Chapter 1 Question 2
Bibas Sharma
Liberty University
Introduction
Implementing an ERP system is a huge undertaking for any business. There are a
lot of challenges the business will face and there is no questions about it. The decisions
they make from a high level perspective and the vision the company is seeking to pursue
is key to their success. Not to mention with any kind of implementation and/or upgrades
needs to be tested thoroughly throughout the process and that includes during and after
the implementation. In this discussion we will take a look at the problems Hersheys faced
when they began to implement the Enterprise 21 project to fix Y2K issue and after this
undertaking the upgrade to their pre-existing IT systems.
Discussion Comment
Hershey had quite a few mishaps in hindsight when analyzing the approach they
took and the route they chose to go. When project goals are set they should be very
carefully looked at. A 4 year $112 million dollar plan is a very expensive and long project
to implement without mistakes (Motiwalla & Thompson 2011). In the beginning,
Hershey’s mistake was to try and implement such a large scale project with numerous
changes in too short of time. Various moving parts in different areas at the same time
make it very hard to manage and oversee causing the organization to face obstacles in
reaching what they had initially envisioned (Phillips, 2012).
Another mistake Hershey made was to not have enough involvement from top
management. When you leave lower level managers that work in SILOs in charge of such
an integrated and co-functioning implementation, you are bound to make mistakes and
fail in seeing the bigger picture leading the “new” system with many gaps and holes that
will have to be patched up later. For Hershey they didn’t make it that far they decided to
cut over to a “big bang implementation” (Motiwalla & Thompson 2011). Although this
was due to the phased approach not being executed properly I do see a benefit in the
approach they took. It wasn’t fully the approach and the avenue that failed the
implementation completely. I believe that their lack of knowledge in choosing vendors
for example “IBM global services, with another firm that had more experience with SAP-
Manugistics” as well as lacking decision making from a higher level is what truly is in
question from my perspective. (Shiang-Yen, et al., 2013).
Conclusion
In conclusion, Hershey’s problems were as follows. They failed in choosing the
right vendors when choosing what particular entity to work with, integrating with the
right people involved from high level was not even in sight when important decisions
were being made, and not implementing with not enough involvement from top level
technical management executives and decision makers was their main downfall.
References
Motiwalla, L. & Thompson, J. (2011). Enterprise systems for management (2nd ed.).
Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. ISBN: 9780132145763.
Phillips, S. (2012, September 1). Proper ERP testing essential for successful
implementation. Retrieved May 17, 2017, from
http://searchmanufacturingerp.techtarget.com/feature/Proper-ERP-testing-
essential-for-successful-implementation
Shiang-Yen, T., Idrus, R., & Wong, W. P. (2013). ERP misfit-reduction strategies: a
moderated model of system modification and organizational adaptation. Journal
of Global Information Management, 21(1), 59+. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CA33991
9145&v=2.1&u=vic_liberty&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=32e762a8c8562aa133
7fd81943427b7e
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