Business Process-oriented design of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems for small and medium enterprises

In the last years, many organizations have used business process modelling as an effective tool for managing organizational changes. However, process modelling has rarely been exploited for supporting the entire business process management lifecycle. This includes the design of business processes as well as their implementation and control. The adoption and implementation of ERP systems is a crucial issue if referred to SMEs. The main problem is that the cost of implementation of ERP, intended as the process of customization of the ERP system towards the actual enterprise business processes, overtakes the cost of ERP acquisition. Thus, there is a need for using the same workflow systems for both modelling the enterprise business processes and designing the ERP. This paper presents the results of a collaborative project of Academia and Industry aimed at developing a business process management integrated approach to the design, implementation and control of an ERP information system.