Planning and Scope Definition to Implement ERP: The Case Study of Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ)

The effects of Information Technology (IT) in the organizational performance have motivated research about its impact in business actions, as well as the benefits of attending necessities of business units with technology. Recently, universities have been influenced by global trends of performance needs and management efficiency to invest on ERP systems. However, it is important to mention that it is difficult to identify the benefits that come from these applications in terms of performance results and organizational services. The objective of this study is to present and discuss the challenges found during the process of scope definition in the planning step to acquire an ERP for Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, as well as the influence of this choice in the institutional and IT strategic plan. The main evidences of this study, were: eliminating the manual processes is the main tangible benefit wished with the ERP acquisition; the acquisition plan must preview the discontinuously of the existent systems, replacing all of them for the new management tool to be acquired.