Risk assessment in ERP projects

Conducting Risk Management of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) projects is an ambitious task. ERP projects are complex undertakings for business enterprises, as the associated risk factors include myriad technological, managerial, psychological and sociological aspects. Moreover, such factors are often tightly interconnected and can have indirect effects on projects. Such features make Risk Management more difficult, uncertain and important than in traditional projects, especially in the Assessment stage.The aim of this paper is to propose an innovative technique to support Risk Analysis in order to provide a better, more structured and systematic understanding of the major relations amongst various risk factors, on the one hand, and between risk factors and the specific effects associated with ERP projects, on the other. A real case study regarding a multinational company and involving a panel of experts and practitioners is presented to illustrate application of the method.

► This work investigates how to cope with risk factors interdependence with regard to ERP projects.
► ISM application can allow a more systematic analysis and evaluation of interdependent risks.
► ISM technique is applied to a real case study with exemplificative purpose.
► Quantitative indexes of dependence to be include in the Evaluation algorithm are also suggested.
► The research support managers in Risk Quantification and Mitigation activities in ERP projects.