Benefits include the consolidation of multiple systems, such as financial applications from six vendors and materials management software from four, said Rick Canning, CHW's vice president of administrative systems.

In the previous setup, even though 80 percent of the hospitals were using human resources and payroll software from a single vendor -- the former Infinium Software (since acquired by SSA Global Technologies Inc.) -- those applications were installed on about 20 different databases. The disparate systems caused CHW to struggle whenever it needed to get data to make systemwide decisions or to start an initiative, Canning said. "We had to get each individual site to translate their data and try to make heads or tails of what was going on," he explained.

10-year journey

The Lawson implementation has overcome several obstacles so far, Canning said, including the effects of the failed SAP deployment, user resistance at some sites and the need to overhaul data standards to support the new software.

The ERP journey began in 1996, when CHW began working with SAP on a project to install ERP software in a planned central IT facility in Phoenix.