Abstract: An enterprise resource planning (ERP) project is a large enterprise

program, both from a business and technology point of view. It generates

huge changes and often involves calling into question many traditional
functions within the company, for which people are seldom well prepared. It
often requires the implementation of several new systems and their
integration with existing systems and often represents one of the larger IT
projects certainly one of the highly critical ones in most companies,
Cooperation between business and IT extends to a global collaboration
between many business units and several entities of the IT department. The
success of the project will depend on the quality of that collaboration.
Before starting such a challenging project, certain conditions must be
assured. The company must ensure the maturity in ERP and the technical
and management capabilities of the IT department and the ability of both
business and IT to work together. Without these prerequisites, companies
would not be able to lead and achieve the different phases of a ERP project.
This preparation may require some communication and educational
campaign, which is critical for success. Once the level of maturity, acceptance
and technical capabilities are reached, then the project team must be given
the structure and the skills that will allow it to face and overcome the
inevitable challenges it will encounter; this effort should integrate business,
IT and change-management people.