An Overview of ERP Enterprise resource planning (ERP) integrates internal and external management information across an entire organization,

embracing finance/accounting, manufacturing, sales and service, customer relationship management, etc. ERP systems automate this activity with an integrated software application. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the organization and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. ERP systems can run on a variety of hardware and network configurations, typically employing a database as a repository for information. ERP systems typically include the following characteristics:

An integrated system that operates in real time (or next to real time), without relying on periodic updates. A common database, which supports all applications. A consistent look and feel throughout each module. Installation of the system without elaborate application/data integration by the

Information Technology (IT) department. Finance/Accounting General ledger, payables, cash management, fixed assets, receivables, budgeting, consolidation Human resources payroll, training, benefits, 401K, recruiting, diversity management Manufacturing Engineering, bill of materials, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, cost management, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow, activity based costing, product lifecycle management Supply chain management Order to cash, inventory, order entry, purchasing, product configurator, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, inspection of goods, claim processing, commissions Project management Costing, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management Customer relationship management

Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact, call center support Data services Various "selfservice" interfaces for customers, suppliers and/or employees Access control Management of user privileges for various processes The below table shows the list of some free and open source ERP Software.

ERP Package

Language Base

License

Other Info

Developer Country

A1 ERP

Java

Alliance Technologies License (ATL)

ERP for Mid-Large businesses

Kenya

Adempiere

Java

GPL

started as a fork of Compiere

Spain

BlueErp

PHP, MySQL, GPL PostgreSQL

Compiere

Java

GPL/Commercial

Acquired by Consona Corporation in June 2010

Dolibarr

PHP, MySQL, GPL PostgreSQL

ERP/CRM for SME, freelancers or foundations

US, France, Belgium, Spain, India, Argentina...

ERP5

Python, Zope, MySQL

GPL

based on unified model

Brazil, France, Germany, Japan Sngal

Fedena

Ruby

Apache License

ERP for India Schools/Universities

FrontAccounting

PHP, MySQL

GPL

Branched from WebERP

GNU Enterprise Python

GPLv3

HeliumV

Java

AGPL

ERP for small and medium businesses

Austria, Germany

JFire

Java

LGPL

Kuali Foundation

Java

LedgerSMB

Perl

GPL

OFBiz

Apache, Java

Apache License 2.0

ERP for small and medium businesses

OpenPro

PHP, MySQL

MPL

ERP for small and medium businesses

USA

Openbravo

Java

Openbravo Public License (OBPL), a free software license based on the Mozilla Public License (MPL)

Spain

OpenERP

Python, AGPLv3, OpenERP PostgreSQL Public License

formerly Tiny ERP

Belgium, India, USA

Opentaps

Java

AGPLv3

Can run in the Amazon EC2 cloud

Worldwide

Postbooks

C++, JavaScript, CPAL PostgreSQL

Produced by XTuple, uses Qt framework

SQL-Ledger

Perl, GPL PostgreSQL

Tryton

Python

GPLv3

started as a fork of OpenERP

WebERP

PHP, MySQL

GPLv2

LAMP based system

There are many vendors of ERP software in the market, of which SAP AG is the largest vendor in the world. Here are the top five ERP software vendors of the world 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. SAP AG Oracle Applications The Sage Group Microsoft Dynamics SSA Global Technologies

1. SAP AG is a German global software corporation that provides enterprise software applications and support to businesses of all sizes globally. SAP is the largest enterprise software company in the world. The company's best known products are its SAP Enterprise Resource Planning (SAP ERP) and SAP Business Objects software. The current version is SAP ERP 6.0 and is part of the SAP Business Suite. Its previous name was R/3. The "R" of SAP R/3 stood for realtime even though it is not a realtime solution. The number 3 related to the 3-tier architecture: database, application server and client (SAPgui). R/2, which ran on a Mainframe architecture, was the predecessor of R/3. Before R/2 came System RF, later dubbed R/1. SAP ECC is one of five enterprise applications in SAP's Business Suite. The other four applications are:

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) helps companies acquire and retain customers, gain marketing and customer insight Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) helps manufacturers with product-related information Supply Chain Management (SCM) helps companies with the process of resourcing its manufacturing and service processes

Supplier Relationship Management (SRM) enables companies to procure from suppliers

Other major product offerings include: the NetWeaver platform, Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solutions, Duet (joint offering with Microsoft), Performance Management solutions and RFID. SAP offers SOA capabilities (calling it Enterprise SOA) in the form of web services that are wrapped around its applications. The following are the details of the system requirement and the complete modules: A) ENVIRONMENTS FOR SAP 1. Supported Hardware for SAP ERP SAP can be installed on the following systems. The functionality and programming technique is same for all systems. 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5. 1.6. 1.7. 1.8. 1.9. 2. HP IBM Sun AT&T AS400 Bull Sequent SNI Compaq Digital

Supported Database for SAP ERP SAP is a back-end-free ERP system. That means the following Database can be used in SAP software. The functionality/programming technique is same for all database system. 2.1. 2.2. 2.3. 2.4. 2.5. 2.6. 2.7. Oracle MS SQL Informix Sybase Adabas D DB2 for AIX DB2/400

3.

Supported Operating System for SAP SAP can be installed on the following platforms (Operating systems): 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. 3.5. 3.6. 3.7. MS Windows NT OS/400 Unix Solaris AIX HP UX Sinux

B) Complete SAP Modules: 1. SAP Basis 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. 1.4. 1.5. 1.6. 1.7. 1.8. 1.9. 1.10. 1.11. 1.12. 1.13. 1.14. 1.15. 1.16. 1.17. 1.18. 1.19. 1.20. 1.21. 1.22. Security (BC - SEC) Application Link Enabling (ALE) Remote Function Calls (RFC) Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) Common Program Interface Communications (CPI-C) Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) Customizing (BC-CUS) ABAP Programming and Runtime Environment (BC - ABA) Client Server Technology (BC - CST) Network Integration (BC - NET) Basis Services/ Communication Interfaces (BC - SRV) Computing Center Management System (BC - CCM) Upgrade General (BC - UPG) Change and Transport System (BC - CTS) Operating System Platform(BC - OP) Database Interface, database platforms (BC - DB) Front End Services (BC - FES) ABAP Workbench (BC - DWB) Documentation and Translation Tools (BC - DOC) Controls and Control Framework (BC - CI) Business Management (BC - BMT) Middleware (BC - MID)

1.23. 1.24. 1.25. 2.

Computer Aided Test Tool (BC - CAT) Ready to Run R/3 (BC - BRR) Authorisations System Monitoring with CCMS Workload Alert Monitor

ABAP/4 Programming 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 ABAP Workbench Menu Painter Screen Painter Data Dictionary SAP Script Business Workflow (BC - WF) ALE EDI Business Connector Business Server Pages Internet Application Server Mercator Report Painter ALV reporting Report writer Dialog Programming Repository Information System ABAP 00 IDOCS LSMW Smartforms EBP ASAP methodology ABAP Query

3.

SAP FI (Financial Accounting) 3.1. 3.2. 3.3. 3.4. General Ledger Accounting (FI - GL) Special Ledger (FI - SL) Extended Ledger Accounts Payable (FI- AP)

3.5. 3.6. 3.7. 3.8. 3.9. 3.10. 4.

Accounts Receivable (FI - AR) Asset Accounting (FI - AA) Bank Accounting Funds Management (FI - FM) Travel Management (FI-TM) Consolidation

SAP CO (Controlling) 4.1. 4.2. 4.3. 4.4. 4.5. 4.6. Cost Centre Accounting (CO - CCA) Overhead Cost Controlling (CO - OM) Activity Based Coding (CO - ABC) Product Cost Controlling (CO - PC) Profitability Analysis (CO - PA) Material Ledger (CO - ML)

5.

SAP EC (Enterprise Controlling) 5.1. 5.2. 5.3. 5.4. Consolidation (EC - CS) Executive Information System (EC-EIS) Profit Center Accounting (EC - PCA) Business Planning and Budgeting

6.

SAP TR (Treasury) 6.1. 6.2. 6.3. 6.4. 6.5. 6.6. Cash Management (TR - CM) Loans Management (TR - LM) Market Risk Management (TR - MRM) Treasury Management (TR - TM) Funds Management (TR - FM) Information System

7.

SAP IM (Investment Management) 7.1. 7.2. 7.3. Investment Programmes Investment Measures (orders/products) Corporation Wide Budgeting

7.4. 7.5. 7.6. 7.7.

Appropriation Requests Automatic Settlement of Fixed Assets Depreciation Forecast Information System

8.

SAP HR (Human Resource) 8.1. 8.2. 8.3. 8.4. 8.5. 8.6. 8.7. 8.8. 8.9. 8.10. 8.11. Recruitment Personnel Administration Benefits Administration Compensation Management Personnel Development Organizational Management Travel Management Training and Events Management Personnel Planning Time Management Incentive

8.12.

Wages

8.13. Workflow 8.14. Payroll 8.15. Internet Scenarios 8.16. Information System

9. SAP SD (Sales and Distribution)

9.1. 9.2. 9.3. 9.4. 9.5. 9.6. 9.7. Master Data Sales Sales Support Sales Information System Billing Special Business Transactions Shipping

9.8. 9.9.

Transportation Credit Control

9.10. QM in SD 9.11. Internet 9.12. Foreign Trade 9.13. Electronic Data Interchange

10.

SAP Logistics Information System

10.1. Purchasing Information System 10.2. Sales Information System 10.3. Inventory Controlling 10.4. Retail Information System 10.5. Production Planning and Control Information System 10.6. Plant Maintenance Information System 10.7. Project Information System

11.

SAP MM (Materials Management)

11.1. Purchasing 11.2. Invoice Verification 11.3. Logistics (General) 11.4. Logistics Information System 11.5. Inventory Management 11.6. Inventory / Valuations 11.7. Materials Planning 11.8. Workflow 11.9. External Services Management 11.10. QM in MM 11.11. Warehouse Management

12.

SAP PM (Plant Maintenance)

12.1. Preventative Maintenance 12.2. Maintenance Order Management 12.3. Maintenance Projects 12.4. Service Management 12.5. Maintenance Planning 12.6. Equipment and Technical Objects 12.7. Structuring Technical Systems 12.8. PM Processing 12.9. Work Clearance Management 12.10. Internet Scenarios 12.11. Customising 12.12. Information System

13.

SAP PP (Production Planning)

13.1. Make to Order (CR) 13.2. Make to Order (PIR) 13.3. Repetitive Manufacturing 13.4. PP for Process Industries (PP - PI) 13.5. PP - Processes 13.6. Sales and Operations Planning 13.7. Capacity requirements 13.8. Master Planning 13.9. KANBAN 13.10. Production Orders 13.11. Product Cost Planning 13.12. Plant Data Collection 13.13. Assembly Orders 13.14. Information System

14.

SAP QM - Quality Management

14.1. Planning 14.2. Inspections 14.3. Notifications 14.4. Control 14.5. Certificates 14.6. Test Equipment Management 14.7. QM-IS

15.

SAP BW (Business Warehousing)

15.1. Data Warehousing 15.2. BI Suite - Business Explorer 15.3. BI Platform 15.4. ODS Structures 15.5. Development Technologies 15.6. Info Cube 15.7. Design Build

16.

SAP CS (Customer Service)

16.1. Service Processing 16.2. Controlling 16.3. Service Contracts 16.4. Workflow in Customer Service

17.

SAP SMB

17.1. SAP SMB

18.

SAP CA (Cross Application Components)

18.1. SAP Business Workflow

18.2. Application Link Enabling (ALE)

19.

SAP PS (Project Systems)

19.1. Basic Data 19.2. Operational Structures 19.3. Project Planning 19.4. Approval 19.5. Information System 19.6. Project Execution and Integration 19.7. Work Breakdown Structure

20.

mySAP SRM (Supplier Relationship Management)

20.1. Self Service Procurement 20.2. Service Procurement 20.3. Plan Driven Procurement 20.4. Spend Analysis 20.5. Strategic Sourcing 20.6. Catalogue Content Management

21.

mySAP SEM

21.1. Business Consolidation (SEM-BCS) 21.2. Business Information Collection (SEM-BIC) 21.3. Business Planning and Simulation (BW-BPS) 21.4. Corporate Performance Monitor (SEM-CPM) 21.5. Stakeholder Relationship Management (SEM-SRM)

22.

mySAP CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

22.1. CRM Enterprise 22.2. Field Applications

22.3. Interaction Center 22.4. E-Commerce 22.5. Channel Management 22.6. Industry Specific CRM

23.

mySAP Product Life Cycle Management

23.1. Document Management 23.2. Engineering Change Management 23.3. Enterprise Content Management 23.4. Classification 23.5. Basic Data for Process Manufacturing

24.

SAP SCM (SAP Supply Chain Management)

24.1. SCM Process and Business Scenarios 24.2. SAP Forecasting and Replenishment 24.3. SAP Advance Planning and Optimization (SAP - APO) 24.4. SAP Inventory Collaboration Hub (SAP - OCH) 24.5. SAP Event Management (SAP - EM) 24.6. SCM Basis

25.

SAP Netweaver

25.1. SAP Masterdata Management 25.2. Information Integration 25.3. Portal Content 25.4. Process Integration 25.5. Knowledge Management 25.6. Life Cycle Management 25.7. SAP Business Intelligence 25.8. SAP Visual Composer

25.9. People Integration 25.10. Application Platform 25.11. SAP Web Application Server 25.12. SAP Business Information Warehouse 25.13. SAP Solution Manager 25.14. SAP Enterprise Portal 25.15. SAP Mobile Engine 25.16. Security

26.

SAP IS (Industry Solutions) / SAP for Industries

SAP has the following industries specific solutions:

26.1. Aerospace & Defence 26.2. Consumer Products 26.3. Defence & Security 26.4. Retail 26.5. Insurance 26.6. Mill Products 26.7. Higher Education & Research 26.8. Industrial Machinery & Components 26.9. Logistics Service Providers 26.10. Automotive 26.11. Chemicals 26.12. Pharmaceuticals 26.13. Banking 26.14. Telecoms 26.15. Life Sciences 26.16. Mining 26.17. Public Sector 26.18. Service Provider 26.19. Media

26.20. Healthcare 26.21. Oil & Gas 26.22. Utilities 26.23. Postal Services Besides the above functionalities and flexibilities, SAP also adding new features, new modules, new environment and new industry specific solutions to its flagship ERP product continuously.

From the above list of diversify functionality, industry-specific solution with hardware and database independency depicts the power of SAP in the arena of ERP world.
2. Oracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of Oracle Corporation. The term refers to the non-database parts of Oracle Corporation's software portfolio. Oracle Corporation released Oracle E-Business Suite a bundling of several Oracle Applications in February 2007. E-Business Suite consists of a collection of enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM), and supply-chain management (SCM) computer applications either developed by or acquired by Oracle. The software utilizes Oracle's core Oracle relational database management system technology. The E-Business Suite contains several product lines, including:

Customer Relationship Management Enterprise resource planning

Financial Management Human Capital Management Project Portfolio Management

Procurement

Oracle Advanced Procurement[3]

Oracle Sourcing[4]

Product Life-cycle Management Supply Chain Management

Supply Chain Planning Logistics & Transportation Management

Order Management Price Management

Manufacturing

Discrete Manufacturing

Process Manufacturing Oracle Financial Applications The Oracle E-Business Suite provides a set of financial applications used extensively in businesses around the world. Oracle Corporation groups these applications into "suites", which it defines as sets of common, integrated applications designed to execute specific business processes. RDBMS infrastructure and includes applications such as:

Oracle Assets Oracle General Ledger Oracle Payables Oracle Receivables

Oracle Cash Management Oracle Project Portfolio Management Applications

Oracle Project Billing Oracle Project Collaboration Oracle Project Contracts Oracle Project Costing Oracle Daily Business Intelligence Oracle Project Management Oracle Project Portfolio Analysis

Oracle Project Resource Other Additional Oracle E-business Suite products include:

Oracle Bills of Material Oracle Capacity Oracle CRM (in the process of integration with Siebel) Oracle Advanced Planning & Scheduling

Oracle Business Intelligence Oracle Engineering Oracle HRMS Oracle Inventory Oracle Integrated Receiving (Brazil localization) Oracle MRP Oracle Order Entry Oracle Order Fulfillment (order to cash process) Oracle Payroll [Purchasing process|Oracle Purchasing] Oracle Receivables Oracle TMS (Transportation/G-Log) Oracle Work in Process Oracle Process manufacturing Oracle Federal Administration Oracle Sales

3. Microsoft Dynamics is a line of ERP (enterprise resource planning) and CRM

(customer relationship management) applications developed by the Microsoft Business Solutions group withinMicrosoft. an enterprise resource planning application primarily geared toward midsize organizations as well as subsidiaries and divisions of larger organizations. Microsoft Dynamics ERP includes five primary products:

Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta) Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains Software) Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) Microsoft Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon IV) Microsoft Dynamics C5 (formerly Concorde C5)

Also included are retail solutions: Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a multi-lingual customer relationship management application from Microsoft that provides sales, service, and marketing capabilities, and includes Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Management Reporter for Microsoft Dynamics ERP is a financial reporting and analysis solution. Users can easily create income statements, balance sheet statements, cash flow statements and other financial reports without needing IT assistance. Reports can be stored in a centralized Report Library along with external

supporting files. Security on reports and files may be controlled using Windows Authentication and SQL Server. (i) Microsoft Dynamics AX is one of Microsofts enterprise resource planning software products. Features (modules): Microsoft Dynamics AX contains 19 core modules : Traditional core (since Axapta 2.5)

General Ledger, composed of ledger, sales tax, currency and fixed assets features Bank Management, where cash is received and paid out Customer Relationship Management (CRM), where Business Relations (customers, vendors, and leads) are contacted and maintained Accounts Receivable, where orders are entered, shipped and invoiced Accounts Payable, where purchase orders are issued and goods received into inventory Inventory Management, where Inventory is valued and managed Master Planning, where purchase and production planning takes place Production, where bill of materials is defined and manufacturing is tracked Product Builder, where product models are created and maintained Human Resources, where employee information is kept Project Accounting, where projects are created and tracked primarily from an accounting perspective Basic, where data configuration is performed

Administration Module, where system configuration is performed Extended core The following modules are part of the core of AX 2009 (AX 5.0) and available on a perlicense basis in AX 4.0 :

Shop Floor Control Cost Accounting Balanced Scorecards Service Management Expense Management Payroll Management[9] Environmental Management[10]

External components Several external components are also available:

Enterprise Portal for Dynamics AX (built on Sharepoint Services) Microsoft SQL Reporting Services integration Microsoft SQL Analysis services (KPIs) Project server Integration WorkFlow Application Integration Framework (Webservices + Biztalk adapter) A .Net Business Connector for third party software (A COM adapter is also available) Microsoft Dynamics Mobile 1.5 development tools

Architecture The Microsoft Dynamics AX software is composed of four major components:

The Database Server, a database that stores the Microsoft Dynamics AX data The File Server, a folder containing the Microsoft Dynamics AX application files The Application Object Server(s) (AOS), a service that controls all aspects of Microsoft Dynamics AX's operation The Client(s), the actual user interface into Microsoft Dynamics AX

(ii)

Microsoft Dynamics GP is a mid-market business accounting software or ERP Software package marketed in North America, South America, UK and Ireland, the Middle East, Singapore, and Australia and New Zealand, it is used in many additional countries with partner supported localizations. It uses either Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or 2008 to store data. It is one of four accounting packages acquired by Microsoft that now share the Microsoft Dynamics Business Solutions brand. Dynamics GP is written in a language called Dexterity. Modules Microsoft Dynamics GP is organized in Series, each of which contains several modules. The typical Series are Financial, Sales, Purchasing, Inventory, Project,

Payroll, Manufacturing, Company and System. The latter two contain all the necessary modules to configure various company wide and system wide options. Each Series involves a full cycle of transactions for that particular Series, for example, the Sales Series implements the Quote to Cash process. In addition to the typical "out-of-the-box" modules, Microsoft's community of Independent Software Vendors (ISV) has developed a number of add-ons and verticals, all generally referred to as Third Party applications, which complement or enhance the existing functionality of the application. These are also written in Dexterity, and so look and function in the same way as Dynamics GP standard modules. (iii) Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software product from Microsoft. The product is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, and intended to assist with finance, manufacturing, customer relationship management, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. Value-added resellers (VAR)s can have full access to the business logic source code, and it has a reputation as being easy to customize. Features As of 2006, NAV is licensed using the "Business Ready License" (BRL) model. The customer purchases user sessions, which have access to certain parts of the system included. There are two types of user - Business Essentials (BE) and Advanced Management (AM); AM provides access to more functionality than BE. Under the previous licensing model, "Module Based License" (MBL), users came with no functionality - this all had to be bought separately. Microsoft offers a path for customers to transition from MBL to BRL licensing. The product gives administrators the option of using either a native database server (now called 'Classic') or Microsoft SQL Server, as the DBMS. SQL Server is better able to cope with large database sizes, but requires more maintenance than the classic database. The original database server is often referred to as 'C/SIDE' which refers to Client/Server Integrated Development Environment. Relative to Microsoft's other 3 ERP products, Dynamics NAV's sector is distribution and manufacturing companies that want more than "out of the box" functionality. The solution has a standard feature set, but it can also be thought of as an "ERP System construction set". The Pascal-like development

language is easily accessible to appropriate developers and is designed for rapidly customizing the software. There is no need for complex server side Transact-SQL stored procedures as the one language manages the application and database. (iv) Microsoft Dynamics SL is one of Microsofts enterprise resource planning software products for project-driven small- and medium-sized enterprises. It is part of the Microsoft Dynamics product family. Microsoft Dynamics SL is best known for its project-based ERP strengths with a connection to Microsoft Office Project Server, a member of the Microsoft Office family. This comprehensive business management solution provides project-, service-, and distribution-driven businesses with project management and project accounting functionality to help organizations effectively manage projects and improve profitability and efficiency. The functionality includes finance, project accounting, manufacturing, field services, supply chain management, analytics, and electronic commerce. Project-based ERP Industry Features Microsoft Dynamics SL provides ERP project functionality to assist professional services, government, construction, and distribution industries with the features they need to better manage their projects. The solution provides professional services organizations with functionality to manage people and finances while maintaining profitability for client services and projects. Microsoft Dynamics SL supports accurate budgeting and cost forecasting, time and expense entry, complex allocations, unlimited billing formats, change order control, contract administration, local and Web-based project analysis, employee utilization/realization, proactive alerts, and workflow. Microsoft Dynamics SL provides government contractors with functionality that helps them meet Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA) audit requirements. In the construction industry, Microsoft Dynamics SL provides general contractors and residential homebuilders with project management, job cost, materials management, service call entry, receiving, billing, and sales capabilities to allow the management of complex job sites while lowering costs, reducing project delays, and improving customer service. Microsoft Dynamics SL provides distribution-focused organizations with inventory, receiving, billing, and sales solutions. The functionality is designed to help organizations reduce distribution costs and inventory, and streamline processes while improving customer service

(v)

Microsoft Dynamics C5 is an enterprise resource planning (ERP) software product from Microsoft. The product is part of the Microsoft Dynamics family, and intended to assist with finance, manufacturing, supply chains, analytics and electronic commerce for small and medium-sized enterprises. Value-added resellers (VAR)s as well as customers can have full access to the business logic source code, and it has a reputation as being easy to customize. Features The program come installed with all modules. The customer can unlock a module by purchasing a license key. Like with all Dynamics products only a very limited number of dealers are allowed to sell the license keys to ensure market and price control.