All Aboard: ERP implementation as participatory design

Paper in proceeding, 2010

Following a previous description of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations as participatory design (Pries-Heje & Dittrich, 2009), this paper explores the case of a medium-sized, family-owned manufacturing company and their endeavors with changing their current ERP system. The case was selected on the premise of it being perceived a success by the involved stakeholders. Through a series of interviews and analysis of secondary material, the case covers the period between 1995 and 2010. As the results show, several instances of user involvement and participation can be found throughout the case. According to the respondents, this is seen as one of the central elements of the success. This is discussed in relation to previous findings and a call for future research into ERP implementation is presented.