Title: A method for measuring the alignment of ERP systems with enterprise requirements: application of requirement modelling

Authors: Babak Sohrabi, Mohammad Hamed Jafarzadeh, Elham Nili Ahmadabadi

Addresses: Faculty of Management, Department of Information Technology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. ' Faculty of Management, Department of Information Technology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran. ' Faculty of Economics, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract: Commercial off-the-shelf enterprise requirement planning (ERP) systems have been adopted by many large companies to support their inter and intra-business processes. These systems are generic, and the functionality they provide can serve a large variety of enterprises. The implementation of an ERP system involves a process of customising the generic package and aligning it with the specific needs of the enterprise. Thus measuring the alignment of a candidate ERP package with the requirements of organisation in which it is implemented is a vital task in any ERP selection and implement project. To do this, previous researches have used the system modelling approach to measure this alignment. They have used a modelling technique called object-process methodology to produce a model of enterprise requirements and a model of ERP capabilities and then an alignment algorithm has employed to match the model of ERP capabilities with the model of enterprise requirement and provide a matching score for them. In this paper, we propose some changes in aforementioned algorithm to make it a more practical and applicable in real world projects. To demonstrate the application and feasibility of approach in the real practical environment, the proposed algorithm has been implemented in an actual ERP project, which has been carried out in Iran in a chain stores company.

Keywords: enterprise requirements planning; enterprise resource planning; requirements modelling; off-the-shelf systems; inter-business processes; intra-business processes; generic systems; functionality; ERP selection; OPM; object process methodology; customisation; system modelling; capabilities; alignment algorithms; matching scores; Iran; chain stores; retailing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2010.036120

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 2010 Vol.9 No.2, pp.158 - 178

Published online: 22 Oct 2010 *

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