Understanding The Complexity Of ERP Project ManagementIt is quite a tough task to manage and implement an ERP project, mainly due to their complexity. No management project of any kind can be executed without support from all parties concerned, and the success or failure of such a huge project as implementing an ERP system depends largely on the company's corporate environment. The corporate culture is one of the most important factors when managing an ERP project. This article will look at this factor, along with those of how to define the corporate culture in terms of managing the ERP project, how to make management believe in the project at the outset, and how to ensure commitment and enthusiasm for the project continues until the project is completed. It is often found that a company's corporate culture is the thing that will give the management its personality, but even if the management is filled with optimism for the ERP project it is unlikely that every member of staff in the whole company will transform its attitude for increasing the likelihood of the ERP project coming off a success. In order to combat this, the management should recognize all the subtleties that are inherent in company's culture and then try to create a plan that will enable the ERP project to come to fruition. All this means that before the project is implemented some boundaries need to be set that ensure that the corporate culture does not get in the way of the ERP project implementation. A project cannot achieve success without cooperation, and although many companies do not think co-operation is important to implement an ERP project, there is nothing that is likely to make the project end in failure than lack of co-operation on all levels of the company. But as well as getting co-operation from all levels of the company, the most important thing is getting co-operation between the various managerial departments, and for all of them to be convinced that the ERP project is something worth putting into place. If the management truly believes in the ERP project then it will want the project to succeed, and therefore pull out all the stops for a successful implementation. In this way, the management can change the corporate culture in order to make the project succeed. What is needed finally is to sustain the commitment and enthusiasm throughout the whole project so that the project doesn't stop halfway and the company ends up with an ERP system that doesn't do the whole job. Ownership is engendered by involvement, and the involvement can affect the final outcome of the ERP project more than anything. Involvement begins with the ERP software selection and requirements definition and goes on from there. A justified or good project generally receives the stamp of approval, and the top-level support is also provided for sure. In case the system's advocates are not able to support the project, they should better forget what will be the even more difficult task of implementation. The right kind of management attention is gained only by a realistic assessment of all the requirements. The best kind of justification approach is able to match the company's business objectives with the goals of the ERP project. For instance, if the goal of a business is to use acquisition to grow, the concentration should be on how to use the ERP system to make stock control better and improve receivables management to finance the acquisitions internally. Therefore, it works best to always identify the goal of the company and then strategize to make sure the ERP system provides those benefits. |