Browsing by Author "Rajakaruna, R.J.P.K."

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An approach to coexistence analysis between agility and ERP implementation
(International Research Conference on Smart Computing and Systems Engineering - SCSE 2018, 2018) Rajakaruna, R.J.P.K.; Wijayanayake, J.
Business organizations tend to re-engineer their business processes by adopting Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in order to gain a competitive advantage. ERPs offer countless benefits by enabling an enterprise to operate as an integrated, process oriented and real time enterprise. But the issue is re-engineering with ERP ranks among slow-moving, costly and challenging processes of an organization. Many ERP specialists regard agile approaches positively, to mitigate the common ERP implementation challenges. Agile implementation of ERPs is still under research area. This research discusses on the need of agile approaches in ERP implementations and how agility and ERP implementations can coexist. In this case our research question is “Can the common ERP implementation challenges be solved by using agile approaches?” and if so, “How these challenges can be solved?” This study also seeking for uplift the level of awareness on the applicability of agility for ERP implementation projects and these findings can be effectively used by ERP Implementers, Vendors, Consultants, Project Managers and Researchers in their respective projects.
Impact of “People Factor” in Sri Lankan ERP implementations
(Research Centre for Social Sciences, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Rajakaruna, R.J.P.K.; Herath, H.M.P.S.
An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is a configurable information system that integrates information and information-based processes within and across functional areas in an organization (Kumar et al, 2000). Nowadays, many Sri Lankan Organizations tend to re-engineer their business processes by adopting ERP systems considering the plenty of benefits it offers. Unfortunately, there are many tragedies resulting from ERP failures too. Many researches are available on the technology aspects and success factors of ERP projects. But “people factor” has been neglected or missed and its ability of influencing The failure or the success of the ERP implementation has not been extensively discussed. This research is intended to discuss the dynamics of people factors in ERP implementations in Sri Lanka. Hasibua et al. (2012) reveals that end users’ interest and perception play a key role throughout the entire ERP project cycle. Many pitfalls can be seen in client commitment (Wong et al, 2005), (Somers et al, 2001) and (Rao, 2000). In general, they do not bother to submit project documents and give approvals, sign-offs on time, to release payments without delays, to attend project review meetings and training sessions. Huang et al. (2001) and Upadhyay et al. (2011) emphasized the importance of the commitment from the C-level Officers towards the project success. As ERP consultants and clients have to work together during the full cycle of the implementation with contradictory philosophies and complexities of the people-related relationships, there is a need for further study into cultural aspects and implications of ERP systems. Culture has various facets and culture is always a collective phenomenon which depends on attitudes, age, gender, past experiences and knowledge of people. Although culture has inborn weaknesses and limitations, it is important worth to have a good awareness on ERP implementations in different organizational settings and in different cultural contexts.
Pathway to Develop a New Agile ERP Implementation Approach
(9th International Conference on Business and Information (ICBI-2018), Department of Management Studies and Toc H Institute of Science and Technology, India, Faculty of Commerce and Management Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2018) Rajakaruna, R.J.P.K.; Wijayanayake, W.M.J.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) plays a key role in technology driven Business Process Reengineering (BPR) by ensuring smooth alignment with best business practices and dynamic market needs in current business setting. According to Gartner analyst firm, around 75 percent of ERP enabled BPR projects were failures in recent 10 years. However, ERP specialists regard agile approaches positively to mitigate common ERP implementation downsides. Although agile practices are widely used during designing, development and quality assurance process of ERP projects, they are rarely applied for the implementation process. However, only limited studies have been conducted on the synchronicity between the ERP implementations and agile approaches. The purpose of this research was, therefore, to explore a partway to develop a new agile ERP implementation approach. A questionnaire analysis was carried out in Sri Lankan ERP implementation companies. It was analyzed using statistical approaches to assess the coexistence between the ERP implementation success and agile approaches. A widely used performance metric in strategic management was used to assess the success level of ERP implementation projects. The analysis revealed that there is a significant positive correlation between agile approaches and ERP implementation success. At the same time incremental change, multiple project views, business value prioritization and change management act as key success factors for agile implementation of ERPs. The findings of the research would be an aid to the practitioners and academics in the respective field.