What is an ERP?
We can say that ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning ) is actually the most central software of a company. It can also be called the software used by almost all departments in the company and the general processes in the company are carried out. According to the wiki definition, ERP is the general name given to the integrated management systems that enable the efficient use of resources such as labor, equipments, materials required for the production of goods and services in enterprises.
Well, when asked which processes are included in ERP, processes such as production, purchasing, stock management, sales, finance, quality management can be counted quickly, although they vary according to the company’s field of activity and size. To list the advantages of having these processes in the same software:
• Integrity: Since there is a single stock management, the produced, sold and existing products can be seen in a single system and the sales personnel can instantly know available to promise quantitites of a product. Likewise, financially, the entire flow of an verified invoice from the purchase request to the invoice can be found in the system in an integrated manner.
• Efficiency: Due to the above-mentioned integrity, it is ensured that the work within the firm is more efficient.
• Effective Decision Making: Accurate records and integrated structure in the system enable decision makers to make correct decisions. The simplest example is updating the selling price of a product with the correct cost or blocking it for sale to prevent a possible loss.
• Data Integrity and Security: Since the records in ERP are uniform, process and report integrity is ensured by establishing a relationship between operational transactions in different processes. Likewise, corporate data are securely stored and backed up.
• Ease of Use: Instead of using different software for each process, using a single software in general will provide advantages in terms of cost, usage and software support.
• Customer Satisfaction: As a result of the benefits listed above, the satisfaction of your customers is expected to increase.
Although some programs include processes such as Business intelligence, forecasting, and human resources in ERP, it may be more accurate to separate these applications both as authorization and resource planning. Of course, this situation depends on the software capacity and the size of the company, for a small company, having all these features in a single software may not be a problem.
