Chapter 3: ERP System Options & Selection Methods Alternative ERP project forms Budgeting methods
IS/IT Projects Typically ERP projects Late Over budget Fail to satisfy design specifications ERP projects Are larger than normal Can be expedited (if you do it vendor’s way) Cost range $5 million to over $100 million (+)
Alternative ERP Options Method Advantages Disadvantages In-house Fit organization Most difficult, expensive, slowest In-house+vendor supp. Blend proven features with organizational fit Difficult to develop Expensive & slow Best-of-breed Theoretically ideal Hard to link, slow, potentially inefficient Customize vendor system Proven features modified to fit organization Slower, usually more expensive than pure vendor Select vendor modules Less risk, fast, inexpensive If expand, inefficient and higher total cost Full vendor system Fast, inexpensive, efficient Inflexible ASP Least risk & cost, fastest At mercy of ASP
Changing Nature of IT Technology is highly dynamic ERP projects often take years to install Vendors are responding by expediting As long as you do it their way Improved versions may be on market by the time you install your system This is one advantage of an ASP
IT Selection Practice Hinton & Kaye [1996]: IT tends to be viewed as capital budgeting Implication is that clear financial return is expected Sound thinking, but benefits often intangible (yet real) Some strategic investments require bold judgment Conversely, companies have gone broke buying IT
IS/IT Project Risk Factors Simms [1997] Project manager ability Experience with this application type Experience with programming environment Experience with language or system Familiarity with modern programming practices Availability of equipment, software, language tools Completeness of project team Personnel turnover Project team size Relative control of project manager over project team
Financial techniques for Capital Budgeting Payback Discounted cash flow Cost-benefit analysis These are the more formal mechanisms implied by Hinton & Kaye as capital budgeting Anything with as great an impact as ERP needs to have some estimate of cost, benefits Need to recognize that precise numbers not worth obtaining
Bacon [1992] survey of IT project selection methods Financial Criteria NPV, IRR, payback profitability index budgetary constraint Management Criteria Requirements, respond to competition, etc. Development Criteria Technical/ learning new technology, probability
Bacon findings More formal methods often not used Why waste effort if know you will do it? Many numbers used inaccurate anyway More formal methods reserved for larger project (like ERP) Management criteria focus on intangible Technical a matter of maintaining state-of-the-art systems
Survey of Manufacturers Mabert et al. (2000); Olhager & Selldin (2003) FORMAL METHOD Use in US Use in Sweden ROI 53% 30% Payback 35% 67% Expected NPV 15% 12% Other 11% 20%
Expected Installation Time Mabert et al Expected Installation Time Mabert et al. (2000); Olhager & Selldin (2003) Time to Install ERP US Sweden 12 months 34% 38% 13 to 24 months 45% 49% 25 to 36 months 11% 8% 37 to 48 months 6% 4% > 48 months 2% 1%
Estimated Installation Cost Mabert et al Estimated Installation Cost Mabert et al. (2000); Olhager & Selldin (2003) Installation Cost US Sweden < $5 million 42% 40% $5 million to $25 million 33% 35% $26 million to $50 million 10% 18% $51 million to $100 million 7% > $100 million In prior
Cost Proportions Mabert et al. (2000); Olhager & Selldin (2003) Where money spent US Sweden Software 30% 24% Consulting Hardware 18% 19% Implementation team 14% 12% Training 11% Other 3% 1%
Mabert et al. [2000] Survey of 400+ manufacturers Expected ROI Reported < 5% 14% 5% to 15% 18% 16% to 25% 36% 26% to 50% > 50% 13%
Expected ROI Mabert et al. (2000); Olhager & Selldin (2003) US Sweden < 5% 14% 17% 5% to 15% 18% 38% 16% to 25% 36% 30% 26% to 50% 11% > 50% 13% 4%
Mabert et al. [2000] Survey of 400+ manufacturers Even for ERP systems, only 53% used formal methods For smaller IT projects, payback most popular Most systems expected to take years to install Trend is to make much faster Cost varies widely You have a choice as to where you spend Training tends to be underbudgeted Not all expect big return
Points A variety of evaluation techniques available Pure monetary analysis hard, expensive, inaccurate Payback a commonly used shortcut Other methods exist Value analysis Multicriteria analysis