Many CBPCs have seen the massive advantages of implementing ERP packages to facilitate the processing of their numerous functional reporting. However, the software market is proliferated with ERP packages which have made the optimal supplier selection very difficult, leading to implementation perils on the part of CBPCs. The objective of this study is to understand how CBPCs in Colombia select their ERP for implementation to support their material management processing needs in particular. The study adopted Multi-attribute Utility Theory (MAUT) to determine which expert attributes of a given ERP package supplier should be considered in ranking to select optimally the best supplier in the software market to ensure successful implementation. Structured questionnaires in the area of Payment Options, Vendor reputation, Software Upgrade/maintenance, Functionality, Easy Customisation and Implementation in the proposed model were sent to expert staffs in CBPCs in Colombia. They were asked to assign numbers from equally preferred to extremely important in preference weight to these variables when they were implementing their ERP package. The results revealed that Vendor Reputation is ranked high with a score of 0.65, followed by Payment Options with 0.64. Software Upgrade followed by 0.55 with Functionality with a score of 0.40, Easy Customisation had a score of 0.35 and implementation with a score of 0.30. Different results may be obtained when expert assessment points are different to suit a company’s specific processing needs outside of Colombia.
Keywords: Cocoa Beverage Producing Company’s, Enterprise Resource Planning, Multi-attribute Utility Theory, Payment Options, Vendor Reputation, functionality
