ERP System Implementation: Project Charter and Culture

Introduction

This paper presents a project charter summary supported by scholarly research covering both organizational culture and project management. The project charter includes the scope of the project, its objectives, and the participants and stakeholders involved. The project in question is an upgrade to a comprehensive, all-inclusive enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that will replace the disparate and loosely assembled components currently in use. While one can certainly over-think a project of any magnitude, a transition to a new enterprise resource planning system is not something that can or should be taken lightly.

Scholarly Literature Review

As noted in the introduction, this paper begins with a brief review of both organizational culture and project management. When it comes to a company undertaking an active project of any magnitude, the two go hand in hand — particularly with information technology projects. As noted by Ching et al. (2014), organizational culture has measurable effects on the performance of project management tasks and overall project progress. Four dimensions of organizational culture that are of particular importance are institutional collectivism, results orientation, positive work environment, and leadership risk tolerance.

Put another way, there needs to be a combined and cohesive effort, a focus on results, a constructive workplace environment, and a leadership team willing to accept a degree of risk. When it comes to transitioning to an ERP system, risk is an inherent factor, as many ERP implementations stall or fail outright (Ching, Hoffman, Cao & Schniederjans, 2014).

As for organizational culture, firms seeking to implement an ERP system must possess a sufficient degree of what is known as organizational readiness. As noted by Ram, Corkindale, and Ming-Lu (2015), organizational readiness "is a significant antecedent to the adoption and post-implementation success of enterprise resource planning" (Ram, Corkindale & Ming-Lu, 2015).

Project Charter Scope and Objectives

Replace the existing customer relationship management, delivery, finance, and supply chain modules currently in use — all sourced from different vendors — with a singular enterprise resource planning (ERP) system that performs all required functions in a fully integrated manner, without sacrificing any existing functionality or capabilities.

The following objectives have been established for this project:

Build and implement the new ERP system by January 1, 2016. Conduct a side-by-side comparison to ensure that all needed functionalities are retained and that anticipated new capabilities are gained. Decommission the current framework of systems once the ERP system is fully tested and operational.

Conclusion

A transition to a new enterprise resource planning system demands careful preparation, strong organizational culture, and a high degree of readiness across all levels of the organization. The charter outlined here reflects these requirements by clearly defining scope, objectives, roles, and potential risks. With broad stakeholder support and a commitment to integrated, results-oriented project management, this ERP implementation is well positioned for success.

References

Ching Gu, V., Hoffman, J. J., Qing, C., & Schniederjans, M. J. (2014). The effects of organizational culture and environmental pressures on IT project performance: A moderation perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 32(7), 1170–1181. doi:10.1016/j.ijproman.2013.12.003

Ram, J., Corkindale, D., & Ming-Lu, W. (2015). Examining the role of organizational readiness in ERP project delivery. Journal of Computer Information Systems, 55(2), 29–39.