The system works perfectly. Every screen looks right. But the accountant still keeps a separate ledger. The purchasing officer writes orders in a notebook rather than the program. Weekly reports pile up in folders nobody opens. I have seen this pattern more than once. When I look at how multinational companies roll out ERP (enterprise resource planning) software to their Turkey offices, the deepest problem is rarely the software itself. It is the logic behind the setup. Headquarters configures the system for its own processes; the local office tries to survive with those settings. This article is about how to strike the right balance — and which questions to ask before the first server is turned on.Consider a representative scenario that reflects a pattern I have encountered repeatedly in Turkey: a European company’s Ankara metal-processing and components factory, with 265 employees, received instructions from headquarters to install a standard ERP system across all regional offices. The goal was clear — stock, purchasing, finance, and production data all visible in one place. The project started with a six-month timeline. The implementation team was experienced. The server room was prepared. Training sessions were run. User manuals were distributed. The system went live. Three months later the plant manager said something that has stayed with me: ‘The program works, but it does not work for us.’ That sentence sits at the heart of almost every multinational ERP rollout in Turkey.What was not the problem? Server capacity was adequate. The network connection held — in those years a reliable leased line at a factory in Ankara was achievable if you invested in it, and this one had. The software’s features were complete. The real problem was that the system’s chart of accounts, currency logic, and reporting structure did not match Turkish accounting reality. Turkey’s bookkeeping at that time followed the Uniform Chart of Accounts (Tekduzen Hesap Plani), a structured framework that differs significantly from Western European accounting conventions. Headquarters had configured the system for its own country’s framework. Tax base calculations worked differently. Invoice formats were different. Reconciling the bank statement with the program required significant manual effort — automated bank-to-accounting integration was not standard practice in Turkey then; bank movements were imported from files or simply typed in by hand. When the accountant said ‘this program does not speak my language,’ she was not exaggerating.The second major problem was user habits. An ERP program requires navigating multiple screens to complete a single task. Opening a purchase order means first registering the supplier, then entering a price quote form, then clearing an approval step. That logic is correct for large organizations that need controls. But for a purchasing officer in a 265-person factory who manages procurement alone, those steps become a burden. He calls the supplier, gets a price, places the order. Then at the end of the day he enters everything into the system in bulk — or does not enter it at all. Skipping the system turns it into an empty shell. At that point the ERP delivers zero value. The only way to change habits is to simplify the process so it fits how people actually work. Telling staff ‘from now on you will do it this way’ without removing friction simply does not hold.The third problem was management expectations — and they pulled in opposite directions. Headquarters wanted visibility into the system; the Turkey manager wanted to get work done. These are not the same goal. Headquarters asks for consolidation reports; Turkey wants to close the monthly books on time. Once the ERP goes live, headquarters keeps adding new data fields and approval layers to feed its reporting needs. Each added layer slows the local team down. Within a few months the local manager starts treating the system as a form to fill in for headquarters rather than a tool that helps the business. Recovering from that point is far harder than preventing it. Mapping the expectations of both headquarters and the local office against each other — and resolving conflicts before the project starts — is not optional; it is the project.How did the Ankara factory get back on track? Three things were done. First, the accounting module was brought into line with the Turkish Uniform Chart of Accounts — this work was done by a local certified implementation partner, because the headquarters team simply did not have that knowledge. Second, the purchasing screen was simplified: frequently used suppliers and price lists were set up as defaults, so staff did not have to start from scratch every time. Third, a short weekly check-in meeting was established — the project manager reviewed who had used the system, who had not, and which data was missing. The system was not left with a ‘it is live, everyone will use it now’ assumption. These three steps sound small. The difference came from those three steps. Within six months stock records started reflecting real inventory; the large majority of purchase orders were being entered into the system. It was not perfect — but it was usable.If your multinational company is preparing to roll out an ERP system to its Turkey office, ask these questions before the first configuration decision is made. Does the accounting module support the Turkish Uniform Chart of Accounts, or will you be forced to patch it manually after go-live? Do the approval workflows in the system fit the speed at which the local team needs to work? Is there a local implementation partner involved, or is everything being done by the headquarters team with no Turkey-specific expertise? Can users tell you openly why they are not logging into the system? If you cannot answer these questions before the project starts, it does not matter how technically sound the installation is — the system will eventually become nothing more than a form people fill in to keep headquarters quiet. The success of an ERP program starts not with choosing the right software, but with asking the right questions. The accountant in that Ankara factory knew all of this already. Nobody had thought to ask her.
This article was originally published in Turkish by Gökhan MERCANOĞLU on January 14, 2003. The English edition has been reviewed and edited by the author.