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Lessons Learned from the University of Massachusetts ERP Failure
The start of a new school year is bound to be stressful. However, in September 2004, students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (UMass) were more stressed than usual. That year, a buggy system left around 24,000 students unable to register for classes or...
Lessons Learned from the CityTime ERP Failure
In 2003, city leaders initiated an effort to update and modernize New York City’s payroll system for local government employees. The project, aptly named CityTime, started with a budget of $63 million. In 2011, NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg demanded that the...
Lessons Learned from the Under Armour ERP Failure
For more than six years, Under Armour was on a steady upswing. However, near the end of 2016, this growth came to an abrupt end. Stock prices dropped nearly 27% and profits fell 58%. The problems snowballed throughout 2017. At the root of the decline? A flawed SAP...
Lessons Learned from the NHS IT System Failure
It was the largest public sector IT project the UK had ever attempted and one of the costliest. With roughly £6 billion in contracts, the National Health Service (NHS) put plans in motion to launch its National Program for IT (NPfIT) in 2002. Behind it were some of...
Lessons Learned from the PG&E Data Breach
In February 2018, the North American Electric Reliability Corp (NERC) fined The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) $2.7 million. The offense? A 2016 data breach that left 30,0000 sensitive records exposed online for 70 days. For PG&E, this was a lesson...
The Failure of RBS to Perform a Successful Software Upgrade
The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is a global financial player with a balance sheet the size of the entire UK. When you’re that big, all eyes are on you. Usually, the attention isn’t cause for alarm. However, in June 2012, RBS’s notoriety cast an unwelcome...
How Bad Project Managers Destroy ERP Projects
As software expert witnesses, we’ve had an up-close look at some of the main issues that lead to ERP failure – and they aren’t usually technical in nature. Instead, the primary reason that many projects fail is ineffective project leadership. A bad project...
Lessons Learned from the Target Canada Supply Chain Failure
With a net worth of around $104 billion, there’s no denying that Target is a retail giant. However, when the corporation tried to replicate its U.S. success in Canada, even its reputation as an industry mainstay couldn’t save its efforts from collapsing. ...
Lessons Learned from the Waste Management ERP Failure
In 2005, Waste Management (WM) began a major, enterprise-wide SAP ERP implementation. The project was set to go live by 2007, and SAP projected that WM would be able to net upward of $220 million per year in annual benefits. However, in 2008, a $500 million ERP...
Lessons Learned from the Air Force ERP Failure
In late 2020, the U.S. Air Force resumed work on an ERP implementation that was originally scrapped back in 2012. The new effort is still underway, set to be completed over a five-year timeline. To understand why the project has been resurrected, it’s necessary...
Lessons Learned from the MillerCoors ERP Failure
In March 2017, Chicago-based brewer MillerCoors sued Indian technology services firm HCL (and its American affiliate) for more than $1 million. At the core of the chaos? A failed SAP implementation, which MillerCoors blamed on a string of inefficiencies catalyzed by...
Lessons Learned from the Washington Community College ERP Failure
The fall is always a challenging time for college staff. However, the start of the 2015 school year was an uncommonly stressful season for IT leaders at community colleges across Washington State. August of that year was the pilot go-live date for an ERP project,...
Lessons Learned from the Woolworths Australia ERP Failure
Woolworths Australia, dubbed “Woolies” by locals, is the largest supermarket chain in Australia. Operating nearly 1,000 locations across the country, it staffs around 115,000 employees. With various stores, support offices and distribution centers, the company needed...
Lessons Learned from the National Grid ERP Failure
As one of the largest investor-owned power distribution companies in the country, National Grid USA (NGUSA) knows the importance of timely delivery. So, when its much-anticipated SAP ERP project was stalling out after three years of development, team leaders made the...
Lessons Learned from the Vodafone CRM Failure
One of the top, multinational telecommunications companies, Vodafone, is used to being in the news. However, in 2016, the company made a different kind of headline. That year, Vodafone was hit with what was recognized as the single-biggest fine ever imposed in the UK...
Lessons Learned from the GOV.UK Verify Failure Relevant to Your ERP Project
In 2011, the U.K.’s Cabinet Office began work on GOV.UK Verify, also known as the Identity Assurance Programme (IDAP). The program intended to establish one trusted login across all online services provided by the British government. When fully operational,...
Lessons from the Travis Perkins-Infor Settlement
For many companies, moving from legacy systems to a cloud-based ERP platform can usher in an era of improved performance and heightened success. However, for Travis Perkins, an ERP project was simply an expensive lesson in how not to approach an implementation. In...
Manufacturing ERP Failure: Avoiding the Mistakes of Southeast Power Group
When a company begins an ERP implementation projected to last one year, no one expects the timeline to drag on for multiple years. Nor do they expect to take the project to court. Yet, both happened to Southeast Power Group following its massive manufacturing ERP...
Lessons Learned from the Hertz Digital Transformation Failure
Last May, rental car giant Hertz officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. At the onset, many industry analysts were quick to link this to the devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Air travel plummeted a staggering 90% last year as people stayed close to home, and many...
