Integrating diverse ERP systems: a case study

Abstract

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) went through many development cycles since its beginning in the 1970s until it established itself as a backbone of most major enterprises in the world. In spite of its countless advantages, most ERP implementations require heavy customisation to achieve their proclaimed advantages. This paper represents an endeavour to investigate, through a case study, the feasibility of minimising the heavy customisation required by most ERP implementations by selecting the best modules from each vendor and integrating them using enterprise application integration technologies, to form one (integrated) system. In doing so, the paper provides a description of a way to implement a suggested integrated solution, as well as a discussion of how minimising customisation enables enterprises to upgrade their ERP software effortlessly and cost‐effectively.