Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are critical to college operations, but can be challenging for colleges to implement. Consortia present a unique solution to address gaps in their expertise and the skills needed to achieve a successful ERP.
Given the importance of both the value of the ERP system to a college and the difficulties that can ensue if said ERP system implementation results in a poor running system, colleges should welcome and utilize assistance that will aid them in better implementing ERP. Unfortunately, due to the high cost of ERP implementations and the expertise required to facilitate them, colleges can ill afford the cost of learning from their own mistakes on their pathway to getting their system operational. This article, therefore, will provide to potential ERP system implementers in the college arena those factors most critical to the success of an ERP implementation and suggest the manner in which working in a consortium with other like colleges can result in better decision-making and a better ERP system at a comparably favorable cost.
This study asked what factors were most critical to the success of an ERP implementation project and whether the success of an ERP implementation can be improved by the participation of the college in a consortium with like colleges. The methodology of this study entailed employing an online survey of 30 key implementation participants from four Texas community colleges which had all implemented the same commercial ERP system at their respective schools within the three-year period prior to the survey. Literature on ERP implementations was reviewed to determine five categories of factors most frequently listed as critical. Additionally, the literature was reviewed to develop a list of those metrics which determined whether an implementation became successful. Survey questions were developed to represent each of the critical input factors as well as the success measurement factors. Additionally, one of the colleges surveyed had performed their implementation as a member of a consortium, while the other three conducted their implementations without consultating or partnering with other colleges. The survey results were tabulated, and the results presented in this paper represent those factors which had the highest correlation with the level of success reported in the implementations.
Author: Frederic S. Gore
Link: https://doi.org/10.28945/4236
Cite as: Gore, F.S. (2019). The value of a consortium to an ERP implementation. Muma Business Review 3(15). 177-179. https://doi.org/10.28945/4236