title: Toughen up.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Within six months, AHS needed to integrate three recently merged hospitals running on disparate hardware and software systems into one unified system.
  
  
  METHODS
  AHS partnered with DataStudy Inc., Parsippany, N.J., and formed a team to address the specific enterprise resource planning needs of this healthcare organization.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The implementation team completed the project within the six-month time frame and incorporated functionality that went beyond the initial specifications for the project.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  "To maximize the return on the always substantial ERP investment, healthcare executives must be aware of the many pitfalls waiting to derail every well-intentioned implementation."
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Donaldson
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mayes
mesh_terms: D003253:Consultants; D006273:Health Facility Merger / Q000458:organization & administration; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019451:Information Management; D007324:Institutional Management Teams; D009096:Multi-Institutional Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009515:New Jersey; D010934:Planning Techniques; D018511:Systems Integration