NOWADAYS, THE BUSINESS COMPETITION BETWEEN COMPANIES WORLDWIDE HAS BECOME VERY TIGHT. INTENSE COMPETITION AMONG COMPANIES MAKES THEM IMPROVE THEIR BUSINESS PROCESSES TO BE MORE COMPETITIVE. ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP) SYSTEM IS A BIG SYSTEM WHICH INTEGRATES, AND AUTOMATES ALL BUSINESS RELATED TO ASPECTS OF THE OPERATIONAL, PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION IN A COMPANY. IN ORDER TO HANDLE ALL COMPLEX BUSINESS PROCESSES, COMPANIES START TO IMPLEMENT ERP SYSTEM TO THEIR SYSTEM (UMBLE, HAFT & UMBLE 2003). IN THE FACT THAT THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF ERP CAN BRING GREAT BENEFITS TO COMPANIES TO COMPETE EACH OTHER. THEREFORE, OWNERS SHOULD KNOW IN ADVANCE ABOUT THE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS OF ERP SYSTEM BEFORE THEY APPLY ERP SYSTEM TO THEIR COMPANIES (BRADLEY 2008). THE PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT IS TO DESCRIBE CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTOR FOR ERP IMPLEMENTATIONS IN INDONESIA AND MEXICO SO THAT THE OWNERS KNOW HOW TO INTEGRATE ERP TO HANDLE COMPLEX BUSINESS PROCESSES IN THEIR COMPANIES. THE DISCUSSION PRESENTED ON THESE ISSUES SHOULD BE OF VALUE TO PRACTITIONERS WHO WANT TO IMPLEMENT ERP SYSTEM. THE REPORT STARTS WITH AN OVERVIEW OF ERP AND CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS FOR ERP IMPLEMENTATION. IT CONTINUES BY PRESENTING THE CASE STUDY ABOUT A COMPANY IN INDONESIA ,MEXICO; AND CONCLUDES WITH SOME RECOMMENDATIONS ABOUT IMPORTANT THINGS THAT THE OWNERS MUST KNOW BEFORE THEY RUN ERP SYSTEM IN THEIR COMPANIES.
OVERVIEW OF ERP
IN THE PAST, APPLICATION IN EACH DEPARTMENT FOCUSED ON ITS OWN SECTOR; AND CONSEQUENTLY, THE PROCESS TO ACHIEVE CORPORATE OBJECTIVES HAS BECOME OBSTRUCTED. BUT WITH THE ERP APPLICATION, DIFFERENT DEPARTMENT CAN BE INTEGRATED AND EACH OF THEM WILL SHARE OR EXCHANGE INFORMATION TO ACHIEVE SAME GOAL IN A COMPANY (MADU & CHU-HUA 2004).
