from entire cross section of the end user. These end users are often expected
to drive their respective departments to use the solution and resolve small and
non issues without having to resort to vendor for support.
Infrastructure: Since your end users may be geographically separate youmust ensure that the system behaves as expected across locations and across
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business functions. For this you must ensure that your server and network is
properly sized vis--vis the number of users and their expected data
bandwidth. Usually you would do a rigorous performance test to ensure the
system response when multiple users login to the system and do transactions.
Project Financials and Change Control: You would have set up a budget
for your ERP program. In majority of cases you would end up exceeding it
until and unless you have a stringent PMO (project management office) and
rigorous change control process. On many occasion, business users give
requirement without thoroughly spending time on it. The change in
requirement after realization of the feature leads to enhanced time and effort
from the vendor and hence increased cost. Another key rule is that more you
customize the solution, lesser best business practices you inherit from the
package. So customize only if you think it is worth it.
3
The implementation ofSAPsoftware, such as SAP R/3 is almost always a massive
operation that brings a lot of changes in the organization. The whole process can take
up to several years. Virtually every person in the organization is involved, whether
they are part of the SAP technical support organization (TSO) or the actual end-usersof the SAP software. The resulting changes that the implementation of SAP generates
are intended to reach high level goals, such as improved communication and
increased return on information (as people will work with the same information). It is
therefore very important that the implementation process is planned and executed
with the usage of a solid method. There are various SAP implementation methods. An
example of how one company,Robert Bosch GmbH, implemented SAP R/3 over 10
years is available. This study shows that designing IT architecture is very critical in
SAP implementation practices.
The data table below provides a summary of all the concepts addressed in the process-
data diagram.
Concept Definition
CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
***Activities involved in (1) defining and installing new
values, attitudes, norms, and behaviors within an
organization that support new ways of doing work andovercome resistance to change; (2) building consensus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_R/3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_(computer_science)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbHhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_R/3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-user_(computer_science)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_GmbH8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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among customers and stakeholders on specific changes
designed to better meet their needs; and (3) planning,
testing, and implementing all aspects of the transition from
one organizational structure or business process to another.
(www.gao.gov)
CHANGE
MANAGEMENT
DOCUMENTATION.
All documentation that is required and being deliveredwhilst performing change management, e.g. the functional
test cases and all the other documents a new end-userof
SAP requires and the various tools and approaches used to
manage change by the TSO. (Anderson, 2003)
COST OF OWNERSHIP
ANALYSIS
Determination of where and when the costs are inquired
within the context of the SAP solution stackand ongoing
operations. The analysisaddresses all internal and external
costs, both one-time as well as recurring (Anderson, 2003)
CUTOVERThe process of transitioning from one systemto a new one
(Anderson, 2004)
CUTOVER PLAN
All documentation related to planning, preparing and
executing cutover, describing how to lock down the system
from a technical change managementperspective, preparing
the TSO for its new role and rolling out the SAP graphical
user interface to all future end users. (Anderson, 2003)
DATA CENTER
A data centeris a facility used for housing a large amount
of electronic equipment, typically computers and
communications equipment. (www.wikipedia.org)
DATA CENTER
REQUIREMENT
A requirement for the SAP data center, i.e. a physical
requirement like power requirements, a rack requirement, a
network infrastructure requirement or a requirement to thenetwork server. (Anderson, 2003)
DISASTER RECOVERY
(DR) REQUIREMENT
Requirement that focuses on downtime that lasts many
hours to days or even weeks (Anderson, 2003)
FUNCTIONAL TEST
CASE
A set of conditions or variables under which a tester will
determine if a certain business process works
(www.wikipedia.org)
HIGH AVAILABILITY
(HA) REQUIREMENT
Requirements that describes the amount of time that the
system needs to be available to satisfy the needs of the
users. (Anderson, 2003)
INSTALLATIONDOCUMENTATION
All documentation related to the installation of an end-to-end SAP solution (Anderson, 2003)
OPERATIONS
MANUAL
The collection of current state system documentation, day-
to-day and other regularly scheduled operations tasks,
various installation and operations checklists and how-to
process documents. (Anderson, 2003)
SAP
SAP AG is the name of the biggest European software
company. The head office is in Walldorf, Germany. SAP
was founded in 1972 as Systemanalyse and
Programmentwicklung ("Systems Analysis and Product")
by five former IBM employees in Mannheim, Germany.
(www.wikipedia.org)
SAP A comprehensive project planthat contains all products that
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IMPLEMENTATION
PROJECT PLAN
are delivered whilst performing an SAP implementation
project (Anderson, 2003)
SOLUTION STACK
Set of software subsystems or components needed to
deliver a fully functional solution, e.g. a product or service.
(www.wikipedia.org)
SOLUTION STACKPARTNERS LIST
A list of all vendors that deliver the products that make upthe SAP solution stack(Anderson, 2003)
SOLUTION VISIONA vision of the future-state of the SAP solution (Anderson,
2003)
STRESS TEST PLAN
A test plan that is focused at determining the stability of a
given system or entity. It involves testing beyond normal
operational capacity, often to a breaking point, in order to
observe the results. (www.wikipedia.org)
TEST PLAN
A detail of how the test will proceed, who will do the
testing, what will be tested, in how much time the test will
take place, and to what quality level the test will beperformed. (IEEE 829)
TRAINING
The acquisition ofknowledge, skills, and attitudes as a
result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and
knowledge that relates to specific useful skills
(www.wikipedia.org)
TRAINING PLAN
Consisting oftraining units, a training plan is the result of
hierarchical decompositions of a training goal, tailored
according to the learning preferences and prior knowledge
of the trainee. A plan is the means by which the trainee
satisfies the goal. (www.ece.eps.hw.ac.uk/)
TSO
Technical Support Organization. The people that are
committed to implementation and management of SAP.
(Anderson, 2003)
TSO CHARTA chart that depicts the structure of the TSO. (Anderson,
2003)
[edit] Activity table
The following table provides a summary of all of the activities that form the SAP
implementation process. These activities will be described with more detail and
elaborated with examples in the rest of this entry.
Activity Sub-Activity Description
Project
preparation
Craft solution
vision
Refine and communicate a SOLUTION VISION of
the future-state of the SAP solution, to sketch a
design that meets both business and financial
requirements. The focus should be on the companys
core business and how the SAP solution will better
enable that core business to be successful. Some of
the guidance and key requirements for how to put
together an ERP and SAP business case for ROI,business benefit, and success includes focusing on
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=4http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=48/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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competitive pressures, value propositions, and how
the solution enables success.
Design and
initially staff the
SAP TSO
Design and staff the key positions of the SAP
Technical Support Organization (TSO), the
organization that is charged with addressing,
designing, implementing and supporting the SAPsolution.
Sizing and
blueprinting
Perform cost of
ownership
analysis
Perform a COST OF OWNERSHIP ANALYSIS to
determine how to get the best business solution for
the least money i.e. to determine where and when the
costs are incurred within the context of the SAP
solution stack.
Identify high
availability and
disaster recovery
requirements
Determine all HIGH AVAILABILITY and
DISASTER RECOVERY REQUIREMENTS, to plan
what to do with laterdowntime of the SAP system
Engage SAP
solution stack
vendors
Select the best SAP hardware and software
technology partners for all layers and components of
the SAP SOLUTION STACK, based on a side-by-
side sizing comparison
Staff TSO
Staff the bulk of the TSO, i.e. fill the positions that
directly support the near-term objectives of the
implementation, which are to develop and begin
installation/implementation of the SAP data center.
Execute training
Train the various members of the SAP TSO, like data
centerspecialists,high availability specialist and
network specialists and train the end-users to give allthe required SAP knowledge and skills
Setup SAP
DATA CENTER
Build a new SAP DATA CENTER facility or
transform the current data center into a foundation
capable of supporting the SAP SOLUTION STACK
Perform
installations
Install the (My)SAP components and technological
foundations like a web application serveror
enterprise portal.
Round out
support for SAP
Identify and staff the remaining TSO roles, e.g. roles
that relate to help desk work and other such support
providing work.SAP
functional
developmentAddressChange
Management
Develop a planned approach to the changes in the
organization. The objective is to maximize the
collective efforts of all people involved in the change
and minimize the riskof failure of implementing the
changes related to the SAP implementation.
Address SAP
systems and
operations
management
Create a foundation for the SAP systems management
and SAP computer operations, by creating a SAP
OPERATIONS MANUAL and by evaluating SAP
management applications.
Perform
functional,integration and
Test the SAP business processes, by executing
functional tests to ensure that business processeswork, integration tests to ensure that the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_ownershiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_ownershiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recoveryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installation_(computer_programs)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_(computing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_(goal)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_ownershiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cost_of_ownershiphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_recoveryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Softwarehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installation_(computer_programs)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_(computing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_(goal)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Management8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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regression tests
organizations business processes work together with
other business processes and regression tests to prove
that a specific set of data and processes yield
consistent and repeatable results.
Final
Preparation
Perform systemsand stress tests
Plan, script, execute and monitor SAP STRESS
TESTS, to see if the expectations of the end users,defined in service level agreements, will be met.
Prepare for
cutover
Plan, prepare and execute the CUTOVER, by
creating a CUTOVER PLAN that describes all
cutover tasks that have to be performed before the
actual go-live
Go Live Turn on the SAP system for the end-users
[edit] Implementation processes
[edit] Project preparation
The project preparation phase, depicted below, focuses at two main activities, i.e. to
make a setup for the TSO and to define a solution vision. These activities allow an
organization to put in on the right track towards implementation.
Design and initially staff the SAP TSO
The first major step of the project preparation phase is to design and initially staff an
SAP technical support organization (TSO), which is the organization that is chargedwith addressing, designing, implementing and supporting the SAP solution. This can
be programmers, project management, database administrators, test teams, etc. At this
point, the focus should be at staffing the key positions of the TSO, e.g. the high-level
project team and SAP professionals like the seniordatabase administratorand the
solution architect. Next to that, this is the time to make decisions about choosing for
internal staff members or external consultants.
The image at the right shows a typical TSO chart.
Craft solution vision
The second project preparation job is to define a so-called solution vision, i.e. a vision
of the future-state of the SAP solution, where it is important to address both business
and financial requirements (budgets). The main focus within the vision should be on
the companys core business and how the SAP solution will better enable that core
business to be successful. Next to that, the shortcomings of the current systems should
be described and short but clear requirements should be provided regarding
availability (uptime), security, manageability and scalability of the SAP system.
[edit] Sizing and blueprinting
The next phase is often referred to as the sizing and blueprinting phase and forms themain chunk of the implementationprocess. The phase is illustrated below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_administratorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=5http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solutionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database_administratorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Companyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_businesshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uptimehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementation8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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One of the most vital stages of the implementation process istraining. Very few
people within an organization are SAP experts or even have worked with SAP
software. It is therefore very important to train the end users but especially the SAP
TSO: the people who design and implement the solution. Many people within the
TSO need all kinds of training. Some examples of these positions:
SAP Network Specialists
SAP Database Administrators
SAP Security specialists
Documentation specialists
Et cetera
All of these people need to acquire the required SAP knowledge and skills or even
SAP certifications through training. Moreover, people need to learn to do business in
a totally new way. To define how much SAP training every person needs, a company
can make use of a skillset matrix. With this matrix, a manager can identify who
possesses what knowledge, to manage and plan training, by defining the height ofexpertise with a number between e.g. 1 and 4 for each skill for each employee.
Setup SAP data center
The next step is to set up the SAP data center. This means either building a new data
center facility or transforming the current data center into a foundation capable of
supporting the SAP solution stack, i.e. all of the technology layers and components
(SAP software products) in a productive SAP installation. The most important factor
when designing the data center isavailability. The high availability and disaster
recovery requirements which should have been defined earlier, give a good idea of the
required data center requirements to host the SAP software. Data center requirements
can be a:
Physical requirement like power requirements
Rack requirement
Network infrastructure requirement or
Requirement to the network server.
Perform installations
The following step is to install the required SAP software parts which are calledcomponents and technological foundations like a web application server orenterprise
portals, to a state ready for business process configuration. The most vital sub steps
are to prepare your OS, prepare the database server and then start installing SAP
software. Here it is very important to use installation guides, which are published for
each SAP component or technology solution by SAP AG. Examples of SAP
components are:
R/3 Enterprise Transaction Processing
mySAP BI Business Information Warehouse
mySAP CRM Customer Relationship Management
mySAP KW Knowledge Warehouse mySAP PLM Product Lifecycle Management
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Databasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(mathematics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(mathematics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installation_(computer_programs)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_Relationship_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Lifecycle_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traininghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Databasehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certificationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrix_(mathematics)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solution_stackhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Availabilityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Installation_(computer_programs)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_portalshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_Relationship_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Lifecycle_Management8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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mySAP SCM Supply Chain Management
mySAP SEM Strategic Enterprise Management
mySAP SRM Supplier Relationship Management
mySAP HCM Human Capital Management
Round out support for SAP
Before moving into the functional development phase, the organization should
identify and staff the remaining TSO roles, e.g. roles that relate to helpdeskwork and
other such support providing work.
[edit] Functional development
The next phase is the functional development phase, where it is all about change
managementand testing. This phase is depicted below.
Address change management
The next challenge for an organization is all about change management / change
control, which means to develop a planned approach to the changes the organization
faces. The objective here is to maximize the collective efforts of all people involved
in the change and to minimize the risk of failure of implementing the changes related
to the SAP implementation.
The implementation of SAP software will most surely come with many changes and
an organization can expect many natural reactions, i.e. denial, to these changes. Tofight this, it is most important to create a solid project team dedicated to change
managementand to communicate the solution vision and goals of this team. This team
should be prepared to handle the many change issues that come from various sources
like:
End-user requests
Operations
Data center team
DBA group
Systems management
SAP systems and operations management
Next thing is to create a foundation for the SAP systems management and SAP
computer operations, by creating a SAP operations manual and by evaluating SAP
management applications. The manual is a collection of current state system
documentation, day-to-day and other regularly scheduled operations tasks, various
installation and operations checklists and how-to process documents.
Functional, integration and regression testing
Testing is very important before going live with any system. Before going live with aSAP system, it is vital to do many different kinds of testing, since there is often a
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_Chain_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helpdeskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_teamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-userhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-userhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_operationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_operationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_Chain_Managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helpdeskhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Implementationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_teamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Change_managementhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/End-userhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_operationshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_centerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_management8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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large, complex infrastructure of hardware and software involved. Both requirements
as well as quality parameters are to be tested. Important types of testing are:
Functional testing: to test using functional use cases, i.e. a set of conditions or
variables under which a tester will determine if a certain business process
works Integration testing
Regression testing
All tests should be preceded by creating solid test plans.
[edit] Final preparation
agreements, will be met. This can be done with SAPs standard application
benchmarks, to benchmark the organizations configurations against configurations
that have been tested by SAPs hardware technology partners. Again, a test plan
should be created at first.
Prepare for cutover
The final phase before going live with SAP is often referred to as the cutover phase,
which is the process of transitioning from one system to a new one. The organization
needs to plan, prepare and execute the cutover, by creating a cutover plan that
describes all cutover tasks that have to be performed before the actual go-live.
Examples of cutover tasks are:
Review and update all systems-related operations procedures like backuppolicies and system monitoring
Assign ownership of SAPs functional processes to individuals
Let SAP AG do a GoingLive check, to get their blessing to go live with the
system
Lock down the system, i.e. do not make any more changes to the SAP system
[edit] Go live
All of the previously described phases all lead towards this final moment: the go-live.
Go-live means to turn on the SAP system for the end-users and to obtain feedback on
the solution and to monitor the solution. It is also the moment where product softwareadoption comes into play. More information on this topic:
Product Software Adoption: Big Bang Adoption
Product Software Adoption: Parallel Adoption
Product Software Adoption: Phased Adoption
[edit] Critical success factors
In order to successfully implement SAP in an organization, there are several things
that are of great importance:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmark_(computing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backuphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Software_Adoption:_Big_Bang_Adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Software_Adoption:_Big_Bang_Adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integration_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_testinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=9http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benchmark_(computing)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_planhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organizationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backuphttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAP_AGhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_Software_Adoption:_Big_Bang_Adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phased_adoptionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SAP_Implementation&action=edit§ion=11http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization8/7/2019 Definition and Analysis of Critical Success Factors for ERP Implementation Projects
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1) Choose the correct SAP Consultants to have the correct blueprint. An SAP
Consultant is a professional who has the skills to speak to the managers of a company
and help them creating the blueprint. For this the SAP Consultant has the business
skills of the business area he/she is working with, and also masters this area on SAP.
For example, if this is SAP FI (accountancy) Consultant, this person is an expert on
accountancy and payments, gained through experience or by the correspondingstudies at the University. Also this person knows SAP FI because has gained by the
corresponding training, or the course on the SAP Partner Academy or similar.
Benefits: As this person knows about Accountancy he or she will understand the
needs of the business and will bring it into reality.
2) SAP R/3 implementation is not an IT project, in fact is an Organization Project
impacting all levels of a company. So it is very important to get the support from all
the people that are involved in implementing SAP, but more important the
participation and commitment of all levels, specially managers, of the company.
3) The Blueprint is the keystone used as the lighthouse who must guide the wholeproject. A blueprint should never be a merely mapping of IT systems. In fact a
blueprint is bringing the strategy of a company into execution through defining its
processes across all business areas. Many projects have failed because the focus was
on having people with SAP knowledge, but with no business skills and so defining
something that works...wrongly. Just remember, processes must change across time,
and a manual error automated could be repeated infinitely.
4) Always consider changing the way things have been done before implementing
SAP. "This has always been done like this and the Consultant should replicate it on
SAP" is the start of a big problem. SAP many times could save you time and money
as it allows your organization to automate many processes.
5) Test the SAP hardware and software rigorously by testing your business
processes, and to ensure that the end-users are ready to use SAP before going live,
because there are many known projects that failed because of a lack of support and
SAP knowledge.
6) Design and execute a Change Management Program by communicating as early
as needed all the information that end users should have to accept the new technology
and designing and executing a training plan in order to reassure a knowledge base
within the organization.