23 RD INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INFORMATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT (ISD2014 CROATIA) The Life Cycle Challenge of ERP System Integration Tommi Kähkönen tommi.kahkonen@lut.fi Software Engineering and Information Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology Lappeenranta, Finland Andrey Maglyas andrey.maglyas@lut.fi Software Engineering and Information Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology Lappeenranta, Finland Kari Smolander kari.smolander@lut.fi Software Engineering and Information Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology Lappeenranta, Finland Abstract To serve its purpose as a backbone for business integration, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems need to be integrated with other information systems inside and outside the boundaries of an enterprise. An inductive case study was made to examine a long-term ERP system of a large manufacturing enterprise to better understand the nature and importance of ERP system integration. Our results can be summarized as four findings about the current life cycle models: 1) integration should be a major consideration when choosing ERPs, 2) deployments are continuous, 3) external integration is not just an extension phase after the project and 4) integration remains as a continuous challenge which is never fully achieved due to the constantly changing business requirements and organizational landscape. The results can help managers when making decisions on integration issues, yet effective approaches for integration governance are needed in order to avoid the increased costs and complexity. Keywords: Information Systems, Enterprise Systems, ERP, Enterprise Resource Planning, Integration, Life cycle, Case Study, Manufacturing Enterprise 1. Introduction Originally, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems integrated the core business functions of an enterprise [1]. Later, due to the requirements of collaborative business, the challenge of integration evolved from inside the company to consider also the customers and business partners [2]. In a modern enterprise, a multitude of different systems exists ERP being just one of them and integration of these systems is an unavoidable evil [3]. ERP systems have been investigated comprehensively since the mid-1990s. Especially, the implementation process of an ERP system [4] and critical success factors in ERP implementation projects [5] have been studied. ERP systems have become de facto standards in providing the backbone for enterprise integration and more attention has been paid to extending the ERP system through external integration with supply chain [6]. However, in the field of Information Systems (IS), integration has been identified as an “omitted variable” and a misunderstood concept [2, 6]. In addition, studies on ERP integration often focus on the integration of an ERP system and a specific target system [7]. We propose a broader perspective on ERP system integration by setting the following research question: How does integration evolve during the ERP system life cycle? We made an inquiry into the practice by conducting an inductive case study in a large manufacturing enterprise. Based on our meetings and interviews with practitioners, we concluded that the existing life cycle models fail to describe the nature of ERP system integration. After presenting the background of this study and briefly describing the research approach and the case organization, we present the findings