Implementation and optimisation of ERP systems: A better integration of processes, roles, knowledge and user competencies

The implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is nowadays a key issue for companies. The problems that can appear during their integration, which is always a difficult task, are nowadays better identified, even if their origins are often multiple and complex. This study focuses on the integration of the human resource characteristics in business processes, which is a key issue for the ERP adoption and optimisation phases. In that purpose, it is suggested to better adapt business processes to human actors by explicitly taking into account concepts like the role, competence and knowledge of human resources. It is shown on a practical case—the implementation of PeopleSoft™ in a university—how these concepts may optimise ERP implementations by better identifying the requirements and possibilities of the workforce, with the final goal of increasing the efficiency and acceptability of the system to be implemented.