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Abstract
    Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is one of the most important projects on business optimization than an
    enterprise could attempt. The rate of failure on ERP implementations keeps high. Selection process is a critical success
    factor. The paper presents the first results from empirical study where we found that there is a relation between size of the
    company and the amount of investment. Other enterprise systems that can be seen as important to include on the ERP are
    Business Intelligence and Customer Relationship Management. Evolutionary Computation, Multi Agent Systems and
    Petri Nets can be used as computational intelligence technics to model the ERP selection process.
    Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP); selection; critical success factor (CSF); Business Intelligence(BI); Customer
    Relationship Management (CRM); Multi Agent Systems (MAS); Evolutionary Computation (EC); Petri Nets (PN);
        *
         Corresponding author. Tel.: +52-333-770-3430; fax: +52-333-770-3353. E-mail address: apacheco@cucea.udg.mx.
        †
         Corresponging author. Tel.: +52-333-770-3430; fax: +52-333-770-3353. E-mail address: jcgcastolo@cucea.udg.mx.
2212-0173 © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
doi:10.1016/j.protcy.2012.03.032
               Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303      293
1. Introduction
   The process of selecting an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a complex problem which
involves multiple actors and variables, since it is a decision-making process which is characterized as
unstructured type [1, 2].
   An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an information system, which integrates most of the data than
an organization can process and use in their operations [3], Fig. 1.
  Its implementation requires: Money, time, and a great amount of people effort; and, as an Enterprise
System (ES), enforce a change in the organizational culture [4].
   ERP systems are increasingly important in today businesses, as they have the ability to support
organizational strategies, integrate the flow of information and enhance competitive advantage and individual
performance [5-8]. It has a central database that contains all of the transactions that an organization could
register; depending on its set of functional modules. Those functional modules could be: material
management, production, sales, marketing, distribution, financial services, human resources, reports, etc. [9,
10]. As its impact affect the whole organization, the ERP system implemented should be the right one [11,
12].
  Implementing an ERP system is not an inexpensive or risk-free venture. An estimated 40-70% of ERP
implementations experienced some degree of failure [13]. That is why an organization should select the most
appropriated ERP systems for their business needs [7].
   Our research hypothesis is: “An Enterprise Resource Planning system selection process based on a
computational intelligence improves success on implementation, compared with the use of empirical selection
processes”. Directing us to the following research methodology [14, 15]:
      x Understand and explaining ERP selection process in a sample of businesses in Metropolitan Zone of
        Guadalajara Mexico by applying an empirical study to:
        ○ Classified critical variables used,
        ○ Classified and explaining relationship between critical variables and
        ○ Find a relation between selection and ERP delivery success.
      x Study of computational intelligence techniques that haven´t been used at literature for the selection
        process.
          In this paper, we are going to present in section 2 answers to question 1. In section 3 we present multi-
      agent model proposed, as computational intelligence technic, as a way to improve ERP selection process to a
      first attempt to answer question 4 and 5. In section 4 the first results of the empirical study that has been done
      to a sample of companies located in the Metropolitan Zone of Guadalajara (ZMG) Mexico to partially answer
      question 2 and 3. In section 5 the conclusions of our findings and thoughts, beside future work that could be
      done.
2. Selection and project management are critical success factors for ERP systems implementations.
         The main goals of an ERP system are to automate business processes [16], to improve interactions and
      communications inside and outside organization [17] and to eliminate patch work to legacy systems [18]. Its
      implementation success is affected by CSFs [7, 8]. “CSF is defined as the limited number of areas in which
      results, if satisfactory, will ensure successful competitive performance for the organization” [19].
         Economic research data show that the average mean investment for an ERP implementation could be
      between fifty thousand dollars to several millions, by ERP implementation attempt [20], in Small and
      Medium Enterprises (SME). The estimated of wasted money could be of several millions dollars, so the
      importance of a good selection process could be evident.
         In a search in EBSCO, Springer, ACM, AIS and IEEE repositories using Enterprise Resource Planning,
      Selection and Critical Success Factors, we found 97 references regarding these keywords. After a
      classification of the references, we identified that 11 were regarding ERP definitions, 30 presented
      compilations of CSFs on ERP projects, 29 presented compilations of ERP implementations model phases, 39
      mentioned ERP selection models as a way to improve ERP delivery and finally two presented what to take
      care regarding post-implementation of ERP solution.
                     Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303          295
   In this set of papers we found that selecting the appropriate system, apply project management and follow
an implementation methodology are CSFs. As claimed by different authors [7, 8, 19, 21-33].
   Different research groups proposed different selection evaluations models to improve selection process,
including WSM, Weighted Scoring Method; AHP, Analytic Hierarchy Process; FL, Fussy Logic; ANP,
Analytic Network Process; SHERPA, Systematic Help ERP Acquisition; PM, Priority Matrix;
PROMETHEE; TOPSIS, Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution; DEA, Data
Envelopment Analysis [6, 16, 31, 33-45] as presented on Table 1.
   Agent-based computing is one of the computers intelligences technique to find solutions to complex
problems [46]. Multi Agents Systems (MAS) seek to address the trends in computer science such as ubiquity,
interconnectedness and intelligence [47]. An agent is a computer system capable of undertaking activities
independently to benefit its owner or user. A multi agent system consists of a set of agents that interact within
an environment, which act on behalf of the objectives and motivations of their owners. Agents have the ability
to cooperate, coordinate and negotiate looking at all times comply with the purposes for which they were
created [47, 48]. Agents can be used to simulate administrative and economic problems [49]. MAS can be
used to identify the standards used by flows of processes regarding an already implemented ERP system [50].
   On the analysis and design of organizations, MAS can be used to describe any type of organization using
only three elements: agents, roles and groups [51-53]. Our proposed architecture MAS model is intended
exclusive for the evaluation process stage, which is where the selection process and decision making is
296                       Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303
      modeled [1, 2, 8, 54]. The categories to be evaluated in selection process include: functional, operational,
      technical and economic aspects. These categories are the easiest to represent in a model and simulation tool,
      since these categories could be translated to quantitative rules easily.
        In this proposed architecture there are five different kinds of agents (Fig. 2). Those agents could be
      composed by two databases, one for knowledge and behaviors and one to archive characteristics.
        The five agents modeled are: Evaluate Characteristics Agent (ACE), Top Management Agent (AAD),
      Functional Manager Agent (AGF), ERP System Agent (ASERP) and Monitoring and Control Company
      Agent (AMCE).
         ACE agents will be responsible to contain criteria information that must be met for each ERP, the
      characteristics to evaluate and the rules that permit an interaction between those characteristics.
         AAD agents will contain features and personal profiles of top management behaviors, presented in
      accordance with data obtained from the ACE and ASERP agents, decision rules based on profiles of AAD,
      ACE and ASERP agents.
         AGF agents will contain features and personal profiles of functional management and behaviors, decision
      rules based on profiles of AGF, ACE and ASERP agents.
         ASERP agents will contain the information and characteristics of ERP systems, which are linked to the
      criteria that must be met for each of the characteristics evaluated.
         AMCE agent will be responsible to initiate the evaluation process. AMCE agent will contain the necessary
      knowledge to issue a suggested ERP system solution based on the information contained at ASERP agents,
      based on evaluations submitted by the AAD and AGF agents, combined with the levels of influence on
      decisions of the mentioned agents.
         Each of the agents can be placed on different computers which will connect to the central agent that will
      allow agents to communicate between them in order to achieve the purpose for which they were created. This
      architecture needs the variables and the relationships than could be found in the empirical study.
                Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303        297
   Also, in order to understand the data obtained through the application of the empirical survey mentioned,
we think that data mining techniques could provide knowledge, as data mining help the process of identifying
novel correlations and patterns that are valid, understandable and functional. The application of data mining
techniques is a step in the process of knowledge discovery in databases (KDD) [55]. This process includes
pre-processing, sorting, cleaning and the results of the interpretation of the application of data mining.
Verifying that the knowledge gained from the data is useful[55].
   The analysis of the literature using the keywords: "Enterprise resource planning", "Data mining" and
"Selection process" found no studies related to the use of these techniques. This may correspond to the
absence of sufficient archived data of the selection process conducted by the thousands of enterprises that
have already selected and implemented this type of system. So the application of this technic to the empirical
surveyed data could help us to understand the selection process and try to identify a model or patterns
behaviors inside that data.
   Also, evolutionary computation is part of the computational intelligence algorithms using heuristics to
better understand the process of creation and development of artificial intelligence, using computational tools.
The evolutionary computing elements include learning, adaptation and optimization of the process of
obtaining the desired results, which correspond to identifying the best solution to the problem [56, 57], in our
case, the best process for selecting an ERP system.
    According to Koza [56], the most important steps in the process of preparation for the use of conventional
genetic algorithm into a fixed chain are: (1) Determine the schema to represent, (2) Determine the extent of
fitness, (3) Determine the parameters and variables that control the algorithm and (4) Determine how the
nomination of completion criteria and results.
   This model requires the definition of a gene or chromosome chain that uses the various elements identified
as best practices in the selection process and implementation of ERP systems. The measure of fitness of
individuals corresponds to the method of evaluation of each of the registered genes that has a favorable
impact on the success of the installation and use of ERP system.
   Additional work to do correspond to the identification of the fitness function and if the elements referred to
as genes are the only or should include more, including evaluating whether any of the above items can be
conjoined, such as project plan which consists of various plans [58], in a unique gene. The empirical survey
could help to identify each of the genes that could be used on the chain.
   Our hypothesis to question two and three at the end of section 1 are: “There is a set of variables that can be
identified through the application of an empirical study to a sample of companies located in the Metropolitan
Zone of Guadalajara (ZMG, ZMG is conformed by the following municipalities: Guadalajara, Zapopan,
Tlaquepaque, Tonala and Tlajomulco), México. And those variables can be modeled in a computational
intelligence to improve ERP delivery success.”
  For this purpose the elements that we have to introduce in an empirical survey are:
x Evaluation criteria and environmental elements of the decision,
298                         Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303
    The empirical study (survey) was elaborated following these characteristics [14, 15]:
  x Divided survey by research topic,
  x Use of closed questions using five Linkert points scale,
  x Use of ordinal variables with the following general numeration: Null importance, Low importance,
    Medium importance, High importance, Very high importance
     The survey has 21 questions: Six demographics, one to identify project investment, one to identify position
  of person inside the project, one to identify reason of implementation, one to identify the most important
  planning aspect of the project, two to identify experience on ERP implementation, four to evaluate
  implementation experience, one to identify selection criteria, one to identify who take part on the decision,
  one to identify what define success, one to identify evaluation criteria weights and two to identify essential
  ERP modules (The format survey can be asked to the authors).
     According to the economic census done by the National Institute of Statistics of Mexico (INEGI) in 2004,
  there were 127,730 economic units in ZMG, Table 2. In the Information System of Mexican Business (SIEM)
  there are 87,408 economic units registered in ZMG. This corresponds to approximately the 68.43% of the
  INEGI census, becoming a good reference of the population to study, since the data contained in the SIEM
  database are the most suitable because it has detailed information regarding email contact, it is more
  actualized and accessible.
     Column D present the total population used to the application of the survey and represent the 6.31% of
  SIEM population, economic units that had registered an email address. Accordingly with the kind of
  municipality, Tonala and Tlajomulco shows a lower percentage of email addresses registered as this
  municipalities correspond to a more rural than urban municipality. The total completed survey were 152
  surveys, 2.75% of the D column.
     Using data from columns A, B, D for a multi-sample comparison analysis, we found that since the P-value
  of 0.248044 on Levene's variance check is greater than or equal to 0.05, there is not a statistically significant
  difference amongst the standard deviations at the 95.0% confidence level. So we can say that the results are a
  representation of the population as the verification of the ANOVA table showed, because the F-ratio was
                    Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303                              299
2.42319. As the P-value of the F-test was 0.1036 and is greater than or equal to 0.05, we conclude that there is
not a statistically significant difference between the means of the 4 variables at the 95.0% confidence level.
The samples come from normal distributions as the standardized skewness and standardized Kurtosis values
comply with those needed for normal distributions as show on table 3. Confirming that survey results comes
from a representation of the population.
                  Minimum        Maximum      Range        Stnd. skewness     Kurtosis     Stnd. kurtosis   Sum           Sum of squares
INEGI                  3618.0       77003.0      73385.0            1.71424     3.617490       1.65115000 127730.0.             6.81719E9
SIEM                   2763.0       49907.0      47144.0            1.26479     1.047900        0.4782990    87409.0            3.15936E9
SENT                     89.0        3170.0       3081.0            1.10651     0.186179        0.0849786     5523.0            1.31596E7
COMPLETED                  0.0         85.0         85.0            1.08714     0.459513        0.2097380         152.0           951.0E1
  The survey was applied between 19th September and 6th November 2011 by electronic via. It was viewed
781 times, 216 surveys were started and 180 surveys were completed. From the completed surveys, there
were 152 valid surveys, since they were answered by companies in the study area.
   There are 117 variables from the survey results: Seven variables are nominal and 110 variables are ordinal.
All of them can be defined as random discrete variables, as their numeral of different values is finite [59].
Statistical processes can be used to analyze this kind of variables.
   The general results obtained from 152 complete surveys shows that 31.6% belongs to micro companies (1
to 10 employees), 23.7% to small (11 to 50 employees), 9.2% to medium (51 to 100 employees), 15.1% to
large (101 to 250 employees) and 20.4% to big companies (more than 250 employees).
Y = (a + b * X2)2 (1)
The equation model obtained to describe the relationship between Investment and Size is:
  The standard error of the estimate shows that the standard deviation of the residuals was 0.228549. The
mean absolute error (MAE) was 0.17126. We conclude that there is not any significant correlation based on
300                          Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303
      the order of the data and there is no indication of serial autocorrelation in the residuals at the 95.0%
      confidence level. So we conclude that this equation can be used to predict future behavior.
         We applied a “t student” test to identify if the mean of the values obtained for the variables on table 4 are
      significant equal or greater than value 5 (High importance). If the mean of the variable is equal or greater than
      value 5, we can consider the variable as a “System that would be included in ERP system as a module”. H0 =
      the mean of the variable is less than 5 (The variable is not important and critical). And Ha = the mean of the
      variable is equal or greater than 5 (The variable is critical and important).
Table 4 One sample test “t student” 95% confidence interval of the difference to test value = 5
                                          N    Mean      Std.   Std. Error     t      df   Sig. (2-     Mean     Lower Upper Accepted
                                                       Deviation Mean                      tailed)    Difference
      10 ERP would include PMO           137    4.86        .994      .085 -1.633 136          .105        -.139   -.31   .03    H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include HRP           138    4.72        .957      .081 -3.379 137          .001        -.275   -.44   -.11   H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include CRP           139    4.58        .924      .078 -5.325 138          .000        -.417   -.57   -.26   H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include MRP           135    5.04      1.025       .088     .420 134        .675        .037    -.14   .21    H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include BSC           130    5.00        .932      .082     .000 129       1.000        .000    -.16   .16    H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include BI system     133    5.19        .889      .077    2.439 132        .016        .188    .04    .34    Ha
      integration
      10 ERP would include KM            130    4.85        .968      .085 -1.812 129          .072        -.154   -.32   .01    H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include SCM           135    5.05        .972      .084     .620 134        .536        .052    -.11   .22    H0
      system integration
      10 ERP would include CRM           137    5.28        .795      .068    4.193 136        .000        .285    .15    .42    Ha
      system integration
                 Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303      301
   Only on the rows that the mean difference is greater than zero and the value is inside the range formed by
the lower and upper limits of the confidence interval columns the Ha is accepted.
5. Conclusions
   The first conclusion that can be deduced from the empirical study is that there is a direct relation between
size of the company and the amount that it can invest on an ERP implementation project. This relation can be
modeled with the equation (2) of this paper, where size of the company as to be defined as 1 for a company
from 1 up to 10 employees, 2 for a company from 11 up to 50 employees, 3 for a company from 51 up to 100
employees, 4 for a company from 101 up to 250 employees and 5 for a company with more than 250
employees; And investment result is in the range of 1 to 7 where 1 correspond to an amount investment up to
100,000 MXP, 2 an investment up to 500,000 MXP, 3 an investment up to 1’000,000 MXP, 4 an investment
up to 2’000,000 MXP, 5 an investment up to 5’000,000 MXP, 6 an investment up to 10’000,000 MXP and 7
an investment greater than 10’000,000 MXP.
  In the case of the systems that would be included in ERP system as a module we can said that BI and CRM
would be included because the empirical survey gave us statistical evidence that support this idea.
   There are still ordinal variables to analyze from the empirical study. The most relevant variables could be
used to identify the model to use to correlate those variables. That model could be used on a computational
intelligence technic as MAS, evolutionary computation, neural networks or Petri Nets.
   We could also introduce the surveys data into a data mining tools, as R or WEKA, to analyze if there are
other not evident relations.
   The empirical survey applied; help us in the identification of the need of a new survey that clarify the
elements used on the selection and implementation processes and how those elements are related to the
success an ERP delivery. By example, including specific questions regarding the percentage of satisfaction
that the companies have on their actual ERP system, the percentage of time and investment done against the
planned, if the .mandatory and wishes requirements were realized and in what percentage. With these results
it could be possible to define a better model to know the element that should be included to do a better
selection and implementation, based on implementations done by the responders to the surveys.
   Future research on this topic correspond to the identification of the model and its use on a computational
intelligence technique as an genetic algorithm or a Petri Net since each of the elements defined as helpful on
fulfill satisfaction on the use of an ERP system can be introduced on a chromosome of genes and the model
obtained between the relation of elements and satisfaction can be translated to an equation or aptitude function
to evaluate each generation. Also those elements can be seen as state that can be used to model a Petri Net that
shoot a state of satisfaction.
Acknowledgements
      CONACYT, http://www.conacyt.gob.mx
      CUCEA, Universidad de Guadalajara, http://www.cucea.udg.mx
302                         Augusto A Pacheco-Comer and Juan C González-Castolo / Procedia Technology 3 (2012) 292 – 303
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