Enterprise Resource Planning

Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP, is a term used to define software packages which are designed to support various business functions and objectives. The ERP system generally includes software systems on manufacturing, order entry, warehouse management, transportation, sales and distribution and more. From the time the computer was invented, there have been continuous processes moving towards improving work experience and lifestyle using the information system and ERP solutions makes an attempt to do the same.

ERP in simple terms is a method to integrate various processes and data within a single unified system. There are many enterprise resource planning systems offered by various pioneer business enterprises towards achieving organized structure and maintenance of databases across departments in organizations. Now, let us identify few facts about ERP and ERP implementation.

ERP System over the years

Invented in the year 1960, Enterprise Resource Planning Systems was concentrated on inventory control resulting in various ERP software solutions based on inventory control and management. Few years later, the focus shifted to manufacturing resources planning to organize distribution management activities in organizations.

Many software solutions were developed that covered the areas of engineering, human resource management, sales and distribution, financial management, project management, customer relationship management and so on. It was then that the term Enterprise Resource Planning was coined owing to its growing relevancy across the enterprise requirements.

ERP Implementation in Businesses

ERP was confined to only big businesses when it started, however, over the years, small and medium size companies too adopted ERP implementation. Corporations or organizations that manage a lot of data flowing can adopt ERP systems for better data management. There are different ERP solutions designed for different processes that run through in organizations.

The sales team can adopt ERP sales and distribution solutions to manage sales data in an organized way. The HR department can use HRM solution to maintain the human resource details including hiring, compensation, and payroll and so on. The finance department can use financial solutions in order to manage finances better in organizations.

Thus, there are many ERP systems and solutions available for different processes in an organization. To implement an enterprise resource planning system, a careful design and structured operation is required. Ideally, smaller ERP systems take lesser time to be prepared as compared to larger ERP systems. Migration of data of a process to an ERP system is the most critical part in ERP implementation. There are few steps involved in migrating data to an ERP system:

  • Identifying the required data to be migrated
  • Planning the time span for migration
  • Building data templates
  • Deciding on the data migration tools
  • Selecting the data migration setups
  • Archiving the required data

To master the ERP implementation, one requires both knowledge and hands on practice on enterprise resource solutions.

Merits and Demerits of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

The most striking advantage of implementing ERP systems is that data can be easily transferred from one place to another. Along with better data management, security of organization data is ensured with ERP. Other such benefits include swift recruitment process, fast customer delivery. One of the major disadvantages of ERP implementation is the cost. Also at times, the software is so complex that it consumes more time in operating the same.

SAP ERP Solutions

There are different market leaders providing ERP solutions such as SAP ERP solutions, Oracle Corporation, Peoplesoft and more. SAP is one of the leading providers of enterprise resource planning solutions. Initiated with managing inventories in offices, SAP has developed various ERP systems across different processes in organizations.

Some of the most popular SAP ERP system incudes software on various modules such as SAP Human Capital Management (HCM), SAP Customer Relationship Management (CRM), SAP Sales and Distribution (SD), SAP Business Intelligence (BI) and many more.

Experts advise professionals to go through SAP training in order to understand the complexities involved in implementing SAP ERP system towards deriving the maximum benefits for an organization from organized enterprise resource planning.