An expert-based taxonomy of ERP implementation activities

Abstract

ERP implementation projects are complex and expensive projects. Generally, the complexity is managed by splitting the project into phases. However, splitting the project into phases seems not to enhance the understanding of the underlying processes sufficiently. Therefore, this research aims at enhancing the understanding of these underlying processes through an expert-based taxonomy of implementation activities, independent of time and phasing. This taxonomy has been developed by retrieval of 205 ERP implementation activities from literature, a grouping of these activities by 11 ERP implementation experts, and a comparison with a previous similar study. The method used for grouping was Delphi card sorting that was supported by Websort (https://www.optimalworkshop.com/optimalsort) as a web-based card sorting tool. The proposed taxonomy provides a structured list of 205 identified activities and can serve as a base for further research into ERP implementation projects and can support the planning and resource allocation of ERP projects.