Assessing Process Fit in ERP Implementation Projects: A Methodological Approach

To remain competitive, SMEs rely on technologies that automate support for their operations. Although an increasing number of SMEs use ERP systems, one of the major challenges is the selection of a software that fully meets their business needs. ERP systems generally come as standardized software packages. They are designed to fit generic rather than enterprise-specific requirements. Thus, mutual alignments of business and IT are essential to ensure an implementation project’s success. However, many organizational change efforts involving the introduction of new technologies fail due to the workforce’s resistance towards changes in their workflows, business processes, and technology they use. These so-called technochange situations require appropriate solutions that are complete and implementable. Thus, changes to business and IT must be complementary and organization-enterprise system misfits must be minimized. Following the paradigm of design science research, this contribution addresses technochange in ERP projects by assessing the organization-enterprise system fit during ERP selection. Applying a process fit perspective, organizational process models can be compared to ERP reference models using measures of business process similarity. In an experiment, we illustrate how ERP systems can be distinguished and ranked by their process features, positively influencing organizational fit and the likelihood of an ERP project’s success.