International Journal of Applied Information Systems (IJAIS) – ISSN : 2249-0868 Foundation of Computer Science FCS, New York, USA Volume 7– No. 3, May 2014 – www.ijais.org 9 Critical Factors Affecting Oracle E-Business Suite Enterprise Resource planning (ERP) R12 Implementation: A Case Study of Saudi Arabia’s University Syed Zubair Lecturer, Deanship of Information Technology, Northern Border University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abu Taha Zamani Lecturer, Deanship of Information Technology, Northern Border University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Abstract This study examines the essential and efficient factors that enable or inhibit the success of implementation of ERP. It uses a case study methodology to analyze these factors in terms of an educational organizational performance and ERP capabilities and functions. As a result of the current Oracle E- Business Suite ERP using in the system are not used as per the university end-user requirements and as per the standard capabilities of the system. The ERP is either not well utilized or never utilized. Having a complete study at the modules/functions available in the system and the usage can be easily concluded that a maximum of 12% of the functions were utilized and in some cases a 0% of usage rate, meaning that the university has paid 23 Million SAR to invest only 12% of the cost which is only 27,600,000 SAR, and that a total of 202,400,000 SAR is considered as a sunk cost that is not never utilized. The level of Users Acceptance is very less even lesser then 10%. The implementation should be done as per requirements and do necessary testing. Check time to time with the vendor that how much work is completed, whether the project is leading towards the goal or not. Do provide the training to the users make sure that they have to follow workflow of the system. Keywords Enterprise Resource Planning, Critical Factors, Users Acceptance. 1. Introduction A public based institutional university in kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ratified ERP system to sustain the competitiveness of the universities in the local and global market. Oracle ERP systems are highly motivated to actively strengthen internal and external enterprise resources integration [8]. It is a system that effectively and efficiently integrates all functional business areas such as Operations, Research and Development, Management in (Financial, Services, Human Capital, Project Portfolio, Advanced Procurement, Supply Chain, Value Chain Planning and Execution, and Customer's Relationship Management with Computer Science and IT tools. Obviously, applying ERP systems has become very critical to the enhancing of the informational integration between internal organizational environment and public environment. ERP system plays the key role of enterprise nervous system by using IT tools and communication means to provide a total integrated solution for the entire successful running of the organization. That is the case why during the latter part of 2009s university have rushed to implement ERP. One study found that more than 90 percent of universities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia has adopted of ERP. However, the ERP implementation is more expensive and complex. Thus, the difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been widely cited in the IT literature [9]. This research investigates the critical issues in ERP implementation in a developing country such as Saudi Arabia. The research examines the essential factors that enable or inhibit the success of ERP implementation. It uses this method of a case study to analysis these factors in terms of an Educational organizational performance and ERP capabilities and functions. A case study research method is preferred over field study research because it is focusing on the ERP system implementation within some real-life organizational context in the university subject of the case study. 2. Literature Review Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the process of business management software that allows an organization/firm to manage the business and office functions with the help of system of integrated applications. ERP software integrates all parts of entire operations, including planning, development, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing processes, sales and marketing. ERP software has a collection of modules of multiple enterprise software that are purchased, based on the best requirements of organization and its technical capabilities. Each and every ERP module is focused on different areas of organizational processes, such as Human capital, Finance, Supply Chain, Ware housing. An enterprise resource planning system is a packaged software system that enables an organization to manage the efficiently and effectively all the available resources. The evolution of ERP systems have been a highlighted in the information systems literature. Since early 2009 the literature suggests that ERP systems represent one of the most important categories of information technology in the last couple of decades. Although ERP has specific features, its application modules vary with different system providers such as (SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, BAAN, and Navision). ERP modules can be classified as Finance (AP-Accounts Payable, GL-General Ledger, AR-Accounts Receivables, CM-Cash Management, FA-Fixed Assets), Manufacturing (WIP-Work in Progress, BOM-Bill of Materials), Distribution(OM-Order Management, PO-Purchase Order, INV-Inventory), Human Resource Management Systems(Pay Roll Advance benefits, Core HR), CRM(Tele Service, Field Service, Service Contracts). ERP systems as software packages composed of several modules providing a data integration through embedded business processes and programs across organizational functions and locations [12][16]. Unlike