Different approaches to process mining have been proposed which analyze predefined process model definitions to verify their correctness (Van Dongen et al. 2007) or analyze extracted transaction data to discover how actual processes are executed (Jansen-Vullers et al. 2006). Process mining is narrowly focused on process analysis, but is conceptually related in a broader context to Business (Process) Intelligence (BI) and Business Activity Monitoring (BAM), which view aggregated data from an external perspective. In contrast, process mining takes an internal perspective, investigating the detailed activities within the process, thus uncovering differences between envisioned processes and actual process execution (Song and van der Aalst 2008). Modeling existing business processes and modeling future ERP-based processes is a promising approach to anticipate longer-term impacts of ERP implementation decisions.
Change Management
Change management, a critical success factor for ERP implementations, builds on research in the organizational management and information systems disciplines. Organizational change management is a structured process to proactively manage individuals affected by the change, and recommends tactics including "readiness for change" assessments, training programs, job redesign, and organizational structures modifications. When IT is a major driver of the change, the IT literature further recommends technochange management, which pays particular attention to A recent review of risk management in ERP projects found the most frequent risks occurred in the early conceptual phase with the lack of strategic thinking and poor ERP selection, followed by the second set of risks including implementation problems of inadequate change management and lack of adequate training (Aloini et al. 2007). ERP change management studies include individual cases (Ross 1999; Lui and Chan 2008), comparative case studies (Robey et al. 2002), empirical studies assessing multiple firms' implementations using interviews (Gupta 2000; Markus et al. 2000; Benamati and Lederer 2008), and surveys (Al-Mashari 2003; Benamati and Lederer 2008; Bueno and Salmeron 2008).
The relationship between ERP systems and innovation from a knowledge-based perspective has been researched by Srivardhana and Pawlowski (2007). They built upon the multi-dimensional conceptualization of absorptive capacity and developed a theoretical framework that specified the relationship between ERP-related knowledge impacts and absorptive capacity for business process innovation. They viewed ERP systems as possessing dialectical contradictions that both enabled and constrained business process innovation. Park et al. (2007) also examined absorptive capacity and found that the capacities of users to assimilate and apply the knowledge had both direct and indirect effects on its value. Further, the users' effective knowledge acquisition and transfer to work tasks requires an understanding of newly acquired ERP knowledge within the new context and synthesized into the user's task environment.