An operational “Risk Factor Driven” approach for the mitigation and monitoring of the “Misalignment Risk” in Enterprise Resource Planning projects

• We define the concept of Misalignment Risk for Enterprise Resource Planning projects.
• We identify the risk factors influencing the Misalignment Risk.
• We propose an approach to mitigate and monitor the Misalignment Risk.
• We apply the approach proposed to a real case study.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems offer standard functionality that has to be configured and customized by a specific company depending on its own requirements. A consistent alignment is therefore an essential success factor of ERP projects. For this purpose, we propose an operational “Risk Factor Driven” approach that allows for the mitigation and monitoring of what we call the “Misalignment Risk”. This risk corresponds to the probability of the occurrence of misalignment, associated with the loss due to misalignment if it occurs. The mitigation aims to identify and treat the “Misalignment Risk Factors” (MRFs) influencing the Misalignment Risk. We suggest four steps to deal with MRFs, based on: (i) their classification according to the ERP project stages, (ii) the definition of their mutual influences, (iii) variables detailing them and (iv) related management practices to treat them. The monitoring assesses the evolution of the Misalignment Risk. From an academic point of view, the approach constitutes real progress for the alignment problem solving. By managing it as a risk, it guides researchers in the understanding of this major issue. The approach furthermore provides effective support and guidance to companies implementing ERP systems. It is illustrated through the application to the ERP project of a Small and Medium Enterprise. This application shows that it can be used in contexts where the ERP project expertise level is low.