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144 Chapter 5 • Implementation Strategies

IT specialists are staff members of the ERP implementation team. They consist of database
administrators, IT operations support, developers, change managers, trainers, and others in the
IT group that are involved with the development and operation of the ERP system.
The project manager plays a very important role in the success or failure of the ERP system.
A good project manager is one that can put together a harmonious team, work with top manage-
ment in getting support and resources for the project, and champion the system implementation
and communicate its benefits to the end users.
The ERP implementation team will include various subteams from business or functional
areas, change management, development, data migration, and system support. For example, the
functional team determines the fits or gaps between the ERP functionality and the business
processes requirements. During the implementation process the functional team must chart out a
customization and configuration plan for the development team. The development team
customizes the systems functionality and forwards the changes to the quality assurance (QA)
team, which is responsible for testing and assuring that the system functions according to
requirements set out in the implementation plan. Along the way, the change management team
works with end users on training, communications, and support activities.

ERP AND VIRTUALIZATION

In recent years, virtualization has been gaining momentum in the information technology world.
The concept of virtualization is not new, but due to new technological advancements, it has
1
become possible on industry-standard servers. An infrastructure’s availability, standardization,
and usability are all very important for any ERP implementation, and virtualization technology
can serve as the foundation for standardization and integration in enterprise architectures. 2
The purpose of this chapter is to demonstrate that a virtualized organization will improve
the efficiency and availability of its ERP system. This chapter will explain what virtualization
technology is, what virtualization options are available for the major ERP software vendors, and
the benefits and implications of a virtualized environment. This chapter will then present both a
case study proving that a virtualized environment initiative can successfully be integrated along-
side an ERP implementation and a brief outlook on the future trends of virtualization.
Kamoun describes virtual machine (VM) server technology as providing a “technique to
run multiple and isolated virtual servers on a single physical device, thus optimizing hardware
usage.” Each virtual server that is installed in the same physical server operates under its own OS
independently of the other VMs present. Having multiple VMs installed in one physical server is
not the same as having one operating system with multiple applications installed, where the
behavior of one application can have an adverse effect on other applications and the stability of
the entire operating system. Each VM behaves as if it were the sole operating system configured
in the server such that each VM can be powered on or off without affecting the others.
While other virtualization architectures exist, the two more common models used for mis-
sion critical application are known as hardware virtualization and paravirtualization. Hardware
virtualization is the better, well-known architecture and includes products from VMWare and
Microsoft. With this approach, the server virtualization technology is placed directly on the server
hardware, sometimes referred to as “bare metal.” It uses hypervisors, modified code or APIs,
which facilitate faster transactions with hardware devices. The benefits are that virtualization (1)

1 Kamoun, F. (2009). Virtualizing the Datacenter Without Compromising Server Performance. Ubiquity, 009.9, Print.
2 Daniels, J. (2009). Server Virtualization Architecture and Implementation. Crossroads, 16 (1), 8–12, Print.