Analysis of the Critical Success Factors for ERP Systems Implementation in U.S. Federal Offices

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system implementation is a complex information technology project that integrates organization-wide operations. Prior surveys have reported perceptions about factors which are critical to ERP implementation success. But no prior research has empirically tested the relationship between ERP implementation factors (IFs) as independent variables and project success indicators as dependent variables. In the present study the research questions were: 1) is there a statistically significant relationship between an identified set of implementation factors for ERP projects and the empirically reported success indicators? 2) Do specific individual factors predict the level of success? Paper and online surveys were collected from 92 senior level ERP project participants—CIOs, project managers, executives and consultant/developers with experience on Federal ERP implementation projects.;The study provided descriptive survey results for ERP implementation success and perceived effectiveness of implementation factors in the environment of U.S. Federal government ERP projects. Linear and logistic regressions were calculated to evaluate the relationship of 16 IFs to three measures of the success of ERP implementation completion within scheduled time, percentage of budget exceeded and percentage of project objectives achieved. Similarly, regression analyses were performed in which the independent variables were the three composite implementation factors (strategic, tactical, and operational factors) to the same measures of the success of ERP implementation. The findings indicated that the 16 IFs as a whole can be used to predict significantly the failure of a project to complete within the initial time frame ( p=0.03). In the regression analyses on percentage of budget exceeded, the16 IFs as a whole (p=0.034) and the three composite factors as a whole were jointly significant predictors (p<0.0005). The strategic and tactical composite factors were each individually significant as predictors of percentage of budget exceeded (p<.001 and p<.0005, respectively). However, the 16 IFs as well as the three composite factors were not significant predictors of reported achievement of project objectives. The statistical results of the study support the model that the composite strategic, tactical, and operational factors are significant for ERP project implementation success.