The Department of Defense (DoD) has invested billions of dollars in business enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems.
However, they are not meeting schedules, cost, or performance expectations. Senior Defense leaders are increasingly aware
that the economic environment demands the DoD move from “defense readiness at any cost” to “defense readiness at the
best value.” The Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) reviewed the ERP systems to: (1) identify the best way to leverage
current DoD systems that are meeting objectives (2) explore potential alternatives or add-ons to ERPs (e.g., Business
Process Modeling/Management (BPM) solutions, Software as a Service (SaaS)). Situational agility, or predicting how
future pipeline technologies and analytic techniques may improve on or replace current methods, must be an enabler of
innovation, not a compliance enforcer, to fulfill needed capabilities. ERPs must provide a jumping-off point for integrating
other beneficial technologies in the portfolio (e.g., cloud computing, mobile applications, and business intelligence).