The 12 Cardinal Sins of ERP Implementation
The biggest single issue in ERP is the failure of a successful implementation. It is mind-boggling to continually encounter companies who make major ERP gaffes in this day and age, especially since most of the trials and tribulations of MRPII implementation were suffered and learned from in the early 1980's with alpha, beta and gamma releases.
So what constitutes failure? Several things come to mind:
- Not making the promised return on investment,
- Inordinately extending the implementation schedule and start-up date,
- Running over budget by unconscionable variances,
- Grinding the organization to a crawl pace, or the severest of all consequences,
- Stopping production and/or not delivering orders to your customers.
Industry statistics show that >60% of ERP implementation starts historically fail. Does this mean that you are doomed from the start? Of course not, if you learn from the mistakes of others. So the pertinent question is what are the main causes of ERP failure and what can be done to prevent this from happening to you?
