CIO  Magazine

March 1, 1999  Section 1, (pgs 30-37)

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
replaces dozens of legacy systems with a single
integrated system for managing finance, human
resources, procurement, materials management,
sales, distribution, production, order management,
etc.  The implementation is tricky because it goes
against the mantra of decentralization.

BEFORE YOUR BEGIN:

o  Which processes are most important to change
    now and why?

o  Does this system meet our needs or go beyond
    them?

o  Who will be the change champion(s)?

o  Who are the stakeholders?

o  What is the business culture at our company and
    what are its strengths?

o  What subcultures do we have and what are their
    strengths?

o  How can we apply those strengths to business
    change?

o  What cultural attributes are weak or will interfere
    with the change?

o  What will be the toughest changes, and how will
    we address them?

o  Who will be responsible for change management?

TIPS FOR HANDLING ERP'S CULTURAL ISSUES:

o  View ERP implementation as a business initiative,
    not an IS initiative.

o  Don't let technical problems dominate the project's
    time.

o  Articulate expectations before implementation.

o  Encourage users to change their job roles.

o  Don't change too much at once.