Evaluation of Consultant Selection Criteria with Level Based Weight Assessment (LBWA) Method in Intelligent ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Perspective

Businesses require computer software to manage their processes systematically and flawlessly. The most important of these software is Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that allows many departments to work together. However, ERP software is difficult to install and manage for businesses. Various factors such as the innovations, expectations, user problems, and costs that ERP projects bring to businesses affect the success of ERP projects. At the same time, these difficulties also carry risks. Businesses need consultants to ensure the success of their projects at this point. The selection of consultants for ERP projects is crucial for project success. This is especially critical for ERP software, which is currently transforming. With the influence of new technologies, ERP software is transforming into a new dimension called intelligent ERP (i- ERP). In this transformation process, the selection of consultants has become more critical and strategic. Currently, consultants are required to possess different skills and experiences besides being familiar with ERP data structures and processes. With ERP software's innovations within itself and in the business, other approaches are needed in consultant selection. In this study, the criteria that could be considered in the selection problem of ERP consultants were evaluated from the perspective of intelligent enterprise resource planning software. The criteria were determined based on the existing consultant selection literature and expert opinions. The LBWA (Level Based Weight Assessment) method, one of the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods, was used to determine the criteria weights. LBWA method was preferred in this study because it is more advantageous for decision-makers in decision-making compared to other methods. According to the results obtained with the LBWA method, the most critical criteria in selecting consultants were respectively determined as employee competence, references and support cost. Although there are studies in the literature on consultant selection, this study is considered unique because it focuses on consultant selection from the perspective of i-ERP projects. In this sense, it is expected to contribute to the literature.