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  ERP systems integrate business activities

  

 
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  manufacturing, distribution and logistics,
sales, purchasing, inventory, shipping, ware
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  house management, invoicing, accounting, to



 
µComputer¶ was arguably the greatest
inventions of the 20th century. Though it was
invented a good 6 decades ago, it took some
time to be put into widespread use. Advent of
the Internet and personal applications changed
the way computers were used and this was
indeed the most significant breakthrough of
the modern computer era.
µComputerization¶ was one of the most
commonly used terms in all sorts of businesses
and workplaces, through the past decade and
even till now. Design, development and
implementation of µWork flow software¶ were
one of the greatest aides which furthered this
cause. This helped in building a seamless
interface both within and between workplaces.
It improved the efficiency of processes to an
unparalleled extent.
‘
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In simple terms, ERP is an extension of the
work flow software which specialises in
dealing with multiple business modules.
Evolution of ERPs has a strong connection
order tracking. These systems are used across
several industry segments like Manufacturing,
Healthcare, Energies and Utilities, hospitality
and entertainment etc.
These systems are designed in such a way that
information across modules is stored in a
common platform. This provides better
transparency and enables far better planning.
For example a person sitting in Inventory
division will be able to monitor the sales data,
and increase the inventory level of the raw
material, whose end product has the maximum
demand. ERP¶s can provide data output of any
desired form. It can be an interactive screen
for the user to view the data or a report
provided to the user. A variety of other
systems interact with the ERP systems for both
input and output of data.
Some direct benefits of implementing an ERP
are,
|c Integrating financial information
|c Integrating customer order
information
|c speeding up the manufacturing
|c inventory reduction.
with the manufacturing industries. These O  ‘
industries have a series of planning
As said above there are several modules in an
requirements like product planning, raw
ERP. A brief description of few widely used
material purchasing, inventory management,
modules is explained below.
production control, sales and distribution, etc.
These functions required the combination of 
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Information Technology support to their complete flow of inventory information, right
businesses for them to plan and produce better. from its entry into the ware house through its
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movement in the shop floor and its translation
to the final product. Some of the other
functions include identifying inventory
requirements, providing replenishment
techniques and options, monitoring item
usages, reconciling the inventory balances, and
reporting inventory status.
Management (CRM); supply chain - Supply
Chain Management (SCM). Just that these
packages are totally focussed on the
independent modules, whereas an ERP has a
holistic view of streamlining the entire
business process.
ERP¶s are customised to a great extent
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 - The Sales Order depending on one¶s requirement.
Module maintains extensive customer/supplier Customisation levels of the implemented
information, defines pricing and tax ERP¶s vary depending upon the requirements.
information, generates sales orders, manages A study shows the average customization
picking, issuing, packing and shipping levels of ERP as follows;
operations, and checks credit. Orders raised
through external systems are also integrated
with ERP databases through interface specific 0





processes. Purchasing and sales modules have
a close interaction with the inventory module .- 
for better forecasting of demand and supply.
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modules of an ERP, which needs to be
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modules. Because data pertaining to all the .,-
functional modules has some sort of financial ' !c
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implication. This module includes maintaining
general ledger files, profit and loss accounts,
balance sheets, trial balance, and bill of
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materials. It can also provide financial
statements on a term basis. Every industry requires a tailor made
application to suit its needs. Numerous brands
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of ERP¶s are available in the market to choose
an ERP. An employee database comprising of
from. One can also look at a combination of
all the information like personal data,
vendors which can make integration a little
compensation details, organizational
complex. Some of the market leaders in ERP
hierarchy, attendance, performance appraisal
packages are listed below.
and hiring.
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An ERP system in most cases does not
  
function independently. Though most ERP¶s
comprises of most required modules, they 
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SAP and Oracle eBusiness suite are the market
leaders amongst the ERP vendors.
There are several factors involved in selecting
the ERP vendors;
|c Size of the organisation
|c Total package and implementation
cost
|c Implementation duration
|c Customization required
|c Transformation ease from legacy
system
|c Maintenance and support cost
|c Business benefit realisation
strong presence in the ERP market. Oracle also
offers an e-Business Suite comprising of
several
CRM/SCM/PLM/ALM/Procurement/Manufac
turing modules. Oracle is planning on a
platform called µFusion¶ which encompasses
Oracle has a strong presence in the UK and
France Markets.
Netweaver platform which is offered by SAP,
as the integrated network platform based on
which the eBusiness suite applications operate,
gives an edge to SAP over Oracle and other
competitors.
Though all Tier1 provides are high on the cost
structure, Oracle scores over SAP in a slight
manner when it comes to implementation
costs. Analysts say that Oracle implementation
costs 20% lesser than SAP for a solution of
similar magnitude. But when it comes to
business satisfaction, SAP scores heavily over
Oracle, and this plays in great favour of SAP

 as a single solution builder for most costumers.
SAP and Oracle are the clear leaders in the
ERP market. Their rivalry in this segment is O




indeed fascinating. 



SAP¶s business suite comprises of several
products like SAP R3, SAP SRM (Supplier
Relationship management), SAP SCM, SAP 

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CRM, SAP PLM (Product Lifecycle ./ 
management). Earlier SAP was targeting only
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the large scale industries. But of late it has
shown great interest in the Small and Medium +/

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enterprises market as well. SAP, being a
German company has a very strong base in the
European markets like Spain and Italy.

Unlike SAP, Oracle is an enterprise with

several core competencies and its growth in 

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the Enterprise segment has largely been
inorganic. It acquired a number of companies
in this segment to prove a strong competitor to
SAP. People soft, JD Edwards, Siebel,
Primavera, Hyperion, Retek Inc. are a few
ERPs were historically designed to serve huge
corporations and mostly Fortune 100
manufacturing companies. But in the last few
years the market is heavily tilted in the favour
of Small to Medium enterprises.
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As implementation of ERP¶s involve huge 

  
costs, vendors are looking at alternative
solutions which are relatively cheaper to Despite the developments already in place,
attract these industries. Software as a Service ERP segments present huge opportunities for
is a step towards this direction. With the innovations. The concept of inclusiveness is
increasing popularity of cloud computing, just catching up with respect to the ERP
SaaS is an offering based on this technology. It market, where along with the large players;
offers ERP solutions on the server, which can small industries are also driving the vendors
be used by small enterprises based on a rental for better and cheaper products. This provides
basis. SaaS model offers simple and flexible challenges for consolidation in both the
solutions which are cost effective and easily business front as well as in the technological
accessible. Another advantage of ERP SaaS is front.
that user can change the software without


worrying about the cost that has been invested
in purchasing and deploying the software. If |c www.wikipedia.com
services are not satisfactory or user finds better |c Panaroma Vendor consulting report
ERP software he can terminate the present |c www.sysoptima.com
arrangement and can shift over to another |c www.erp.com
solution. |c www.oracle.com
|c www.sap.com
Even giants like SAP are moving in this
direction, with their latest offering of c
µBusiness by design¶ model. This targets the
SaaS segment. Because of the increasing
awareness of ERP¶s and their advantages to
the company, most SMEs also want to
implement these solutions though on a much
smaller scale. SaaS helps this cause by
reducing the large-up front expenses
associated with software purchases by offering
less costly monthly pricing and reducing the
investment on server hardware.

Another option for such enterprises is the open

source ERPs. µOpen Bravo¶, µOpen ERP¶,
µDolibarr¶ are a few open source ERP¶s
available in the market. But open source
systems do come with the traditional
advantages and disadvantages of any open
source application.