Defined and documented functional requirements are a part of the bid process. Discuss why this would be beneficial in the selection of an ERP system even if a bid is not required. Justify your answer.

Defined and documented functional requirements are beneficial in the selection of an ERP system regardless of whether a bid is required. By defining functionality of existing legacy systems and using business process reengineering, the organization is able to select an ERP system that best fits their needs (Motiwalla & Thompson, 2012, p. 173). Defining requirements also provides insight into the information that needs to be shared across the system (Motiwalla & Thompson, 2012, p. 173). The requirements need to be fully developed and understood to ensure the best ERP system is selected that can meet those requirements (Motiwalla & Thompson, 2012, p. 173).

A prime example of ERP implementation failure due to inadequate requirements: four failed ERP pilot projects implemented by the U.S. Navy, costing $1 billion (Songini, 2005). The Government Accountability Office stated that the ERP installations were unable to meet requirements because of limited scope of the ERP systems (Songini, 2005).

Again, in the military, the Air Force also spent $1 billion over seven years to implement an ERP system that was ultimately deemed a failure (Ricketts, 2015). In this case, the implementation team underestimated the complexities and scale of deploying the solution (Ricketts, 2015).

In both examples, if they had thoroughly defined functional requirements from the get-go, they could have avoided spending massive amounts of money with little to show for it.