ERP Case Study
ERP systems now attempt to cover all core functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization’s business or charter. These systems can now be found in non- manufacturing businesses, non-profit organizations and governments. To be considered an ERP system, a software package must provide the function of at least two systems. For example, a software package that provides both payroll and accounting functions could technically be considered an ERP software package Examples of modules in an ERP which formerly would have been stand-alone applications include: Product lifestyle management, Supply chain management (e.
Purchasing, Manufacturing and Distribution), Warehouse Management, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Sales Order Processing, Online Sales, Financial, Human Resources, and Decision Support System. Some organizations ? typically those with sufficient in-house IT skills to integrate multiple software products ? choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs.
For example, one may choose to use human resource management system from one vendor, and perform the integration between the systems themselves. This is common to retailers, where even a mid-sized retailer will have a discrete Point-of-Sale (POS) product and financial application, then a series of specialized applications to handle business requirements such as warehouse management, staff roistering, merchandising and logistics.
Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include: Manufacturing Engineering, bills of material, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, cost management, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow Supply chain management Order to cash, inventory, order entry, purchasing, product confiscator, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, inspection of goods, claim processing, commission calculation Financial General ledger, cash management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets Project management Costing, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management Human resources Human sources, payroll, trailing, tale Ana attendance, roistering, Detent TTS customer relationship management – Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact and call center support Data warehouse – and various self-service interfaces for customers, suppliers, and employees Access control – user privilege as per authority levels for process execution Customization – to meet the extension, addition, change in process flow Enterprise resource planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MR. II) that followed material requirements planning (MR.
). MR. evolved into ERP when “routings” became a major part of the software architecture and a company’s capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity. ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company.
