Article

What is ERP and what are ERP applications? Dadekavan

or many years, applications that were used in information systems were presented in a "functional" way and had no connection with each other. Such softwares were considered by small companies and easily met their needs by these applications. But after a while, with the onset of the process of reengineering processes in organizations, the need for different types of information systems was felt, and the creation of integrated information systems that could handle various software applications such as accounting, production, sales, and warehousing. .. Beginning in a coherent way.

What is ERP and what are ERP applications?

How can ERP improve the business performance of a company or organization? In general, the primary and primary purpose of ERP is to improve the process of obtaining orders from the customer (in the industry or service sector) and processing it to the final stage. For example, when an order received by the customer (or one person referring to one of the municipalities) enters the ERP system, all the information necessary to complete and present this order (or the need of the citizen) is available. Information about whether the customer has sufficient credit to the company or organization is derived from the financial module, and the necessary information about the inventory level of the goods and materials related to this order is extracted from the warehouse module. . Using this system, users are not the only importer of data and information to the system, but they will now be burdened with a heavy burden, as they will be in charge of questions such as "Will the customer make a timely payment on his order?", "Will we be able to deliver the order in a timely manner to the customer?" And in so doing, system users should be able to make the necessary decisions quickly and these decisions will affect the whole process of ERP. In addition, other users in other sectors also need to enter the system information. For example, if the warehouse keeper responsible for the inventory level is wrong, the company may lose many of its customers due to inadequate information about the inadequacy of inventory.

How long does an ERP project last? In companies, small organizations and those who buy and run only part of the ERP modules, this project may take about six months or less, but for large corporations or organizations that are willing to implement the project more fully, Because there is a need for change in different parts of the organization according to the ERP bundle, the implementation of this project will be on average between one and five years. 

What benefits can embedding ERP for a business? In general, the major advantages of implementing ERP systems in companies can be summarized as follows: 

A) Integration of information: ERP will help the company, unlike other systems that may provide financial, sales, production, and ... contradictory reports on their activities and their contribution to increasing corporate earnings. Which obtains the information in a comprehensive and complete way from a system.

B) Integration of information about customers' needs: ERP will help customer's orders and requirements from the time the order is received or the call or request is received, the receipt of raw materials from the suppliers of the goods for the production of that order, the delivery of the goods produced to the customer and receipt of the payment Seamlessly maintained in a system so that companies can easily track orders and create the necessary coordination between different departments of the company.

C) Standardizing and accelerating the production process: ERP systems by standardizing processes and the use of a coherent computer system will save time and increase productivity.

D) Reduce inventory: ERP optimizes the process of doing work, reduces bottlenecks and eliminates potential barriers to many processes, and lags data warehousing capacity. In other words, ERP also provides the ability to manage supply chain management (Supply Chain Management).

E) Standardizing information about company's human resources, saving time and avoiding duplication 

Does ERP match the processes existing in the company or organization?

The important thing to consider when implementing and implementing an ERP system is whether this software suite matches the current status of the software buyer company, with no? This is one of the important reasons that disrupts the process of implementing the ERP process in the buyer's companies, which sometimes leads to interruptions in the implementation of the multi-million dollar ERP project. In such a situation there are two ways: either the buyer must modify existing processes and make them in line with the ERP system, or the existing bundle must be changed according to the company's specific circumstances. In the first case, major changes are made in responsibilities, work practices, personnel responsibilities and procedures, and, in other words, the need for a reengineering process to be implemented at company level. In the latter case, the probability of a bug (BUGS) in the software will increase, and in addition, there will be some problems with updating the software (UPGRADING) in subsequent versions, because the next versions should also be created in a special and custom manner. 

What types of costs can ERP bring?

Training Costs: Because employees in different parts of the company work with an integrated system, it is necessary to find out more about the activities and processes in other sectors. Because any data they enter into the system will affect the whole system. Therefore, the relationship between different sections of the company through the system should be fully explained to users. In addition, a program for training on the appearance of the system (INTERFACE) should also be provided.

Software Integrity and Testing Cost: To ensure the correct implementation of the activities, the relationship between ERP software with each other and possibly with other software used in the company should be considered, which will involve costs. For example, a manufacturing company may have side software for e-commerce, barcode system, and other used systems. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a correct and accurate correlation between these software and the ERP bundle.

Customization: This is done when one or more of the ERP software fails to adapt to the terms of the business and the existing processes of the buyer company, and therefore it is imperative that the software is based on the particular circumstances of the company to be restored.

Data Conversion: Certainly conversion and transfer of data and information about customers, goods, suppliers, business parties, etc. from the system used to the new ERP system will require costs.

Return on Investment Time (ROI): Most companies expect that after installing and running ERP, they can get their benefits immediately from this system, but this is not possible at first, and it's time consuming to install and run the system, There will be improvements in the existing process, so that the project will begin to return

What factors often lead to failures in the implementation of the ERP project? Experience has shown that the most important factor in failing to implement and execute this project is employees and personnel using software in different parts of the company. If they do not accept that the ERP improves the process of performing their activities and activities compared to previous systems, they will resist its execution and fail. Therefore, the implementation of change management, which is one of the major issues in management, can stop the process of failure and failure.

 

How does ERP match e-commerce? As users of various systems in different parts of the company use the integrated ERP system and satisfy their needs, the two other major groups, Customers and Suppliers, operate outside of the company's scope. Requires access to a number of information in the ERP system, such as order quantity, inventory level, and so on. So we need to create two new channels for these two groups and provide them with access to some of the information we need. This work will now be possible through e-commerce (Electronic Commerce), which will be discussed in the case of B2B B2C customers and in the case of suppliers. According to the above, it is necessary that the ERP package be able to connect with the Web and thus enable the use and application of e-commerce in the company. Since the Internet is never stopped and is constantly changing, corporate web site activity will be stopped when it is necessary to upgrade, maintain, and update the ERP system. Therefore, it is necessary to make the appropriate flexibility between the ERP and the company's website to arrange that e-commerce applications continue to operate when the ERP is stopped.

 

To solve this problem, software is used to obtain the required information from ERP, and as a translator, this information is converted into a comprehensible format in e-commerce and other applications.