Business Process Management in Organizations

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level of categorization relates to top management support, process organization, business and IT alignment, and governance concerns. The tactical level comprises challenges in exertions for example, process performance measurement, process modeling, and BPM approaches. The operational level is connected to technological concerns in BPM adoption for instance, technology capability, and utilization of XML standards (McNally & Griffin 2004).

The steps organizations should follow when buying ERP

There are ten steps the organizations should follow when buying ERP software. They help in choosing the best ERP solution for the organization requirements that lead to a fruitful implementation. Firstly, the organization should know its business requirements and document or record them down. Selecting an ERP system is fundamentally starting with the completion in mind (Kim 2009). According to Kung & Hagen (2007), the organization should start with its preferred end result that may include the operational model it requires. It should document its objectives, business needs and give priority to the total items it must have and the other items that are appropriate for the business.

Secondly, the organization should ensure that the ERP vendor’s proficiencies match its business model. When selecting an ERP vendor, the organization is primarily selecting a technology partner, and there is a need for choosing a partner who has enough experience. Thus, competence in the industry and familiarity with its distinctive requirements should be given the top-priority in one’s discovery process. It is a leading time for inquiring questions and narrowing down the field of software alternatives (Folinas & Daniel 2012).

Thirdly, there is a need to have management and stakeholder buy-in that is necessary since it generates eagerness for the Enterprise Resource Planning project. If the workers are engaged in the project, they would ensure its success. To generate eagerness for the project one must first get all echelons of administration on board (Yang & Su 2009). It is the duty of the executive to communicate about growth on the project, to clarify to employees how the new system would develop their work performance, to respond to any questions and make sure that any required training will accessible.

Fourthly, the organization should treat their ERP project as change-management project. Bringing in a fresh ERP business system is an immense alteration that may affect the processes and workflow and perhaps the structure of the organization. This step involves the instigation of the needed modifications in organizational structure or the processes (Folinas & Daniel 2012). The organization should take time to identify glitches and strategize for their upgrading as this would prevent building a new system on a flawed process.

Fifthly, the organization is to nominate and allocate a project sponsor. Any project should have a project sponsor that may aid in its success through good leadership. There should be a principal leading the entire population or else the outcome would be turmoil. It reverberates like an oversimplification however; the organization must allocate somebody to head the ERP project. The magnitude of the organization will assist in determining the need for a steering committee composed of representatives from each section of the organization that would be influenced by the modification and a sponsoring executive administrator (Kung & Hagen 2007).

The six step is to check the ERP vendors training and support resources. The organization should consider the support resources and training the vendors are providing. The training is of the highest significance, not just at execution nevertheless on an on-going foundation. The organization should ask the vendor to display a copy of their manuals or a sample in order to know whether it is easy to refer and read the material after the training is concluded. The organization’s staff capacity grows with the expansion in business. A good vendor should offer frequent training sessions that the new staff can attend (Yang & Su 2009).

The seventh step requires the organization not to skimp when allocating the internal resources. The determination of the amount and categories of internal resources that would be required is part of change management, nonetheless it is essential to detail how significant this is (Staehr 2010). A strong project management and apportionment of adequate internal resources are required as an assurance to success of the tasks undertaken.

The eighth step is to focus on data migration early in the process. The data migration is amazingly multifaceted, involves a definite level of technical and business risk, and is influenced by the number of sites that the organization is going to live with, how many users are entailed, and how many legacy systems are being substituted (Seethamraju 2012). Thus, it should be an important stage in the change management project and preferably should have its specific committee. The organization needs to develop its data migration plan, file its policy and clearly communicate it to all appropriate employees, stakeholders, and end users.

The next step is to check the ERP vendors’ customer references. It is necessary to know the vendor’s customer and the availability and response of the support team. The vendor’s customer references will help identify the customer’s tastes and preferences on the ERP system (Buonanno & Faverio et al. 2005). Also, it is essential to assess the time and cost of the implementation and the reliability of the ERP software. This stage helps in discovering the compatibility of the vendor with the organization.

Lastly, the organization should determine its Return on Investment (ROI). The buyer of the ERP system should evaluate total costs for each vendor and business benefits he or she expect. It helps grip the big picture and provides the information executive management may require and facilitate the authorization process after a vendor is chosen (Seethamraju 2012).

Troubles that organizations encounter when setting up ERP

The ERP setting is associated with problems of comprehending the cross functional business processes. Most employees in large organizations understand what they carry out, but not how their operations influence others in the organizations. This limited view may cause misunderstanding and errors in setting up ERP systems. It is expensive to set up ERP system. The organization has to spend many funds setting up ERP system. The human capital for ERP adoption is fragile making numerous adopters stop setting it up (Buonanno & Faverio et al. 2005). Various organizations have trouble replacing Enterprise Resource