ERP Technology & its Challenges Samples †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the ERP Technology its Challenges. Answer: Introduction Technology has improved and has enhanced over the period of years. There have been many automated systems that the business organizations are using in the present scenario so that they may gain benefits out of the same. These business organizations are now looking for implementation of the software packages that provide them with an integrated platform for the execution of the business activities. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) packages are an example of such integrated software packages that being extensively used. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Meaning Definition ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning and it is a process that includes the integrated business mechanisms and activities. There are many significant business tasks that are covered and are executed by using and ERP package, such as, planning, decision making, inventory, sales, marketing, finance, human resources, procurement etc (Kilic, Zaim Delen, 2014). There are various vendors and service providers that have developed and launched their ERP packages in the market. Some of the popular vendors include SAP, Oracle and Microsoft. On the basis of the business needs and requirements, ERP packages can be classified in different types, such as, industry specific ERP systems, web based ERP, ERP packages for small businesses and likewise (Sodomka Klcova, 2016). Need Advantages of ERP Technology The growth and use of ERP in the business organizations is because of the requirements of these business units and the benefits that are offered by the ERP packages. The business firms and organizations that have been successful in the implementation of the ERP packages have managed to achieve a competitive edge over the others. The manual operations that were previously carried out by the resources in the organizations have now been replaced by their automated versions through ERP packages. This had led to the enhancement and improvement in the productivity levels of the employees (Ovidiu, 2010). Planning is an essential activity in the business organizations. ERP packages have provided the ability to carry out efficient planning and estimations. A strong integration and collaboration is required for the success of the business organizations. ERP packages have provided the organizations with the ability to have a string integrated environment. Management of the changes in the business organization is made easy with the aid of the ERP packages. These changes may comprise of the modifications in the business requirements or specifications along with the number of users or customers. There may also be changes in the technological concepts and aspects (Matende Ogao, 2013). The overall management of the information is made easy through ERP packages and software. The information operations and activities, such as, storage, retrieval and management can be made smoother through these packages (Kocakulah Willett, 2011) (Chauhan, Dwivedi Sherry, 2012). The additional and unnecessary infrastructural and operational costs are avoided through the successful implementation of the ERP packages. This leads to the enhancement of the overall budget and expenses of the organization. ERP systems work on the information sets that are associated with the business organizations along with the real-time data and information as well. This leads to the improvement of the customer-centric operations and activities. The reporting structure of the organizations is improved with the implementation of ERP packages which makes it possible for all the resources to have updated information at all times. The overall communication strategy and architecture also improves. ERP packages also assist the organizations in the adherence and compliance to several legal policies, regulatory frameworks and laws. This reduces the probability of the legal risks and issues (Hasibuan Dantes, 2012). These systems have an inherent quality of scalability which provides the organizations with various different capabilities, such as, flexibility and adaptability. The relationship and the engagement with the customers also improve with the implementation of the ERP packages. This is because of the reason that the business operations are streamlined and the customer preferences and choices are also taken into consideration for the execution of business tasks and activities (Sadrzadehrafiei, 2013). Challenges in ERP Technology There can be many challenges that may come up in association with the ERP technology. These challenges are as listed below. There are various factors that are associated with the selection of the suitable ERP package for an organization. Some of these factors include the size of the software, the automated systems already in use, the requirements and specifications of the organization, scope of the system and many more. The selection of the system, therefore, emerges as one of the major challenges (Babaei, Gholami Altafi, 2015). ERP systems and packages have experienced many changes and transformations in the recent years. In the past, these packages were mostly batch processed and integrated. However, these systems have now shifted towards the real-time based integration. The transition process from batch integration to real-time integration is a major challenge (Momoh, Roy Shehab, 2010). Initially, organizations tend to implement the basic ERP packages that have limited requirements and specifications involved. There are a few operations covered by these systems and once the organization expands, the needs of these organizations also rise. This often leads to the presence of multiple ERP packages to support and maintain which becomes troublesome at times (Singla, 2009). There are several technical issues that may come up in association with the ERP technology and packages: There are a number of existing servers and workstations that are installed in the organization. With the implementation and deployment of the ERP technology, there are many modifications that need to be done to these servers and workstations. The speed and bandwidth of the internet servers and the network connections shall also be considered and shall be enhanced as per the requirements of the ERP system. This may have an impact on the existing systems and operations being carried out in the organization (Nordin Adegoke, 2015). Compatibility and integration of the ERP package with the rest of the software and hardware installed in the organization can come up as a challenge. In the first attempt of the ERP implementation in the business organization, it would be necessary to migrate and move the existing and legacy data sets to the new platform. There may be issues in the data quality and consistency in the process of migration. Security may be one of the major challenges that may come up with the deployment and implementation of the ERP technology and package in the organization. Some of these security issues that may crop up are as listed below. There are a lot many ERP packages and software that may go unpatched. It becomes required to install updates and patches in the ERP packages and the failure to do so may lead to the enhancement of the complexity. Poor configuration of the ERP packages and systems may lead to the increased probability of the backdoor access for the attackers. This may lead to the enhancement of the security vulnerabilities as well (Zafeiropoulos, Metaxiotis Askounis, 2005). Outdates web interfaces used in the ERP technology may lead to the occurrence of the security attacks such as SQL injection and web based security risks and attacks. There are a lot many access points that are present in the ERP package which leads to the issues associated with the violation of the access control and authentication. This may lead to breaching and leakage of information. There may be availability attacks that may come up with the occurrence and execution of flooding attacks such as denial of service and distributed denial of service attacks. The availability of the services, information and operations may be impacted as a result of these attacks on security (Acharya, Jethava Patel, 2013). There can also be issues with the integrity of the information associated with the ERP packages. There are vast data sets that are involved in ERP packages that may be exposed to the risks such as alteration of the contents without adequate permission to do so. Malware attacks are also common in case of the automated systems and applications that may be witnessed in case of ERP packages as well. Resolution of the ERP Challenges The challenges that have been illustrated above can be further understood with the case studies associated with the implementation of the ERP packages in the organizations. There have been many success and failure stories in the past. The success stories have been described below to describe the challenges and the reasons of success or failure of the ERP packages and system. ERP Success Story Cadbury is an organization that is one of the worlds largest manufacturers of chocolates and is based out of Birmingham, United Kingdom. The ERP technology was successfully implemented in the organization with the adherence to the following points. The strongest point involved in the successful implementation of ERP in Cadbury was the correct planning and estimation activities that were involved. The choice of the vendor was done according to the requirements of the ERP package in the organization and the analysis involved was also extensive. Effective communication channel was developed with the ERP vendor with the development of a portal called vendor connect for this purpose (Singh, 2017). Implementation methodology that was used by the organization was also apt. Cross-functional implementation was done so that the series of phases were involved rather than implanting all the functionalities all at once. The management also made sure that the monitoring tasks were adequately carried out so that the team members were aware of all the deviations and errors. ERP Failure Story There was another organization called Hersheys that attempted the implementation of ERP but failed in its attempt to do so. There were many challenges that came up for the organization which gradually led to failure. The schedule that was estimated by the vendor and the team of analysts was 48 months. However, the organizational leadership forced the vendor and the project team to implement and complete the project in a period of 30 months only. The incorrect schedule design was a major challenge that led to the failure of the project. Because of the incorrect schedule design and estimation, there were many critical tasks and activities that were missed out during the implementation. One such activity was testing of the critical features that led to the presence of many bugs in the final delivery of the project (Gross, 2011). The implementation methodology that was selected by the management was also not correct. The selected methodology included Big Bang implementation of the ERP technology which led to the failure of the project. There are two scenarios that have been described above which include the success and the failure of the ERP technology in the organizations. The challenges associated with the ERP technology can be overcome by using and adhering to the points listed under the approach followed by Cadbury. Also, there shall be used and implementation of the security controls and mechanisms to avoid the security risks and attacks. There shall also be advanced use of monitoring and control processes by the management and leadership covering the adequate selection of the vendor, methodology, estimations etc. The processes must be validated and verified at every step so that the end result that is achieved is positive. Conclusion Enterprise Resource Planning a process that includes the integrated business mechanisms and activities. There are many significant business tasks that are covered and are executed by using and ERP package, such as, planning, decision making, inventory, sales, marketing, finance, human resources, procurement etc. ERP offers many benefits to the organizations in which it is implemented. Some of these benefits include streamlining of operations, enhanced productivity and accuracy, integration of the business operations, reduced legal risks and increased customer engagement and satisfaction levels. There can also be certain challenges that may be observed in association with the ERP technology. These challenges may include technical issues such as compatibility, integration and installation issues or data quality and consistency issues. There may also be a number of security issues that may be observed in association with the ERP packages. It shall be ensured that adequate planning and c ontrol is involved in the selection, development and deployment of the ERP technology in the organization. References Acharya, V., Jethava, S., Patel, A. (2013). Case Study of Database Security in Campus ERP System. International Journal Of Computer Applications, 79(15), 1-4. https://dx.doi.org/10.5120/13814-1546 Babaei, M., Gholami, Z., Altafi, S. (2015). Challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning implementation in Iran large organizations. Information Systems, 54, 15-27. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.is.2015.05.003 Chauhan, R., Dwivedi, R., Sherry, A. (2012). Critical success factors for offshoring of enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations. Business Systems Research, 3(1). https://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v10305-012-0001-5 Gross, J. (2011). A Case Study on Hershey's ERP Implementation Failure Driving successful enterprise software projects. Pemeco.com. Retrieved 5 October 2017, from https://www.pemeco.com/a-case-study-on-hersheys-erp-implementation-failure-the-importance-of-testing-and-scheduling/ Hasibuan, Z., Dantes, G. (2012). Priority of Key Success Factors (KSFS) on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementation Life Cycle. Journal Of Enterprise Resource Planning Studies, 1-15. https://dx.doi.org/10.5171/2011.122627 Kilic, H., Zaim, S., Delen, D. (2014). Development of a hybrid methodology for ERP system selection: The case of Turkish Airlines. Decision Support Systems, 66, 82-92. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.dss.2014.06.011 Kocakulah, M., Willett, D. (2011). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementation: Promise and Problems. Review Of Business Information Systems (RBIS), 7(3), 35. https://dx.doi.org/10.19030/rbis.v7i3.4522 Matende, S., Ogao, P. (2013). Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System Implementation: A Case for User Participation. 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