Abstract
The work is this thesis is based on research undertaken in conjunction with an SME based in north-west UK, delivering apprenticeship and commercial training programmes to its customers (For the purpose of confidentiality it is referred to as ITL). To match the needs of the business and achieve its goals, in 2010, the company in partnership with a local university, custom built and implemented an Open Source ERP system. The aim of the implementation was to improve its operational efficiency and customer relationships, thereby increasing its balance sheet. In the initial days, the ERP system served the needs of the business. However, over a period of time, the project lost its focus and thus leading to failure of the ERP system i.e. an unsustainable system.
Through a literature review it was inferred that this is a known phenomenon around the globe, where organisations might have a successful adoption, but this might not necessarily lead to efficient performance in long run. There is limited research available on how to make an ERP system sustainable and little or no research available specific to sustainability of open-source ERP system in SMEs. With the advent of new capabilities in the Open Source area, it is important that ERP systems literature is up to date, especially in the context of open-source and SMEs.
To identify some of the barriers to sustainability, the author adopted a case study approach and for more than 3 years thoroughly studied the organisation’s behaviour under different scenarios. This thorough study was used to draw conclusions and identify issues and barriers. The identified factors were then used to develop a sustainability framework. Thorough the literature review on open source ERP systems and ERP system implementations in SMEs and large organisations was done as part of this research. The study revealed that there are several parallels between organisations having open source and organisations having proprietary ERP systems implemented. Similarly, several parallels were also found between identified factors of SMEs and large organisations, who have an ERP system implemented.