ERP implementation approaches: toward a contingency framework

TLDR

Abstract

In the last few years, the way in which systems are provided in many manufacturing and service organizations has changed significantly: rather than developing and maintaining customized mainframe applications for single business clients, IS professionals are involved in the implementation of large-scale, cross-functionally integrated, packaged systems on client-server platforms. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are on-line, interactive systems that can provide a “total” solution to an organization’s information systems needs by addressing a large proportion of business functions. They support a process-oriented view of the business as well as business processes standardized across the enterprise. Today, these packages are implemented on client/server architectures that are more flexible and scalable than mainframe systems. Five major vendors of ERP software have emerged, with SAP AG being the leader with more than a 30% market share.