ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP)
ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING (ERP)
The ERP system deals with the planning and use of resources used in the business. The resources are finance, materials, manufacturing, capacity and human resource. The ERP provides a methodology of assessing the resource needs for a given business plan to achieve certain business objectives. It also helps to execute the strategies, plans, decisions, and actions in a time-bound manner. The ERP provides a support system in the transaction processing, updating and reporting across the functions of the business. The product is generic in nature and is supposed to incorporate the best business practices, generally followed in most of the companies.
The product philosophy is to implement the system as it is with some customization which may be typical to the customer requirement. The system design of the ERP is integrated with the features and functions providing an enterprise-wide solution to handle all the process functionalities.
The ERP packages build an information base for planning and control of the business through the business function management. The ERP is the main system, interfaced or assisted by the other systems in the organization. This system may stand alone or from a part of the manufacturing or commercial processing system.
These systems provide the database to the ERP or support the ERP by the basic data input directly or through the data transfer.
The implementation of most of the ERP packages begins with the enterprise modeling which defines the enterprise structure, the authority functions, the process, and the business rules. The enterprise model is the platform for ERP implementation.
A typical ERP package solution has the following modules:
· Sales, marketing, distribution
· Manufacturing
· Stores management
· Finance
· Personnel
· Maintenance
· Purchase, inventory
· Planning and control
These modules are designed for data capture, data transaction and validation, IT analysis, account updating and reporting. All the ERP solutions provide report writer for the user to create the reports. The standard reports like the trial balance, the store's ledger, the employee attendance report, the income tax return, etc. are provided with the solution at a generic level.
The ERP features are many; the important ones are security authorization, referencing responsibility and the implementation of the business rules. These are provided to safeguard the business of the organization from illegal practice and also to protect the valuable information from misuse. Those features help to keep the system, the information and the data integrity at the highest level. The ERP is activated by its users. The security is built for authorized users and also for selective access.
The ERP usage can be controlled at all levels which are the data, transaction, information and analysis level. The security system of the ERP is built around operating system security and the additional features are provided while designing the system. It provides access and updating rights to the users as per the control requirement of the management.
The business organization runs through the rules and responsibility allocation. A short loyalty to them is essential for the creation of the controlled environment. The ERP satisfies this need of the business. It provides a facility to ensure that the user-location (department/division) transaction integrity is confirmed through check and validation and then ERP allows to process further.
The ERP system provides a variety of technical support to implement the solution very fast in execution mode. The solution provides the E-MAIL facility for communication of memos, reminders and the text to the selected list. It also sends copies to the concerned persons as stipulated through the EDI connectivity, it can transact directly to the vendor or the customer in its format.
ERP provides aid to create the transaction by a cut and paste mechanism. It can raise a purchase order on the vendor by picking up and choosing the old purchase orders, which saves the generation time. The ERP solutions are building for a user-friendly flexible approach to manage the business with the changing needs. This requires processing in a different manner to assess the impact. The solution provides facilities like the trial posting, the end of chosen period processing, the posting by choice, the flexible evaluation procedures, and the hold transactions etc. through these facilities the management can conduct an impact analysis to judge the financial result and make the business decision. The ERP also provides intelligent support in business management. It allows the user to define the events, alert and schedule them at his choice.
ERP solution’s purposes are to integrate business functions through information flow and its management. In ERP solution information flow to all destinations where needed. The ERP decision makers have access to the information for decision-making and for use in desktop local application.
Business function integration is achieved through the seamless flow of data and information across the function in real time. First, there is data integration followed by information for application and system processing. ERP solution makes business organization information-driven with faster response to internal and external customers.
In the world of the internet today, the definition of enterprise, however, has undergone a change and so also the change of definition of EMS. In a globalized business situation, EMS now stands for the integration of the following systems:
· ERP
· Supply chain management (SCM)
· Customer relationship management (CRM)
