Paper Type
Complete Research Paper
Description
In recent years, several user studies have examined specific usability problems in the field of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These studies focused on different branches, various usability aspects, and several user groups. In spite of this diversification, some common and essential usability problems have become apparent, which are related to system complexity and difficulties in finding required information. However, these findings are based on the situation in a specific country, a singular ERP system and few data samples. Therefore, this paper aims at complementing the related work by results from a comparative user survey from two different European countries: Germany and Latvia. The survey is based on 184 ERP users from Germany and 24 ERP users from Latvia. The results indicated that both countries have several contrasts, but also diverse commonalities in industry, ERP market and culture. However, users in both countries are very homogenous with regard to the assessment of usability problems in their ERP interfaces. This paper investigates elementary usability problems derived from the related work and examines to which extent they are valid in both countries today. The main hypothesis claims that diverse national characteristics do not necessarily lead to a different assessment of usability problems in ERP systems.
COMMONALITIES AND CONTRASTS: AN INVESTIGATION OF ERP USABILITY IN A COMPARATIVE USER STUDY
In recent years, several user studies have examined specific usability problems in the field of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). These studies focused on different branches, various usability aspects, and several user groups. In spite of this diversification, some common and essential usability problems have become apparent, which are related to system complexity and difficulties in finding required information. However, these findings are based on the situation in a specific country, a singular ERP system and few data samples. Therefore, this paper aims at complementing the related work by results from a comparative user survey from two different European countries: Germany and Latvia. The survey is based on 184 ERP users from Germany and 24 ERP users from Latvia. The results indicated that both countries have several contrasts, but also diverse commonalities in industry, ERP market and culture. However, users in both countries are very homogenous with regard to the assessment of usability problems in their ERP interfaces. This paper investigates elementary usability problems derived from the related work and examines to which extent they are valid in both countries today. The main hypothesis claims that diverse national characteristics do not necessarily lead to a different assessment of usability problems in ERP systems.