The impact of the implemeation of an enterprise resource planning system in the South African Social Security Agency, North West Regional office

Abstract

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are part of information systems on which organisations depend when conducting business. An ERP system offers useful functionality in the smooth running of any organisation. This dissertation investigates the impact of ERP implementation at SASSA North West Regional Office. It highlights problems of the current ERP system by delineating the weaknesses and pitfalls. The relevant literature has been visited and has served as a primary data that adds value to the dissertation. Collation of the relevant data is followed by a discussion of the employee perception of the impact of ERP implementation. The relative lack of research of impact on ERP implementation is the primary impetus of this study. The sample was drawn from SASSA North West Regional Office employees who were cooperative in the execution of the study. As a result of this. the research on the subject has moved beyond the limited confines of ERP implementation to focus more on the impact of the ERP system. ERP system is focused on standardisation and synchronisation of information as a result of improved organizational efficiency, but unfortunately problems with the ERP system can create challenges and dissatisfaction among the end users, resulting in failure to deliver the anticipated benefits. The findings of this study reveal ed that there is de ficiency in the ERP system; employees are worried about data loss when they use the system, find system errors, experience difficulty in expotiing data, and are not satisfied with the quality of output from ERP system. SASSA management should explore opportunity to ensure that the employees are trained to be familiar with the ERP system, improve system reliability, reduce possible system errors, and look at the conclusion and recommendations made in this dissertation.