ERP lifecycle: When to retire your ERP system?

Abstract

A lot of research has been undertaken focusing on ERP systems lifecycles, but very little paid attention to retirement. ERP retirement means the replacement of an ERP with another. The aim of this research paper is to investigate why and when should organizations retire their ERP systems. A convenience case study of an SME has been selected from Egypt. The case study under investigation has retired their local ERP system and replaced it with SAP ERP. Results of our analysis indicated that reasons of retirement were: wrong selection, users were not involved in the selection process, and lack of an official implementation methodology. This is considered a new finding since main stream literature was mainly focused on retirement after maturity. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.