Determinants of Effective and Efficient Enterprise Resource Management in Organizations: a Case of the National Treasury, Kenya

Abstract

Kenyan Government through department of Treasury adopted Integrated Financial Management Information System (IFMIS) as the main accounting system for all the government ministries and departments since 2003.The system was to offer real time information that would support effective and timely decision making procedures. The aspect of good governance was also considered as the system was to promote fairness and openness that would uphold the virtues that democratize the entire process of service delivery which has not been realized since implementation of the project. This study This study purposed to explore the determinants of effective and efficient Enterprise Resource Management in Organizations a case study of the National Treasury, Kenya. The objectives of the study were :1.To determine how support from top management is a determinant for effective and efficient Enterprise Resource Planning project at the National Treasury, Kenya 2.To establish the extent to which availability of finances influence effectiveness and efficiency of Enterprise Resource Planning project at the National Treasury, Kenya 3.To determine extent of staff commitment in an organization on effectiveness and efficiency of Enterprise Resource Planning project at the National Treasury, Kenya 4.To establish extent of time management as determinant for effective and efficient Enterprise Resource Planning project at the National Treasury, Kenya.The theories used in this study were technology acceptance model, theory of constraint-based methodology for effective ERP implementation, project management success factors theory for ERP implementation and agency theory model. This study adopted a survey type of design approach that was deployed in data collection, targeting respondents working with the National Treasury department, Kenya. The target population was eighty employees at the National Treasury IFMIS department from which a sample of forty four respondents were drawn. Questionnaires were used as the data collection instrument where probability sampling technique was adopted specifically using simple random sampling technique to consolidate a sample team at the National Treasury and SPSS used for data analysis. The first objective was to find out how support from top management is a determinant for effective and efficient Enterprise Resource Planning system and the findings indicated that top management commitment to the project is necessary to ensure the success of the system, otherwise the project is most likely to fail or fail to deliver the full range of benefits forecasted with mean of 4.56 and standard deviation of 0.607 . Second objective was to establish the extent to which availability of finances influence effectiveness and efficiency of Enterprise Resource Planning systems and the study indicated that financial resources are very critical for success of an ERP project with a mean of 4.28 and standard deviation of 0.454 . The third objective was to determine effects of staff commitment in an organization on effectiveness and efficiency of Enterprise Resource Planning systems and study revealed human resources should be fully committed to ensure success of an ERP project with a mean of 4.39 and standard deviation of 0.645 and the last objective was to find out how time management is a determinant for effective and efficient Enterprise Resource Planning systems and the results were able to show that time management is very critical in ERP project implementation and is a determinant of success with a mean of 4.36 and standard deviation of 1.046. The study recommended the objectives studied are essential and should be reviewed in every ERP project to ensure success of the study. The study suggested that Future research should place emphasis on the implementation process from a holistic perspective. It has also been established through the study that there has been no research conducted to date that has considered the key ERP implementation success factors from the perspectives of key stakeholders