Critical Success Factors Revisited: A Model for ERP Project Implementation

Introduction Implementation of ERP systems is widely recognized (Parr, Shanks, and Darke, 1999; Ambrosio, 1997; Fine, 1995; Gartner Group, 1998; Horwitt, 1998; Stedman, 1998a, 1998b; Martin, 1998; Piszczalski, 1997; Tebbe, 1997) as both problematic, and likely to overrun time and budget allocations for the actual implementation project. Of course IT projects do have a history of having such problems but ERP implementations are more intractable than most. Martin (1998) reported that over 90% of ERP implementations were late and/or over budget; some have terminated in expensive legal actions (James, 1997; Shanks et al., 2000); and the popular literature ( Infoweek, Computerworld , etc.) contains numerous stories which describe ERP implementations in colourful terms, such as ‘endurance’ tests, ‘fiascos’, ‘living to tell about it’, and ‘war stories’ (see, for example, Tebbe, 1997; Horwitt, 1998). In response to these problems, the academic literature has taken a two-pronged approach. First, it has focused on CSFs (Parr, Shanks, and Darke, 1999; Holland, Light, and Gibson, 1999; Sumner, 2000; Shanks et al., 2000; Parr and Shanks, 2000b) for implementation of ERP systems. Secondly, it has developed process models of successful implementation (Bancroft, 1996; Bancroft, Seip, and Sprengel, 1998; Markus and Tanis, 2000; Holland, Light, and Gibson, 1999; Parr, Shanks, and Darke, 1999; Ross, 1998). Both approaches aim to achieve more successful implementation and deeper insight into the process.