Hosted by Avoid the pitfalls of implementing SAP in different cultures Prof. Neil Maiden Centre for HCI Design, City University Dr. Marina Krumbholz Celerant Consulting

Hosted by Overview Motivation Studies Evidence The CAREs method Conclusions

Hosted by Motivation World-wide implementations - diverse national cultures Higher level of organisational and cultural change CRM, B2B - interaction between different cultures

Hosted by The pharmaceutical organisation World-wide, workforce of nearly , £2.8 billion turnover for year 1999 On the 01/01/99 it decided to create a more efficient distribution company It aimed to develop common operating strategies for the laboratory businesses One step was the implementation of SAP R/3

Hosted by Studies Background Aim: investigate nature and extent of the impact of culture on SAP implementations. 3 studies: Scandinavian, the UK and German subsidiary Studies focused on the SD and WM modules A preliminary version of the CAREs method was used

Hosted by The 5 parts of the method used for all three studies Observations: background information Interviewee selection: selection factors Interview questionnaires: 1. basic questions 2. SAP implementation questions 3. culture-related questionnaire Interviewing: interviewing process and technique Data analysis: process of producing model fragments

Hosted by Evidence elicited from the studies Organisational and national cultures have an impact on the efficiency of the SAP implementations The employees’ expectations get violated which give rise to the culture-related problems SAP R/3 “implicit culture” clashes with the client’s culture

Hosted by 1st study: Scandinavian subsidiary A culture-related problem with the WM module:

Hosted by 2nd study: the UK subsidiary A culture-related problem with the SD module:

Hosted by 3rd study: the German subsidiary NO CULTURE-RELATED PROBLEMS!!! “SAP fits perfectly. We are more professional now. The whole company is more hierarchical and united. The hierarchy is much better as work gets more regulated and everything is more structured” Is it because the culture of the German subsidiary does not clash with the “implicit culture” of SAP R/3?

Hosted by The CAREs method (Culturally Aware Realisation of ERP systems) current business process & software solution new business process & software solution applies analysis new models of current corporate & national culture predicted possible problems advice for handling culture Inform SAP implementation teams about the culture-related problems that may arise

Hosted by The 3 components of the CAREs method Component 1: The Culture Elicitation Technique Component 2: The Modelling Technique Component 3: Cultural Predictions Stage 1: Observations Stage 2: Background Questions Stage 3: Culture- statement Questionnaire Stage 4: Culture Mining Approach Stage 1: Identification of Relevant Data Stage 2: Specifying the Elements for a specific Action Stage 3: Instantiating the Meta-schema Stage 4: Interpretation of the instantiation Stage 1: Identify relevant cultural predictions

Hosted by Component 1: The Culture Elicitation Technique Aim to gather information about the culture, the SAP implementation and the prevailing atmosphere Component 1: The Culture Elicitation Technique Stage 1: Observations Stage 2: Background Questions Stage 3: Culture- statement Questionnaire Stage 4: Culture Mining Approach

Hosted by Component 2: The Modelling Technique Aim: to identify and explain culture-related problems Component 2: The Modelling Technique Stage 1: Identificatio n of Relevant Data Stage 2: Specifying the Elements for a specific Action Stage 3: Instantiating the Meta- schema Stage 4: Interpretatio n of the instantiation

Hosted by Component 3: The Cultural predictions (CUP) Aim: to predict an agent’s level and nature of reaction to the changes caused by the SAP implementation The outcome is a list of cultural predictions that describe the level and nature of reaction of this agent, depending on her/his national culture.

Hosted by Experts opinions on CAREs “I do not find the observations only useful but necessary; from my experience, 80% of projects fail because this kind of methodologies are not used” “It is very useful because it formalises what good consultants should be doing. In detail it formalises everything that should be done and emphasises what good consultants should be looking at” “It is a very holistic approach and it covers the important things in ERP implementations. Moreover, it structures the implementation team as well”

Hosted by Future work Integrate CAREs with SAP implementation methodologies (ValueSAP) Effect and influence of the leader of the customer organisations to the efficiency of the SAP implementation