Project Complexity In Project Management

Project complexity

ERP projects are complex and the situation become more complicated and hard to handle when we have internal deficiencies like absence of in-house skills, inadequate project management skills, inappropriate teams, non availability of domain owners, Lack of ownership by the stake holders, right product mix in compliance to the industry and culture, formation of steering committee and right project plan development and implementation.

Studies show that, senior managers are often involved through appointment to a steering committee, in ERP system implementation projects (Cameron and Meyer, 1998; Clemons, 1998; Davenport, 2000). The true involvement of top tiers reflects the organization’s level of seriousness and importance for

The complexity lies in whole project, but when the experts come up with plan having miles stones and work breakdown structure (WBS) and the logical sequence of the project and interdependency between tasks and resources becomes clearer. Changes may occur in plan during implementation but there are less surprises as compared to a situation where a project is started with a weak plan and slighter internal readiness. Commitment from Senior management is needed because of the organizational changes that result from the implementation of ERP systems (Bingi et al., 1999; Davenport, 2000; Holland and Light, 1999). The role of domain owners is very crucial for ERP system success, if there is a good cooperation and understanding between domain owner heads and IT team then the processes of requirement definition, freezing of requirement, Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) and adoptability would be comparatively smooth. Furthermore, by appointing an executive-level individual with extensive knowledge of the organization’s operational processes to be the project sponsor, senior management is better able to monitor the ERP system implementation(Grabski, Leech & Lu, 2003). The project sponsor has direct responsibility for and is held accountable for the project outcome (see, for example, (Cameron and Meyer, 1998; Clemons, 1998;

According to many researchers, strong project management is crucial to the success of any large endeavor, and this is especially so in ERP implementation projects that can span several years and cost millions of dollars (Davenport, 2000). It is imperative to mention that full time project manager and project team both from client and consultant side be assigned with regular monitoring, for successful implementation of project. This effort should be for the purpose so as the teams can focus completely on the project. All of these types of measures are important to control the drift causes and thereby, minimizing the risks associated with project