1. Enterprise resource planning software, attempts to integrate all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve all those departments’ particular needs. ERP combines all computer system, which optimized for the particular ways that the department does their work into a single, integrated software program that runs off a single database so that the various departments can more easily share information and communicate with each other. ERP vanquishes the old standalone computer systems in finance, HR, manufacturing and the warehouse, and replaces them with a single unified software program divided into software modules that roughly approximate the old standalone systems. 2. To improve control over the organization To reduce chaos and data redundancy To reap benefits from integrated data To integrate financial information To integrate customer order information To standardize and speed up operations processes To reduce inventory
To standardize Human Resources information 3. Training—Training is the near-unanimous choice of experienced ERP implementers as the most underestimated budget item Integration and testing—Testing the links between ERP packages and other corporate software links that have to be built on a case-by-case basis is another often-underestimated cost. Customization—Add-ons are only the beginning of the integration costs of ERP. Much more costly, and something to be avoided if at all possible, is actual customization of the core ERP software itself. Data conversion—It costs money to move corporate information, such as customer and supplier records, product design data and the like, from old systems to new ERP homes. Data analysis—Often, the data from the ERP system must be combined with data from external systems for analysis purposes. Consultants ad infinitum—When users fail to plan for disengagement, consulting fees run wild.