An extended framework for implementing of enterprise resource planning for small and medium enterprises

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) has been used in developed countries to integrate the information and to support decision making in business improvement and competition globally. Many frameworks, models and methods were proposed and applied clearly intended for large companies. Many Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have difficulties when implementing and adopting the ERP systems that resulted in failures. The objective of this research is to formulate a new framework for SMEs implementing the ERP project with a view of highlighting the enterprise architecture and Critical Success Factors (CSFs) as the foundation for ERP systems for substantial improvement in success rate of projects. The CSFs of ERP projects were derived using literature and questionnaire survey and were classified by Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA). Furthermore, the relevance of CSFs and life cycle of implementation were obtained from the expert panel. The requirements of SMEs' framework were also determined by the expert panel prior to the development of the ERP implementation framework. The proposed framework was evaluated in five case studies from SMEs in Iran. Feedback from the case studies was used to revise the framework which addressed the requirements of the ERP system implementation. The implementation cycle would consist of four phases, namely, planning, selection and design, implementation and control, and evaluation and improvement. The framework consists of relevant elements to guide the managers and implementers in attaining the success rate of ERP projects in SMEs. The future work of the current study may be directed towards testing the applicability and validity of the proposed framework in various sectors, improving the CSFs instruments, refining the relevance factors, and the stages of the implementation process.