The Essence of ERP

If you are interested in Enterprise Resouce Planning, it is important to understand the essence of this technology. The basic idea of ERP is that the whole is more powerful than the individual parts. In traditional computer applications, transactions are processed separately. A large number of organizations have used this system for quite some time, and there are still some who continue to use it today.

With traditional systems, eacn transaction must be handled separately, and they are connected to functions which are specific. Enterprise Resource Planning is just the opposite of this. Instead of separating transactions, they are all treated equally.

It is important to realize that most of the application programs used by companies that simply used for manipulation. They will contain data, and this data will be processed and presented in the proper form when a user requests it. One of the primary problems with this process is that is no connection between the application programs which are used by various departments. With ERP, there may be hundreds of data tables which store information for numerous transactions, but they will not be limited. They will be integrated in a way that will allow them to be handled by multiple users for different purposes, and these users don't have to be located in the same department.

There are a number of advances in technology that has contributed to the growth of ERP. Enterprise Resource Planning is directly connected to Information Technology. The improvement of IT with the decreasing cost of computers has made it possible for small businesses and organizations to begin using ERP. When Enterprise Resource Planning was first introduced, it was designed to run on powerful mainframe systems. With the introduction of PCs and client servers, along with RDBMS, Enterprise Resource Planning has been introduced into smaller markets. When ERP is used with a client server, the server will store information, and the consistency of processes will be maintained.

The issues of program logic and information processing will be split between the client and the server. A number of ERP systems will use what is called a three tier structure. It can utilize business rules that are normally not connected to the primary system, and this will ensure that the proper validation checks are used. Many of the companies that use Enterprise Resource Planning are those that carry out operations in multiple locations. To make sure these transactions are carried out properly, a number of ERP systems are being utilized. In order for ERP systems to function properly, there are a number of things they will need to feature.

The first of these is flexibility. Many companies need to change their operations and transactions on a regular basis, and the ideal ERP system must be able to adapt to these changes. Client server technology is important, because it will allow the ERP system to operate on multiple database back ends, and it will do this through a process that is called ODBC, or Open Data Base Connectivity. Another important feature of ERP systems is modularity. The term modularity is used to describe a system that is "open." The module must be capable of being detached whenever it is needed to work with other system modules. It should also be capable of supporting multple computer platforms.

Most companies will use a variety of system platforms, and they may also be in need of third party platforms. The ideal ERP system must be capable of offering this. It is also important for an ERP system to be comprehensive. It must be able to support a large number of different functions that are related to the company. In addition to this, it must be calibrated for a diverse range of companies and organizations. When one is looking at the quality of an ERP system, they must look beyond the company. Instead of limiting it to boundaries within the company, they should make sure it supports the internet and other elements within the company. It is also crucial for the organization to look at best business practices. A collection of these business process should be used on an international scale. The overall goal of a company should be to take the business processes of the physical world and apply them to computers.

Source: www.exforsys.com

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ERP Consulting 2010: Future Business Model And Alternatives

Analyzing Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains consulting in the Clinton era, then in recession time 2000-2003 and now, at the post-recession, we would like to give certain prognoses for the next five years. This might be attributable to the whole industry: Oracle Financials, Accpac, MAS500, PeopleSoft, SAP for mid-size business and Microsoft Navision, Axapta and Solomon. We are talking about mid-size ERP systems implementation, customization, integration and support, which requires more than one independent consultant efforts – client needs Microsoft Business Solutions partner to implement the system. The most important changes in our opinion happened in the time of recession and these changes will reshape the industry in a few years. Right now we are experiencing the time of market redistribution. Let’s look at the processes:

Consulting Companies Consolidation. Great Plains Software was supporting small and tiny partners, down to one consultant – this was up to the moment when Microsoft purchased the company and formed Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions, later on renamed into Microsoft Business Solutions. However the realities of recession-time cash flow forced small and mid-size Microsoft Business Solutions partner to merge with auditing firms. The opposite side of the coin is – large companies, serving mid-size and small businesses are pushing consulting and hidden implementation price up.

• Recession-time Expenses reduction CEO. Yes – corporate, mid-size and small clients launched the program of cost reduction. Recession inevitably pushed consulting rates down and the consolidation process leaded to the situation when clients could not afford the price level due to the weak budget or the believe in the price decrease.

• Consultants Layoffs. This is very prosaic process – but it is inevitable in the time of recession and lack of orders. Consultants, who were serving client in the booming time had to find another job, mostly in different industry, something like to become controllers for mid-size businesses (when former controller was laid off due to high pre-recession time salary). These historical layoffs however resulted in the nowadays shortage of experienced consultants, especially technical consultants: Great Plains Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, Integration Manager programmers and technical specs writers.

Predictions and Prognoses:

• Offshore is only part of the solution. The main reason in our opinion is reasonable conservatism from the side of potential clientele. There were so many malicious virus attacks from overseas and we do not simply trust somebody who is over there and never had a chance to shake our hands. The second reason – small to mid-size companies (who have conservative approach to trust somebody) might not have strong IT support and infrastructure to be served via remote desktop, VPN or web session.

• Established Partners with Offshore facilities. This is possible way, however we have certain skepticism here. The reason to our skepticism is – established partners have to command highest consulting rates due to high level of administrative and headquarters expenses, so the savings to the end client might not be substantial

• New Small Nationwide Partners. Due to the recession, there were cases when minor partners had to leave mid-size consulting companies and form new companies on their own, believing in their expertise and the new way of partnering with offshore programming groups. We believe that the future market will turn to these partners and new nation-wide practices.

Author: Andrew Karasev

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Software Outsourcing India Can Bring Rapid Growth to your Company

In today’s competitive world of business, every software company wants to make an outstanding position in the software outsourcing business. Since, the aspect of outsourcing came into being, more and more companies are tending towards this. Outsourcing your work is the part of information technology and also information technology enabled services. In fact, software outsourcing India is the most desired destination of outsourcing and this is because of the quality work done by the highly skilled Indian professionals. The outsourcing has proved advantageous for most of the software companies as their business has seen a huge run-up and became profitable, so this is also one of the reasons for its ever increasing popularity and huge demand.

Studies reveal that in software outsourcing, the cost of hiring professional is about five times less than that needed in European and American countries. The software outsourcing India provides quality work in less time and also at cheaper rates. Hence, in this way you are saving the revenue of your company. There are various factors on which you can outsource your work and hire professionals. You can also hire professionals on individual basis or also from the companies who are client oriented. Most of the companies around the globe prefer software outsourcing India to be its offshore destination for its projects. The complexity of the projects is the deciding factor for which you can think who is efficient to do your work.

Software outsourcing is not only the service provided by Indian companies, apart from this they also provide different types of businesses and knowledge. The widely accepted fame is due to the enormous talent pool that India has. United States is the major client of Indian IT companies and others are UK, Germany, France and many more. Even the world’s biggest software companies like Microsoft and Oracle are outsourcing their major work from India. A study says that more than forty percent of software development services and also information technology enabled services is outsourced from India. The companies are grounded firmly on the basics of trust, teamwork and use of latest technology in providing quality service to its client. The cost savings is the main reason behind outsourcing your work and further the company can invest those saved money on the growth and expansion plans.

There are various factors to consider before you hand over your entire project to an offshore destination. You must look for the knowledge pool that the vendor has about the industry vertical on which your project depends. If the vendor is skilled then only offer the project to him. You should also look for the track record of the vendor as to know in what fields they specialize. Their specialization is also important for you to consider as it will help you to relieve on their services offered. Many software companies are working towards quality certifications that will help them to give an outstanding position among its competitors. ISO certification or SEI CMM level certification should be considered when you are looking for an offshore vendor. The outsourcing services needs a good infrastructure and sufficient back-up to over come any kind of problem. The vendor’s experience in this field matters as it shows how efficient they are to handle your work.

Author: Allies Harbor

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