ERP System—An Introduction

Information is crucial in the day to day operations and long-term success of large corporations down to small businesses with barely a handful of employees. Effectively managing and accessing needed information in a timely manner is a key success factor in business. It is often recommended that businesses explore an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. But what is an ERP system and can they really make a difference in accessing your businesses information in a quick and easy manner?

When a person asks ‘what is an ERP system’ a relatively simple answer can actually be given. An ERP system is a software program that pulls together a business’s information with the goal of facilitating the flow of this information easily. There are several different ERP software systems and a central database is often used for storing all of the data.

With a single, powerful software program, enterprise resource planning systems integrate all departments (HR, accounting, sales, manufacturing, etc.) and functions of an organization onto a single computer system. The software serves each department’s needs and provides a host of benefits to the company. From improving efficiency and reducing operational costs to allowing management to make smarter business decisions, an ERP system breaks down the barriers between departments for easy sharing and communication.

So is there a benefit for companies utilizing ERP systems? For most companies the answer is yes.

When an order comes in at a typical company, it sets off a series of processes throughout the different departments of the company. Often times each department has a different computer system optimized for that department. Often times these systems don’t or can’t communicate with each other. Therefore, the customer’s information is keyed in multiple times as it travels from department to department. These multiple entries increase the possibility for error and slow down order fulfillment and billing. If a customer calls wondering where their order is, there is usually no way for the service people to access the warehouse’s computer system. This means the customer is put on hold while someone calls the warehouse to check if the order has been shipped. As the customer waits, their satisfaction falls and your employees waste time better spent on tasks that can increase revenue and customer satisfaction.

Since we’ve already touched on ‘what is an ERP system’, we know that the typical order process mentioned above could be streamlined by choosing the right ERP system. ERP systems often reduce the amount of redundant, menial tasks to be performed. This saves time and cuts down the opportunity for errors. Information is also more easily accessible when needed adding to saved time and, oftentimes, increased customer satisfaction. An ERP system can also be a wealth of information for decision making. Data is more easily turned into organized information that management can analyze and base decisions on.

In summary, what is an ERP system? It’s a software system that facilitates the flow of your businesses information—it pulls all of your businesses information together making it quickly and easily accessible to those who need it. In the process, the system helps reduce costs through decreased errors and a decrease in redundant tasks. It also provides management with ways to track and analyze information across multiple departments for a new window into the company’s processes.

Project Management Enterprise Software – The Benefits

We use things and products for one main reason—the benefits. This holds true to almost everything we do. From the clothes we wear, the food we eat, the cars we drive and the computers and software we use, they all provide us a benefit or we wouldn’t be using them. So when it comes to project management enterprise software, why aren’t you using it? It’s not just for IT departments. A host of departments can be involved in projects or have projects of their own. Heck, even a single user remodeling their house can utilize project management enterprise software to make increase their organization and make their life easier.

Project management enterprise software’s main benefit is to break down a project into smaller, more manageable parts. That’s it, but that is huge. It’s used for scheduling, delegating responsibilities, assigning personnel, allocating budgets, tracking budgets and just generally monitoring a project for progress and problems. A program can be used by a single person or by multiple people across an entire business—even across several businesses if need be.

Project management enterprise software can take on a few different forms. There are desktop versions installed directly on a computer that are often for single users or those who only need a single user to access the project at a time. The other version of project management enterprise software is web-based. These systems are for multiple users and can be accessed via an intranet or extranet with a web browser. They make generally make things easier when multiple users are involved in planning, monitoring and editing a project.

Let’s talk about the two main benefits of breaking down your complex projects with project management enterprise software. First, scheduling becomes easier to do and manage. Certain events may depend on each other or another event for their completion or start date. You can schedule your people to work on these tasks appropriately and monitor what is happening. Rescheduling or adding resources to complete a step becomes much easier. You can also deal with the uncertainties of scheduling better and make changes as things move forward.

Giving information is the second main benefit of project management enterprise software. The software can provide information on the project to the different people and give a clearer picture of what will happen or what is happening on a project. This provides several benefits including an overview of how long tasks will take to complete, warning signs of risks to the project, information about workload, task lists for people and departments, the ability to optimize the use of resources and a history of how projects have gone in the past.

Ultimately, the benefits of using project management enterprise software—breaking down complex projects into more manageable chunks with the ability to monitor what is happening as the project goes along—can help your business maximize the use of resources and learn by looking back at how a project unfolded compared to how it was planned. These are fantastic benefits for any company reap.

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems and Customization

There are tremendous benefits for organizations that use enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. A key success factor in business today is the ability of an organization to keep their information arranged in a way that allows easy sharing between departments and the ability of management to mine their data, discover new information and ultimately make smarter decisions.

The advances of enterprise resource planning systems providers over the past decades have allowed them to offer powerful, out-of-the-box solutions for businesses with tens of thousands of employees to small businesses with barely a handful of employees. No matter the size of the business, enterprise resource planning systems provide great benefit and value, but not all businesses have the same needs. This is why many ERP providers offer the ability to customize their products.

Implementing an enterprise resource planning system can be quite an undertaking. Business processes need to be uncovered, explored, talked about and debated. This aspect often leads companies to question whether certain business processes are actually best practices or if they can be improved upon. This is undoubtedly one benefit of implementing an ERP system. Getting employees on board with a new system is another challenge faced in ERP implementation. Sometimes employees are resistant to change. This is especially true when they have a good way of going about a certain business process. Fortunately this is what customization is all about. Not all businesses are alike. Industries vary, industry best practices vary and not all out-of-the-box ERP solutions will fit all organizations.

Customizing an ERP system is often a great way to get more value out of the software, but it is important to keep a few things in mind that the experts have discovered. We are reminded that progress happens fast these days and update cycles are regular. When considering a customization, find out if this is an innovation that is already on its way. Customization can increase costs, and if the feature is already in the ERP vendor’s pipeline, be patient.

Learning the features of the ERP systems you’re considering is also important. Knowing the capabilities of the available systems will allow you to choose the right company with the most appropriate solution. Once you have your solution, a sound knowledge of its capabilities will help you align the system to your current business processes. In analyzing your business processes and how they fit in with the enterprise resource planning systems structure, you may find ways to trim the fat of your processes. Should you come across incompatibilities, then you can consider options for customizing your software.

No matter what ERP solution you choose, customization is an option. Just be sure to stick to the basics. Know your business processes, explore your ERP systems options and choose the best fit for your company. This will put you on the right track to getting the greatest value from your investment.