Global implementation of ERP software - critical success factors on upgrading technical infrastructure

Implementing an Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) software in a global environment, executive sponsors face two key challenges. While business processes are to be re-engineered to align with the ERP software best practices, technical architecture and infrastructure needs to be in place globally as per specifications of the packaged software. In the legacy environment, different countries or different business units use different systems, based on local standards supported by local resources. In the new ERP world, globally all the countries must conform to same technical infrastructure. Technical managers face multiple critical issues implementing a global solution. Most of the ERP software are developed in technically advanced countries, standards are often too high for under developed or developing countries. In an effort to bring the global organization to a common platform different countries needs different levels of upgrades. In this paper the authors review key technical issues faced is a global upgrade process to support a global ERP implementation and how to resolve those. We conclude although technical infrastructure and business process reengineering both are equally important and each implementation is unique, but following some simple steps it is easy to prioritize each ones during different phases of the project. Also time lines of two sub-projects must converge after initial phase and must follow a common plan for the project to be successful. Multiple scenarios are described to facilitate the process.