ERP Solutions

Complete Enterprise Resource Planning solutions

There are several Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions on the market today.  However, a complete ERP solution includes several modules and not just two or three.  These modules are; Financials, Manufacturing, Human Resources, SCM (Supply Chain Management), Projects, Data Warehouse and CRM (Customer Relationship Management).  A Financials module offers functionality that may include; accounts receivable, accounts payable, general ledger, budgeting, asset management, and so on.  A Financials module enables you to perform all financial tasks for your company.  A Manufacturing module offers functionality that may include; quality control, BOM (bill of materials), discrete manufacturing processes, and process manufacturing, and all other tasks related to manufacturing.  A Human Resources module generally offers functionality to manage time, payroll, benefits, training, evaluations, employee data, and so on.  A Supply Chain Management module offers functionality that may include; inventory, order entry, order processing, supplier scheduling, purchasing and other SCM related tasks.  A Projects module provides functionality to manage every aspect of a project like costing, time, billing, and expenses.  A CRM module helps companies manage their customer interactions.  A Data Warehouse module contains metadata, or, data about data.  One can use this metadata to create reports and analyze data.  All of these modules interact with each other and one centralized database to make a complete Enterprise Resource Planning solution.

Complete ERP solutions provide businesses with several advantages.  Some of these advantages are; improved tracking, improved forecasting, lower costs, improved customer care, improved efficiency, increased production levels, better inter-departmental coordination, better enterprise wide coordination, and more streamlined processes.  These advantages “may” be realized by your organization once you implement an Enterprise Resource Planning solution.  Selecting the right Enterprise Resource Planning solution will help to ensure that your company does realize these advantages.  However, all too often, companies rush into Enterprise Resource Planning solutions and don’t take their time to select the solution that suits their specific business needs.  Selecting the wrong Enterprise Resource Planning solution will put a damper on things and may not enable you to realize the full extent of what a well-suited ERP solution can provide.  To avoid a poor ERP selection, take your time and demo as many Enterprise Resource Planning solutions as you can.  It’s a good idea to get feedback from your executive and management members.  Involving some technical and functional folks is also a good idea.

Written by :

kristine H