ERP Selection: The SMART Way

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems implementation projects are challenging and resource consuming. There are several phases in the ERP implementation process. One of the earliest and most critical phases is the ERP selection phase. If an organization selects an inadequate ERP to fit their needs, the project will most likely destine to fail. Research and practice have provided several cases of ERP project failures because of a faulty selection process. No matter what amendments the adopting company undertakes in the later phases, if there is no fit, there is no success. This research, presents an explanatory case study, which employed a simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART)-based ERP selection method. The selection method was mainly based on developing process maps for all the critical business processes inside the organization, and then checking the degree of compliance of the potential ERP packages with those developed process maps. In addition, other factors were also included in the ERP evaluation and selection process. As the ERP was assured to be matching the business requirements, the method and the selection factors have been proven adequate for the selection process. In addition, this minimizes the risk of a non-fitting ERP system and consequent project failures.