1. Changeability of ERP Systems Literature Research
Master Thesis Presentation
Business Administration Programme
Supply Chain and Operations
Master student: Vitosh Kolev Doynov
Supervisor: prof. dr. Manda Broekhuis
Client and supervisor: prof. dr. Laura Maruster
Client and supervisor: prof. dr. ir. J.C. (Hans) Wortmann

2. Contents Introduction Research questions
Methodology and Research Design
Results
Conclusion
Questions and comments

3. Introduction
ERP – a concept, composed of a set of processes, methods and techniques for effective planning and control of resources¹.
ERP – a cornerstone in any organization².
The maintenance of the EPR systems is expensive - an average ERP upgrade carries a price tag of $1.5 million³.
In general change is a risk factor, contributing to project failure⁴.

4. Research questions
What is ERP changeability? How is it defined in the literature?
What framework for ERP changeability can be used in order to analyze ERP changeability results?
What recommendations and applications for ERP practitioners can be derived from the analysis of the results?

5. Methodology and Research Design I
Literature review provides possibilities to summarize
report and evaluate previously reported evidence⁵.
Table with following columns is created:
Title
Description of Change
Agent of Change
Effect of Change
Mechanism of Change
Organizational Impact

6. Methodology and Research Design II
Content analysis for determination of Organizational Impact.
Three standard⁶ steps for content analysis:
Open Coding
Axial Coding
Selective Coding

7. Changeability – How to define it?
Aspects of changeability⁷:
change agents
change effects
change mechanisms
System parameters of changeability:
Flexibility
Adaptability
Scalability
Modifiability
Robustness
Flexibility of a system is defined by the set of changes induced by external agents that can be accommodated
Adaptability of a system is defined by the set of changes induced by internal agents that can be accommodated
Scalability is the ability to change the level of a feature
Modifiability is the ability to change the set of features itself
Robust of a system is, when it is able to remain constant in features, despite of the changes

8. Introduction of selected framework
ERP changeability can be expressed with the terms⁸:
Configuration
Modification
Configuration is considered as setting parameters in the package to reflect organizational features.
Modification is related to changing the package code, and real programming (usually ABAP) inside the ERP.
13 change mechanisms are recognized.

9. Results I Results from the Content analysis steps: Open Coding
Axial Coding
Selective Coding
User Training
Tension
Improved Reporting

10. Results II Mechanisms of change from the 18 case studies.
Summarized results of change
effects.
Summarized results for
expected change effects.

11. Results III Organizational Impacts of ERP changeability project.
Total number of studies,
having the organizational impacts – resistance, chaos and tension.
Presence of Tension, Resistance
and Chaos in case studies, where functionality loss and bad performance are reported.

12. Results IV Sequence of negative
organizational impacts of two selected changeability projects.

13. Conclusions What have we done?
Presentation and test of ERP changeability framework.
Collection and summary of organizational impacts from ERP changeability projects.
What knowledge have we obtained?
Results from the ERP changeability framework test.
Summary of organizational impacts from ERP changeability projects.
Why is it useful?
Strengths and weaknesses of the paper.

14. Thank you for your patience!
Please, share Your questions and comments for this paper!

15. References
Schönsleben, P. (2012). Integral Logistics Management. CRC Press
Motiwalla L. F., Thompson, J. (2012). Enterprise Systems for Management, Pearson Education Inc.
Bonasera, J. (2002). AMR Research Report Evaluates the Costs, Challenges and Added Benefits of ERP Upgrades, AMR Research [www document] (accessed 26th August 2013)
Brehm, L., Heinzl, A., Markus, M. (2001). Tailoring ERP Systems: A Spectrum of Choices and their Implications. Proceedings of the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
Denyer, D., Tranfield, D. (2009). The Sage handbook of organizational research methods. Los Angeles (CA): SAGE
Cavana, R.Y., Delahaye, B.L. Sekaran, U. (2001). Applied Business Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Methods, Wiley, Brisbane
Ross, A. M., Donna, H. R., Hastings, D.E. (2008). Defining Changeability: Reconciling Flexibility, Adaptability, Scalability, Modifiability and Robustness for Maintaining System Lifecycle Value. System Engineering, 11(3):246-26