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Public Sector ERP Implementation: Successfully Engaging Middle-Management !
Abstract
ERP implementation problems often occur due to cultural problems that lie deep within the organizational structure. Highly departmentalized (referred to as “stove-piped”) organizations are averse to the open flow of information and to process oriented management solutions. Nowhere are these problems more evident than in our public sector institutions. To increase the success of future public ERP initiatives, this paper focuses on the important role of middle management to proactively support and advocate an ERP project in the pre-planning and requirements definition phase of a project. The research identifies high value middle management attributes that need to be identified by ERP project managers to co-opt these individuals into the role of “trusted intermediaries” to act as managerial bridges between traditional, and often adversarial organizational “stovepipes”. Existing project work by the author and interviews with former public sector, project managers and implementation consultants show that the role of middle management is much more critical to the success of a public sector ERP implementation than in a corresponding private sector effort.
... Following to studies and works of Rainer Sommer, there are strong evidences that ERP implementation issues often occur due to cultural problems settled deep inside the organizational structure. Furthermore, in his opinion, public administration suffers from highly departmentalized (referred to as "stove-piped") organizations, averse to the open flow of information and to process oriented management solutions [1]. His paper focuses on the important role of middle management, so to support and advocate an ERP project in the pre-planning and requirements definition phase of a project. ...
... Rainer conducted a research and identified high value middle management attributes that need to be identified by ERP project managers to co-opt these individuals into the role of "trusted intermediaries", acting as managerial bridges between traditional organizational "stovepipes". Since the 1990's many public sector organizations have followed the private sector and implemented pre-packaged commercial Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions [1]. ...
... Although ERP software may not exactly support all complex business processes, public sector organizations were eager to trade-off complex domain specific functionality for the benefits gained from a pre-packaged enterprise information system. By not developing a proprietary solution, the expectation was towards significant cost savings and increased organizational efficiency [1]. The number of public sector ERP implementations has risen rapidly in recent years. ...
Further public administration development depends on numerous various influences-stakeholders' and public needs, so when planned to be developed, implemented or improved, they have to be carefully considered. ERP and/or other system need to be incorporated according to specific conditions. Interoperability represents strong support for implementation, integration or further development for public administration. This paper aims for contribution to awareness growth and platform for further work. Considering various case studies, ERP implementation, interoperability, critical success factors and contingency approach, paper aims for further development in this area. ERP becomes a platform for further ICT development towards quantum computing. © 2018, University of Zagreb, Faculty of Organization and Informatics. All rights reserved.
... As stated earlier, published research on ES in the public sector is relatively scarce (Alves & Matos, 2013). However, the modest existing repository of literature dealing with ES in the public sector indicates that there are noteworthy differences between ES implementations in the public sector and in the private sector (e.g., Kumar et al., 2002;Seres et al., 2019;Sommer, 2011). Since ES in the public sector commonly require public tender, specifics of the desired system need to be documented in advance. ...
... The importance of vendor support is also contended, with Al-Harthi and Saudagar (2020) and Bukamal and Abu Wadi (2016) proclaiming it a critical success factor that notably affects ES implementation, while a previous study by Crisostomo (2008a) did not find any significant relationship between vendor involvement and ES implementation success. Sommer (2011), investigating the role of middle management in public ERP implementations, surmises that one of the reasons that many ERP implementations do not result in the expected improvements to the bottom line is due to the requirement for consensus-based decision-making and the lack of individual decision-making authority by managers in the public sector. Sommer asserts that the role of middle management is much more critical to the success of public sector ERP implementations than in corresponding private sector efforts. ...
This paper provides an understanding of the driving forces in enterprise systems (ES) implementation in the public sector. The data in this multi-case study were collected in semi-structured interviews of City Hall employees in Poland, representing diverse levels of experience and authority. Based on these data, we identify six key concepts in ES public sector implementations and propose a conceptual framework to serve as guidance for implementation projects and provide a foundation for further research.
... Regarding other CSFs, however, there is little agreement as to what they are, how they are related, or how they should be categorized. Sommer (2011) asserts that the role of middle management seems to be much more critical to the success of a public sector ERP implementation than in a comparable private sector effort. Several authors seem to be in agreement that technical and management knowledge, competences, and skills of project leaders, IT staff, and ES project team members are vital to achieve successful ES implementations (Allen et al., 2002;Crisostomo, 2008a;Seres et al., 2019;Ziemba & Oblak, 2013). ...
... Mai exact, această tendință a însemnat că orientarea spre "standardizarea acţiunilor, exerciţiilor şi abilităţilor ghidate de conducerea directă a personalului mai educat şi mai în vârstă şi, prin urmare, de rang superior care se bazează în principal pe utilizarea regulilor, a procedurilor formale şi a puterii de a recompensa, pedepsi sau promova" (Soeters, 2018, pp. 256-257) s-a schimbat, în sensul că organizațiile militare au devenit mai responsabile, mai transparente și mai eficiente în controlul costurilor și gestionarea timpului (Sommer, 2011). ...
The changing trends in military organisations have accelerated in recent decades against the background of societal changes, changes in the security environment and the rapid development of technology. These phenomena impose new requirements on armies in terms of effective human resources management and a key role is assigned to the provision of a high quality professionalisation process ensuring the performance of the armed forces and thus the ability of the military to fulfil its missions. By exploring literature, this paper starts with a conceptual background of the field that outlines the framework for transforming the training process from the perspective of interrelated key elements. In addition, the paper highlights challenging trends that have an impact on military organisations, emphasising the exploration of the way in which professionalisation is transformed so that military personnel can respond to challenging contexts, thus contributing to the performance of the armed forces. Finally, we propose some guidelines for future scientific approaches on this subject
... More precisely, this trend meant that a shift towards "standardization of actions, exercises and skills guided by the direct management of more educated and older staff -hence of a higher rank which is based mainly on the use of rules, formal procedures and the power to reward, punish or promote" (Soeters, 2018, pp. 256-257) has changed in the sense that military organizations have become more responsible, transparent and better in cost control and time management (Sommer, 2011). ...
The changing trends in military organisations have accelerated in recent decades against the background of societal changes, changes in the security environment and the rapid development of technology. These phenomena impose new requirements on armies in terms of effective human resources management and a key role is assigned to the provision of a high quality professionalisation process ensuring the performance of the armed forces and thus the ability of the military to fulfil its missions. By exploring literature, this paper starts with a conceptual background of the field that outlines the framework for transforming the training process from the perspective of interrelated key elements. In addition, the paper highlights challenging trends that have an impact on military organisations, emphasising the exploration of the way in which professionalisation is transformed so that military personnel can respond to challenging contexts, thus contributing to the performance of the armed forces. Finally, we propose some guidelines for future scientific approaches on this subject
... The importance of vendor support is also contended, with Al-Harthi and Saudagar (2020) and Bukamal and Abu Wadi (2016) proclaiming it a critical success factor that notably affects ES implementation, while a previous study by Crisostomo (2008) did not find any significant relationship between vendor involvement and ES implementation success. Sommer (2011), investigating the role of middle management in public ERP implementations, surmises that one of the reasons that many ERP implementations do not result in the expected improvements to the bottom line is due to the requirement for consensusbased decision-making and the lack of individual decision-making authority by managers in the public sector. Sommer asserts that the role of middle management is much more critical to the success of public sector ERP implementations than in corresponding private sector efforts. ...
The objective of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the driving forces in enterprise systems (ES) implementation in the public sector by providing a conceptual framework that illustrates these driving forces and their interrelationships. ES in the public sector may improve operational efficiency, provide more timely access to data for public decision makers, lead to more and better information for the community, and thus may have a substantial impact on socioeconomic development. Though there has been much research on ES implementation in the private sector, the findings from the private sector do not always carry over to public organizations, which differ substantially from private companies in external regulations, available resources, and internal culture. The data in this multi-case study were collected in semi-structured interviews of City Hall employees in Poland, representing diverse levels of experience and authority. Based on these data, we identify six key concepts in ES public sector implementations and propose a conceptual framework to serve as guidance for future ES implementation projects in the public sector as well as provide a foundation for future research.
... Characteristic variations between private sector and public sector significantly influence the way ERP systems implementation is carried out. Sommer (2011) argued that public administration has unique cultural, political, and organizational factors that negatively influence successful ERP system implementation in public administration. Implementation of ERP systems in developing countries public sectors should also take into account the fact that developing countries have limited resources. ...
Local government entities like municipalities are also challenged to provide services efficiently and effectively and hence increasingly consider ERP systems to support their operations. Successful implementation of an ERP system depends on several factors including having a viable framework to guide the organizational effort. This research aim to examine the nature and content of a possible framework to implement ERP system that could be useful for developing countries. To this end, it adopts an exploratory methodology involving focus groups to understand the activities essential to successful municipality ERP system implementation in a developing country, Uganda. Our finding shows that even when adopting cloud computing model, implementing ERP system in local governments in developing countries should take into account the fact developing countries should take into account the specificity of the developing countries’ context. This research offers a unique framework integrating monitoring and evaluation with contextualization, implementation, transition and realization categories of activities to successfully implement a cloud ERP system in a developing country local government. The findings support decision makers and vendors to reduce the total or partial failure rate of ERP implementation in developing country local governments.
... Companies worldwide started to claim that ERP is lacking of analytical and reporting functions that improve decision-making (Chou et al., 2005). Many executives triggers the need of intensive researches on the ERPBI success factors (Sommer, 2011;Singh et al., 2013). Chang (2008) examined the critical success factors (CSFs) as a tool with the aim of finding the main factors that are crucial for the success of an organisation. ...
Businesses have invested considerable resources in the usage of enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business intelligence (BI) systems. These systems were heavily studied in developed countries while there are a few and narrowly focused studies in developing ones. However, studies on the integration of ERP and BI have not been given enough attention (hereafter ERPBI). There are many challenges facing the ERPBI usage in term of the steadily increasing speed with which new technologies are evolving. In addition, there are a number of factors that affecting this usage. Based on the finding of the literature, a model from a critical success factors (CSFs) perspective that examine the relationship between ERPBI usage and organisational performance is proposed. The conceptual model provides a foundation for more research in the future. The expected results of the study will improve the business outcome and help design strategies based on an investigation between ERPBI usage and organisational performance.
... Several government offices have implemented different ERP software application systems with a huge capital investment Wagner & Antonucci, 2009). According to Sommer (2011) the number of U.S. Federal ERP implementations has risen rapidly in recent years such as the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, NASA, Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and several other Federal agencies. Public organizations started replacing existing systems and implementing ERP for their operational efficiency . ...
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation is a complex information technology project that integrates organization-wide operations. Prior surveys have reported perceptions about factors which are critical to ERP implementation success. But no prior research has empirically tested the relationship between ERP implementation factors (IFs) as independent variables and project success indicators as dependent variables. In the present study the research questions were: (1) is there a statistically significant relationship between an identified set of implementation factors for ERP projects and the empirically reported success indicators? (2) Do specific individual factors predict the level of success? Paper and online surveys were collected from 92 senior level ERP project participants—CIOs, project managers, executives and consultant/developers with experience on Federal ERP implementation projects. The study provided descriptive survey results for ERP implementation success and perceived effectiveness of implementation factors in the environment of U.S. Federal government ERP projects.
This paper is a literature review of articles on implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in public sector with a focus on developing countries. The aim of the paper is to present an in depth understanding of the implementation of ERP systems in developing countries public sector. It intends to help researchers interested in the topic to have a single source of reference, and to understand the state of ERP implementation in developing countries public sector. A systematic literature review methodology was adopted for an in-depth review of journals, conference proceedings and reviews. The review covered a range from 1998 to 2018; 72 were related to public sector. Developing countries contribute only 5% to the ERP research in public sector. The major themes identified include genesis of ERP, implementing ERP, CSF for implementing ERP, ERP implementing frameworks/methodologies, impact of ERP on Business Processes, ERP market, ERP cost and failure, and ERP trends. Findings on each theme are discussed. Areas are recommended that need to be understood in context of developing countries public sector; external and internal opposing factors, specific CSF/CFF, ERP implementing framework/methodologies, Total Cost of Ownership, ERP integration and ERP framework/architecture to ensure successful implementation of ERP and reduce cost.
Organizations have invested in Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems expecting to obtain benefits of the system and realize a healthy return on investment. Nonetheless, research indicates that employees rarely use ERP to its full potential. To tackle the challenge of underutilization, this article studies the longitudinal impact of control and empowerment on usage behaviors at the individual level. Results indicate that users engage in different but coexisting usage behaviors: routinization and infusion.
In this chapter the basic elements of organizational cultures in the military are analyzed, assuming that the military organization is too differentiated to speak about one military culture. These basic elements refer to the community life, hierarchy and rules, discipline, the Janusface character of the organization, and a certain assessment-aversion. There is variation in military organizational cultures with respect to • time-bound developments • between national armed forces • between the army, the air force, the navy and the special forces as well as • between regular soldiers, reservists and civilians. Organizational cultures are continuously in movement, implying that there are numerous challenges in the near future. The emphasis in the chapter is on the impact of military organizational cultures on operational conduct and effectiveness in action.
O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar o processo de implementação de um sistema de informação em uma instituição pública de saúde, localizada num município do interior do Rio Grande do Sul. Para tanto, utilizou-se a estratégia de estudo de caso, através de entrevistas semiestruturadas, realizadas com a equipe responsável pelo projeto de implementação do sistema, a partir do conceito de ciclo de vida dos sistemas de informação proposto por Audy, Andrade e Cidral (2005). Os resultados demonstram que a instituição encontra-se na fase de instalação do sistema adquirido. Também foi possível identificar alguns problemas enfrentados no transcorrer do projeto, bem como ganhos diretos e indiretos para a administração pública e para os pacientes da rede pública de saúde do município.
The world is moving towards “open Government” and Pakistan is far behind. This study is an impetus to
replace the obsolete governance system of Local Governments in Pakistan. The purpose is to explore and
to understand the impact of an E-Governance system in Local administration. To measure the existing
situation of E-Governance in the Punjab, an index has been developed. Local Government ranking of E-
Government is also concluded through online assessment. A case study has been conducted to answer
the question that “How ERP modules will be helpful for local Governments of Punjab?” The Findings states
that E-Governance through ERP solutions will have a positive influence on the governance of Local
Government i.e. Finance, Revenue, Works and services, Education, Agriculture, Municipal, Health and
Community Development. International experiences of E-Governance and their results on Governance
are also discussed. Through E-Governance in local bodies, the Government will switch from bureaucratic
to IT culture and will bring empowerment towards local bodies and citizens. The study recommended
provisional vision and top down approach for implementation of E-Governance. The ERP system will
stimulate the culture of accountability and individuals will be answerable to the system and systematic
leadership will be triggered. Ultimately, distributed culture will prevail by strengthening the system. The
literature also identified critical success for ERP execution and ended with recommendations.
We investigate how SAP Blueprinting methodologies, driven by questionnaires and interviews can be misleading if cross-functional business processes and organizational alignment are not considered as part of the project scope. In the private sector, the implementing organization usually owns all of the business processes within its domain. In the public sector, this is not always the case, and leads to a split integration instance. A "split instance" occurs when multiple standard software solutions are implemented in a domain that requires a single instance. Our research hypothesis is that the "split instance" problem is political, and driven by the desire of senior management to preserve organizational stovepipes. We test our hypothesis by performing an analysis of two U.S. NAVY implementations: The Naval Air Systems Command and the Naval Supply Command. The only solution to the "split instance" problem is to realign the two solutions into a converged value chain that can be efficiently enabled by the SAP software.
The management of the US Department of Defense (DoD) enterprise must change. Years of under-funding have led to a wide gap between enterprise support requirements and resources. Private sector firms have faced similar choices. This paper shows how the public enterprise can be changed. Our hypothesis is that private sector implementations of standard software will lead to increased effectiveness and efficiency in public sector organizations. Sufficient detail is provided on how to transition to a modern integrated public sector enterprise, and the steps for implementing such a project are outlined, following standard private sector implementation practices. To explain the problem and solution, the DoD installation management enterprise is used as an example.
From the Publisher:
Written by the leading expertise in the area of business process modeling, this book describes modem methods for developing enterprise-wide information systems using the proven "Architecture of Integrated Information Systems (ARIS)" framework for the development of business process models for industrial companies. Examples from the standard software systems (SAP R/3) demonstrate the book's down-to-earth practicality. 554 illus.
Business Process Reengineering (BPR) is said to be entering its second phase. In its first phase, many disparate methodologies for process redesign were developed and employed, and BPR became a pervasive and important phenomenon in the fast-paced global economy. The second phase promises to be more challenging than the first, particularly as the reengineering phenomenon continues to have negligible theoretical basis. As we progress to take-on the challenges of reengineering's second phase, it is important for the academic and practitioner communities to learn from the lessons of phase one. Toward this end, this article includes a focused review of the reengineering literature, with the purpose of circumscribing the best practices and integrating the lessons learned. Drawing primarily from expert reengineering methodologies, the key lessons learned in phase one are presented in terms of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). These FAQs provide the basis of some integrating themes, from which an outline of a number of future-research directions is drawn.
Typescript. Thesis (Ph. D.)--George Mason University, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 329-334).
Zugl.: Saarbrücken, Univ., Diss., 1993.
Introduction1. The Crisis That Will Not Go Away2. Reengineering-The Path to Change3. Rethinking Business Processes4. The New World of Work5. The Enabling Role of Information Technology6. Who Will Reengineer?7. The Hunt for Reengineering Opportunities8. The Experience of Process Redesign9. Embarking on Reengineering10. One Company's Experience-Hallmark11. One Company's Experience-Taco Bell12. One Company's Experience-Capital Holding13. One Company's Experience-Bell Atlantic14. Succeeding at Reengineering15. Questions that Readers Ask the MostEpilogueIndex
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