Enterprise

End users for information use the shadow systems in an organization but these systems
are unauthorized. We can eradicate any existing shadow system with the help of ERP
systems. Unfortunately that is not always the case. In some case the implementation of
ERP may increase in number of these systems instead clear them. There are many
reasons behind these systems usage but two are most import such as
Technical Reasons
 Replacement of existing system with a more complicated and restrictive system
 Insufficient training or support
 No policies on ethical usage of information
 Inaccurate security software and hardware
Human Reasons
 Knowledge workers want to feel important
 Employees may have more time to spare due to reduction in workload
 People may like to explore and imply their knowledge/experience
 ERP systems can constrain users into specific modes of interaction that may not
match their preference (Gosain, 2004)
The shadow systems create problems to meet the challenges of ERP system like
centralizing and integrating which are the basic needs of an organization. Shadow
systems are serious threads to integration of business process of an organization. The
people can take the advantages by using the information in wrong way if the right policies
are not in place. These systems can also provide illegal access to information. By
participating in shadow systems the people can ignore the participation in the procedure
of ERP implementation, such behaviour may also disregard for the whole system of
organisation.
The above mentioned reasons bring me to the question, are these shadow systems
really that undesirable? What is it about them that makes them so popular? Why do
these shadow systems always grow back like unwanted weeds? Is it the level of social
encouragement given to the shadow systems by the people, or is it how the human
nature is, people like to challenge the system, may be they do not want to feel like
machines specially the knowledge workers, perhaps it is too hard for people to accept
that there is a possibility of one-size -fits-all.
There may be more issues and concerns within the organisation. This understanding that
the organisation may be able to adapt and improve its operation by addressing the root
causes behind the development of shadow systems.
References
Gosain, S 2004, ‘Enterprise information systems as objects and carriers of institutional
forces: The new iron cage?’, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, vol.
5, no. 4, pp. 151-182.




Week 3

The most important common issue during implementation of an ERP system is
the prefect match between business processes and the installed system. An
Enterprise Resource Planning system plays an important business role in the
organization to compete with today’s business environment. It also helps to
integrate different departments of the organization and business processes
across different functional sectors in the organization.
ERP system has become a powerful tool that helps to coordinate different
activities in an organization. At first, organization can choose simple ERP
system and can change the business activities to match ability of that ERP
system along with the time. Organization should be able to change the
business activities along with ERP system to achieve desire goals otherwise it
might leads to failure of proper implementation of ERP system.
If an organization has business processes that do not match any commercially
available ERP, there are two options which are re-engineering the current
business processes in order to align with the ERP system, and customize the
ERP system to match the business processes. It may be difficult to change
some business processes because most of the processes have been formed
and operated for many years, while customization may not just cost a fortune,
but also may become out of control. The reasons why most organizations
decide to adopt an ERP system are as follows:
 Integrating customer data ‐ ERP systems gather all customers’ data into one
database.
 Standardizing and accelerating business processes, which could save time and
money for the organization.
 Integrating data on financial flows in the organization. The ERP system provides a
single database for the business, eliminates the phenomenon.
 Unification of information on human resources. It is necessary to standardize the
data to ensure a simple track system, which is very important for the finance
department.
Re-engineering or customization need to be considered if the goals of
implementation of an ERP system are not well fulfilled. Detailed planning and
analysis should be undertaken in order to find out the best method to carry
out the implementation.