Systems Research and Behavioral Science Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Published online inWiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI:10.1002/sres.751 & Research Paper A Knowledge Management System for ERP Implementation Yuan Li*, Xiu Wu Liao and Hong Zhen Lei School of Management, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian, China An enterprise resource planning (ERP) is an enterprise-wide application software package that integrates all necessary business functions into a single system with a common database Its implementation is a complex process in terms of technology preparation and organizational change management Although the importance of knowledge management (KM) in ERP implementation has been recognized, how to conduct knowledge management has not received deserved attention till now The main objective of this paper is to develop a KM system to manage the knowledge of ERP implementation process To accomplish this, the article first identifies the types of knowledge in ERP implementation It then summarizes various KM activities based on a six-stage model At last, it proposes a KM system that consists of cooperative working platform, consulting platform, individual KM platform, organizational KM platform, and knowledge transfer platform This system can effectively manage knowledge and provide support for the successful implementation of an ERP system Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Keywords enterprise information systems; enterprise resource planning; knowledge management; systems research; systems engineering; systems approach; MIS; management information systems INTRODUCTION In today’s dynamic and unpredictable business environment, companies face the tremendous challenge of expanding markets and rising customer expectations This compels them to lower total costs in the entire supply chain, shorten throughput times, reduce inventories, expand * Correspondence to: Yuan Li, School of Management, Xian Jiaotong University, Xian 710049, China E-mail: liyuan@xjtu.edu.cn Contract/grant sponsor: NSFC; contract/grant numbers: 70121001; 70472039; 70571063 Copyright # 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd product choice, provide more reliable delivery dates and better customer service, improve quality, and efficiently coordinate globe demand, supply and production (Li, 2000a; Li and Li, 2000; Umble et al., 2003) In order to accomplish these objectives, more and more companies are turning to the enterprise resource planning systems (ERP) An ERP is a packaged enterprise-wide information system that integrates all necessary business functions, such as product planning, purchasing, inventory control, sales, financial and human resources, into a single system with a shared database (Alavi and Leidner, 2001) RESEARCH PAPER A successfully implemented ERP can offer companies the following three major benefits (Yusuf et al., 2004): * * * Automating business process Timely access to management information Improving supply chain management through the use of e-commerce In the past few years, thousands of companies around the world have implemented ERP systems The number of companies that plan to implement ERP is growing rapidly AMR Research, an authoritative market forecast institution in America, indicated that the ERP market would grow at annual rate of 37% in recent years The sales of the ERP packaged software are estimated to be around $20 billion by the year 2000 and the eventual market size is predicted to be around $1 trillion by the year 2010 (Rajagopal, 2002) Even in China, a developing country, ERP has also become a main product in the software market and the sales have approached six hundreds million RMB in the first half of 2002 (Li, 2000b; Li et al., 2001; Chaudhry et al., 2005; Dan et al., 2005; Wang et al., 2005; Xu et al., 2005) Surprisingly, given the significant investment in resources and time, many companies did not achieve success in ERP implementation It is estimated that the failure rate of ERP implementation ranges from 40 to 60% or higher (Umble et al., 2003) Some surveys and researches indicate that successful outcome is also not guaranteed even under ideal circumstances Researchers consider that the factors such as organizational change and process re-engineering, the enterprise-wide implications, the high resource commitment, and high potential business benefits and risks associated with ERP systems make the implementation a much complex exercise ´ (Kumar et al., 2003; Tchokogue et al., 2005) It is therefore not surprising that numerous companies have abandoned their ERP projects before completion or have failed to achieve their business objectives after implementation (Cliffe, 1999) Many experts and scholars have investigated this issue from various angles Some provide valuable insights into ERP implementation process and others identify a variety of factors that can be considered to be critical to the success Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 158 Syst Res of an ERP implementation These factors include top management support, business plan and vision, organizational change management and culture, business process re-engineering (BPR), data accuracy, education and training, and ven´ dor selection and support, etc (Tchokogue et al., 2005; Kumar et al., 2003; Somers et al., 2004; Umble et al., 2003; Sheu et al., 2004; Motwni et al., 2002; Mabert et al., 2003; Al-Mudimigh et al., 2001; He, 2004) Although different authors may have their own diverse perspectives, they all consider that the most important factor that influences successful ERP implementation is management, instead of technology; and technology is only a minor factor Thus, it is especially important to investigate the issue of how to enhance management in ERP implementation process The process of implementing ERP begins with planning After planning is completed, a project team embarks on and then moves through a number of discrete phases After the system is up and running, there may be a post-implementation review and later a stabilization phase (Parr and Shanks, 2000) In the model proposed by Kwon and Zmud (Kwon and Zmud, 1987; Rajagopal, 2002), ERP implementation process can be divided into six stages: initiation, adoption, adaptation, acceptance, routinization and infusion (see Figure 1) The first or the initiation is characterized by both internal and external factors that influence the organization to implement an ERP system At this stage, the Next Innovation Initiation Infusion Adoption Routinization Adaptation Acceptance Figure ERP implementation process Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Yuan Li et al Syst Res organization must carefully define why the ERP system is to be implemented and what critical business the system will address Additionally, education is also given to the employees They will learn some new knowledge about the development history, basic concepts, main functional modules of ERP, and the benefits of implementing an ERP After ERP education is finished, the implementation process enters the second stage Organization will carry out investment decision and cost–benefit analysis related to implementing ERP and select appropriate brand or vendor In the adaptation stage, the organization analyses the details of the various business processes and actualizes business process re-engineering (BPR) to exploit the full potential of ERP BPR has long been considered one of the key success factors in implementing major IT projects, such as ERP, especially in firms that have a strong corporate culture or that rely on legacy systems Once the business process is redesigned and system is customized, appropriate training is given to the end-users immediately and resistance may be observed because of the ‘inertia’ associated with using the previous system This stage is considered as the most difficult of all the stages In the acceptance stage, the integration of various functional units is realized and continuous improvements are made to make the system easy to use and to solve various problems The users feel comfortable with using the ERP system During the fifth stage, end-users accept the system completely The ERP system usage becomes a regular day-today activity Organizational integration and internal function coordination are realized At the infusion stage, the system is used to enhance the performance of the organization (Rajagopal, 2002) After years of operation, the company may need new system to cope with business and technology change, so the first stage will be repeated again Although realizing ERP is an implementation process of information system, it is also a process of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer and application from knowledge management (KM) perspectives For example, in ERP selection process, an organization needs to know the characteristics and functional modules of RESEARCH PAPER the system, and learn implementation experience from other organizations After a certain type of ERP software is chosen, most organizations usually align their business processes with the functionality provided by the ERP system, rather than customizing the ERP package to match their current processes These organizations may discard previous business processes and accept the standardized business processes In other words, the explicit business knowledge incorporated in the software is transferred to the adopting organization (Lee and Lee, 2000) On the other hand, an ERP system is not just a pure software package to be tailored to an organization It also represents an organizational infrastructure that affects how people work and imposes its own logic on a company’s strategy, organization and culture After organizations accept the management mode of an ERP, the tacit knowledge related to the business process is transferred to the adopting organization Extant studies (O’Leary, 2002) show that KM is associated with ERP implementation intimately Based on the theory of KM and information technology, it is possible to identify, capture, transfer, and apply the knowledge created during ERP implementation process, and provide effective support for the successful implementation of ERP (see Figure 2) Recently, some issues on KM in ERP implementation have been studied O’Leary (2002) investigated the use of knowledge management to support ERP systems across entire life cycle, with particular interest in case-based knowledge management A prototype system designed to support the use of the ERP system is also presented Lee and Lee (2000) proposed a new approach to analysing ERP implementations from a knowledge transfer perspective It also contributed to a better understanding of competitive advantage based on process knowledge when standardized business processes are implemented by an organization Newell et al (2003) examine related interactions and impacts as ERP and knowledge management system implemented simultaneously within an organization Haines and Goodhue (2003) give a framework that explains how consulting involvement and knowledge of the organization can impact the outcome of the project based on Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd A Knowledge Management System for ERP Implementation Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) 159 RESEARCH PAPER Syst Res The successful implementation of ERP Promote Knowledge management System in ERP implementation Support Theory of knowledge management Information technology Figure The relation between KM and ERP implementation agency theory Ko et al (2005) proposed an integrated theoretical model in which knowledge transfer is influenced by knowledge-related, motivational, and communication-related factors Although the importance of KM in ERP implementation has been recognized, how to conduct knowledge management to support such process has not received deserved attention till now In this paper, a KM system in the framework of systems theory is proposed to manage the relevant knowledge of ERP implementation process (Xu, 2000) To accomplish this, the paper first identifies the types of knowledge available in ERP implementation It then summarizes various KM activities based on the sixstage model Lastly, a KM system is proposed that consists of cooperative working platform, consulting platform, individual KM platform, organizational KM platform, and knowledge transfer platform This system can effectively manage knowledge and provide support for the successful implementation of ERP systems The rest of this paper is organized as follows: the subsequent section introduces the basic concepts and theory of KM In the third section, the knowledge sources in ERP implementation are identified and various KM activities based on the six-stage model are summarized In Section 4, a system of KM is developed Final section will provide a summary about this paper Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 160 KNOWLEDGE AND KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Knowledge management (KM) is an emerging field (Rubenstein-Montanno et al., 2001; Xu et al., 2001; Qiu et al., 2003; Sun et al., 2003; Zhang et al., 2003) It has gained tremendous popularity as one of the most promising ways for organizations to succeed in information age In extant literatures, there are various views about knowledge (Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Wong and Aspinwall, 2004; Wiig, 1997) The definition of knowledge adopted here is ‘knowledge is combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection It is a high-value form of information that is ready to apply to decisions and actions’ (Albert and Baradley, 1997) Although there are sundry knowledge categories, the tacit-explicit knowledge classification is widely cited Explicit knowledge is transmittable in formal, systematic way It can be processed by a computer, transmitted electronically or stored in a database (Nonaka and Takenchi, 1995) On the other hand, tacit knowledge is associated with personal experiences and difficult to fully articulate, and poorly documented Because it is subjective and intuitive, it is not easily processed or transmitted in any systematic or logical manner (Lee and Lee, 2000) Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Yuan Li et al Syst Res Within this context, KM refers to the strategies and processes of identifying, capturing, and leveraging knowledge to help the firm compete In general, KM is regarded as a process involving managing all kinds of knowledge to meet existing and emerging needs, to identify and exploit existing and acquired knowledge assets and to develop new opportunities (Jarrar, 2002) It consists of four basic processes: knowledge creation, store/retrieve, transfer, and application Knowledge creation is the most important process in knowledge management It is realized by the interaction between the tacit and explicit knowledge inside an organization Four possible conversion modes between the two types of knowledge have been identified: socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization (Nonaka and Takenchi, 1995; Alavi and Leidner, 2001) The knowledge creation begins in the socialization mode It refers to conversion of tacit knowledge to new tacit knowledge through social interactions and shared experience among organizational members After new tacit knowledge has been created, it is formalized and standardized for facilitating communicating with other organization members This leads to the creation of new explicit knowledge Once new explicit knowledge has been created, it can be reconciled with other explicit knowledge created by other organizational members and the knowledge is expressed in a format that it can be retained at organization Once new explicit knowledge has been created, the member inside organization can combine the new explicit knowledge with own intrinsic knowledge to produce new tacit knowledge After new tacit knowledge is shared with other members inside organization, the knowledge creation activity begins again Knowledge creation therefore is viewed as a spiral growing process The KM in ERP implementation faces a number of challenges: (1) the pivotal knowledge in ERP implementation is possessed by software vendor and consultants They will vanish soon after the ERP implementation is completed How can their knowledge be transferred into the adopting organization? (2) In ERP implementation process, there exist a lot of knowledge gaps They include the gaps between external vendor, RESEARCH PAPER consultants and internal experts, the gaps between internal experts and end-users, the gaps between end-users from different business units How can these gaps be eliminated? (3) In ERP implementation, a lot of new tacit knowledge will be created through discussion, communication, imitation and practice How can such tacit knowledge be converted to organizationavailable knowledge? (4) The cross-functional interconnectivity of an ERP system requires the employees involve in implementation process to have more cross-functional knowledge, how they access such knowledge? (5) When some key employees, such as the members of project team, retire or change job, they will take with them valuable knowledge and skills associated with ERP project In order to prevent or reduce interruptions in activities, and enhance overall ability to cope with changes in personnel, how can an organization store their knowledge and skills? THE IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE IN ERP IMPLEMENTATION In an ERP system implementation, there are usually three major parties involved the project implementation: the organization implementing the system (the implementer), the organization developed the ERP system (vendor) and an organization aiding the implementation (the consulting company) Each of these parties contributes different knowledge to the project The Knowledge From the Consulting Company ERP is not a simple software package Although there are detailed instructions in product manual, it is usually difficult to combine the function of software with organizational business Hardly any organization has the necessary knowledge and skills to implement an ERP project successfully without external help (Rubenstein et al., 2001) An organization may expect consultants to transfer their implementation knowledge to their employees so that they can contribute to Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd A Knowledge Management System for ERP Implementation Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) 161 RESEARCH PAPER successful implementation and learn to maintain the system independent of the consultants Thus, bring consulting company into ERP implementation can improve the success rate of project and avoid unnecessary mistakes Generally, a consulting company may possess abundant knowledge which includes an in-depth understanding of the management idea related to ERP, insights into business process incorporated in the basic architecture of the ERP software, the expertise of BPR, the approach of project implementation, and the accumulative experience by providing services to other organizations A consulting company can help organization employees learn more know-how about ERP implementation that is not included in standard training provided by ERP vendor Additionally, the practical experience of the consulting company can help project member to save time and increase implementation efficiency The Knowledge From the Vendor The main roles that ERP vendor plays in ERP implementation include: (1) providing the implementer with ERP software and documents; (2) offering standard education/training programs in connection with their products, including the function of software, modules, business process, operation approaches and so on; (3) cooperating with consulting companies to implement ERP On the one hand, ERP implementation requires mass knowledge to enable employees to solve problems within the framework of system If employees not understand how a system works, they will not be able to use the system correctly On the other hand, education/training is a learning process It is impossible for employees to master all necessary knowledge in education/training Employees need time to learn in practice Therefore, the knowledge from the vendor, especially standard education/training knowledge should be collected, stored consciously and open to all employees inside organization Managing vendor knowledge can provide users with convenience for learning and reducing education/training costs Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 162 Syst Res The Knowledge From Implementer In generally, the knowledge of implementer consists of the inherent knowledge and the innovative knowledge The former mainly refers to the detailed knowledge of its own particular business processes, organizational context, culture and competitive situation, which is essential for successful implementation The later mainly refers to the experience, know-how produced by discussion, communication, and practice in implementation process The externalization of the innovative knowledge, namely conversion of individual knowledge to organization knowledge, can promote knowledge sharing and project implementation In addition to above-mentioned three kinds of knowledge, document management is also an important task of knowledge management These documents include: (1) the operation manual of ERP and systems management; (2) Education/training documents provided by the vendor and consulting company; (3) Detailed documents regarding implementation process; (4) Complete records of business process before implementation, the standard business process of ERP system and their difference; (5) Complete records of BPR; (6) Complete records of business process after ERP implementation, and the like The management for these documents facilitates communication, leaning and practice In terms of the model proposed by Kwon and Zmud, ERP implementation process can be divided into six stages: initiation, adoption, adaptation, acceptance, routinization and infusion In order to manage the knowledge of ERP implementation effectively, it is necessary to analyse the main KM activities of each stage To accomplish this, Table summarizes the KM practices in ERP implementation process A KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR ERP IMPLEMENTATION Knowledge management systems (KMS) refer to a class of information systems applied to managing organizational knowledge That is, they Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Yuan Li et al Syst Res RESEARCH PAPER Table Summary of KM activities in ERP implementation process Stage Initiation Adoption Adaptation Acceptance Routinization Fusion KM activities (1) Vendor provides ERP software and document (2) Vendor offers training programs in connection with their products Explicit knowledge (know-what) could be captured from user manual and training document (3) Learn the experience of other organizations (4) Carry out investment decision and cost–benefit analysis related to ERP implementation and select appropriate vendor (1) Analyse the differences of business process between standard ERP and implementer (2) New process knowledge is captured and new management idea is brought into organization (3) Carry out knowledge transfer from vendor, consulting company to project team and from project term to end-users (4) The training is offered to end-users Users should learn the knowledge about ERP system and master operation process (5) Learning by using (1) Knowledge accumulation (2) Knowledge sharing (3) Knowledge creation (4) The application of new KM tools (KDD) are IT-based systems developed to support and enhance the organizational processes of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer, and application (Alavi and Leidner, 2001) During ERP implementation, there exist vast amount of knowledge The knowledge resides in employees, organization resources and external partnership (the vendor and the consulting company) Therefore, a knowledge management system should ensure that the explicit and tacit knowledge of external partnership can transfer into the adopting organization, the knowledge of employees can flow freely inside organization, and the knowledge created during ERP implementation can be captured and distributed In this section, a KM system for ERP implementation is proposed (see Figure 3) This system consists of cooperative working platform, consulting platform, individual KM platform, organizational KM platform, and knowledge transfer platform (see Figure 4) This integrated KM system of ERP implementation is expected to offer significant potential for improvement in ERP implementation support The main functions of the five platforms are described as follows: Cooperative Working Platform The cooperative working platform consists of communication module and document management module The first module provides a vehicle to generate knowledge across entire ERP implementation process It provides informal setting where participants ask questions of other participants Participants post questions and hope that some other participants will know the answer or where a solution can be found In addition, participants may inform the actions they took and ask if anyone knows what went wrong (O’Leary, 2002) The advantage of such a module is that it can accommodate specific questions The responses are to the point and timely In some cases, participants provide a personal e-mail address for responses, which can allow a dialogue between the asker and the respondent Besides, corporate directories may also enable individuals to rapidly locate the individual who has the knowledge that might help them solve a current problem The main object of this module is to create a channel for the sharing and exchange of knowledge gained through experience and increasing familiarity Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd A Knowledge Management System for ERP Implementation Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) 163 164 Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Other sources Individual knowledge/document base Make knowledge explicit Insight and understanding Distribute Capture Add delete modify retrieve Learning by using Individual KM platform Figure Consulting …… Document management module including all kinds of documents associated with ERP implementation process Approve A KM system in ERP implementation Just in time learning Knowledge learning/application The accumulative process of knowledge Knowledge transfer platform Education/ training documents Consulting platform Communication module (1) E-mail (2) Virtual communities (3) BBS Cooperative working platform Organizational knowledge/document base Make knowledge explicit Experience of other organizations Add delete modify retrieve Classify Organization KM platform RESEARCH PAPER Syst Res Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Yuan Li et al Syst Res RESEARCH PAPER Cooperative Working Platform Individual Organizational KM Consulting Platform Platform KM Platform Knowledge Transfer Platform Figure The platform structure of the knowledge management system with the ERP system The second module mainly manages all kinds of documents associated with ERP implementation process, including much of the information such as business knowledge, detail implementation plan, the entire records of business process change, project advancement, and the like All these documents will be classified and entered automatically into the organizational knowledge/document base However, not all questions are answered or not all questions are answered in a timely manner in this platform In addition, the same question can be asked again and again and the quality of the answers can not be guaranteed Therefore, the organization can have personnel in charge of monitoring and tracking questions and sending feed back to consultants The consultants will respond hard questions Individual KM Platform Individual KM platform provides technology support for the KM activities of each employee in the organization Its main functions are the construction, renewal and replenishment of individual knowledge/document base One of the most important processes to establish individual KM platform is to capture knowledge Capturing knowledge refers to determining what information and knowledge should be added to the system During ERP implementation process, two parts of knowledge are captured: explicit and tacit The explicit part is mainly related to knowwhat and part of know how It can be captured in several forms such as user manual, training documents, process design documents, systems configuration, communication module, consulting, etc The tacit part is those skills and knowhow regarding how to operate the ERP system It can be transferred from consultants to project members and then transferred to the employees in the organization All too often, the employees are expected to be able to effectively use the new system based only on education/training However, much of the learning process comes from hands-on use under normal operating conditions Therefore,they can gain insight and understanding through contacting, learning, and using ERP system in practice In addition, individual can also gain tacit knowledge from the consultants and other employees For example, when a consultant for implementing ERP works with end-users, if an end-user has an idea and the consultant listens to the idea, in some cases, providing suggestion and instruction After all these kinds of knowledge are captured, the idea of KM helps each employee to convert various kinds of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, and store in individual knowledge/ document base Furthermore, with the effect of incentive mechanism and organization culture, the individual knowledge can be converted into organization-available knowledge (see Figure 5) Organizational KM Platform Organization KM platform provides technology support for the KM activities of the organization in ERP implementation Its main functions are the construction, renewal, and replenishment of Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd A Knowledge Management System for ERP Implementation Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) 165 RESEARCH PAPER Syst Res Communication and consulting Learning by using Distribute Individual knowledge base Individual knowledge Organizational knowledge base Transfer Insight and understanding Education/training documents Figure Individual knowledge platform organizational knowledge/document base One organization can be viewed as the set of many ‘individuals’ Therefore, the knowledge capturing in the organization depends on the knowledge capturing from each individual During ERP implementation process, the organizational knowledge mainly comes from three parts The first part is all documents associated with ERP implementation They include the operation manual of ERP, systems management documents, education/training documents from the vendor and consulting companies, detailed implementation process documents, the complete records of business process before implementation, the standard business process of ERP system and their difference, the complete records of BPR, and the complete records of business process after ERP The second part is the experience of other organizations that have implemented ERP system The last part is the knowledge transferred from individual knowledge/document base (see Figure 5) Knowledge Transfer Platform Knowledge transfer platform provides technology support for the knowledge transfer between individuals and the organization It includes the accumulative process of knowledge and knowledge learning/application process The first process realizes the transfer from individual knowledge to organization knowledge Copyright ß 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 166 Converting personal knowledge to group-available knowledge is often viewed as one of the key problems of knowledge management The second process realizes the transfer from organization knowledge to individual knowledge In addition, the accumulative process of knowledge can also evaluate the contribution magnitude of individual knowledge to the organization knowledge The evaluation criteria include the number of knowledge/documents submitted, the number of knowledge/documents adopted, and the value of knowledge/documents adopted The main objective of this process is to encourage the knowledge sharing inside organization In order to assure the quality of knowledge, strict examinations are carried out in this process Only approved knowledge can enter organizational knowledge/document base Consulting Platform The consulting platform consists of two modules The first module mainly manages all kinds of education/training documents associated with ERP implementation process, including user manual, documents related to system configuration and main functional modules The second module mainly provides timely consulting for all employees in the organization In general, the consulting platform contributes to the ERP implementation in following two stages: (1) the education/training stage; (2) the running and Syst Res 23,157^168 (2006) Yuan Li et al Syst Res debugging stage of ERP software At the first stage, consultants transfer their explicit knowledge to the employees of organization Organization, therefore acquires the manipulation and practice knowledge about ERP At the second stage, consultants transfer the skills of practical work to the employees of the organization The main objective of this platform is to facilitate explicit and tacit knowledge transfer of the vendor and the consulting company, and diffuse ‘best practice’ incorporated in the basic architecture of the software into the adopting organization So far, we have discussed the main functions of the five platforms The five KM platforms are highly interdependent and intertwined That is, each platform relies on, contributes to, and benefits from other platform The interplay of the platforms can provide support for the successful implementation of ERP The integrated KM system can offer organization the following three major benefits: (1) help organization to capture, organize, store, transfer, distribute, and use the internal and external knowledge on ERP implementation; (2) make valuable knowledge of individual brain decompose, externalize and accumulate into organization knowledge; (3) make all employees be able to share organizational knowledge in ERP implementation process CONCLUSION Adopting ERP is not only a complex implementation process of information system but also a process of knowledge creation, storage/retrieval, transfer and application from knowledge management perspectives Extant studies show that KM is associated with ERP implementation intimately and can provide effective support for the entire implementation process Although the importance of knowledge management in ERP implementation has been recognized, most organizations not explicitly manage the knowledge created during ERP implementation process In order to cope with this problem, in this paper, an integrated KM system is proposed The system consists of cooperative working platform, knowledge transfer platform, individual RESEARCH PAPER KM platform, organizational KM platform and consulting platform The interplay of these five platforms can speed up the knowledge transfer from both the vendor and consulting company to organization, stimulate knowledge sharing and creation, and enhance organizational overall ability to cope with changes ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This research was supported by NSFC (70121001; 70472039; 70571063) We are grateful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments REFERENCES Alavi M, Leidner D 2001 Review: knowledge management and knowledge management systems: conceptual foundations and research issues MIS Quarterly 25(1): 107–136 Albert S, Baradley K 1997 Managing knowledge-experts, agencies, and organizations Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, MA Al-Mudimigh A, Al-Mashari M 2001 ERP software implementation: an integrative framework European Journal of information Systems 10(4): 216– 226 Chaudhry S, Feng S, Li H, Li L, Sui H, Zhang J, Zhang Z, Xu L 2005 Production research in China International Journal of Production Research 43(12): 2355–2358 Cliffe S 1999 ERP implementation Harvard Business Review 77: 16–17 Dan B, Li L, Zhang X, Guo F, Zhou J 2005 Networkintegrated manufacturing systems International Journal of 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The ERP change in China: a resourcebase perspective Information Systems Journal 14: 153– 167 Jarrar Y 2002 Knowledge management: learning for organizational experience Managerial Auditing Journal... growing rapidly AMR Research, an authoritative market forecast institution in America, indicated that the ERP market would grow at annual rate of 37% in recent years The sales of the ERP packaged