Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) A brief overview By Michael Walton 10/21/2010

What is an ERP system? An ERP system is a system used for the management of both external and internal sources of a business Some departments include but are not limited to – Tangible assets – Human resources – Materials – Financial resources

Requirements to be considered an ERP system Real time operation without the need for batch updating Outlying applications should access a central database (removing data redundancy) Full user side system access without further integration needed

Components of the software Core components – Financials – Distribution – Human Resources – Product Lifecycle Management Additional Components – CRM software – Supplier management Purchasing Distribution Manufacturing – Warehouse management

Where ERP came from ERP is considered by most to be an offshoot of MRP II (Manufacturing Resource Planning) – MRP II consisted of all business functions for a manufacturing company – ERP systems were developed as a direct offshoot of MRP II and included service oriented and retail companies as well as the functional parts of MRP II – Term was coined in 1990 by the Gartner group

ERP system growth ERP systems were slow to be adopted until the 1990’s – Reasons included High costs to make the switch Prior legacy systems (MRP II, MRP) already in place Around the year 2000 many companies adopted the ERP system

Top 5 ERP software distributors SAP Oracle Applications The Sage Group Infor Global solutions(formerly SSA global technologies) Microsoft Dynamics

Works cited source 1 source 2 source 3