In this paper we detail the results from an empirical study concerning differences in characteristics of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) system selection process between small or medium and large sized organizations. In particular we address the fields of software packages considered and chosen, the weights assigned to different selection criteria, the size and structure of the team responsible for the decision, the methods employed and the effort expended.

This paper presents results from research into open source projects from a software engineering perspective. The research methodology employed relies on public data retrieved from the CVS repository of the GNOME project and relevant discussion groups. This methodology is described, and results concerning the special characteristics of open source software development are given. These data are used for a first approach to estimating the total effort to be expended.

In this paper, the evolution of a large sample of open source software systems will be analysed. The evolution of commercial systems has been an issue that has long been a centre of research, thus a coherent theoretical framework of software evolution has been developed and empirically tested, most notably the laws of software evolution. In exploring the evolutionary behaviour of open source systems, these results can serve as a point of reference, allowing to assess if differences exist, or which aspects of open and collaborative development styles have an impact on evolutionary behaviour. The data collection method relying on a large software repository and the respective source code control systems is described, and an overview on the collected data on several thousand projects is given. The evolutionary behaviour is explored using both a linear and a quadratic model, with the quadratic model being shown as better suited. The most interesting fact is that while in the mean the growth rate is linear or decreasing over time according to the laws of software evolution, a significant percentage of projects is able to sustain super‐linear growth. There is a positive relationship between the size of a project, the number of participants, and the inequality in the distribution of work within the development team with the presence of super‐linear growth patterns. On the other hand, there is evidence for a group of projects of moderate size which shows decreasing growth rates, while small projects in general exhibit linear growth. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Purpose In the last years the penetration of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems within small, medium and large organizations increased steadily. Organizations are forced to adapt their systems and perform ERP upgrades in order to react to rapidly changing business environments, technological enhancements and rising pressure of competition. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the critical success factors for such projects. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a literature review and qualitative interviews with CEOs, CIOs, ERP consultants and project managers who recently carried out ERP upgrade projects in their respective organizations. Findings This paper identifies 14 critical success factors for ERP upgrade projects. Amongst others, effective project management, external support, the composition of the ERP team and the usage of a multiple system landscape play a key role for the success of the ERP upgrade. Furthermore, a comparison to the critical success factors for ERP implementation projects was conducted, and even though there are many similarities between these types of projects, several differences emerged. Originality/value ERP upgrade projects have a huge impact on organizations, but their success and antecedents for it are currently under-researched.

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