Abstract

This paper reports on a study on enterprise resource planning (ERP) life cycle, major issues from the perspectives of individuals with substantial and diverse involvement with SAP financials in manufacturing organizations around Chennai City. A survey was conducted on 117 ERP system project participants in five closely related manufacturing organizations. A modified Delphi technique identified, rationalized and weighed perceived major issues in ongoing ERP life cycle implementation, management and support. The five organizations each implemented SAP financials simultaneously using a common implementation partner. The three survey rounds of the Delphi technique, together with coding and synthesizing procedures, resulted in a set of 10 major issue categories with 38 sub-issues. Relative scores of issue importance are compared across the firms, roles (client versus implementation partner) and organizational levels (strategic, technical and operational). Study findings confirm the importance of this finer partitioning of the data and distinctions identified, reflecting the circumstances of ERP lifecycle implementation, management and support among the stakeholder groups. The study findings should also be of interest to stakeholders who seek to better understand the issues surrounding ERP systems and to better realize the benefits of ERP.

Key words: Enterprise resource planning (ERP), ERP life-cycle, Delphi method, key issues.