An effective IT infrastructure can suppor t a business vision and strategy; a poor, decentralized one can break a company. More and more companies are turning to off-the-shelf ERP solutions for IT planning and legacy systems management. The authors have developed a framework to help managers successfully plan and implement an ERP project.

A Critical Success Factors Model For ERP Implementation
FROM THE TRENCHES: Wolfgang B. Strigel, editor • wstrigel@spc.ca

Christopher P. Holland and Ben Light, Manchester Business School

ompanies are radically changing their information technology strategies by purchasing prepackaged software instead of developing IT systems in-house. Price Waterhouse predicts that by 2000, two-thirds of all business software will be bought off the shelf. More specifically, Deloitte and Touche states that businesses prefer to replace legacy systems with enterprise resource planning systems. According to AMR Research, the ERP systems market was $15.68 billion in 1997 and is likely to increase at a compound rate of 36 percent, to $72.63 billion, by 2002. The associated consultancy market is approximately $30 billion. These statistics clearly indicate a shift in the ERP market. There are mixed reports concerning the outcome of ERP projects. Successful ERP implementations are certainly publicized, such as Pioneer New Media Technologies (see http://Datamation.com/PlugIn/erp/index.htm) and Monsanto,1 but less successful projects have led to bankruptcy proceedings and litigation against IT suppliers.2 Approximately 90 percent of ERP implementations are late or over budget,3 which may be due to poor cost and schedule estimations or changes in project scope rather than project management failure.4

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IEEE Software

May/ June 1999

0740-7459/99/$10.00 © 1999 IEEE

ERP software automates core corporate activities, such as