How ERP Systems Improve Business Management - An Essay.

Overview of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Discuss about the Enterprise Resource Planning Systems.

Enterprise resource planning systems is a business management software which helps in the coordination and management of the business activities in a single central location, making the data at all level of the firm available. ERP can be used in an organization to perform various information technology issues and improve the performance of the information availability with a faster and real-time response. They increase the internal and external organization interaction hence streamlining the workflow of the organization. The ERP systems are usually customized based on the client requirements. They are recommended greatly for both large and small corporations. They give a chance to the small companies to appear, act and operate like the large corporations.an example of the ERP system that has gained multinational recognition is SAP.SAP projects ERP systems for both the big, small and midsize companies .The ERP system comprises a number of the fully integrated modules which will cover major or all aspects of the business management (Guerrieri, 2018).

The implementation of the ERP system in an organization affects the entire organization, comprising of the processes the people and culture. For the implementation of an ERP system to be correctly done, the business implication and the requirements have to be clear and the top management support is very crucial in the implementation. Review of the existing business is very crucial before any implementation of the ERP systems. The business process and the procedure have to be critically reviewed and new ones have to be developed based on the new systems. Employees have to be trained as part of the ERP implementation process, which will help them take advantage of the system benefits ("Benefits of Financial Management Software", 2018). Through the right use of the system, the employees are able to perform efficiently and improve their performance.

How enterprise resource planning system improves the following area in the company.

Distributors and busy manufacturers rely on the purchasing department to ensure that the inventory of the firm is well stocked. Operations of the manufacturing department can be brought to a halt when there is lack of the raw materials for the production process, this often causes frustration to the consumers when they experience backorders. With a fast-paced environment in the marketplace, systems that are disconnected with the manual processes bring havoc when it comes to making the purchase decisions that are strategic ("Top 5 Ways ERP Can Improve Procurement Operations", 2018).

The ERP system improves the purchasing of the company in the following ways; First, the ERP automate the processes of the procurement. Many tasks in the procurement department are automated leading to a valuable time saving and task consistency improvement. The purchase orders created can be automatically sent to the vendor with a quote for the request. Secondly, the ERP has made it possible for the purchase planning process (Inc., 2018). The intelligent features that are built in th purchasing system can highlight the information about inventory that is trending such as the safety stock, the control stock levels, the increase or decrease of a product. With the ability to produce a report on the stock, the department can make a decision on the products to be purchased and the products to shun away from purchasing. Lastly, the ERP enables the profit margins to boost. Through the connection of the business processes with the accounting processes and gaining visibility throughout the warehouse and the center distribution, one can shun from purchasing stock that is plenty and not in demand and pay close attention to the safety inventory levels to cut the transit costs. Lastly, the ERP in purchasing helps in the improvement of the customer satisfaction. Through the use of ERP, one can avoid the loss of customers to the issues of the backorders. Strengthen the procurement insight and the inventory management so as to ensure the products that the consumer wants are available when the consumer wants them.

Implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

A financial management system that has been well implemented provides the organization with an extensive view of the how the income, expense, and profit of the organization are from a standpoint. The management and stakeholders can view the complete details of the firm accounts and how business analytics have been integrated ("ERP Finance: 3 Ways ERP Improves Financial Management", 2018).

The ERP stem helps improve the organization finance in the following way; First, the ERP provides more accurate and accessible financial information. The organization financial information normally reside in the various database that are scattered across various virtual locations in the business. This can make it hard to monitor the company overall view of the firm’s financial status and how does enterprise resource planning systems improves purchasing in a company manage the activities that are related ("ERP Finance: 3 Ways ERP Improves Financial Management", 2018). With a software that manages the financials of the organization, the firm can create a consistency across the enterprise, implanting the formal procedures for how the transaction of the financials and activities related should be handled. Secondly, ERP ensures there is better strategic analysis and planning. Through the use of the ERP, the firm can be able to provide answers to some questions such as the financial events that the organization anticipates in the coming year, how the emerging markets conditions will have an impact on the firm business. To provide answers to such questions in an accurate manner, the financial software provides the foundation for the strategies in business that are successful through allowing the financial executives to forecast the events in the future and identify the new business opportunities.

Erp in the human resource not only reduces the amount of time spent on the task relating to the human resource but makes the process more efficient. The benefit of the integration of the erp in human resource involves the attracting and tracking of an effective workforce. Erp make it possible for the organization to share applications across various departments. The candidates can be mapped to certain job specification as well and creation of various compensation plan be created to encourage the performance ("Benefit of HR modules for ERP", 2018). Erp, automate the process that frees up the management. Human resource larger function includes the data entry and reports generation. Developing reports without the use of the integrated ERP system will require the human resource manager to pull data from various sources which can take time. The time spent on reports generation can be used on another task of significance. An erp module one has been set up will make the process more efficient and save time since the date required to generate reports can be easily accessible (Ross, 2018). Lastly, erp module ensures that data is kept accurate and up to date. Since the human resource systems involve obtaining data from various locations, there is a high possibility of data duplication or incorrect information. The human resource erp module ensures that there is no data duplication or information generated in the reports is accurate.

The customer relationship management system helps the organization in the handling and management of the front end business handling of the customer service information, sales, and marketing. On the other hand, the ERP solutions integrated with CRM help s the organization in the back end process and the internal information such as accounting, inventory, and shipping. The erp systems integration with the customer relationship management have the following benefits: first, there is an increase in the visibility (Watanabe, 2018). Complete view of the customer needs, order history and account standing can be delivered in a complete way through the integration of the CRM and the ERP. Provision of the real-time visibility into the business information which offers team empowerment to deliver the customer service that is superior and build the stronger relationship with the clients.( Venkatesh, & Bala,2008).

The enterprise resource systems are designed to help in the analysis and data management, they are excellent in the improvement of the scheduling process. The reports generated by the ERP systems will allow the managers in the breakdown of the task, and the timetable history broken up the department. The ERP systems help the project leaders in the allocation of the appropriate task to people with the right skills and competencies and help in the future operations streamlining ("3 reasons to implement an ERP system", 2018).

Previously the organization had its employees responsible for the manual work. A lot of time was spent on this jobs such as data backup, different forms submission to various departments, and the software maintenance to manage data. Time spent on all these activities could have been used in the designing of the business strategies. Through the integration of the business erp solutions, the task has been automated. This has saved a lot of time. The employees can then utilize the saved time to work on other task and hence boost the productivity of the organization.

References

Benefits of Financial Management Software. (2018). Business-software.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.business-software.com/article/benefits-of-financial-management-software/

Benefit of HR modules for ERP. (2018). Techadvisory.org. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.techadvisory.org/2014/10/benefit-of-hr-modules-for-erp/

ERP Finance: 3 Ways ERP Improves Financial Management. (2018). Tech. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://it.toolbox.com/blogs/erpdesk/erp-finance-3-ways-erp-improves-financial-management-042414

Inc., C. (2018). Understanding the Role of ERP in Supply Chain Management | CompuData. CompuData. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.compudata.com/the-role-of-erp-in-supply-chain-management/

Guerrieri, A. (2018). Enterprise Resource Planning – a key role in the growth of a company. Geneva Business News | Actualités: Emploi, RH, économie, entreprises, Genève, Suisse.. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.gbnews.ch/enterprise-resource-planning-a-key-role-in-the-growth-of-a-company/

Top 5 Ways ERP Can Improve Procurement Operations. (2018). N'ware Technologies. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.nwaretech.com/blog/top-5-ways-erp-can-improve-procurement-operations/

Ross, S. (2018). How does Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) assist in human resources planning?. Investopedia. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/021115/how-does-enterprise-resource-planning-erp-assist-human-resources-planning.asp

Venkatesh, V., & Bala, H. (2008). Technology acceptance model 3 and a research agenda on interventions. Decision sciences, 39(2), 273-315.

Watanabe, R. (2018). 3 Major Benefits of Integrating CRM & ERP Systems for Process Manufacturers. Datacor.com. Retrieved 17 April 2018, from https://www.datacor.com/the-datacor-blog/3-major-benefits-of-integrating-crm-erp-systems-for-process-manufacturers