Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Tools: Enterprise Resource Planning



What is Enterprise Resource Planning?

-          ERP is business management software that allows an organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business. ERP software integrates all facets of an operation, including development, manufacturing, sales and marketing.

Who uses Enterprise Resource Planning?

-          Primarily used by the business firms to manage their resources in a coordinated way so that there will not be many redundant activities.


Who Vendors Enterprise Resource Planning?

-          Depending on your organization's size and needs there are a number of ERP software vendors to choose from in the large enterprise, midmarket and small business ERP markets.

o   Large Enterprise ERP (ERP Tier I)

§  The ERP market for large enterprises is dominated by three companies: SAP, Oracle and Microsoft.

o   Midmarket ERP (ERP Tier II)

§  For the midmarket vendors include Infor, QAD, Lawson, Epicor, Sage and IFS.

o   Small Business ERP (ERP Tier III)

§  Exact Globe, Syspro, NetSuite, Visibility, Consona, CDC Software and Activant Solutions round out the ERP vendors for small businesses.

What are the benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning?

-          At its core, ERP helps employees do their jobs more efficiently by breaking down barriers between business units. More specifically, an ERP solution:

o   Gives a global, real-time view of data that can enable companies to address concerns proactively and drive improvements

o   Improves financial compliance with regulatory standards and reduces risk

o   Automates core business operations such as lead-to-cash, order-to-fulfillment, and procure-to-pay processes

o   Enhances customer service by providing one source for billing and relationship tracking.

How can ERP Projects fail?

-          Under-estimating the complexity of planning, development, training
-          Failure to involve affected employees in planning and development
-          Trying to do too much too fast
-          Insufficient training
-          Insufficient data conversion and testing
-          Over-reliance on ERP vendor or consultants






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