Examining success factors related to ERP implementations in higher education shared services projects

This study examined the enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations that utilized a shared services model in higher education. The purpose of this research was to examine the critical success factors which were perceived to contribute to project success. This research employed a quantitative non-experimental correlational design and the Project Implementation Profile (PIP) originally designed by Slevin and Pinto (1986) to survey respondents. Respondents were mostly female functional team members at institutions of higher education who maintained an institutional tenure greater than 10 years. The majority of the respondents worked on projects in the execution phase and predicted successful project completion. An on-line survey was conducted, and results were gathered and examined using descriptive, summary, and inferential statistical analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that all ten success factors were predictors of project success by various degrees. Of the critical success factors analyzed, communication and troubleshooting were the only ones significantly related to project success of shared services ERP implementations in higher education.