CIS3009
Introduction
Economic globalization and internationalization of
operations by the organizations are the essential factors which require
integration among suppliers, vendors and partners across the borders in order
to achieve integrated and effective supply chain (Yusuf, Gunasekaran, & Abthorpe, 2003) . Enterprise resource
planning is a business software packages that allows integration of information
among different business processes and improves the efficiency of the business
processes. ERP implementation requires huge investment and a long time period. Critical
success factors of ERP implementation include selection of appropriate ERP
packages, top management support, change management and end user trainings. SAP
is the world’s largest ERP vendor having different modules. SAP helps the
organization in business level decision making by making information available
at one point. Many organizations today are shifting towards implementing SAP in
order to improve their business processes.
Body of the Essay
There are many ERP package vendors in the market
such as SAP, Oracle, JD Edwards, and People Soft. Successful ERP implementation
depends on the selection of the best ERP packages for the organization. There
are many ERP package vendors in the market who provide different modules for
different business functions. There are many factors affecting the selection of
ERP vendors such as proposed functionality of the ERP system, total cost of
ownership, user friendliness of the system and the experience of the consultant
in the implementation process (Fenn, Sulcas, & Neves, 2004) . But here are the
five important end user criteria for evaluating the SAP software.
User
Friendliness
The most important factor that should be considered
for the evaluation of SAP software is the end user friendliness. It will be the
end users who will be in direct touch with the SAP software and will be using
it on daily basis. So the SAP software should be easy to understand and easy to
use. User friendliness includes the design of the screen, ease of using the
system and ease of navigation, easy to understand work flow and availability of
help in case users are stuck somewhere. If the system is easy to use for the
new users, they will adapt to it easily and enjoy working on it. If the
selected SAP software is not user friendly to operate, users will find it
difficult to adapt to and would lead to user resistance for demanding the
change. Transactions should be designed to lead the user through a procedural
flow which prompts for data entry rather than relying on the user to know that
entry is required. Coherent look and feel across various modules within the SAP
should be maintained.
Business
objectives met
Most of the organization fall in the trap that SAP
implementation part of technology upgrade. But SAP helps in transforming
business processes. SAP software package should be selected on the basis of
business objectives met and requirements fulfilled. There are many ERP vendors
available, but the organization should select the ERP package that best suits
the business needs. Selecting an SAP module which meets the requirement of the
business functions such sales and distribution, production and finance then it
will help the organization to improve the overall effectiveness. Organization
must identity the benefits to be derived from the SAP implementation such as
cost reduction or productivity improvements.
Access to
wide Range of Users
The selected SAP software should provide access to
different kinds of users such as employees, consultants, partners and
suppliers. It should provide access to mobile workers, different workgroups and
workflows at anytime anywhere. It should also allow business partners and
suppliers to access the SAP system to improve the business processes. However
the access should only be allowed to the authorized users only. The
authentication should be role-based and should ensure secure data access.
User Base
It is important to consider the user base for which
the SAP software has to be implemented. Because based on the user base
composition and needs the choice of SAP software may change. User profile will
play a major role in determining SAP software. The needs of sales team will be
different from that of finance team. If the size of the user base is small then
more emphasis should be given to the training. Frequency of usage also plays an
important role in determining which SAP software to be implemented (ERP Software Selection: Getting it Right Cognizant 20-20 Insights, 2011) .
Ease of
Training
End user training plays an important role in
successful implementation of the SAP system in the organization. SAP software
should be selected in such a way that there are trainers available who can give
classroom training and hand-on training to the end-user so that they get the feel
of SAP system. Training material and the reference documents should be
available and proper documentation guide should be provided to the end-users so
they can take a look when they are stuck.
Conclusion
Selecting the right SAP software package is the most
important factor for successful implementation. At organization level factors
like overall expenditure and business objectives play an important role for the
selection of SAP software. But for the end-users the most important factors are
user friendliness, ease of training, type of user base and differential access
to the different users.
References
(2011). ERP Software Selection: Getting it Right
Cognizant 20-20 Insights.
Fenn, D., Sulcas, P., & Neves, D. D. (2004).
Selection of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems. 45-54.
Kim, H.-W. (2011). The Effects of Switching Costs on
User Resistance to Enterprise Systems Implementation. IEEE Transactions on
Engineering Management .
Wallace, T., & Kremzar, M. (2001). ERP:
Making It Happen. John Wiley & Son, Inc.
Yusuf, Y., Gunasekaran, A., & Abthorpe, M.
(2003). Enterprise Information Systems Project Implementation: A Case Study
of ERP in Rolls-Royce. 2-16.
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