Small, medium and large enterprise vendor solutions

SMALL, MEDIUM AND LARGE ENTERPRISE VENDOR SOLUTIONS:

The flexibility which ERP offers is definitely a very big advantage which interests the small business. Flexibility and the real time control over the price and the jobs are the key features for a small sized company. Concise reporting is also a main factor which decides the quality of the company.

Based on these needs, ERP vendors have made installation of the related software as very less complex with much less manual job needed. The user friendliness of the applications also got improved. Adding more users or customers will no way affect the functionality of ERP.

Many small businesses are already enjoying the benefits after successful ERP implementation. The profit of the company has certainly increased after the usage of ERP provided the implementation procedures are followed perfectly. Business which implemented ERP successfully saw their business profit increasing within one year itself.

A good ERP system comes with essential features that will provide the functionality of comparing the hours of working of the professionals and the actual hours of work which was paid as a salary. In fact, many small businesses just doubled their return on income with just using this service effectively. With this ERP, they were able to monitor the time of production, cost, employee activity, overall performance of the company and many more crucial information. Before setting up ERP systems, small business must first identify the business requirements. The impact which the ERP is going to have on the business should be well analyzed. Cost factor involved in implementation should be set aside initially. Once the requirements are well planned, then comparison can be made on different vendors available and the vendor which provides cost effective service and be opted.

Organizations are implementing Enterprise Resource Planning system to streamline their internal business process and for smooth flow of data between the different functional departments like inventory, purchase, production, accounts, etc. The different functional modules of the ERP software look after the respective functional department. Some of the functional modules in the ERP are as follows:

1.       Production Planning Module: The Enterprise Resource Planning system has evolved from Material Resource Planning which was used for the manufacturing requirements of the companies. ERP is more robust software for production planning as it optimizes the utilization of the manufacturing capacity, material resources and the parts using production data and sales forecasting.

2.       Purchasing Module: This module aids in streamlining the procurement of required raw materials. It is integrated with the inventory control and production planning modules and often with the supply chain management software. This module automates the process of identifying potential suppliers, supplier evaluation. It is used for automation and management of purchasing.

3.       Inventory Control Module: This module aids in managing the company's resource inventory and the product inventory. It helps in handling the replenishment of the product and maintenance of the stock levels of the products. The inventory control module monitors the inventory stock present at the different locations like at the warehouse, office and stores. The module can manage the inventory of raw materials used for product planning. It enables the company to plan the future production and keep a stock of products which go below critical level.

4.       Sales Modules: This module automates the sales tasks, customer orders, invoicing and shipping of products. It is integrated with the company's ecommerce websites and many vendors provide with online storefront as a part of this module. The sales department is an important area for the organization.

5.       Accounting and Finance Modules: Accounting and finance are the core areas of an organization. This module interacts with the other functional modules to collect the financial data for the general ledger and other financial statements of the company.

Human Resource Module: This can be used as an independent module. It is used for integrating the recruitment process, payroll, training and the performance evaluation process. The module handles the history of the employee, tracks the employees laid off and aids in rehiring of the employees.

7.       Manufacturing Module: This module includes product designing, bills of material, cost management, workflow, etc.

8.       Marketing Module: The ERP marketing module supports lead generation and the promotional activities.

Each of these above functional modules of ERP software plays an important role. The organizations can choose to implement some of the modules or all according to their requirements. The companies opt for the modules which are technically and economically feasible to them. These modules streamline the flow of the communication across the company by integrating the various functional departments. The enterprise resource system is bound with all these functional modules. These distinct yet seamlessly integrated modules cover most of the functional needs of an organization. The functional modules of ERP software help to achieve efficiency of operations, cost savings and help to maximize the profits.

Processes, organization, structure and information technologies are the key components of BPR, which automates business processes across the enterprise and provides an organization with a well-designed and well-managed information system. While implementing ERP, the organizations have two options to consider.

Either the organization must reengineer business processes before implementing ERP or directly implement ERP and avoid reengineering.