Enterprise information systems project implementation: A case study of ERP in

Rolls$-$Royce Yahaya Yusufa,$*,$ A$.$ Gunasekaranb $,$ Mark S$.$ Abthorpec a Business

School, University of Hull, Hull HU$67$RX$,$ UK bDepartment of Management,

University of Massachusetts, $285$ Old Westport Road, North Dartmouth, MA $02747-$

$2300,$ USA c Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Nottingham

Trent University, Burton Street, Nottingham NG$14$BU$,$ UK Abstract Economic

globalisation and internationalisation of operations are essential factors in

integration of suppliers, partners and customers within and across national borders,

the objective being to achieve integrated supply chains. In this effort,

implementation of information technologies and systems such as enterprise

resource planning $($ERP$)$ facilitate the desired level of integration. There are cases of

successful and unsuccessful implementations. The principal reason for failure is

often associated with poor management of the implementation process. This paper

examines key dimensions of implementation of ERP system within a large

manufacturing organisation and identifies core issues to confront in successful

implementation of enterprise information system. A brief overview of the application

of ERP system is also presented and in particular, ERP software package known as

SAP R$/3,$ which was the ERP software package selected by Rolls$-$Royce plc$.$ The

paper takes an in$-$depth look at the issues behind the process of ERP

implementation via a case study methodology. It focuses on business and technical

as well as cultural issues at the heart of the Rolls$-$Royce implementation. The case

study also looks at the implementation time scales and assesses the benefits from

the project both tangible and intangible. r $2003$ Elsevier B$.$V$.$ All rights reserved.

Keywords: ERP; Information systems; Implementation; Success factors; Rolls$-$Royce

$1.$ Introduction The global nature of modern marketplace requires active players to

internationalise their operations. In the past, companies were used to competing

based on one or two competitive performance objectives such as price and quality.

However, present markets demand both price and quality in addition to greater

flexibility and responsiveness and thus today$$s organisations must compete based

on all competitive objectives. In order to achieve such simultaneity in performance

objectives, some organisations have decentralised their operations by global

outsourcing of activities. This places enormous challenge on companies to achieve a

co$-$ordinated and integrated supply chain. The emergence of various information

technologies such as the Internet, electronic data interchange $($EDI$)$ and WWW

facilitate the attainment of an integrated supply ARTICLE IN PRESS $*$Corresponding

author. Tel.: $+44-1486466933$; fax: $+44-1482466216.$ E$-$mail address:

yahaya.yusuf@hull.ac$.$uk $($Y$.$ Yusuf$).0925-5273/$$ $-$ see front matter r $2003$ Elsevier

B$.$V$.$ All rights reserved. doi:$10\mathrm{.}1016/$j$.$ijpe$\mathrm{.}2003\mathrm{.}10\mathrm{.}004$ chain and in turn flexibility

and responsiveness in meeting changing market requirements. Information systems

such as manufacturing resource planning $($MRPII$)$ and enterprise resource planning

$($ERP$)$ in particular have gained ground in providing support for achieving an

integrated supply chain. Firms around the world have been implementing ERP

systems since the $1990$s to have a uniform information system in their respective

organisations and to re$-$engineer their business processes $($Rajagopal$,2002).$ ERP

system as a packaged software has the advantages of reduced cost, rapid

implementation, and high system quality $($Lucas et al$.,1988).$ Although application

packages have these benefits over custom design software, packaged software

have problems of uncertainty in acquisition and hidden costs in implementation.

Successful ERP implementation must be managed as a program of wide$-$ranging

organisational change initiatives rather than as a software installation effort. Such

IT$-$driven initiatives require change of the organisation$$s socio$-$economic system,

which is intertwined with technology, task, people, structure, and culture. Thus

organisational resistance to change is identified as a critical success factor for ERP

implementation $($Hong and Kim, $2002).$ Organisational fit and adaptation are

important to implementation of modern large$-$scale enterprise systems that are built

with pre$-$determined business process methodology. As a result, customisation is a

crucial, lengthy, and costly aspect in the successful implementation of ERP system,

and has, accordingly, become a major speciality of many vendors and consulting

companies. Gefen $(2002)$ examines how such companies can increase their clients$$

perception of engagement success through increased client trust, that is brought

about through respective and dependable customisation. Considering the

importance of ERP in SCM$,$ an attempt has been made in this paper to analyze the

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