Exploratory Study Of Challenges Of Enterprise Resource .
Egyptian Computer Science Journal ,ECS ,Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2012ISSN-1110-2586Exploratory Study of Challenges of Enterprise ResourcePlanning System Selection11,3Abd El-Fatah A.Hegazy, 2Mahmoud El-Battah, 3Mona KadryCollege of Computer Science, Arab Academy for Science, Technology & MaritimeTransport, Cairo, Egypt2College of Computer Science, Modern University For Technology & Information,Cairo, Egyptahegazy@aast.edu, elbattah@cs.mti.edu.eg, monakadry@hotmail.comAbstractAn enterprise resource planning is a critical investment that can significantly affectfuture competitiveness and performance of any organization. At the present time, manycompanies are reaping the expected benefits of applying ERP systems; however ERP hasmany failures and setbacks around the world. One of the major reasons for ERP failure is theimproper selection of the ERP package system. ERP system selection is a complex multiplecriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. This paper sheds the light on the challenges andproblems that face the process of ERP software package selection.Keywords: ERP, MRP, MCDM, AHP, ANP, ANN, Fuzzy Sets.1. Introduction1.1 The ERP ConceptEnterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has its origins in the concepts associated withManufacturing Resource Planning (MRP) packages and their antecedents from the 1970s,Materials Requirement Planning packages. Technological opportunities, demands forinnovation, and changes in global markets force organizations to be more outward looking,market-oriented and knowledge driven with a flexible infrastructure. This development affectsorganizations’ business practices and procedures to remain in a competitive environment. Atthis point, information technology plays an important role in increasing the competitivenessof organizations.Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems were introduced into companies to solvevarious organizational problems and to provide an integrated frame as an informationtechnology. ERP modules provide standardization of almost all the business processes andfunctions of an organization regardless of its line of business [1]. However, applying ERPsystem is very expensive and requires a lot of time too, so selecting the right ERP system thatmeets the business functions is very important and is intolerant if improper ERP system iswrongly chosen.-107-
Egyptian Computer Science Journal ,ECS ,Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2012ISSN-1110-2586Convincing reasons for a new ERP system may include:1.The use of multiple points of input with duplicated effort in the existing system.2. The inability of the existing system to support organizational needs.3. The requirement of extensive resources for maintenance and support.4. The consideration of an enterprise to reengineer its business process.5. The growth of the enterprise and subsequent incompatibility of several informationsystems.6. The inability of employees to respond easily to questions or information requestedby key customers or suppliers.ERP benefits can be classified into five groups as follows: Operational, relating to cost reduction, cycle time reduction, productivityimprovement, quality improvement, and customer services improvement. Managerial, relating to better resource management, improved decision making andplanning, and performance improvement. Strategic, concerning supporting business growth, supporting business alliance,building business innovations, building cost leadership, generating productdifferentiation, and building external linkages. IT infrastructure, involving building business flexibility, IT cost reduction, andincreased IT infrastructure capability. Organizational, relating to supporting organizational changes, facilitating businesslearning, empowering, and building common visions.1.2 Challenges to Further ExpansionThe commercial growth of ERP is globally remarkable. Most very large organizationsworld-wide have already adopted ERP, and increasingly small- and medium-sized enterprisestoo are finding it cost effective and a competitive necessity to follow suit. However, thisglobal success is facing many challenges. Some implementers of ERP have failed to achievethe expected benefits while others have abandoned ERP implementations or reduced theirscale. In large part, these disappointments have been attributed to the great size andcomplexity of the packages and the associated problems in customization and organizationalchange.From real-life examples, while companies such as Cisco Systems, Eastman Kodak, andTektronix have reaped the expected benefits of ERP systems, many businesses arediscovering that their ERP implementation is a nightmare. For example, FoxMeyer Drug, a 5billion pharmaceutical company, filed for bankruptcy. FoxMeyer argued that major problemswere generated by a failed ERP system, which created excess shipments resulting fromincorrect orders and costing FoxMeyer millions of dollars. Dell Computer spent tens ofmillions of dollars on an ERP system only to scrap it because the system was too rigid fortheir expanding global operations. Recent ERP failures also include Boeing, Dow Chemical,Mobil Europe, Applied Materials, Hershey, and Kellogg’s. Others have noted that ERPimplementers outside Europe and North America can also experience problems arising fromwhat have been called “cultural misfits”. These cultural misfits relate to the inability of the-108-
Egyptian Computer Science Journal ,ECS ,Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2012ISSN-1110-2586global packages, in spite of their enormous functional flexibility, to readily address specificfunctional needs associated with the local laws and local practices [2].Therefore, it’s very important to find out all the problems and challenges facing ERPsystems as it can directly lead to the failure of the ERP system or the misfit between thebusiness process and the modules offered by the ERP package. Failure of ERP system canhave dramatic consequences on the organization if it tries to roll back the applied ERPsystem. Figure (1) shows some challenges that face ERP systems.Figure (1) Challenges of ERP Systems1.3 ERP Selection ChallengeIn the light of the mentioned experience of ERP implementation, ERP system selectionis considered as a critical problem that faces any organization that has taken the decision to gofor the ERP technology. The selection of ERP package includes important decisions regardingbudgets, timeframes, goals that will affect the entire project. Choosing the right ERP softwarepackage that best meets the organizational needs and processes is crucial to ensure minimalmodification and successful implementation and use. A better fit between software vendorand user organization is beneficially associated with packaged software implementationsuccess. This relationship provides maximizing the compatibility of organizations with theirvendors. The other important issue is vendor support with extended technical assistance,emergency maintenance, updates and special user training [3].On the other hand, selecting thewrong ERP software package may cause a misfit between the ERP package and theorganizational goals or business processes. Obviously, choosing an ERP software packageand vendor and implementing and maintaining this system is a very important process sincethis decision will affect the organization positively or negatively.-109-
Egyptian Computer Science Journal ,ECS ,Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2012ISSN-1110-25861.4 Study ObjectivesThe paper aims to: Perform an exploratory study of the nature of the ERP selection process. Find out the associated problems and obstacles related to the selection process inorder to make the proper selection of ERP system package. Provide a preliminary analytical study to be as a road-map for a next study thatproposes a comprehensive framework for ERP system selection process.1.5 Paper OrganizationThe organization of the paper is as follows. First, a literature survey demonstratesseveral methods that have been used before to solve problems of the MCDM type. Then, areal life case study of ERP system selection by one of the largest Egyptian garments factoriesis analyzed. The last section discusses the collected observations during the ERP selectionprocess.2. Literature ReviewAn ERP software selection is considered to be one of the multi-criteria decision making(MCDM) problems[4].The next section reviews some methods that have been used to solvethe category of MCDM problems especially ERP selection.2.1 ERP Software Selection MethodsIn ERP Selection, AHP/ANP methods have been used. Wei, Chien, and Wang [5]studied on AHP based ERP selection. Ravi, Shankar, and Tiwari [6] developed ANP modelfor ERP software selection problem. In recent studies, one can observe that fuzzy sets havebeen used together with AHP/ANP methods for ERP Software selection. A study was madeby Ayag and Ozdemir [7] where a fuzzy ANP was adopted. Another studies in have adoptedAHP/ANP and artificial neural Networks to be used together. For example, Stam, Minghe,and Haines [8] made use of ANN in calculation of dual comparison matrix values in AHP.First, Hopfield network was introduced and this trained network was used in the calculationof comparison data whose absolute values were unknown. The trained network by the help ofsimulation techniques, proved to be affective in the solution of multi-purpose decisionproblems depended on vague or fuzzy data especially when data was uncertain and fuzzy. Intheir relevant study, Hu and Tsai [9] studied the case where the data for the comparisonmatrix was partly missing and they have proposed to find the missing data by way of backpropagation method. The multi-layer back propagation they have proposed estimates themissing data and enables the usage of AHP.Kuo, Chi, and Kao [10] developed fuzzy AHPstructure for the selection problem. They also studied the interrelations between factors andstore performance by ANN model.Matsuda [11] dealt with the problem in case of missing or no information when thedecision is made with ANP based ANN model and tested the validity of his model withsimulation. Mikhailov [12] studied on the determination of group priority in AHP method. Hementioned that the usage of his fuzzy based optimization method in reducing the group-110-
Egyptian Computer Science Journal ,ECS ,Vol. 36 No. 1, January 2012ISSN-1110-2586decisions to a single one and priorities to a single value is more appropriate than the usage ofgeometric mean method. In his study, a fuzzy approach has been implemented to solve theproblem in the case of missing information of the group members.3. Research MethodologyThis research has been conducted using the case study approach. In this investigation ofERP package selection process, the case study method is used for exploration, for description,and for the testing of theory. The study sites have been garments factories located in Egyptthat have taken the decision to go for the ERP technology in an attempt to improve theproduction process of the factory or to replace its inefficient legacy system.The first case study has been conducted with “Hassnien El-Galy” factory for Garmentslocated in El-Mansoura. The factory is one of the largest Egyptian exporters of garmentsproducts and is trying to take a better place in the global market with its Turkish competitors.The outstanding note is that the Turkish garments manufacturers were the early adopters ofapplying ERP systems in order to enhance the overall garments production process.3.1 Establish Attribute HierarchyThe first stage of the research was to collect the attributes used for evaluating the ERPsoftware packages. Both quantitative and qualitative attributes that can satisfy the routineoperation under the strategies and goals of the company should be involved.The aspects that companies usually consider when selecting ERP project include:1.2.3.4.5.The strategy of system to meet the business strategy and goals.The ability of system to support the business process.The technical requirements on which the system operates.The ability of vendor to sup
One of the major reasons for ERP failure is the improper selection of the ERP package system. ERP system selection is a complex multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. This paper sheds the light on the challenges and problems that face the process of ERP software package selection. Keywords: ERP, MRP, MCDM, AHP, ANP, ANN, Fuzzy Sets. 1.
1.1 PURPOSE OF THE EXPLORATORY RESEARCH STUDY The purpose of this study was to conduct exploratory research on consumer-level food loss to help inform the development of a complete study to develop estimates of food loss for individual food categories. The exploratory research included reviewing published literature on consumer-level food loss,
be effective in traditional keyboard or touch-based exploratory search scenarios, by and large they are inappropriate to support exploratory search in a conversational setting on mobile devices. Instead, we argue that an approach based on interactive storytelling is called for to support conversational exploratory search. 3 CONVERSATIONAL .
Integrating Exploratory Testing into Product Design Exploratory testing, or ET, is a good fit for agile processes, can be done by any member of the dev/test team, and helps develop appli-cations that map to customers' needs. Kevin Dunne writes how with increased use of ET, testing becomes an intellectual pursuit driving product quality and agility. Using Tours to Structure Your Exploratory Testing
with exploratory testing 2. Scripted testing vs. exploratory testing 3. The 3 advantages of exploratory testing Test your system from different angles to uncover unknown risks Use the skills, expertise and knowledge of testers to intuitively test the system Share insights with the whole team to uncover risks that you might not find alone 4.
Exploratory Data Analysis - Detailed Table of Contents [1.] This chapter presents the assumptions, principles, and techniques necessary to gain insight into data via EDA--exploratory data analysis. 1. EDA Introduction [1.1.] 1. What is EDA? [1.1.1.] 2. How Does Exploratory Data Analysis differ from Classical Data Analysis?
for automated suggestions for portions of the exploratory data analysis process. Many intuitive user interface features that would be ideal to have for an exploratory data analy-sis tool are available in Tableau [1] which is descended from earlier research in exploratory data analysis such as Polaris [14] and Mackinlay's earlier work [9].
In addition, based on this exploratory case study, researchers can conduct further and more rigorous testing on this innovative practice of integrating games into STEM classrooms. Research Method This exploratory case study wa
conducted an exploratory research because . descriptive research. is only conducted when ample focus has been given on . exploratory research. Primarily exploratory research is a type of qualitative research. I have used this to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivation.
