MIS 262 – Velianitis Phil Devereux and James Pratt

Most (70%+) ERP rollouts fail, why? ERP Systems have become increasingly

integrated an encompass more end users. A need for well-managed integrations between

different systems and cooperating businesses. Increases the need for organizational learning. There is no perfect handbook for organizational

learning due to company differences.

Learning theory states that people learn new skills through structures called “schemas.”

Employees are required to learn a large amount of information in a short amount of time.

This is due to the change from an outdated legacy system to a modern ERP.

As the ERP system increases in complexity, the amount of end user training must increase.

A company must develop and IT learning strategy that supports the overall goals of the business.

Layered view of Training & Learning Strategies.SIGMIS conference on Computer Personnel Research, 2003

In 1999 the average US Company trained more of its employees than ever before, IT comprised 9% of the total organizational spending on training. (Symposium on Applied Computing, 2009)

Training is seen as the largest organizational learning aspect in relation to an ERP implementation.

There are three groups which must be trained for any ERP implementation to be successful:◦ Technical Support Organization (TSO)◦ Management◦ End User

An organization must select a TSO as the starting team to any ERP implementation.

The TSO groups are the subject matter experts from various departments throughout the organization.

Management must also be trained in the business aspects of an ERP.

The final training team is the end-user, these are the people whom will be using the ERP on a daily basis.

One of the major downfalls of implementing an ERP system is the lack of evidence associated with whether the ERP system is cost effective for your business.

A business must properly identify the organizational impacts of implementing an ERP from a financial standpoint.

ERP systems are still in the growth stage of the maturity model and therefore still uncertain as to long term benefits.

Another major organizational impact that stems from ERP implementation is customer side quality, i.e. customer end user.

Does the organization tailor to customers who are closely tied to your business process?

This must be taken into account, as no company would want to lose customers over quality issues related to an ERP implementation.

We have developed a three step process in training your end-user in order to account for quality and customer focus.

◦ Step 1: Define and Emphasize Ownership◦ Step 2: Develop Training Material◦ Step 3: Test, Implement and Train

An ERP implementation is a grueling undertaking that is laden with risk and sometimes un-calculable rewards.

Despite this, more and more companies decide that this risk is worth it as outdated legacy systems continue to become a thing of the past.

These risks can be minimized by increasing organizational learning through the use of a proper end user training program.