What is ERP? An overview

What is ERP? An overview

We all know ERP by the name of "Enterprise Resource Planning". Today ERP word has become so popular in the world of Internet and corporate, that everyone is on the tongue.

In simple word; it is software, it is a management tool, or it is the name of a company. So let’s first know actually what is ERP?

What is ERP Software?

ERP centralizes all the information you need. I would call it a type of software or you can call it a category of software, it is so popular today because of its amazing features.

What is ERP Features?

Here we talk about some of its features, with the help of which you will be able to understand it.

One of the main features of ERP is that it provides end-to-end detailed information management solutions for a company ERP software can be used by all departments within the company.

The purpose of ERP software is to manage the information so that the right information is provided to the right person and at the right time.

Specific ERP software covers different business areas as it is an end-to-end management solution.

ERP Module

ERP works in module system, and one module represents one department  in a company.

Example one module works for Product Management, other one Manufacturing Processes and other Software Sales Marketing, Finance, Human Resources, and Purchase etc.

In easy way; ERP software consists of modules which mean various applications are included and these application modules are connected to each other's focus. Each module is a special business area.

For example we will have a module to manage the finances of the company. There will be a module to manage human resources etc.

However these modules are almost standalone applications. But they  connect  with each other.

Let's understand this with an example. Suppose a module is storing data about a certain unit. Suppose it is keeping the personal and functional details of the employees. On the other hand another module wants to refer to the employees as well as the employee. It will only share information with module 1 to maintain its copy of the key table that prevents duplication of data.

You understand that the ERP modules are interconnected because the modules are connected management of a company that can run reports on any expectation of the business to get a complete view of the activities.

ERP Reports

It is a very important benefit that the connectivity of the module gives your management complete view in reports.

This gives us the opportunity to view certain data from multiple perspectives.

These reports help to executive officers to make decisions and this is possible only when the modules are connected to each other.  ERP module gives advantage for the same.

ERP License and Agreement

The licensing of ERP software is usually based on the module, due to which a company can also make it step wise.

If your company requires only three modules, then you do not need to buy all the modules.

Just buy only three modules that meet your company's management goal properly.

ERP Users

When we talk about the end-users of ERP we mainly discuss about two types of users;

1. Business users and Management

2. Executive users

Those who are responsible for day-to-day operations and for making business related decisions, most of the management executive use ERP system only to make important decisions based on its report.

There are zero faults in ERP report and there is no manipulation, with the help of it any company can use historical data very well and take future decisions.

The second most important aspect of this system is that any company can customize it to suit its business needs, it is not as simple as you would think, and for this we need subject and software experts.

ERP Implementation Process

If you want to set up an ERP system for your company and use it to give a new dimension to your business, it requires going through an implementation process.

An implementation process is a very high-level start to implement the system.

In this section; you understand the business requirements of the customer, how the customer wants to use the ERP system for his business and what he expects from this ERP system

It is also very important to know how the customer is currently doing his business, and what system  he has been using for this,  and what his business needs in future, You configure the ERP system in such a way that it starts behaving according to those requirements.

ERP Gap Analysis

If the client has a unique requirement that is not met by any of the functionality of the ERP system, then this type of requirements is called Gap which we list at all intervals, and analyze the requirement to  fill up the gap.

This process is called Gap Analysis. With the solution of intervals we also have to understand,  what and how the customer wants to work with ERP system.

And then ERP has to be configured accordingly but the implementation is an opportunity for the client to decide how he can fix those things. The way does things and can change them according to industry best practices.

If a business accepts to change its way of functioning as per the system, then it is a good sign to connect that industry with new technology and to execute future plans.

Once we understand it in a nutshell;

Typically the ERP project has some business processes including restructuring where the customer is modifying system, the way it wants to perform business processes.

So you will configure the ERP system accordingly with the customer's requirement.

Currently how to do business processes, but after accepting industry best practices.

ERP Business Project

ERP implementation is done as a project so a project is started to complete the ERP implementation. 

Various roles take into account a specific ERP project that can be filled by a single role by multiple people in a large project.

And one person can fill many roles in a small project. Here we are talking in terms of role. so the important role is that you have network administrator, operating system, database and more

ERP Team Rules and Responsibility

Main roles are; ERP System Administrator, Project Manager, Functional Consultant, Technical Consultant and Business Analyst for you, who keep in mind that ERP application which is software and database management system is separate software, operating system play separate role.

How to take maximum advantage of connecting all these together with ERP application?  It is possible that control of expenditure is also an important part of this project.

An important part of ERP is to create a best management system by connecting it,  with the company's database and easily migrate this data to another system whenever necessary in future.

Some ERP software works only with a fixed database such as Oracle E-Business Suite. It only works with certain databases.

In most cases database clients can decide which database they want to use, but the bottom line is that the ERP system is a separate software database management system. It is a different type of software because it has a database management system of its own.

For this we need a DBA or Database Administrator. This person is responsible for the security of the database including the recovery of the backup as well as the backup.

And after all those functionalities we have ERP system administrator and this person is responsible for managing the health and safety of ERP software.

Therefore the DBA (Database Administrator) is responsible for making sure that the database is in common whenever the need arises and the ERP system administrator is available to ensure that

The term ERP system administrator is a common term when the ERP system is working according to expectations. It is talked about in terms of implementation of a particular ERP system, but we are talking in a general context.

Now keep in mind that both ERP and database software are running on top of an operating system. Operating system is running on top of hardware.

Now it has an operating system, so we need a person to look after the operating system. It is the person responsible for the health of the operating system.

It is called the operating system administrator and it plays an important role in keeping and connecting all in one network.

A computer system network is not just a collection of cables. It also includes  hardware (such as switches, connection routers, and hubs, etc.) that speed it up properly so that better results can be obtained.

When it comes to the network, for this you also need a network administrator who can take care of the health of the network.

Functional consultants are the most important people in an ERP implementation project, who possess strong knowledge of ERP systems, are experts in configuring ERP systems, and are experts in how ERP systems work is, they collect business requirements.

Business analysts are users on behalf of the business or they can also be external consultants, but they expect to understand how the business should work and they are functional consultants and Act as a bridge between businesses.

Through the Business Analyst you can understand some of the special task of the business such as how the business works. They are experts in this field and the Functional Adviser liaises closely with the Business Analyst in determining the requirements of the business.

And as I mentioned earlier that we have functional gaps because all the business requirements cannot be fulfill in any ERP in the first step. You will get some gaps which should be handled by ERP functionality.

Understand this by an example, such as some specific report that the client needs that is not available in out-of-the-box ERP systems, so those requirements are called gaps and these gaps have to be filled.

Filling those gaps is called optimization because one has to go under the hood or technical side and modify the system so that it fills the gaps and those who go under the hood are called technical advisers; they are experts on ERP system, which is built.

So these people will go into the hood and modify the system so that some functionality can be created to fill the gaps that were there so we have talked about technical consultants who are technology experts.

And they can modify the software. They can modify existing reports to fill the gaps, they can create new reports.

Technical Advisers; first we have to discuss the concept. Interfaces as well as ERP systems communicate with other software running within the company as well as outside the company at a supplier or customer site.

for example - communication between two software is through interfaces where interface can be considered as a set of tables and programs.

Advisers specialized in these programs to write data to interface tables and read data and validate the data, and then it can be imported into real ERP system tables.

Whenever ERP systems must communicate with other third party software, which is running the entire show, it is called the project manager.

The Project Manager has the highest qualification in making the project successful, so when he completes the project the complex task of coordinating between all roles is available to be used by the ERP system company and is called target life.

 

Training Phase Before Go Live 

The day before the ERP system is in production and after that the warranty period begins, the project team will provide support when the warranty period ends before the start of the project during the warranty period.

To support the application someone will have to play a support role so the training will be taken by functional advisers and they will either train staff members or perhaps some other contractors if the support role is contracted and it will address those issues, trained in how to solve etc.

Now we talk about the back end ERP system scenario many computers are rolling out and these computers are called servers. ERP systems work in a three tier environment. There can be more than one server, database servers, and application server.

For example, if you have thousands of users then you can have all application servers connected to a single database server or have multiple mirrored databases.

after successful setup, ERP expert will do some testing and when they  found everything OK than   they will grant a permission to test users on a test environment and a production environment.

 

ERP Live 

Where you can start using the system and it will be called live.

  

There is clearly no data in production when you are going live, but when you have gone live, you may want to copy the productions data to other environments so that you can troubleshoot. You want to do some testing that you need from production There is a need to get the latest data so the term fresh is used.

Conclusion

So what is ERP software? You are facing issue in your business due to lack of information. if your answer is yes, It is directly  associated with efficiency, time and money, so here an ERP system helps you to take decision for your business.

ERP centralizes all the information you need. Your organization and doing this enable you to streamline the flow of information, all your business processes are connected end-to-end, when you need it and when you want to analyze your information, it all happens in the same place.

ERP system software does everything that you want in your business. It can easily create any type of report according to your needs, which helps you in making business decisions. A modern ERP gives you a lot Allows to.