Essay Example on ERP and Changes

The first thing the management should have done was to design and initially staff SAP technical support team to provide training to employees and support upon the implementation of the system. The employees need to be trained on all technical requirements before you present the change to them (Seo). From the case study, most of the employees were not willing to adopt to the new way as they did not understand on how to use the new system and how the system works. For instance, supply chain planners were not able and willing to abandon their familiar spreadsheet for the new complicated Manugistics system

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The project team could have translated most of the organizational divisions that needed to be automated into specific project deliverables well. The entire project was forced to stop since the implementation team failed to scope the project correctly. The project team lost sight of the bigger picture on how various business components will fit in the entire system when the implementation process was underway. The implementation team also failed to involve key divisional managers and the employees while they were reviewing every piece of data in all divisions. As such, what had been considered to be part of the system did not initially reflect the need for each department and this created resistance among users as they did not provide their contribution. The project implementation could have involved the experts while coming up with modules that needed to be incorporated into the system (Seo). The SAP technical team lacked in-depth expertise in some module, and thats why the procurement department system could not integrate with financial or sales group.

Nestle runs a lot of branches all over the world, and every branch worked on its own since Nestle worked as a decentralized firm. There was no consistency in management and procuring of product hence the company was losing a lot of money. Nestle did a great thing in implementing ERP system as the technology automated various activities in every department. The SAP provides a standard database and the company now has group buying power as all the suppliers were integrated within the system.

The change management plan could have been essential as it could have prepared users for the introduction of the new system. The employees were not ready for the system, and it came as a shock to some of them as there was no plan put in place. The plan could have reduced resistance towards the system as most of the employees were not will to abandon the traditional way of doing things (Aladwani). The company underestimated the complication and lack of experience for the change process. Notably, the plan could have influenced the attitudes of the employees towards the change through the involvement of divisional manager during planning. The employees could have had positive attitudes towards the system if they had participated in the planning process (Aladwani).

I do agree with Dunn statement when says that No major software implementation is really about software, it is about change management. Implementation of enterprise resource planning represents more than an incremental change. It is the drastic change of technical infrastructure, business processes, the structure of the company, and roles and responsibilities of employees. If all this area accepts the changes, then the implementation process will run smoothly.Work cited

Aladwani, Adel M. "Change management strategies for successful ERP implementation." Business Process management journal 7.3 (2001)

Seo, Goeun. Challenges in implementing enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in large organizations: similarities and differences between corporate and university environment. Diss. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013.