Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations are long-term investments. The ultimate success of an implementation depends on what happens after the implementation is completed. Organizations must assess their own maturity in addition to the capabilities of ERP products to ensure the success of implementations, migrations, and major upgrades.

ERP Renaissance

Interest in ERP is heating up. This interest is driven by three factors:

• Organizations are refreshing enterprise software that was purchased in anticipation of Y2K.
• Software vendors are changing the architecture of their products. As Oracle and SAP adopt J2EE-based and service-oriented architectures, customers are compelled to follow.
• A recent wave of consolidation has forced customers into aggressive upgrade and migration paths.

Things have changed since the halcyon ERP-boom of the late 1990s. The overall maturity of the market combined with consolidation has led to rapid commodification of core functionality. The key to ERP success is now far less dependent on technology and far more reliant on an organization's ability to implement and support that technology.

Six Flavors of Maturity

When evaluating new ERP options, organizations should consider six different types of maturity.

1.Technology Maturity. Organizations can map functional points to a set of master requirements to assess the maturity of a particular product or solution. A standard framework such as the Business Readiness Rating (BRR) can assist organizations vetting technology from both commercial vendors and open-source providers without presales support. For more information on BRR, refer to the Info-Tech Advisor research note, "BRR Heats Up Open Source Acquisitions."

2.Implementer/Consultant Maturity. In addition to assessing technology, organizations must evaluate the maturity of their implementation partners and consultants. Implementers should have experience at both the organizational and individual consultant level. They should have extensive experience with the ERP product to be implemented and the underlying platform. They should also have specific experience with the organization's industry and must be able to service their geographic region.

3.Development Organization Maturity. Managers also need to evaluate the maturity of development staff because the bulk of lifetime ERP costs occur following implementation. This assessment is particularly crucial for open-source technology with limited third-party support. Development maturity should be evaluated as part of the annual staffing and salary review. Info-Tech advises organizations to attain a Capability Maturity Model (CMMi) rating of Level 2 prior to implementing ERP software. For details on CMM, refer to the Info-Tech Advisor note "A Tool for Software Acquisition."

4.Support Staff Maturity. The maturity of the development staff must be matched by the maturity of end-user support staff. Lost productivity and rework are major, yet invisible, contributors to overall ERP costs.

5.Enterprise System Usage Maturity. An assessment of Enterprise System Usage Maturity should consider the internal processes for piloting and shaking down new implementations prior to production release and the level of alignment between user workflows and technology workflows.

6.End-User Maturity. A final assessment should consider both the experience of end users with both incumbent and new technologies, and their willingness to adopt change.

Triggers for Assessing Maturity

1.Evaluate as part of the ongoing process. Evaluating maturity should be a part of regular review periods. Maturity can be evaluated annually or quarterly.

2.Prepare for the inevitable ERP migration. Many organizations know they must change ERP platforms in the very near future. Users of JD Edwards and PeopleSoft, for example, will be forced to migrate to Oracle Fusion within the next five years. While these organizations aren't yet able to evaluate Fusion, they can review their internal processes and capabilities in order to prepare for the inevitable migration.

3.Consider the platform shift. Most ERP products are moving away from proprietary platforms to J2EE. SAP NetWeaver and Oracle Fusion are both Java-based. Meanwhile, the products assembled under the Microsoft Dynamics banner are shifting to the .NET platform. Organizations must develop maturity and capabilities with one of these platforms in anticipation of inevitable migrations.

4.Merge, acquire, and assess maturity. Incorporating external development and support organizations provides an ideal opportunity for considering organizational maturity. If the merging entities have incompatible technology roadmaps, maturity is crucial for determining the victor.

Bottom Line

Organizations must move beyond assessing technology vendors to attain ERP-implementation success. They must assess the maturity of their own organizations first.