Towards Green ERP Systems: The selection driven perspective

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has become a vital strategic tool in today’s competitive business environment. Recently, a high demand is emerging for computer-based information systems that better support corporate sustainability management. In this regard ERP systems are supposed to contribute for these demands such that they can be considered under the categories of Corporate Environmental Management Information Systems (CEMIS). Such ERP systems are considered as Green ERP systems and there are several efforts towards such systems. These efforts also contribute to the realization of the concepts behind the project IT-for-Green, which is running at University of Oldenburg. One of the modules in this project, which is named Green IT, emphasis on effective system utilization under efficient power consumption. Therefore the effort towards Green ERP systems will also add up to the efforts of the project IT-for-Green. For the instrumentation of this concept, companies should be aware of Green ERP systems and should also consider and emphasis on dimensions in evaluating the greenness of ERP systems. At this junction, one of the major issues to be addressed is the determination of the dimensions to evaluate the greenness of ERP systems. This study is, therefore, motivated to determine the dimensions in evaluating the greenness of ERP systems. In determining these dimensions the study first identified general ERP selection criteria and further refined them and come up with suitable criteria for the assessment of the greenness of ERP solutions. Based on this result, companies are expected to emphasis on such criteria to identify a Green ERP alternative and this will also enforce vendors towards the manufacturing of Green ERP systems.