Using Rich Pictures to Represent Stakeholders' Role during Enterprise Systems Upgrade Decisions

Upgrading Enterprise Systems (ES) is essential to supporting a system’s continuous improvement and stability. However, the decision to upgrade is influenced by different stakeholders’ needs and perceptions. This paper utilizes Rich Pictures to get a better understanding of the stakeholders’ role in the upgrade decision-making process from an organisational perspective. A qualitative survey design is adopted, utilizing semi-structured interviews to collect data from ten large organisations. Data accumulated was qualitatively analysed, and Rich Pictures were used to represent the data in the pictorial form. Analysis of results reveals complex interrelations between the stakeholders; this highlights the need for a reconciliation system to combine the different stakeholder perceptions during the upgrade decision-making process. The use of Rich Pictures in the study demonstrated the importance of balancing various stakeholders’ perceptions that influence ES upgrade decision-making. Further research is required to explore these influences in depth to produce a reconciliation system that creates a combined effect between all the stakeholders’ interests.