Enterprise resource planning; IT systems implementation; Vendor selection

This is the first of a three-case series (903-004-1 to 903-006-1). In July 2000, the enterprise resource planning (ERP) steering committee of the specialised engineering and information technology group, IST, had a choice between two value-added resellers and their software options: (1) integrated financial system (IFS) with its own Oracle-based system, or (2) Resolution Software with the Great Plains system. It had been a long road to this point. The company had started investigating ERP systems as far back as 1996, but the decision to implement ERP had been postponed and delayed on two previous occasions. Now the decision could no longer be put off. An audit of the company's existing management information system had shown that while the system itself had not been ultimately responsible for some financial irregularities that had taken a huge chunk out of IST's profits in the last financial year, it had played a big role. This had given new impetus to the decision to implement ERP at IST. Neither IFS nor Great Plains/Resolution showed the perfect fit and the steering committee had heard many horror stories about ERP implementation at other firms. It did not want the same to happen at IST. The case series looks at the ERP implementation process at IST from start to finish