The influence of project management practices on successful implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems: a case of University of Nairobi

Abstract

In Today’s world, “Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have emerged as a prevalent software that integrates the functional areas of a company or organization into a single system providing real time solutions and seamless communication in business processes. Despite the competitive advantage that the ERP system provides to an institution, the implementation of such projects remains incomplete and may take several years to complete despite having clear requirements and specifications. Studies done on ERPs successes have acknowledged that Vendor Support is a Critical Factor for the success of an ERP Project. The study was guided by four objectives; to examine the influence of project risk management on implementation of ERP Systems in University of Nairobi, to determine the influence of Project monitoring and Evaluation Process on implementation of ERP Systems in University of Nairobi, to establish the influence of staff commitment on implementation of ERP Systems in University of Nairobi and to examine the effect of top management support on implementation” of ERP Systems in University of Nairobi. The study was grounded on theory of Agile Project Management and Information Systems Success Model. The study population was support staff working in the twelve various service departments of University of Nairobi in which the population will be 869. The sample size was 274 respondents. The study used Stratified simple random sampling. The research instruments comprised of structured questions whereby the respondents were expected to choose the most appropriate answer. Pilot test was actual study. Any ambiguous, sensitive, complex or biased items in the instruments will be identified and modified or omitted in the research instruments that were used for the final study. The researcher scrutinized all questionnaires for completeness, accuracy as well as the conformity. The data used purely quantitative and therefore descriptive and inferential. The inferential statistics included pearson correlation analysis.The study found that project risk management influence implementation of ERP Systems. In addition project monitoring and evaluation process influence implementation of ERP Systems. The study revealed that staff commitment influence implementation of ERP Systems. Lastly, top management support influence implementation of ERP Systems. Therefore the study recommends that universities that have implemented the ERP projects should do a post-implementation analysis of systems. This will enable organizations review the areas that need to be worked on and to know how to improve the process in the future. Areas will include maintenance of the system, budget allocation and upgrades to newer versions.