ERP System

Enterprise Resource Planning Management

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is a system which integrates various business data in a single database and provides cross function accessibility. Enterprise Resource Planning provides clients with a standard set of automated business processes that assist with enterprise management. Although initially ERP was designed solely for the larger organizations, it was not long before vendors came into the market offering ERP software systems for medium-sized and even small businesses. In this global competitive market, a business that does not keep up with the latest technologies will soon not be in business.

Accepting the fact that implementing an ERP system is advantageous to the company, there is still a need for Enterprise Resource Planning Management.  It is important to choose the right ERP for the company.  With more than one-hundred different ERP vendors, a company must carefully manage the selection process.

The first step a company should take is to identify which employees will actually be using the ERP system: find out their business needs and their usability requirements. Once this has been clarified, then a business should pinpoint its exact goals.  What is the company hoping to achieve with the new system?

After a few vendors of software that can provide the hoped for solutions have been located, then these vendors should be contacted in order to ask for demonstrations that will allow a company to compare and contrast some of the more high level features, functions, and benefits of each product. In particular, this is a good time to investigate ease of use, workflow, and storage of secure data.

Any active business has some processes and procedures already in place. Good Enterprise Resource Planning Management requires an overview of how the new ERP systems modules will fit with the organization's existing processes. This is an important step because it will determine whether or not the ERP software can be used as is. If it needs customization then the question becomes: do you change the system itself or do you change the existing processes?

The next move to make is to develop user procedures. This is a necessary time period set aside to work on the manuals, texts, and help desk service support that will aid the users through the training and learning phases. Planning, developing, and arranging training is also included in this step.

Enterprise Resource Planning Management will additionally call for an interval of time allowing performance tests to ensure that the ERP system meets environmental, performance, and functionality requirements –before the final roll out to the business departments takes place.

Written by :

Amy Cruz