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of the consultant even during the post-implemen-
tation stage, because as in the case of the other
implemented modules, the company needed to
properly learn about the module and its different
functionalities. In Company D, respondents opined
that even though the virtual help desk was very
competent, the presence of the consulting team
was essential during the system's stabilization.
Unfortunately, this was not possible because the
consulting team was responsible for implementing
the system at other subsidiaries in Africa.
CEO and managers. Despite the challenges expe-
rienced, the system represented a main source of
data for the company. The system was satisfying
most of the finance department's needs, but was
only responding to 30 to 40% of the operations
department's requirements.
At Company C, several modules were imple-
mented, but they lacked complete cross-functional
integration, which hindered the traceability of the
products' costs. The system was considered to be
a basic source of data for several departments and
was believed to serve about 50% of the company's
needs. In spite of the numerous problems surround-
ing the ERP initiative, as discussed in the sections
above, significant efforts were being made by the
IT department to stabilize the system, integrate the
modules, and to improve its deployment.
At Company D, the system was also at a sta-
bilization stage. The transition to the new system
was smooth and assimilation was rapidly taking
place. The system was diffused across almost all
of the company's units and all of the implemented
modules were integrated, therefore providing the
managers with an enterprise-wide visibility. As the
system becomes more stabilized and its outputs
more reliable, it will be used for managerial control
besides operational control. However, planning
and strategic decisions were being made outside
the system using less complicated software.
It is worth noting that several managers praised
the fact that ERP decreased the time needed
to gather critical information for all levels of
decision-making. However, they stressed the
importance of the human being's role in making
decisions and solving problems compared to a
system that produces automated decisions. In fact,
most of the interviewed managers thought of the
system as being mostly transactional and as being
unsuitable for strategic and planning decisions.
The following figure illustrates the assessment
of the assimilation level of the four companies
based on the three dimensions of assimilation,
namely: the degree of institutionalization of the
system in the work processes, the degree of sys-
eVALuAtion of AssiMiLAtion
LeVeLs At the studied
coMpAnies
The assimilation level varied widely across orga-
nizations and within the same country. Company
A had the oldest experience with the ERP system.
The core system capacity was deployed to over
85%. According to Company A's respondents, the
system was deeply embedded in the firm's work
routines and provided almost all of the required
information to make decisions. Strategic and plan-
ning decisions, however, were made outside the
ERP system, but using data from the ERP system.
Efforts to improve the system's effectiveness have
not stopped since its introduction in 1997, espe-
cially after the widespread adoption of the system
in the industry. These improvements included
both deepening the functionality deployment of
the already-installed modules and extending the
system with new modules.
At Company B, the system was at a stabiliza-
tion stage. Two of the plants were integrated and
a project to integrate the third plant was under
way. System deployment was limited to the
basic functionalities. However, parallel system
use, redundancy dissatisfaction among users and
managers, and lack of trust in the reliability of the
system's outputs were prevailing in the company.
Efforts to improve system deployment were be-
ing made, especially after the arrival of the new
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