ERP (enterprise resource planning) ERP (enterprise resource planning) is an industry term for the broad set of activities

supported by multi-module application software that help a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business, including product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include application modules for the finance and human resources aspects of a business. ypically, an ERP system uses or is integrated with a relational database system. he deployment of an ERP system can involve considerable business process analysis, employee retraining, and new work procedures. !n a recent trend, "#P, Peoplesoft, and $. %. Edwards are among ERP product providers offering ERP outsourcing. Selected Links

# consultant for &aan has described how ERP evolved from earlier systems focused more narrowly on manufacturing.

PivotPoints Point.'an is an e(ample of an ERP product for mid-si)ed manufacturers.

Perhaps the most successful ERP company today is "#P.

*nown best for its relational database software, +racle also markets a complete suite of ERP software, including software for financial systems, manufacturing systems, human resources, decision support, and e-commerce.

&aan &usiness "ystems sells software that it says encompasses and goes beyond traditional ERP systems.

#utomated #gents at Rock !sland #rsenal is developing an intelligent agent that will find supplies, parts, and capabilities over the !nternet and negotiate for them interactively. Selected Books ,e selected these books from -atbrain.com, an online bookstore speciali)ing in technical books, interactive training, and certification. ,e recommend their prices and their service. ,hen you buy a book, they pay us a small commission.

.orbert ,elti/s Successful SAP R/3 Implementation : Practical Management of ERP Projects provides perspective on ERP as a background for using "#P/s R01 product.

ERP "ystems -- 2sing ! to gain a competitive advantage Shankarnarayanan S !n the past decade the business environment has changed dramatically. he world has become a small and very dynamic marketplace. +rgani)ations today confront new markets, new competition and increasing customer e(pectations. his has put a tremendous demand on manufacturers to3 4) 5ower total costs in the complete supply chain 6) "horten throughput times 1) Reduce stock to a minimum 7) Enlarge product assortment 8) !mprove Product 9uality :) Provide more reliable delivery dates and higher service to the customer ;) Efficiently coordinate global demand, supply and production. hus today/s organi)ation have to constantly re-engineer their business practices and procedures to be more and more responsive to customers and competition. !n the 4<<=/s !nformation technology and &usiness Process re-engineering, used in con>unction with each other, have emerged as important tools which give organi)ations the leading edge. ERP Systems - Evolution he focus of manufacturing systems in the 4<:=/s was on !nventory control. 'ost of the software packages then (usually customi)ed) were designed to handle inventory based on traditional inventory concepts. !n the 4<;=/s the focus shifted to 'RP ('aterial Re9uirement Planning) systems which translated the 'aster "chedule built for the end items into time-phased net re9uirements for the sub-assemblies, components and raw materials planning and procurement. !n the 4<?=/s the concept of 'RP-!! ('anufacturing Resources Planning) evolved which was an e(tension of 'RP to shop floor and %istribution management activities. !n the early 4<<=/s, 'RP-!! was further e(tended to cover areas like Engineering, -inance, @uman Resources, Pro>ects 'anagement etc i.e. the complete gamut of activities within any business enterprise. @ence, the term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) was coined. !n addition to system re9uirements, ERP addresses technology aspects like client0server distributed architecture, R%&'", ob>ect oriented programming etc. ERP "ystems &andwidth ERP solutions address broad areas within any business like 'anufacturing, %istribution, -inance, Pro>ect 'anagement. "ervice and 'aintenance, ransportation etc. # seamless integration is essential to provide visibility and consistency across the enterprise. #n ERP system should be sufficiently versatile to support different manufacturing environments like make-to-stock, assemble-to-order and engineer-to-order. he customer

order decoupling point (A+%P) should be fle(ible enough to allow the co-e(istence of these manufacturing environments within the same system. # typical e(ample here could be Bodre> C &oyce 'fg.Ao., which has businesses spread over all these manufacturing environments. !t is also very likely that the same product may migrate from one manufacturing environment to another during its produce life cycle. he system should be complete enough to support both %iscrete as well as Process manufacturing scenario/s. he efficiency of an enterprise depends on the 9uick flow of information across the complete supply chain i.e. from the customer to manufacturers to supplier. his places demands on the ERP system to have rich functionality across all areas like sales, accounts receivable, engineering, planning, !nventory 'anagement, Production, Purchase, accounts payable, 9uality management, production, distribution planning and e(ternal transportation. E%! (Electronic %ata !nterchange) is an important tool in speeding up communications with trading partners. 'ore and more companies are becoming global and focusing on down-si)ing and decentrali)ing their business. #&& and .orthern elecom are e(amples of companies which have business spread around the globe. -or these companies to manage their business efficiently, ERP systems need to have e(tensive multi-site management capabilities. he complete financial accounting and management accounting re9uirements of theorgani)ation should be addressed. !t is necessary to have centrali)ed or de-centrali)ed accounting functions with complete fle(ibility to consolidate corporate information. -or companies undertaking large scale and comple( EPA pro>ects, tools should be available for cost-effective pro>ect management, pro>ect planning and pro>ect control. #fter-sales service should be streamlined and managed efficiently. # strong E!" (Enterprise !nformation "ystem) with e(tensive drill down capabilities should be available for the top management to get a birds eye view of the health of their organisation and help them to analy)e performance in key areas. Evaluation Criteria "ome important points to be kept in mind while evaluating an ERP software includeD 4) -unctional fit with the Aompany/s business processes 6) %egree of integration between the various components of the ERP system 1) -le(ibility and scalability 7) Aomple(ity3 user friendliness

8) Euick implementation3 shortened R+! period :) #bility to support multi-site planning and control ;) echnology3 client0server capabilities, database independence, security

?) #vailability of regular upgrades <) #mount of customi)ation re9uired 4=) 5ocal support infrastructure 44) #vailability of reference sites 46) otal costs, including cost of license, training, implementation, maintenance, customi)ation and hardware re9uirements. ERP Systems -- Implementation he success of an ERP solution depends on how 9uick the benefits can be reaped from it. his necessitates rapid implementations which lead to shortened R+! periods. raditional approach to implementation has been to carry out a &usiness Process Re-engineering e(ercise and define a FF + &E// model before the ERP system implementation. his led to mismatches between the proposed model and the ERP functionality, the conse9uence of which was customi)ations, e(tended implementation time frames, higher costs and loss of user confidence. he &##. approach is to conduct a concurrent &usiness Process Re-engineering during the ERP implementation and aim to shorten the total implementation time frame. wo scenario/s can be distinguishedD 4) Aomprehensive !mplementation "cenarioD @ere the focus is more on business improvement than on technical improvement during the implementation. his approach is suitable whenD !mprovements in business processes are re9uired. Austomi)ations are necessary %ifferent alternative strategies need to be evaluated @igh level of integration with other systems are re9uired 'ultiple "ites have to be implemented. 6) Aompact !mplementation "cenarioD @ere the focus is on technical migration during the implementation with enhanced business improvements coming at a later stage. his approach is suitable when3 !mprovements in business processes are not re9uired immediately Ahange-minded organi)ation with firm decision making process Aompany operating according to common business practices. "ingle site has to be implemented. ERP Systems - The Future he !nternet represents the ne(t ma>or technology enabler which allows rapid supply chain management between multiple operations and trading partners. 'ost ERP systems are enhancing their products to become FF!nternet Enabled// so that customers worldwide can have direct to the supplier/s ERP system. ERP systems are building in the ,orkflow 'anagement functionally which provides a mechanism to manage and control the flow of work by monitoring logistic aspects like workload, capacity, throughout times, work 9ueue lengths and processing times.

Recogni)ing the need to go beyond the 'RP-!! and ERP vendors are busy adding to their product portfolio. &##. for e(ample has already introduced concepts like !RP (!ntelligence Resource Planning), 'RP-!!! ('oney Resources Planning) and has ac9uired companies for strategic technologies like Gisual Product configuration, Product %ata 'anagement and -inite "cheduling.

relational database # relational database is a collection of data items organi)ed as a set of formally-described tables from which data can be accessed or reassembled in many different ways without having to reorgani)e the database tables. he relational database was invented by E. -. Aodd at !&' in 4<;=. he standard user and application progam interface to a relational database is the structured query language ("E5). "E5 statements are used both for interactive 9ueries for information from a relational database and for gathering data for reports. !n addition to being relatively easy to create and access, a relational database has the important advantage of being easy to e(tend. #fter the original database creation, a new data category can be added without re9uiring that all e(isting applications be modified. # relational database is a set of tables containing data fitted into predefined categories. Each table (which is sometimes called a relation) contains one or more data categories in columns. Each row contains a uni9ue instance of data for the categories defined by the columns. -or e(ample, a typical business order entry database would include a table that described a customer with columns for name, address, phone number, and so forth. #nother table would describe an orderD product, customer, date, sales price, and so forth. # user of the database could obtain a vie of the database that fitted the user/s needs. -or e(ample, a branch office manager might like a view or report on all customers that had bought products after a certain date. # financial services manager in the same company could, from the same tables, obtain a report on accounts that needed to be paid. ,hen creating a relational database, you can define the domain of possible values in a data column and further constraints that may apply to that data value. -or e(ample, a domain of possible customers could allow up to ten possible customer names but be constrained in one table to allowing only three of these customer names to be specifiable. he definition of a relational database results in a table of metadata or formal descriptions of the tables, columns, domains, and constraints.

S P ("ystemanalyse und Programmentwicklung) ("ystems, #pplications and Products in %ata Processing) "#P, started in 4<;6 by five former !&' employees in 'annheim, Bermany, states that it is the world/s market and technology leader in business application software. he original "#P idea was to provide customers the ability to interact with a common corporate database for a comprehensive range of applications. Bradually, the applications have been assembled and today many corporations, including !&' and 'icrosoft, are using "#P products to run their own businesses. "#P applications, built around their latest R01 system, provide the capability to manage financial, asset, and cost accounting, production operations and materials, personnel, plants, and archived documents. he R01 system runs on a number of platforms including ,indows . and uses the client0server model. he latest version of R01 includes a comprehensive !nternet-enabled package. !n 'ay 4<<?, "#P, a publicly traded company, had 48,=== employees in over 8= countries, and more than 48,=== R01 installations. "#P is turning its attention to small- and-medium si)ed businesses. # recent R01 version was provided for !&'/s #"07== platform. R!" R01 is the comprehensive set of integrated business applications from "#P, the Berman company that states it is the market and technology leader in business application software. R01 replaced an earlier system, R06, which is still in use. R01 uses the client-server model and provides the ability to store, retrieve, analy)e, and process in many ways corporate data for financial analysis, production operation, human resource management, and most other business processes. # recent release, R01 1.4, makes it possible to get to the R01 database and applications through !nternet access and ,eb browsers. # sales representative can initiate the workflow for a sales order by filling out an electronic form on a laptop that will be HtranslatedH into input for the R01 system. +ther interfaces such as 5otus .otes can also be used. he ,eb implementation adheres to the ,orkflow Alient #P! standard of the ,orkflow 'anagement Aoalition (,f'A). # more recent version of R01 adds features designed to speed product delivery by helping to manage the supply chain.

client!server Alient0server describes the relationship between two computer programs in which one program, the client, makes a service re9uest from another program, the server, which fulfills the re9uest. #lthough the client0server idea can be used by programs within a single computer, it is a more important idea in a network. !n a network, the client0server model provides a convenient way to interconnect programs that are distributed efficiently across different locations. Aomputer transactions using the client0server model are very common. -or e(ample, to check your bank account from your computer, a client program in your computer forwards your re9uest to a server program at the bank. hat program may in turn forward the re9uest to its own client program that sends a re9uest to a database server at another bank computer to retrieve your account balance. he balance is returned back to the bank data client, which in turn serves it back to the client in your personal computer, which displays the information for you. he client0server model has become one of the central ideas of network computing. 'ost business applications being written today use the client0server model. "o does the !nternet/s main program, AP0!P. !n marketing, the term has been used to distinguish distributed computing by smaller dispersed computers from the HmonolithicH centrali)ed computing of mainframe computers. &ut this distinction has largely disappeared as mainframes and their applications have also turned to the client0server model and become part of network computing. !n the usual client0server model, one server, sometimes called a daemon, is activated and awaits client re9uests. ypically, multiple client programs share the services of a common server program. &oth client programs and server programs are often part of a larger program or application. Relative to the !nternet, your ,eb browser is a client program that re9uests services (the sending of ,eb pages or files) from a ,eb server (which technically is called a @yperte(t ransport Protocol or @ P server) in another computer somewhere on the !nternet. "imilarly, your computer with AP0!P installed allows you to make client re9uests for files from -ile ransfer Protocol (- P) servers in other computers on the !nternet. +ther program relationship models included master/slave, with one program being in charge of all other programs, and peer-to-peer, with either of two programs able to initiate a transaction. Selected Links he "oftware Engineering !nstitute at Aarnegie-'ellon 2niversity offers Alient0"erver "oftware #rchitectures - #n +verview.