Decision Making In The ERP Community

This paper, although bibliographical in nature, stresses the importance of researching ERP from the perspective of the ERP community, defined here as a triadic group composed of (1) an ERP vendor, (2) an ERP consultant and (3) an implementing organisation; and focuses on understanding the relationships and inter-dependencies that exist between these actors. In this novel perspective, the second contribution of this paper is to introduce the concept of category manipulation – that is to say non-decision making to the area of IS in general and more specifically to ERP research. As far as the authors are aware, this paper is the first to examine the ERP decision making process under this light. The researchers' objective is to structure their ideas in an effort to lay the foundations for a model of ERP decision making that can inform both the practice and investigation of ERP implementation.