Agile project management methods for ERP: How to apply agile processes to complex COTS projects and live to tell about it

Abstract

The selection, procurement, and deployment of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is fraught with risk in exchange for significant business and financial rewards [26]. In many cases the packaged ERP product does not provide the entire solution for the business process. These gaps can be closed with third party products or by customizing existing products. Management of this customization, as well as the selection of the core ERP system has traditionally been addressed through high–ceremony, science–based, project management methods [13]. Well–publicized failures using this approach creates the need for new methods for managing ERP projects [11]. This compendium paper describes an alternative to the traditional high–ceremony IT projects management methods. Although many of the methods described are not new assembling them into a single location and focusing on a single issue provides the tools to make decisions in the presence of uncertainty, focus on the critical success factors, and address the managerial and human side of project management Agility allows the project management methods as well as the system to be adaptively tailored to the business needs.