Essay格式范文大全-Erp系统信息的主要挑战和风险。本文是一篇留学生Technology Essay格式范文,主要内容是讲述ERP系统是从系统集成发展而来的。这是一个旨在管理生产、库存、财务和订单设施的系统。Essay的主要内容是研究和分析Erp系统信息所面临的主要挑战和风险,并提出适当的ERP实施需要良好的管理干预,作为实施过程的一部分。以下内容就是小编精选的Essay格式范文的主要内容,大家一起来看以下。
Essay格式范文
ERP系统将库存数据与财务、销售和人力资源数据集成,以实现无缝集成。它允许组织为其产品定价,管理资源、人员、材料和资金。当ERP系统在一家地理位置和物理结构不尽相同的小型公司中实施时,其实施非常简单,但当ERP系统在全球范围内实施时,其真正的挑战在于公司分布在全球不同地区,业务流程不同,法规和不同的商业利益。根据o'Kane的观点,ERP研究人员的注意力应该从“硬”元素转移到“软”元素。软元素意味着解决组织和文化问题。更重要的是,适当的ERP实施需要良好的管理干预,作为实施过程的一部分。
Historically ERP systems evolved form system integration. It is a system which is designed to mange production, inventory, and finance and order facility.ERP system integrate inventory data with finance, sells and hr data to give it a seamless integration (Stephen Harwood,2003). It allows the organization to price their products, manage the resources, people, material and money(Jatinder N. D. Gupta, Sushil K. Sharma, Mohammad Abdur Rashid – Computers – 2008 ). Implementation of ERP system is quite straightforward when it is implemented in a small size company which not diverse geographically and physically, but the real challenge of ERP systems come when it is being implemented in global basis where the company is spread in different part of the globe with different time business process, regulations and different business interests ( M. lyne Markus,Cornelis Tanis,Paul C .van Fenma april,2000).According to o’Kane (2004) attention of ERP researchers should shift from “hard” elements to “soft” elements. Soft elements mean addressing the organizational and the cultural problem. More over an appropriate ERP implementation requires good management intervention as part of the implementation process.
Key challenges and risks:–主要挑战和风险:
随着ERP的成功全面实施,一个组织可以获得许多好处。但首先,我们将分析在全球实施ERP过程中所涉及的潜在挑战。正如许多研究所解释的那样,项目的“上线”或推出并不意味着项目成功实施。我们必须超越这一部分进行思考,同时还要考虑到实施后的风险。风险可定义为“对特定项目产生后果或影响的事件的发生”。
With success full implementation of ERP an organization can reap many benefits. But first we are going to analyse what are the potential challenges involved in a global implementation of ERP. As many IS research explanation tells that the “Go live” or roll out of the project does not mean that the project is successfully implemented. We have to think beyond this part and also take into account the part of Post implementation risks. A risk can be defined as “the occurrence of an event that has consequences for, or impacts on a particular project” (Kleim and Ludin, 2000, p. 3).
risk: 风险:
由于ERP系统的规模和复杂性,ERP采用后的风险识别是一项非常耗时和复杂的任务。根据定义,有四种类型或实施后风险。
Owing to the size and complexity of an ERP system, identification of risk in ERP post-adoption is a very time-consuming and complicated task. There are four kind or post implementation risk as defined by (Guo Chao Peng and Miguel Baptista Nunes,2009).
操作风险(OR)。运营人员是ERP系统的日常用户。或指操作人员可能产生的风险。
(1) Operational risk (OR). Operational staffs are daily users of ERP systems. OR refer to risks that may occur from operational staffs.
分析风险(AR)。一线经理使用ERP系统生成计划和预测(如生产计划、销售预测等),以预测和更好地管理不确定的未来。应收账款指管理者使用企业资源计划执行分析任务时可能发生的风险。
(2) Analytical risk (AR). Front-line managers use ERP systems to generate plans and forecasts (e.g. production plan, sales forecast, etc.) to predict and better manage the uncertain future. ARs refer to risks that may occur as managers use ERPs to carry out analytical tasks.
全组织风险(OWR)。在实施后阶段使用和维护ERP时,公司可能会遇到一系列与各种内部因素(如系统用户和内部IT专家)和外部因素(如系统供应商和系统顾问)有关的风险事件。此类风险可能对整个公司产生影响,因此被称为OWR。
(3) Organisation-wide risk (OWR). When using and maintaining ERPs in the post-implementation stage, companies may encounter a set of risk events in relation to various internal (e.g. system users and in-house IT experts) and external factors (e.g. system vendor and system consultants). Such risks may have impacts on the entire company and therefore are referred to as OWRs.
技术风险(TR)。一组系统和技术因素可能会导致风险事件,从而阻碍ERP系统满足其预期功能和性能要求。这些风险事件被确定为TRs。
(4) Technical risk (TR). A set of system and technical factors may result in risk events that can hinder the ERP system from meeting its intended functions and performance requirements. These risk events are identified as TRs.
如果运营人员不愿意使用新的ERP系统,则会对实施的成功因素造成重大风险。ERP系统主要用于自动化交易流程。因此,运营人员是该系统最频繁的用户,因此,他们对项目的参与和采用对项目的成功至关重要。这一风险可能会因许多其他因素而倍增,如员工的心理焦虑(例如,不愿意改变和担心失去工作)、系统实施的初始失败(例如,培训不足),系统缺陷(例如,较差的用户界面和系统设计)以及对系统缺乏信心。ERP系统涉及大量数据的处理,大多数情况下,输入系统数据库的数据应非常准确。ERP的所有初步数据由运营人员输入。据观察,“综合数据在系统中流动如此之快,以至于在错误出现在每个人的屏幕上之前,几乎没有机会追踪错误”。进一步详细说明,如果任何操作人员错误地提供了一个输入,那么这些输入对系统的影响可能非常大,可能会干扰整个组织的正确运作。这是由于员工培训不足、缺乏经验、缺乏动力或疲劳所致。
To elaborate it further if operational staffs are reluctant to use the new ERP system then that causes a major risks towards the success factor of the implementation.ERP system are mainly used to automate the transactional process. As a result the operational staffs are the most frequent user of the system as a result their involvement and adoption of the project are important in terms of the success of the project (Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003). This risks can be multiplied by many other actors like psychological anxiety of the staffs (e.g. unwilling to change and fear of loss of job), initial failures in system implementation (e.g. insufficient training), system pitfalls (e.g. poor user interface and system design) and lack of confidence in the system.ERP system is involved with the transaction of high volume of data and most of the time the data that is been put into the database of the system should be very accurate. All preliminary data of ERP is inputted by operational staff. It is observed that “the integrated data flowed so quickly through the system that there was little opportunity to track down mistakes before they showed up on everybody’s screens” (Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003). To elaborate further if one input is been given wrong by any operational staffs they impact on the system can so huge that it may disturb the correct functioning of the whole organization. This happens due to insufficient training given to the staffs, lack of experience, demotivation or tiredness.
分析风险:除了运营人员,一线经理也是ERP系统的关键用户,因此是ERP成功的关键因素。这可能是由于培训不足,不愿意改变。因此,管理者无法就植树造林和分析决策做出适当的决策,因此没有充分利用ERP系统的潜力。管理者需要不同类型的数据来满足他们的需求。当铺设的系统是全球实施的一部分时,管理者更难获得他们想要的实际数据,因为有时很难根据管理者的需求定制系统)。
Analytical Risks:–Apart for the operational staffs front line managers are also key users of the ERP systems (Shang and Seddon, 2002) therefore are crucial factor for ERP success. This can happen due to insufficient training, reluctance to change .As a result managers cannot take appropriate decisions regarding foresting and taking analytical decision thus under utilizing the full potential of ERP system. Manager’s needs different kind of data to suit their needs .When the laid system is a part of a global implementation it becomes even more difficult for the managers to get the actual data that they want ,as it is sometimes very hard to customize the system according to the need of the manager. (Sage, 2005).
组织范围内的风险:高层管理人员既不是IT专家,也不经常使用IT系统。因此,他们缺乏运营专业知识和技术知识,无法就IT实施做出重要决策。因此,在没有用户和IT经理参与的情况下,由高层管理人员做出的决策是IT项目中可能出现的风险。由于最高管理层对实施后的维护和升级不太热心,全球实施会出现这种风险。因此,高层管理人员的支持经常被视为影响企业资源规划实施成功的关键因素。
Organization wide risk: Top managers are neither IT experts nor they use IT system very much. Therefore they lack the operational expertise and technical knowledge to take important decision regarding IT implementation. Hence, decision being made by top managers without the involvement of users and IT managers is a risk that may occur in IT projects (Lientz and Larssen, 2006, p. 116).This risks occurs for global implementation as top management are not very enthusiastic about the post implementation maintenance and up gradation. Top management support is therefore frequently regarded as a crucial factor affecting the success of ERP implementation (Gargeya and Brady, 2005; Loh and Koh, 2004).
高技能工人对于系统维护和增强非常重要。对于公司来说,掌握他们的关键资源是非常重要的。由于对ERP专业人员的需求很高,因此组织留住关键的知识型员工非常重要。然而,正如人们普遍承认的那样,由于市场对这类专业人员的需求很高,公司有时会发现很难留住高素质的ERP专家。
High skilled labours are very important for the system maintenance and enhancement. (Ifinedo and Nahar, 2009). It is very important for the company to hold their key resources. As ERP professionals are in high demand it is very important for the organization to hold their key knowledge workers. However, as widely acknowledged, due to high market demand for this type of professional, Companies sometimes may find it difficult to retain their highly qualified ERP experts (Sumner, 2000).
如果未经授权的用户访问了重要的机密数据,可能导致信息泄露和业务危机,则必须将公司的机密数据小心地存储在安全的地方。
Confidential data of company must be stored in secure place carefully, if important and confidential data is accessed by unauthorised users that my cause potential lead to information leakage and business crisis. (Yosha, 1995).
技术风险:-ERP系统的不同模块需要无缝集成。当实施规模非常巨大,并且不同国家或不同姐妹公司需要不同的遗留系统时,这就变得特别具有挑战性。因此,现代公司从不同的系统供应商处采购合适的软件模块以形成自己独特的ERP系统并不少见。
Technical risk:-Different modules of ERP systems are to be seamlessly integrated. It becomes particularly a very challenging thing when the implementation is very huge and there are different legacy systems required for different country or different sister concerns. Therefore, it is not uncommon for modern companies to procure suitable software modules from different system vendors to form their own unique ERP system (Currie, 2003).
未正确修改系统以满足业务系统需求。业务环境和业务需求根据情况而变化,因此ERP站点应不断修改。在实施后的状态下,应不断审查已实施的系统。在研究了ERP实施的潜在挑战之后,我们将从理论角度分析这些挑战,并以适当的例子和背景来看待这些问题。
System is not properly modified to meet the business system needs. The business environment and business needs change according to situation and as a result the ERP site should be constantly modified .The implemented system should be constantly reviewed in post implementation state
After looking into the potential challenges of ERP implementation we are going analyse the challenges with a theoretical lenses and view the issues with a proper example and contextual background.
Critical success factor framework:–关键成功因素框架
We are going to analyse the issues with the theoretical framework and address the risk factors. As potential risks and challenges are already explained we are going to see a risk mitigation frame work and analyse how to set the frame work to maximise the performance of the company. According to Scott and Walker performance in general can be determined by three factors ability, motivation and working environment. Further it can be derived with the equation Performance=ability Ã- motivation Ã- environment
Uden, 2005 demonstrated that there are nine identifying factors which influence any organization in achieving high performance. They are leadership, people, policy and strategy, partnership and resource, Process, People Result, and Customer result, Society Result, Key performance result. It is the people who are main factors ,so it is necessary that the working environment are congenial and the people who are being managed give their best in the environment (Mintzberg,2004),thus improving the morale and commitment while encouraging them to manage the organization ‘s process I a way will increase the level of performance and achievement. According to (Castka, 2001) the precondition of high performance depends on the creativity, decision making, interpersonal skills, participation, decision making. Arnett et al (2002) says that emotion and pride goes for high performance it goes beyond the barrier and makes the employee work for the organization to achieve high performance.
To address the soft factors there are numerous cited in the literature. These soft factors are often referred as critical successes factors (CSF) are as Rockhart (1979) explained are “areas of activity that should receive constant and careful attention from the management” .These is classified in to three management grouping.
Soft Factor (strategy) Top management Commitment, ERP strategy, Clear goal focus and scope, Legacy systems management.
Soft Factors (People) Training and education, Employee attitude, Empowerment, Project Team, User involvement and satisfaction.
Soft Factors (Organizational ) Organizational Culture, Effective Communication ,Computer Culture, Effective Project Management, Change Management strategy, Process management.
Example and implementation of framework:– 框架的示例和实现
Now we are going to look into a famous The FoxMeyer Drugs’ Bankruptcy case of ERP Implementation.( Judy E. Scott, 2009).
FoxMeyer Drugs was a $5 billion company and the nation’s fourth largest distributor of pharmaceuticals before the fiasco. FoxMeyer conducted market research and product evaluation and purchased an ERP package in December of that year. FoxMeyer also purchased warehouse-automation from a vendor, and chose a Consulting company to integrate and implement the two systems Implementation of the project took place during 1994 and 1995. The project at FoxMeyer Drugs was at risk for several reasons. Using a framework developed for identifying software project risks (Keil, Cule, Lyytinen and Schmidt 1998),(1) customer mandate, (2) scope and requirements, (3) execution and (4) environment.
Customer mandate relies on the commitment of the manager and the end user. At FoxMeyer though the management was committed towards the project the end users were not very confident about the project. In fact due to warehouse automation there was a definite moral problem among the workers as due to the automation there were a fear of job security. This we can relate to the Operational risk (OR risk) as explained above. As for OR as the end users were the most extensive user of the ERP application this was a crucial factor towards the success and failure of the project. According to Scott Walker performance equation as the moral were down the performance of the organization also was not up to the mark.
Secondly the scope of the project was risky as the FoxMeyer signed with new deals with the University Health System Consortium (UHC) after the announced the project as a result the data transaction that was pre estimated changed rapidly.
Thirdly the execution of the project was in trouble as there were not enough knowledge workers. The individual expertise of the organization was very and they were dependent on the expertise of the consulting organization as a result there were greater dependency. Although FoxMeyer must have realized the project was in trouble, its perceived dependence on consultants and vendors prevented it from seeing how it could gain control. We are going to analyze how we are going to analyse the soft organizational factor played it’s part in the implementation. The change management and process management were not in place as .The consulting company that were hired by the FoxMeyer were not putting enough expertise in project. The vendor company were also treating the entire process as a experimental background. There were no mutual trust among the entire stakeholders involved in the project as a result the project management team were not confident .As there were no trust in the process the individual stake holders were working like silo as a result there not proper communication .As explained earlier critical successes factors (CSF) (Rockhart, 1979) in terms of soft organizational factors were in trouble .As a result the project ran into trouble.
FoxMeyer CIO Robert Brown felt a high degree of personal responsibility saying, “We are betting our company on this.” (Cafasso 1994) Moreover, he expressed his emotional attachment to the project when he boasted about how an integrated multi million computer systems built on ERP would radically improve the company’s critical operations. However FoxMeyer were over budget for the project. In spite of running over budget FoxMeyer CIO was too much confident about the consultancy company and he was over whelmed about the success story of the particular system. As a result the project ran in to problem.
To conclude about the fact that there are high risks involved when adopting new technologies, especially in a unique situation where the vendor cannot identify the exact organizational culture. FoxMeyer should have realized the risk in adopting new ERP system in its early years and negotiated with the consultants to share the project risks by tying their compensation to project results. They should have gone for more knowledge workers and expertise. The top management thought that just by applying sophisticated software system into the organization will solve their problem, which was not right. As ERP projects are not for business process reengineering, it is neither only to enhance the business process nor to change it. The company should have gone for business process change before applying the software into the organization. As explained by Rockhardt the failure was due to the soft factor starting from strategy, people to organization.
ERP in present situation and future:-ERP in future is going to change with the new technology like virtualization, cloud computing, SOA service oriented architecture, SA AS software as a service. Some expects web services to to play a prominent role in future ERP (O’Brien,2002,ACW TEAM 2004 ,Abbound and vera ,2007).The capability of web services in integrating data ,application and processes across the internet (O’Brien 2002) may result in ERP systems heavily on Service oriented architecture (SOA) .However as the open source community gains more strength the popularity of open source ERP system like sugar CRM will increase more and more. This may not happen in one or two years or in a decade but as and when the service ine managers will understand the need of new technology and enhancement the ERP as it is today will change .Cloud concept and software as a service will evolve to take the place of ERP system.
Conclusions:–结论
The study has led to several important conclusions. Specifically, the results confirmed that successful implementation of the system is not an on step solution . In truth, a wide range of risks may occur in diverse business and system-related areas during ERP post-adoption. More importantly, the findings also show that an ERP risk may often be the cause or consequence of other risks. Because these identified risk eventsseem to be interwoven and related with each other, they may be very difficult to manage, mitigate and contain. As a consequence, in order to ensure long-term ERP success, IS managers must become aware of these risks and take proper risk mitigation actions as early as possible. If ERP implementation is not done with soft factors and organization keeping in to mind then it may cause drift. Particularly in organization which is diverse and located in various part of the globe, successful ERP implementation has many risk and success factors to take into account.
Acknowledgement:-致谢
There are several references in the study which is left unexplored fully. Future research will see the full exploration and will also explore the practitioners view on this.
Historically ERP systems evolved form system integration. It is a system which is designed to mange production, inventory, and finance and order facility.ERP system integrate inventory data with finance, sells and hr data to give it a seamless integration (Stephen Harwood,2003). It allows the organization to price their products, manage the resources, people, material and money(Jatinder N. D. Gupta, Sushil K. Sharma, Mohammad Abdur Rashid – Computers – 2008 ). Implementation of ERP system is quite straightforward when it is implemented in a small size company which not diverse geographically and physically, but the real challenge of ERP systems come when it is being implemented in global basis where the company is spread in different part of the globe with different time business process, regulations and different business interests ( M. lyne Markus,Cornelis Tanis,Paul C .van Fenma april,2000).According to o’Kane (2004) attention of ERP researchers should shift from “hard” elements to “soft” elements. Soft elements mean addressing the organizational and the cultural problem. More over an appropriate ERP implementation requires good management intervention as part of the implementation process.
Key challenges and risks:–主要挑战和风险:
随着ERP的成功全面实施,一个组织可以获得许多好处。但首先,我们将分析在全球实施ERP过程中所涉及的潜在挑战。正如许多研究所解释的那样,项目的“上线”或推出并不意味着项目成功实施。我们必须超越这一部分进行思考,同时还要考虑到实施后的风险。风险可定义为“对特定项目产生后果或影响的事件的发生”。
With success full implementation of ERP an organization can reap many benefits. But first we are going to analyse what are the potential challenges involved in a global implementation of ERP. As many IS research explanation tells that the “Go live” or roll out of the project does not mean that the project is successfully implemented. We have to think beyond this part and also take into account the part of Post implementation risks. A risk can be defined as “the occurrence of an event that has consequences for, or impacts on a particular project” (Kleim and Ludin, 2000, p. 3).
risk: 风险:
由于ERP系统的规模和复杂性,ERP采用后的风险识别是一项非常耗时和复杂的任务。根据定义,有四种类型或实施后风险。
Owing to the size and complexity of an ERP system, identification of risk in ERP post-adoption is a very time-consuming and complicated task. There are four kind or post implementation risk as defined by (Guo Chao Peng and Miguel Baptista Nunes,2009).
操作风险(OR)。运营人员是ERP系统的日常用户。或指操作人员可能产生的风险。
(1) Operational risk (OR). Operational staffs are daily users of ERP systems. OR refer to risks that may occur from operational staffs.
分析风险(AR)。一线经理使用ERP系统生成计划和预测(如生产计划、销售预测等),以预测和更好地管理不确定的未来。应收账款指管理者使用企业资源计划执行分析任务时可能发生的风险。
(2) Analytical risk (AR). Front-line managers use ERP systems to generate plans and forecasts (e.g. production plan, sales forecast, etc.) to predict and better manage the uncertain future. ARs refer to risks that may occur as managers use ERPs to carry out analytical tasks.
全组织风险(OWR)。在实施后阶段使用和维护ERP时,公司可能会遇到一系列与各种内部因素(如系统用户和内部IT专家)和外部因素(如系统供应商和系统顾问)有关的风险事件。此类风险可能对整个公司产生影响,因此被称为OWR。
(3) Organisation-wide risk (OWR). When using and maintaining ERPs in the post-implementation stage, companies may encounter a set of risk events in relation to various internal (e.g. system users and in-house IT experts) and external factors (e.g. system vendor and system consultants). Such risks may have impacts on the entire company and therefore are referred to as OWRs.
技术风险(TR)。一组系统和技术因素可能会导致风险事件,从而阻碍ERP系统满足其预期功能和性能要求。这些风险事件被确定为TRs。
(4) Technical risk (TR). A set of system and technical factors may result in risk events that can hinder the ERP system from meeting its intended functions and performance requirements. These risk events are identified as TRs.
如果运营人员不愿意使用新的ERP系统,则会对实施的成功因素造成重大风险。ERP系统主要用于自动化交易流程。因此,运营人员是该系统最频繁的用户,因此,他们对项目的参与和采用对项目的成功至关重要。这一风险可能会因许多其他因素而倍增,如员工的心理焦虑(例如,不愿意改变和担心失去工作)、系统实施的初始失败(例如,培训不足),系统缺陷(例如,较差的用户界面和系统设计)以及对系统缺乏信心。ERP系统涉及大量数据的处理,大多数情况下,输入系统数据库的数据应非常准确。ERP的所有初步数据由运营人员输入。据观察,“综合数据在系统中流动如此之快,以至于在错误出现在每个人的屏幕上之前,几乎没有机会追踪错误”。进一步详细说明,如果任何操作人员错误地提供了一个输入,那么这些输入对系统的影响可能非常大,可能会干扰整个组织的正确运作。这是由于员工培训不足、缺乏经验、缺乏动力或疲劳所致。
To elaborate it further if operational staffs are reluctant to use the new ERP system then that causes a major risks towards the success factor of the implementation.ERP system are mainly used to automate the transactional process. As a result the operational staffs are the most frequent user of the system as a result their involvement and adoption of the project are important in terms of the success of the project (Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003). This risks can be multiplied by many other actors like psychological anxiety of the staffs (e.g. unwilling to change and fear of loss of job), initial failures in system implementation (e.g. insufficient training), system pitfalls (e.g. poor user interface and system design) and lack of confidence in the system.ERP system is involved with the transaction of high volume of data and most of the time the data that is been put into the database of the system should be very accurate. All preliminary data of ERP is inputted by operational staff. It is observed that “the integrated data flowed so quickly through the system that there was little opportunity to track down mistakes before they showed up on everybody’s screens” (Scapens and Jazayeri, 2003). To elaborate further if one input is been given wrong by any operational staffs they impact on the system can so huge that it may disturb the correct functioning of the whole organization. This happens due to insufficient training given to the staffs, lack of experience, demotivation or tiredness.
分析风险:除了运营人员,一线经理也是ERP系统的关键用户,因此是ERP成功的关键因素。这可能是由于培训不足,不愿意改变。因此,管理者无法就植树造林和分析决策做出适当的决策,因此没有充分利用ERP系统的潜力。管理者需要不同类型的数据来满足他们的需求。当铺设的系统是全球实施的一部分时,管理者更难获得他们想要的实际数据,因为有时很难根据管理者的需求定制系统)。
Analytical Risks:–Apart for the operational staffs front line managers are also key users of the ERP systems (Shang and Seddon, 2002) therefore are crucial factor for ERP success. This can happen due to insufficient training, reluctance to change .As a result managers cannot take appropriate decisions regarding foresting and taking analytical decision thus under utilizing the full potential of ERP system. Manager’s needs different kind of data to suit their needs .When the laid system is a part of a global implementation it becomes even more difficult for the managers to get the actual data that they want ,as it is sometimes very hard to customize the system according to the need of the manager. (Sage, 2005).
组织范围内的风险:高层管理人员既不是IT专家,也不经常使用IT系统。因此,他们缺乏运营专业知识和技术知识,无法就IT实施做出重要决策。因此,在没有用户和IT经理参与的情况下,由高层管理人员做出的决策是IT项目中可能出现的风险。由于最高管理层对实施后的维护和升级不太热心,全球实施会出现这种风险。因此,高层管理人员的支持经常被视为影响企业资源规划实施成功的关键因素。
Organization wide risk: Top managers are neither IT experts nor they use IT system very much. Therefore they lack the operational expertise and technical knowledge to take important decision regarding IT implementation. Hence, decision being made by top managers without the involvement of users and IT managers is a risk that may occur in IT projects (Lientz and Larssen, 2006, p. 116).This risks occurs for global implementation as top management are not very enthusiastic about the post implementation maintenance and up gradation. Top management support is therefore frequently regarded as a crucial factor affecting the success of ERP implementation (Gargeya and Brady, 2005; Loh and Koh, 2004).
高技能工人对于系统维护和增强非常重要。对于公司来说,掌握他们的关键资源是非常重要的。由于对ERP专业人员的需求很高,因此组织留住关键的知识型员工非常重要。然而,正如人们普遍承认的那样,由于市场对这类专业人员的需求很高,公司有时会发现很难留住高素质的ERP专家。
High skilled labours are very important for the system maintenance and enhancement. (Ifinedo and Nahar, 2009). It is very important for the company to hold their key resources. As ERP professionals are in high demand it is very important for the organization to hold their key knowledge workers. However, as widely acknowledged, due to high market demand for this type of professional, Companies sometimes may find it difficult to retain their highly qualified ERP experts (Sumner, 2000).
如果未经授权的用户访问了重要的机密数据,可能导致信息泄露和业务危机,则必须将公司的机密数据小心地存储在安全的地方。
Confidential data of company must be stored in secure place carefully, if important and confidential data is accessed by unauthorised users that my cause potential lead to information leakage and business crisis. (Yosha, 1995).
技术风险:-ERP系统的不同模块需要无缝集成。当实施规模非常巨大,并且不同国家或不同姐妹公司需要不同的遗留系统时,这就变得特别具有挑战性。因此,现代公司从不同的系统供应商处采购合适的软件模块以形成自己独特的ERP系统并不少见。
Technical risk:-Different modules of ERP systems are to be seamlessly integrated. It becomes particularly a very challenging thing when the implementation is very huge and there are different legacy systems required for different country or different sister concerns. Therefore, it is not uncommon for modern companies to procure suitable software modules from different system vendors to form their own unique ERP system (Currie, 2003).
未正确修改系统以满足业务系统需求。业务环境和业务需求根据情况而变化,因此ERP站点应不断修改。在实施后的状态下,应不断审查已实施的系统。在研究了ERP实施的潜在挑战之后,我们将从理论角度分析这些挑战,并以适当的例子和背景来看待这些问题。
System is not properly modified to meet the business system needs. The business environment and business needs change according to situation and as a result the ERP site should be constantly modified .The implemented system should be constantly reviewed in post implementation state
After looking into the potential challenges of ERP implementation we are going analyse the challenges with a theoretical lenses and view the issues with a proper example and contextual background.
Critical success factor framework:–关键成功因素框架
We are going to analyse the issues with the theoretical framework and address the risk factors. As potential risks and challenges are already explained we are going to see a risk mitigation frame work and analyse how to set the frame work to maximise the performance of the company. According to Scott and Walker performance in general can be determined by three factors ability, motivation and working environment. Further it can be derived with the equation Performance=ability Ã- motivation Ã- environment
Uden, 2005 demonstrated that there are nine identifying factors which influence any organization in achieving high performance. They are leadership, people, policy and strategy, partnership and resource, Process, People Result, and Customer result, Society Result, Key performance result. It is the people who are main factors ,so it is necessary that the working environment are congenial and the people who are being managed give their best in the environment (Mintzberg,2004),thus improving the morale and commitment while encouraging them to manage the organization ‘s process I a way will increase the level of performance and achievement. According to (Castka, 2001) the precondition of high performance depends on the creativity, decision making, interpersonal skills, participation, decision making. Arnett et al (2002) says that emotion and pride goes for high performance it goes beyond the barrier and makes the employee work for the organization to achieve high performance.
To address the soft factors there are numerous cited in the literature. These soft factors are often referred as critical successes factors (CSF) are as Rockhart (1979) explained are “areas of activity that should receive constant and careful attention from the management” .These is classified in to three management grouping.
Soft Factor (strategy) Top management Commitment, ERP strategy, Clear goal focus and scope, Legacy systems management.
Soft Factors (People) Training and education, Employee attitude, Empowerment, Project Team, User involvement and satisfaction.
Soft Factors (Organizational ) Organizational Culture, Effective Communication ,Computer Culture, Effective Project Management, Change Management strategy, Process management.
Example and implementation of framework:– 框架的示例和实现
Now we are going to look into a famous The FoxMeyer Drugs’ Bankruptcy case of ERP Implementation.( Judy E. Scott, 2009).
FoxMeyer Drugs was a $5 billion company and the nation’s fourth largest distributor of pharmaceuticals before the fiasco. FoxMeyer conducted market research and product evaluation and purchased an ERP package in December of that year. FoxMeyer also purchased warehouse-automation from a vendor, and chose a Consulting company to integrate and implement the two systems Implementation of the project took place during 1994 and 1995. The project at FoxMeyer Drugs was at risk for several reasons. Using a framework developed for identifying software project risks (Keil, Cule, Lyytinen and Schmidt 1998),(1) customer mandate, (2) scope and requirements, (3) execution and (4) environment.
Customer mandate relies on the commitment of the manager and the end user. At FoxMeyer though the management was committed towards the project the end users were not very confident about the project. In fact due to warehouse automation there was a definite moral problem among the workers as due to the automation there were a fear of job security. This we can relate to the Operational risk (OR risk) as explained above. As for OR as the end users were the most extensive user of the ERP application this was a crucial factor towards the success and failure of the project. According to Scott Walker performance equation as the moral were down the performance of the organization also was not up to the mark.
Secondly the scope of the project was risky as the FoxMeyer signed with new deals with the University Health System Consortium (UHC) after the announced the project as a result the data transaction that was pre estimated changed rapidly.
Thirdly the execution of the project was in trouble as there were not enough knowledge workers. The individual expertise of the organization was very and they were dependent on the expertise of the consulting organization as a result there were greater dependency. Although FoxMeyer must have realized the project was in trouble, its perceived dependence on consultants and vendors prevented it from seeing how it could gain control. We are going to analyze how we are going to analyse the soft organizational factor played it’s part in the implementation. The change management and process management were not in place as .The consulting company that were hired by the FoxMeyer were not putting enough expertise in project. The vendor company were also treating the entire process as a experimental background. There were no mutual trust among the entire stakeholders involved in the project as a result the project management team were not confident .As there were no trust in the process the individual stake holders were working like silo as a result there not proper communication .As explained earlier critical successes factors (CSF) (Rockhart, 1979) in terms of soft organizational factors were in trouble .As a result the project ran into trouble.
FoxMeyer CIO Robert Brown felt a high degree of personal responsibility saying, “We are betting our company on this.” (Cafasso 1994) Moreover, he expressed his emotional attachment to the project when he boasted about how an integrated multi million computer systems built on ERP would radically improve the company’s critical operations. However FoxMeyer were over budget for the project. In spite of running over budget FoxMeyer CIO was too much confident about the consultancy company and he was over whelmed about the success story of the particular system. As a result the project ran in to problem.
To conclude about the fact that there are high risks involved when adopting new technologies, especially in a unique situation where the vendor cannot identify the exact organizational culture. FoxMeyer should have realized the risk in adopting new ERP system in its early years and negotiated with the consultants to share the project risks by tying their compensation to project results. They should have gone for more knowledge workers and expertise. The top management thought that just by applying sophisticated software system into the organization will solve their problem, which was not right. As ERP projects are not for business process reengineering, it is neither only to enhance the business process nor to change it. The company should have gone for business process change before applying the software into the organization. As explained by Rockhardt the failure was due to the soft factor starting from strategy, people to organization.
ERP in present situation and future:-ERP in future is going to change with the new technology like virtualization, cloud computing, SOA service oriented architecture, SA AS software as a service. Some expects web services to to play a prominent role in future ERP (O’Brien,2002,ACW TEAM 2004 ,Abbound and vera ,2007).The capability of web services in integrating data ,application and processes across the internet (O’Brien 2002) may result in ERP systems heavily on Service oriented architecture (SOA) .However as the open source community gains more strength the popularity of open source ERP system like sugar CRM will increase more and more. This may not happen in one or two years or in a decade but as and when the service ine managers will understand the need of new technology and enhancement the ERP as it is today will change .Cloud concept and software as a service will evolve to take the place of ERP system.
Conclusions:–结论
The study has led to several important conclusions. Specifically, the results confirmed that successful implementation of the system is not an on step solution . In truth, a wide range of risks may occur in diverse business and system-related areas during ERP post-adoption. More importantly, the findings also show that an ERP risk may often be the cause or consequence of other risks. Because these identified risk eventsseem to be interwoven and related with each other, they may be very difficult to manage, mitigate and contain. As a consequence, in order to ensure long-term ERP success, IS managers must become aware of these risks and take proper risk mitigation actions as early as possible. If ERP implementation is not done with soft factors and organization keeping in to mind then it may cause drift. Particularly in organization which is diverse and located in various part of the globe, successful ERP implementation has many risk and success factors to take into account.
Acknowledgement:-致谢
There are several references in the study which is left unexplored fully. Future research will see the full exploration and will also explore the practitioners view on this.
Essay格式范文研究得出了几个重要结论。具体而言,结果证实,成功实施该系统并不是一个循序渐进的解决方案。事实上,在ERP采用后,在不同的业务和系统相关领域可能会发生广泛的风险。更重要的是,Essay格式范文中提到调查结果还表明,ERP风险通常可能是其他风险的原因或后果。由于这些已识别的风险事件相互交织、相互关联,因此它们可能很难管理、缓解和控制。因此,为了确保ERP的长期成功,IS经理必须意识到这些风险,并尽早采取适当的风险缓解措施。如果ERP的实施没有考虑到软因素和组织,那么它可能会导致漂移。尤其是在多元化且位于全球各地的组织中,成功实施ERP需要考虑许多风险和成功因素。本站提供各国各专业留学生essay写作指导服务,如有需要可咨询本平台。