ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning ERP

The definitive goal of all Enterprise Resource Planning, or ERP, is to bring together all the different functions necessary to running a successful business into one, integrated, central software system so the data needed by the varying departments can be accessed faster and easier, leading to better decision making and, ultimately, to more profit. In other words, enterprise resource planning ERP is ideally a union of people, hardware, and software into one useful and effective production, service, and delivery system. This goal is not difficult to comprehend; on the other hand, it has not proven easy to accomplish.

Prior to the advent of enterprise resource planning ERP, every department ran independently. Even today, businesses operating without the benefit of ERP, store some of the functions and processes that could be consolidated under an Enterprise Resource Planning system on dissimilar systems -each designed for only one specific business need. In such businesses for example, a company’s Finance department might control payroll, invoicing, and billing; while Human Resources handles employee records, salaries, employment searches, hiring policies, and benefits. Further splintering of the organization’s function occurs when production information is stored by Manufacturing, and customer information and histories are tracked by the Customer Relations Department. This separation between departments meant that once a department concluded its assigned function, it was no longer involved.  This fissure created circumstances where a customer calling to check on an order would be shuffled from sales, to warehouse, to delivery, to finance before being able to find out the status of the product ordered.

With Enterprise Resource Planning in place, however, a customer’s order will move effortlessly from sales where the order first took place, to the warehouse where the inventory is checked for materials ordered and then the materials are retrieved, to packaging where the order is prepared for delivery, to manufacturing where the materials are produced to replace those sold, to the finance department where an invoice is sent out and the payment is received.

This smooth transition works better from the customer’s viewpoint because it projects a well-organized, efficient, competent organization able to meet consumer demands.  And, it definitely works better for the business, too.  When the workforce doesn’t have to spend time hand entering data already entered by another department and when not busy tracking down information on the progress of every order that comes in, employees will have the time to attend to duties and tasks that will have a greater impact on the success of the business.

Written by :

Amy Cruz