ERP enabled field and technical support service

Introduction
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Enterprise resource planning systems or enterprise systems are software systems for business management, encompassing modules supporting functional areas such as planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, accounting, financial, human resource management, project management, inventory management, service and maintenance, transportation and e-business

An ERP system is based on a common database and a modular software design. The common database can allow every department of a business to store and retrieve information in real-time.

The information should be reliable, accessible, and easily shared. The modular software design should mean a business can select the modules they need, mix and match modules from different vendors, and add new modules of their own to improve business performance.

Evolution of ERP

1060s (Inventory control packages ):

1960s most organizations designed, developed and implemented centralized computing systems, mostly automating their inventory control systems using inventory control packages (IC). These were legacy systems based on programming languages such as COBOL, ALGOL and FORTRAN.

1970s (Material requirements planning): (MRP) systems were developed in the 1970s which involved mainly planning the product or parts requirements according to the master production schedule.

1980s(MRP II):
Following this route new software systems called manufacturing resources planning (MRP II) were introduced in the 1980s with an emphasis on optimizing manufacturing processes by synchronizing the materials with production requirements. MRP II included areas such as shop floor and distribution management, project management, finance, human resource and engineering.

1990S (enterprise resource planning):

ERP systems first appeared in the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s with the power of enterprisewide inter-functional coordination and integration.

Based on the technological foundations of MRP and MRP II, ERP systems integrate business processes including manufacturing, distribution, accounting, financial, human resource management, project management, inventory management, service and maintenance, and transportation, providing accessibility, visibility and consistency across the enterprise.

2000(Extended ERP): During the 2000s ERP vendors added more modules and functions as add-ons to the core modules giving birth to the extended ERPs. These ERP extensions include advanced planning and scheduling (APS), e-business solutions such as customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).

ERP System Concept

Front Office Back Office

Corporate Reporting
C U S T O M E R S Financial Applications Central Database Manufacturing Applications Inventory Management S U P P L I E R S

Sales and distribution

Service Applications

Human Resource

Advantages and disadvantages of ERP

Advantages
1. Complete visibility into all the important processes across various departments of an organization (especially for senior management personnel).
2. Automatic and coherent work-flow from one department / function to another to ensure smooth transition/ completion of processes. 3. A unified and single reporting system to analyze the statistics/ numbers/ status etc in real-time, across all the functions / departments

4. Since same software is used across all departments this can avoid individual departments having to buy and maintain their own software systems.
5. Advanced e-commerce integration is possible with ERP systems that can handle web-based order tracking/ processing. 6. There are various modules in an ERP system like Finance/ Accounts, Human Resource Management, Manufacturing, Marketing / Sales, Supply Chain / Warehouse Management, CRM, Project Management, etc. 7. Since ERP is a modular software system, its possible to implement either a few modules (or) many modules based on the requirements of an organization. If more modules implemented, the integration between various departments might be better.

disadvantages
Disadvantages of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Systems: 1. The cost of ERP Software, planning, customization, configuration, testing, implementation, etc is too high. 2. ERP deployments take 1-3 years to get completed and fully functional.

3. Too little customization may not integrate the ERP system with the business process & too much customization may slow down the project and make it difficult to upgrade. 4. The cost savings/ payback may not be realized immediately after the ERP implementation & it is quite difficult to measure the same.

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