ERP and EPM Integration in Large Enterprises: A Review of Implementation Challenges and Success Factors

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) integration has become a strategic priority for large enterprises seeking to align transactional efficiency with performance visibility, planning accuracy, and data-driven decision-making. This review examines the major implementation challenges and critical success factors associated with integrating ERP and EPM systems in complex organizational environments. The study highlights how large enterprises pursue integration to achieve unified financial reporting, streamlined budgeting and forecasting, improved operational control, and enhanced executive insight across business units. Despite these benefits, implementation remains difficult due to legacy system complexity, fragmented data architectures, inconsistent master data standards, cross-functional misalignment, high customization levels, resistance to change, and the significant cost and time commitments required for enterprise-wide transformation. The review further identifies governance-related issues, including weak executive sponsorship, unclear ownership of data and processes, inadequate user training, and poor change communication, as common reasons for delays, budget overruns, and suboptimal post-implementation outcomes. Success factors consistently reported across the literature include strong leadership commitment, a clearly defined integration roadmap, robust data governance, process standardization, phased deployment strategies, and continuous stakeholder engagement from finance, operations, and information technology teams. Equally important are vendor support quality, system interoperability, scalable cloud architecture, and the organization’s readiness to adapt business processes rather than over-customize systems. The review emphasizes that ERP–EPM integration should not be approached solely as a technical systems project, but as a broader organizational transformation initiative requiring strategic alignment, capability development, and sustained performance monitoring. When properly executed, integrated ERP and EPM environments can strengthen enterprise agility, improve planning precision, support regulatory compliance, and enable more responsive strategic management in dynamic business contexts. The paper concludes that long-term integration success in large enterprises depends on balancing technological capability with governance maturity, organizational discipline, and a strong focus on business value realization. Future research should further explore industry-specific integration models, post-implementation value measurement, and the role of artificial intelligence in enhancing ERP and EPM synergy.