ERP Implementation Ethics summarize the basic ethics for successful ERP implementation.

1. GAMA Project Management
Volunteer Program
WRITTEN BY BAHA’A AL THEBIAN
ERP Implementation Ethics for successful projects
ERPImplementation
EthicsForSuccessful
Projects

2. Table of Contents
Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1
Who are concerns of ERP Implementation? ................................... 1
Advices and ethics codes ................................................................ 2
Summary of ERP Implementation Ethics ...................................................... 3
Team Work................................................................................................................................... 3
Write what you do and do what you write ...................................................................................... 4
Being open for Knowledge Transfer ....................................................................................... 5
Listen more then you talk ......................................................................................................... 5
No Gold plating and fit to scope .............................................................................................. 6
ERP Implementation’s Team Satisfaction .............................................................................. 7
ERP Implementation’s Loyalty ................................................................................................. 8
Communication Ethics ............................................................................................................. 9
Do the right things .................................................................................................................. 10
Be honest and act with integrity ............................................................................................ 11
Act ethically, fairly and professionally .................................................................................. 11
Don’t be Selfish ....................................................................................................................... 12
Help others in knowledge and practices .............................................................................. 13
Try to follow copy rights and other laws .............................................................................. 13
Information Confidentiality ..................................................................................................... 14
Knowledge should be shared…. ..................................................................... 15

3. E R P
I M P L E M E N T A T I O N
1
Version
E T H I C S
Introduction
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning is not Just a
Business Solution; it is a company culture, procedures and policies.
E
RP Implementations is not building a system or installing a new software
but in reality it is a big world where people could gain knowledge,
experience and communication skills. Usually people who are working in
such these fields are well educated, have strong knowledge in business
best practices, deep knowledge in business areas to be sure that whatever the ERP
application which they are implementing could meet business needs and cover
business requirements.
In- my opinion Enterprise Resource
Planning couldn’t be only computer applications,
Software or other solutions, it should be policies,
procedures, company’s behaviors or it should be
defined as “What to follow within an
organization to reach what planned to and
requested goals”.
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Who are concerns of ERP Implementation?
ERP Consultants, Implementer, Specialist, Project Managers, Team Leader or any
professional working in such related rules should know very well the full meaning
of ERP.

Good Argument
William Shakespeare is said:
“Life is only Minimum great theater, and that all men and women
are the only players on this stage”.
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4. E R P
I M P L E M E N T A T I O N
E T H I C S
We can translate the same in ERP implementation real world as “Each team
member should play his rule professionally, for the interest for his project,
meeting that implementation objectives without wrong decisions, faults, or / and
wrong practice”.
In the Real World
Faults, additions or missing paragraph in a play could add unique favor and draw
special smile for the attendances, change play’s scenarios could make some fun
when the actors are presenting the play but in ERP’s it could lead to Implementation
failure Or late in delivery which is the main ERP Implementation constrains and
highly risky failure key factors.
Actors who are presenting a play in theater should have actor’s ethics as well as
ERP member should have the same ethics to give the best presentation for the
attendances whom are basically the ERP implementation stake holder.
Advices and ethics codes
In all religions, people should be respected, respect each other and highly ethically
communication should be in the place.
Religion ethics,
business ethics,
ERP Implementation
Ethics
Work and business ethics should be placed inside the
employee’s but even the implementation of an ERP should
have its own ethics.
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5. Summary of ERP Implementation Ethics
Team Work
“Don’t create competition environment within your ERP
implementation team”
Competition is like a war which basically difficult to be fair, the results of any ware
since 1990’s produced a lot of losses for the winner or loser.
In ERP Implementations member’s Competitions, the result will not heart
anybody or destroy cities but it will have effects on the project, ERP
implementations, the project goals and the main result it will destroy the
communication panels, relation between implementation member team who will
work in the same ERP implementation or usually who will continue working with
other ERP Implementations projects again and again.
Best ERP Implementations player, who is good player within the same team, most
time during ERP implementations resources are communicating as well as project
manager or team leaders.
Figure 1- Be a good Team Player
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6. Write what you do and do what you write
Remember!!
Plan - Do- Check Act
One of the most popular ISO standards and procedures is to
write what you are planning to do, one of PMI concepts that
“when you are not planning then you are planning to failure”.
ERP Implementations member should plan what they have to do, what they are
doing, what/when to achieve and how to close the achievements.
When you did a task or finish phase or when you are moving from phase to
phase/from task to task always try to record or write what you achieved , what
you did or note down the learned lessons from the previous experiment.
One of PMI standards for managing the projects professionally:
During most of the project processes Project Team has to update the
organizational Process Assets where you will record what you achieved or what
you faced, what you solved or what needs to be solved.
.
Figure 2 - Plan what to do and write what is done
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7. Being open for Knowledge Transfer
Always, try to be initiator in knowledge transfer, never think that you are losing
when you transfer the knowledge.
An Old man advices and essays
“I gain this knowledge before you then never think that you will know it more than me”.
If you are always keep updating and developing your knowledge then when you
transfer it to other members then your knowledge base size will be always larger
than the others.
During ERP Implementation, try always to gain knowledge, experience from other
ERP Implementations sides, colleges, team member, leaders, managers, prospects,
and customer or from practice.
Listen more then you talk
One of the most important concepts for Implementations team member which
should follow is to understand the needs, requirements which you will gain from
different analysis tools.
Communication Philosophy experts saying “Body language is taking 70% of
communication” or sometimes they call it Non- Verbal communications, most of the
time communication to understand the needs, requirements could be through face
to face meeting.
Physical interaction could be the most success communication and most
professional explaining method.
Don’t forget that you are implementing ERP for people who need you to hear
from them not to hear from you especially at the beginning stages of an ERP
Implementations processes.
Figure 3- Listen then writ
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8. No Gold plating and fit to scope
It could be ambiguous statement but the professional in PMI always
Are saying:
“NO GOLD PLATING”
Always remember that you have an agreed clear scope, try to be within the scope
of your mission, or of your task.
Beneficiary of ERP implementation: Who is looking to the results of ERP
implementation and you have to satisfy his requirements and needs, no extra
efforts, benefits you should give without covering the basic needs, extra benefits
could guide to open scope or scope creeping and couldn’t satisfy the main and
major needs of ERP Implementation.
In ERP Implementations projects, there is no material to loose or goods to be free
of charge the main cost of project is time and time only.
The popular Projects Triple Constrains is (Time, Scope and Cost), there are other
constrains and one of my personal philosophies in ERP Implementations is
requirements and ERP needs understanding by Implementations team members.
Figure 4 - Rectangle Project Constraints
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9. ERP Implementation’s Team Satisfaction
In the real world
It is a fact to:
Always help yourself then help the others in the most dangers situations, if you
didn’t help yourself first may be you will not be able to give help hands to others.
ERP Implementation Team could be defined as : who are related to the ERP
Implementations either who are implementing, giving requirements, coordinating,
monitoring, or will get the final benefit from ERP Implementations in another
world they call it Project Stakeholders in PMI definitions.
Who are implementing the ERP; most probably will not be one resource and
usually they are a team of two or more members, so always don’t hesitate to give
help hand for other resources if they need your help and remember that all of you
are targeting the project scope.
In the other hand don’t waste your time in helping the other before helping
yourself, “once deliverables is better than zero deliverables”; sure that “ten is the best but in
the worst scenarios one is better than zero”.
ERP Implementations usually is applying or implementing software, you are the
expert of the software and you know all functionalities which could be hidden to
other parties so always try to be fair in satisfying the others, suggesting the hidden
functionalities.
“Don’t hide what you know, to gain what other knows”
Changing ERP resources usually happen within ERP Implementations either it is
not recommended but when this happen;
Remember:
You are replacing one of your team members or collogue, as one of the most
important ethics which you should focus on is “respect your team member”.
When you are replacing any team member, may be you will find some activities are
missing, tasks not have been done yet, you faced some troubles because of the
previous team member lack in experience or other reasons, In this case try to
remember that people are interacting based on the conditions at that time and
based on the surrounded environment.
Try to find the reasons for that member and don’t blame him, don’t say badly
about him because you don’t know the conditions at that time.
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10. ERP Implementation’s Loyalty
Employee loyalty is a very huge topic in Human Resources Management- HRM,
but ERP Implementations loyalty is focusing on what you have to do in If- then
Cases.
Cases and Scenarios:
i.
If you are implementing software and you faced a problem with the
Implementations stakeholder how you should interact?
ii.
If there is a need to provide in parallel solution to reach the achievement,
are you interested to provide some help to find it, or it is the other
people’s responsibilities?
iii.
If you know that Implementation’s Stakeholder is asking to implement
something could guide to wrong results, financial losses or any negative
effect, what should you do?
“ERP Implementation success, it is your success too”
iv.
If you feel that you are working out of your implementation scope then
what to do?
v.
If I’m the best team member then how should I interact within the team?
Always give the knowledge before somebody asks
you about;
“You are loyal to your qualified team, so be ready”
:
Respect your team, be positive with your team, all
team members not necessary your friends but
college’s respecting should guide you.
Always raise the issue to who is managing the
implementation or to who is interested in the
implementation and can make decision.
Be project oriented member and don’t forget to
monitor your tasks and do your best to achieve it
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11. then help the others “you have the same goal such as other
member has”.
Note
Solving problems is one of the skills which distinguish people from each
other; it could be built by being educated, good learner and open for
experiments.
Communication Ethics
In ERP Implementations there will be always a place where team member usually
meet, discuss and work; it could be called ware room.
Be polite in providing new ideas, new suggestions always are preferable but keep
in mind it shouldn’t be executed “it is suggestions only”.
Always keep in mind to discuss and raise the issues within team member only,
don’t talk in front of strangers or if other are involved.
Discuss the other behaviors individually and don’t discuss it in public.
“One of the most team conflicts resolving tool is confronting which will guide to win- to – win
situation as per PMI School”.
Most of team communication should be using verbal communication type, it is
better if it is written but in normal team communication it should be face to face
communication.
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12. Figure 5 - Communication Chanels
Do the right things
Try always to do the right thing in right time, as
mentioned above “plan what you are going to do, when
and what to do”.
If you don’t know what is the right thing then try to
ask, learn, and read to build a solid background of
the right things which you have to do.
Your manager is the responsible of deliverables but
be sure it is your deliverables not his deliverables, so
be careful when you are applying the right thing.
“You are applying the good things
because you are good”
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13. Be honest and act with integrity
During ERP Implementation, remember you are a
target for shareholder to get the maximum
knowledge from you, be honest of what you are
telling the others.
Others are waiting your consultations to take
decisions, so take a small breath then tell the other
the honest and the right things, if you don’t know
then tell that you don’t know or promise that you
well get it and come back to them.
Always, be sure that you are telling the right thing
:
not expectations or personal opinions, me be you are right or wrong where you
will drive the decision to be failure.
“Be modest always”
Act ethically, fairly and professionally
You are usually not dealing with machines, or tools;
remember you are dealing with Human people who
have different understanding of things.
Be clear in your language, use one language “Use one
face”, you are a respected person and people usually
interact with you based on that , so do as what they
are doing.
Be fair in judgments, usually when you are
implementing an ERP then stakeholders usually see
what they are following right now is the true but you
are coming to change most of what they are
following, so be fair in judging if they ask you about
your opinion and try to be polite as much as you can
when you are telling them the best practice or what
you are going to apply.
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14. Professionalism is one word but it is very difficult to
get the full meaning of it, but you are the guide of
what should be the best and leading the
Implementations to reach the best; so guide it to the
best to reach the goals.
Don’t be Selfish
Remember, you are one of a team, you are not alone
and people depending on you to do their tasks, think
about others and how they can achieve their tasks if
they are depending on yours.
“People around you have a lot of goals to achieve, try to be
positive and help them to achieve it”
:Professionalism
is one
word but it is very difficult
to get the full meaning of
it, but you are the guide of
what should be the best
and leading the
Implementations to reach
the best; so guide it to the
best to reach the goals.
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15. Help others in knowledge and practices
As a member of an ERP implementation team; you
have to know that people capabilities are different
from one to one, usually the project-ized
organization is hiring a fresh graduates, juniors and
seniors in ERP fields, so the knowledge should be
allows coming from above level to the lower level
or in another words:
“Seniors have to transfer the knowledge to the Juniors” to
make productive teams.
Usually people are able to solve their own problems by themselves but in other
scenarios they will have complex problems which need help hand from other team
member.
Try always to put you hand in solving problem; it will give you two main benefits:
A. Increase your skills in problem solving.
B. Solve the main problem which will be an added value to your team.
Try to follow copy rights and other laws
If your organization or your team has software copy
writes then you will not be happy if someone gets
your software without licenses, usually the
organizations who have copy writes of Books,
Software or others makes some restriction in use
for the un authorized usage.

Access denied, stopping software functionality will
increase your implementation risk which had not
been considered before, sudden damage, stopping
in software running; will affect your
implementation which you started with a highly
ethics .
Remember
“People are appreciating you and your team as well”.
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16. Information Confidentiality
We talked about copy writes and how we should
respect the other people inventions, but he
information confidentiality is one of the most
important ethically factor within the ERP
Implementation.
People usually spends a lot of time to gain the
others trust, the stakeholder of your ERP
implementation is trusting you because you have
their information, data, business cycles, business
success factors which should be considered as nonsharable information.
Try always to gain your implementation’s stake holder’s trust by keeping their
secrets which they trust you when they told you about.
One of the most important habits in ERP implementation:
“Implementation team members have to give some examples about different ERP areas, so they
have to tell about previous experiments, try always not to tell the others of whom you are taking
about or try to use X concept to hide the names of your examples”.
The previous experiments and the other experiments are good lessons to you and
your team which should be utilized in the proper way to increase your
organizational assets processes.
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17. Knowledge should be shared….
Please don’t hesitate to send me your comments and notes, we could make this
materials more and more useful if I get from you opinions and different inputs.
Share with me your comments, inquiries, and notes to enhance our knowledge and
make changes which will could be a success factors in our life.
With all my best regards,
Baha’a Al Thebian
 Baha’a Al Thebian
GAMA Project Management Volunteer Program
ERP Consultant
Phone +966 567 02 6060
Skype Bahaa.Thebyan
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