Dear all,

Actually on the forum, most of the discussion are based on technical points.

I would like to ask a very basic question to all of you:

Why having an ERP software is a must and an advantage for a Company ?

Thanks a lot for answering honestly !

Fly

An ERP consolidates management of your companies major business processes. Sales orders, Purchase orders, Production orders, Inventory, etc.

It can use this information to forecast material requirements, sales projections, inventory, etc.

It can also roll up all of those activities to allow a good financial picture.

The alternative of which is doing all of the above by had, pencil and paper.


If your question is more along the lines of why do we need 1 system (like baan) to do all that vs a best of breed, or homegrown. well that's a debate,
and is really up to the specific company and it's needs.

Dave

Although we provide service on ERP systems, we should admit that ERP systems implementation is not easy to be success.

Three major problems,

1. Complexity of ERP, a single big system to handle the business in different departments, different industries, different countries.
2. ERP is broad in functionality, but lack in the depth of functionality, which results in quite a lot of customization.
3. The difficulty of change management across multiple departments

So?

1. Give up your unrealistic expectation on an ERP system. It is just a general purpose single big system. Buy it to fulfil your basic business operations like GL, AR, AP, inventory management, order management.
2. If you need more than that, source some specific business system like CRM, SRM, MES, APS. The specific business system should be fit to your industry. A MES system for electronics industry does not fit the requirement of electrical appliance manufacturing company.
3. How to integrate them? SOA! SOA is a new IT bubble need to be fulfiled. :> Check Mulesource or Iona Fuse.

Thanks for your answer.

Is it possible to have any other feedback from you ?

Thanks

Fly

The ERP entry on Wikipedia has a list of the advantages and disadvantages of ERP.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterprise_resource_planning

The disadvantage part actually indicates some of the problems of an ERP system.

I especially agree with these two.

"Many of the integrated links need high accuracy in other applications to work effectively. A company can achieve minimum standards, then over time "dirty data" will reduce the reliability of some applications"

and

"The blurring of company boundaries can cause problems in accountability, lines of responsibility, and employee morale."