Consolidating business processes as exemplified in SAP ERP systems

Abstract

A thorough semantic comparison of usage of business processes must be established as a preliminary stage to consolidating IT systems. In praxis, this step is frequently omitted from IT projects. This condition cannot be ascribed to lack of knowledge on the part of the project manager; rather, the reason lies in the high degree of complexity, intricacy and interdependency of business processes. Project managers are apprehensive of the time and effort involved in the early project phase and neglect it in favor of concrete action, and get bogged down in details for lack of a sound and logical overall approach. The result is system consolidation in the mere technical sense - business processes are neither standardized nor homogenized. In light of the significance consolidation bears on business (in the US in 2005 there were 7,736 mergers and acquisitions, totaling an average sum of 385 million USD [5]), it is costly to leave consolidation projects to chance. The following article introduces principles and procedures for consolidating business processes that aim to compensate forthe deficit of scientifically documented findings. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.