Effect of Enterprise Resource Planning Cycle Time on Supply Performance of Oil in the Oil Industry in Kenya: A Survey of Petroleum Firms

The objective of the study was to determine the influence of Enterprise Resource Planning on cycle time of supply of oil products in Oil Industry in Kenya. It targeted a population of 175 persons drawn from the top management, middle management and the support staff of Petroleum Firms in Uasin Gishu County. Both stratified sampling and simple random techniques were used to select the respondents. The study used questionnaires for collecting data after which descriptive statistics that were integrated both qualitative and quantitative techniques were used in the analysis. The study findings showed that Enterprise resource planning, Enterprise resource decision support and Information flow has a positive significant effect on supply chain performance. The study concludes that ERP systems contribute to supply chain management particularly in technical areas such as cycle time, standardization, transparency and globalization. ERP integrates both internal and external flows used by the organization. It drives the flow of information between all internal business functions while managing connections to outside stakeholders. In order for firms to update staff payments within shortest time possible, enhance faster transaction between suppliers and the firm, easily retrace complaints of irregular products and improve cash management there is need to implement the ERP system. The ERP system should be used by firms to plan better and for better management of production. In order for firms to facilitate coordination and information flows and access of information from one department and the other there is need for firms to take necessary steps towards ensuring that the ERP system is used accordingly and to the maximum.