Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Streamlining Upgrade Decisions

Gerald Feldman, Hanifa Shah, Craig Chapman, Ardavan Amini

2013

Abstract

Few organizations choose to upgrade their systems despite the benefits of new features and additional functionality such as web based services offered by upgrading Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. The reason for this is upgrading an ERP system remains a complex undertaking which requires strategies to minimise disruption to business operations. High costs and risks associated with upgrading imply that the decision to upgrade is not trivial and should be undertaken for the right reasons that make business sense and have clear benefits. Conversely opting not to upgrade has long term implications such as using outdated ERP systems which lack continued technical support or obtaining support at a very steep price. The paper will explore factors and challenges that influence ERP upgrade decisions and identify key features to streamline ERP upgrade. The outcome identifies that decision support methodologies and techniques could play a significant role in streamlining ERP upgrading decision.

References

  1. Bajwa, D. S., Garcia, J. E. and Mooney, T. (2004) An integrative framework for the assimilation of enterprise resource planning systems: phases, antecedents, and outcomes. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 44(3), pp.81-90.
  2. Beatty, R. C. and Williams, C. D. (2006) ERP II: Best practices for successfully implementing an ERP upgrade. Communications of the ACM, 49(3), pp.105- 109.
  3. Brehm, L., Heinzl, A. and Markus, M. L. (2001). Tailoring ERP systems: a spectrum of choices and their implications. In proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. Hawaii, USA: IEEE Computer Society, pp.8017 -8025.
  4. Claybaugh, C. C. (2010) Timing of Technology Upgrades: A Case of Enterprise Systems. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.
  5. Cooper, R. B. and Zmud, R. W. (1990) Information Technology Implementation Research - a Technological Diffusion Approach. Management Science, 36(2), pp.123-139.
  6. Davenport, T. H., Harris, J. G. and Cantrell, S. (2004) Enterprise systems and ongoing process change. Business Process Management Journal, 10, pp.16-26.
  7. Dittrich, Y., Vaucouleur, S. and Giff, S. (2009) ERP Customization as Software Engineering: Knowledge Sharing and Cooperation. IEEE Software, 26(6), pp.41-47.
  8. Dor, N., Lev-Ami, T., Litvak, S., Sagiv, M. and Weiss, D. (2008). Customization change impact analysis for ERP professionals via program slicing. In proceedings of the 2008 international symposium on Software testing and analysis. Seattle, Washington: ACM Press, pp.97-108.
  9. Ebersteins, M. and Grabis, J. (2011) A Method for Documenting Modifications in ERP Systems. Scientific Journal of Riga Technical University. Computer Sciences, 43, pp.57-64.
  10. Esteves, J. and Pastor, J. (1999). An ERP lifecycle-based research agenda. First International workshop in Enterprise Management and Resource Planning: Methods, Tools and Architectures (EMRPS). Venice, Italy: 99, pp.359-371.
  11. Grabski, S. V., Leech, S. A. and Schmidt, P. J. (2011) A Review of ERP Research: A Future Agenda for Accounting Information Systems. Journal of Information Systems, 25, pp.37-37.
  12. Hamerman, P. D., Moore, C. and Magarie, A. (2011) ERP Customers Demand Better Flexibility, Cost Transparency, And Mobility [online] Forrester Research. [Accessed 25 November 2012]. Available at: <http://www.forrester.co.uk/rb/Research/ trends_2011_erp_customers_demand_better_flexibilit y%2C/q/id/58390/t/2>.
  13. Hecht, S., Wittges, H. and Krcmar, H. (2011). IT capabilities in ERP maintenance - A review of the ERP post-implementation literature. In proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Information Systems. Helsinki, Finland: AIS Electronic Library.
  14. Karsak, E. E. and Ozogul, C. O. (2009) An integrated decision making approach for ERP system selection. Expert Systems with Applications, 36(1), pp.660-667.
  15. Khoo, H. M. (2006) Upgrading Packaged Software: An Exploratory Study of Decisions, Impacts, and Coping Strategies from the Perspectives of Stakeholders. PhD Thesis, Georgia State University.
  16. Khoo, H. M. and Robey, D. (2007) Deciding to upgrade packaged software: a comparative case study of motives, contingencies and dependencies. European Journal of Information Systems, 16(5), pp.555-567.
  17. Law, C. C. H., Chen, C. C. and Wu, B. J. P. (2010) Managing the full ERP life-cycle: Considerations of maintenance and support requirements and IT governance practice as integral elements of the formula for successful ERP adoption. Computers in Industry, 61(3), pp.297-308.
  18. Liao, X., Li, Y. and Lu, B. (2007) A model for selecting an ERP system based on linguistic information processing. Information Systems, 32(7), pp.1005-1017.
  19. Markus, M. L. and Tanis, C. (2000) The enterprise systems experience-from adoption to success. in Zmud, R. W. (ed.) Framing the domains of IT research: Glimpsing the future through the past. Cincinnati, OH: Pinnaflex Education Resources, pp.207-173.
  20. Nah, F. F.-H. and Delgado, S. (2006) Critical success factors for enterprise resource planning implementation and upgrade. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 46(5), pp.99-113.
  21. Nah, F. F.-H., Faja, S. and Cata, T. (2001) Characteristics of ERP software maintenance: a multiple case study. Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice, 13(6), pp.399-414.
  22. Ng, C. (2011) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Upgrade Decision: Toward A Unified View. In proceeding of Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, PACIS 2011: Quality Research in Pacific Asia. Brisbane, Queensland, Australia AIS Electronic library.
  23. Ng, C. S.-P. and Gable, G. G. (2009) Maintaining ERP packaged software - A revelatory case study. Journal of Information Technology, 25(1), pp.65-90.
  24. Ng, C. S. P. (2001) A decision framework for enterprise resource planning maintenance and upgrade: A client perspective. Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice, 13(6), pp.431-468.
  25. Ng, C. S. P., Gable, G. G. and Chan, T. Z. (2002) An ERP-client benefit-oriented maintenance taxonomy. Journal of Systems and Software, 64(2), pp.87-109.
  26. Olson, D. L. and Zhao, F. (2007) CIOs' perspectives of critical success factors in ERP upgrade projects. Enterprise Information Systems, 1, pp.129-138.
  27. Otieno, J. O. (2010) Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Implementation and Upgrade. PhD Thesis, Middlesex University
  28. Pan, S. L., Newell, S., Huang, J. and Galliers, R. D. (2007) Overcoming knowledge management challenges during ERP implementation: The need to integrate and share different types of knowledge: Research Articles. J. Am. Soc. Inf. Sci. Technol., 58(3), pp.404-419.
  29. Riedel, M. (2009) Managing SAP ERP 6.0 upgrade projects. Bonn: Galileo Press.
  30. Rothenberger, M. A. and Srite, M. (2009) An Investigation of Customization in ERP System Implementations. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 56(4), pp.663-676.
  31. Swanton, B. (2004) Build ERP upgrade costs into the business change program - not the IT budget [online]. [Accessed 24 November 2012]. Available at: <http://www.computerweekly.com/opinion/BuildERP-upgrade-costs-into-the-business-changeprogramme-not-the-IT-budget >.
  32. Teltumbde, A. (2000) A framework for evaluating ERP projects. International Journal of Production Research, 38(17), pp.4507-4520.
  33. Vaucouleur, S. (2009). Customizable and Upgradable Enterprise Systems without the Crystal Ball Assumption. In proceedings of Enterprise Distributed Object Computing Conference Auckland, New Zealand: IEEE computer society, pp.203-212.
  34. Wei, C. C., Chien, C. F. and Wang, M. J .J. (2005) An AHP-based approach to ERP system selection. International Journal of Production Economics, 96(1), pp.47-62.
  35. Willis, T. H. and Willis-Brown, A. H. (2002) Extending the value of ERP. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 102(1-2), pp.35-38.
  36. Worrell, J. L. (2008) Running the ERP marathon: ehancing ERP- business fit in the post-implementation phase. PhD Thesis, Florida State University
  37. Zarotsky, M., Pliskin, N. and Heart, T. (2006) The First ERP Upgrade Project at DSW. Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 8, pp.13-23.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Feldman G., Shah H., Chapman C. and Amini A. (2013). Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Streamlining Upgrade Decisions . In Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 1: ICEIS, ISBN 978-989-8565-59-4, pages 128-135. DOI: 10.5220/0004420501280135


in Bibtex Style

@conference{iceis13,
author={Gerald Feldman and Hanifa Shah and Craig Chapman and Ardavan Amini},
title={Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Streamlining Upgrade Decisions},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 1: ICEIS,},
year={2013},
pages={128-135},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004420501280135},
isbn={978-989-8565-59-4},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Enterprise Information Systems - Volume 1: ICEIS,
TI - Enterprise Resource Planning Systems - Streamlining Upgrade Decisions
SN - 978-989-8565-59-4
AU - Feldman G.
AU - Shah H.
AU - Chapman C.
AU - Amini A.
PY - 2013
SP - 128
EP - 135
DO - 10.5220/0004420501280135