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Balancing the costs of human resources on an ERP project

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  • Plaza, Malgorzata

Abstract

ERP projects cannot be completed without external consulting support due to insufficient expertise of internal resources. The need for external consulting during project execution could be reduced if the capabilities of internal resources are improved through team training that is provided before the commencement of a project. Previous studies demonstrate that the most cost-effective approach to ERP implementation is to balance formal initial team training with external consulting support. This paper expands previous research by adding a decision model that allows a manager to: (1) assess the impact of a training strategy on the accumulative weekly cash outflows, (2) forecast the performance and track the progress of an ERP implementation, and (3) calculate the amount and experience level of the consulting support required to reduce the duration of a project. Feedback from practitioners suggests that this type of tool would be welcomed by the project management community.

Suggested Citation

  • Plaza, Malgorzata, 2016. "Balancing the costs of human resources on an ERP project," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 59(PB), pages 171-183.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jomega:v:59:y:2016:i:pb:p:171-183
    DOI: 10.1016/j.omega.2015.06.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Plaza, Malgorzata & David, Iulian & Shirazi, Farid, 2018. "Management of inventory under market fluctuations the case of a Canadian high tech company," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 215-227.
    2. Shwetank Avikal & Mukesh Nigam & Mangey Ram, 2022. "A hybrid multi criteria decision making approach for consultant selection problem in ERP project," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(2), pages 941-950, June.

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