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Chapter 5 • Implementation Strategies 157

University of Massachusetts-Amherst As the competition for students increases, universities
are looking at ways to improve services to students and increase levels of support that address
retention and graduation rates. Some of the ways that ERP systems can be utilized to improve
services to students are as follows:
•Expand access of student data for students
•Increase the functionality of online learning through the Web
•E-payments
•Online advising

The University of Massachusetts-Amherst replaced its nonintegrated legacy systems with the inte-
grated Oracle/PeopleSoft Student Administration ERP. This included Web access to applicants,
students, faculty, and staff. It simplified student administrative functions that allowed students to do
most of their requisite administrative processes through the Web, including registering, paying or
billing, housing, financial aid, and advising services. The student administration ERP is successfully
installed in more than 700 institutions around the world. With that said, short-term success and failure
are sometimes determined by a single event. That event at UMass-Amherst happened when 24,000
students needed to access the system for the fall registration cycle to add and drop classes. The volume
of students crashed the system, bringing the process to a standstill. In addition to not being able to add
and drop classes, students could not look up the building and room where their classes were being
taught. There were long lines everywhere and much confusion. The problem was eventually resolved
and fixed, but the timing of the downtime hurt what was otherwise a successful implementation.

Comair (CIO Magazine, May 1, 2005): Comair is a regional airline operating in 117 cities
that carries approximately 30,000 passengers on 1,130 flights per day. The decision to replace
aging systems is sometimes difficult. It requires vision, a thorough analysis, and the creation of a
business case. In Comair’s case the investment in replacing aging legacy systems did not occur.
Their 20-year-old legacy system failed during a merger with Delta, creating a number of cus-
tomer service and financial problems. Replacing legacy systems with a new ERP system is very
high risk, but as Comair found out, the cost of not replacing an aging system can be greater. The
lesson to learn is that managing risky endeavors is instrumental to business growth and success.
IT systems are critical to a company’s daily business.

PLATFORM ISSUES
As stated earlier, ERP systems are complex and difficult to implement; however, the risk is worth
the long-term benefits if approached properly. The ERP system implementation is high-risk, as is
the installation of the IT infrastructure. Most ERP systems are Web based, which provides for
anytime, anywhere access, and the IT infrastructure must be prepared to address this level of
access. The Internet has brought the business world closer and made it more accessible. Today, a
business must be able to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week if it has to compete. The
infrastructure platform needs to be both available and secure and reliable. The number of compo-
nents that need to work together is numerous, and maintaining them is strategic to the long-term
ERP success. Any ERP implementation must address issues related to connectivity, network and
system bandwidth, security, transaction volume, user load, backup, and recovery. PC configura-
tions, including Web browsers, need to be addressed. Each of these areas needs a full analysis
and validation before the system can “Go-live.” The IT infrastructure team must be involved in
discussions on how the system will be used and when. Documenting and communicating usage
expectations will assist in the installation of the IT infrastructure platform.