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This paper aims to capture current difficulties with the practical application of the viable system model (VSM). On this basis, a set of suggestions toward a more effective application of the model is made.

The study is based on observations from practical applications of the VSM, systematically collected by the author.

The paper suggests that the VSM is currently stuck in the typical chasm of a bell-shaped diffusion curve. The paper makes six propositions to smoother pass from the early adopters to the early majority.

The six findings imply various research efforts.

In contrast to frequent claims that VSM should be made accessible easily to a larger number of people, the paper suggests that a smaller number of better trained VSM experts support a larger number of managers with a more generic know how.

A more focused but broader application of the VSM may lead to better societal organizations and therefore to a more efficient effective solution of societal problems.

The paper suggests to tighten the focus of the VSM to the very abstract topic of judging variety balances and at the same time to better connect the model with the suite of established methods and tools in management. This is a contrast to other attempts, which either simplify the VSM or extend it into a comprehensive methodology.

Enterprise systems (ESs) are hard to maintain, since they embed a large fraction of organisational data and tasks, which are often intertwined and highly interdependent. The purpose of this paper is to propose a methodology for enterprise resource planning (ERP) post-implementation change management to support business analysts during perfective maintenance.

The methodology draws a parallel line with engineering change management and considers the steps of mapping the dependencies among ES components, understanding the ripple effects of change, and defining metrics to quantify and assess the impact of change. The methodology is instantiated in the case of ERP systems, for which a tool has also been implemented and evaluated by ERP implementation experts.

Experts positively evaluated the proposed methodology. General design principles to instantiate the methodology in the case of systems other than ERP have been derived.

While existing ESs change management methodologies help to identify the need for change, the proposed methodology help to structure the change process, supporting the task of perfective maintenance in an efficient way.