Enterprise Resource Planning(ERP)

ERP is a software system that helps you run your entire business, including processes in finance, human resources, manufacturing, supply chain, services, procurement, and more. ERP is composed of integrated modules that share the same database. All modules work on the same goal. ERP software can be bought using a cloud subscription model (software-as-a-service or SaaS) or a licensing model (on premise).

Types of ERP Systems & ERP Software Deployment Options

Enterprise Resource Planning software is considered a type of “enterprise application”, which refers to software designed to satisfy the software needs of an organization and improve business performance. There are many different ERP systems available today that range greatly depending on the size, function, and needs of an organization. Types of ERP systems generally refer to deployment options and include cloud ERP, on-premise ERP and hybrid ERP (some systems in the cloud and some on-premise).

Each ERP solution system is often tailored to support different aspects of a business, meet an organization’s business requirements and have different methods of deployment.

Big Business ERP vs. Small Business ERP

In the past, “big business ERP” addressed large organizations that often deployed onsite/on-premise ERP solutions and had an abundance of resources to dedicate to IT and other support to analyze, customize, upgrade and deploy their software solutions. 

The phrase “Small Business ERP” or “SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) ERP” commonly refers to ERP software systems with business management applications typically created to meet the specific needs for a small to mid-sized business. 

Today, these phrases are used less frequently as the important factor is not company size but determining if the ERP system is effectively addressing current and future business requirements, no matter the size of the organization.It’s imperative that organizations consider and select ERP systems that eliminate the need for costly customizations, adapt to the rapid pace of business change, address future technologies and meet other identified requirements.

Types of ERP Systems: Cloud vs On-Premise vs Hybrid

There are three main types of ERP systems that function with different deployment model options. The most common types of ERP systems include cloud ERP, on-premise ERP, and hybrid ERP. 

• On-Premise ERP software is implemented onsite and maintained in physical office space within an organization, hosted on the company’s own computers and servers for full control, support and ownership of the entire system once implemented.
• Cloud-based ERP software is a web-based solution, known as Software as a Service (SaaS), where an organization accesses and stores data on any device with an internet connection, usually through the purchase of a subscription. Continual support, updates, training, and flexible customizations supported by the software provider.
• “Hybrid” ERP software refers to a combined implementation of cloud-based and on-premise ERP system solutions. The combination of hosting and deployment services vary by provider. These models can provide ERP users the flexibility to migrate between delivery models, or integrate benefits not available to existing implementations. 

Different ERP vendors support different deployment model options. Combinations of options, often referred to as “hybrid” deployment may offer a combination of hosting and deployment services. These hybrid models can provide users with a flexible ERP solution and integrate benefits that may not have been available within the existing implementation.

When Does Your Business Need ERP?

Business development often focuses on goals that coincide with a company’s short-term and long-term growth, as well as analyzing potential business challenges. Conducting a regular analysis of systems and processes helps identify when a business may need to integrate an ERP system. 

An ERP solution should be taken into consideration when existing business systems and processes are:

• No longer function or function inefficiently (throttling/bottlenecking) 
• No longer support the growth of the company
• Lack current security requirements to mitigate risk
  

Identifying broken processes is important for growth and finding areas of improvement. Here are a few examples of opportunities that may signal a process is no longer supporting company growth:

• Use/Relying heavily on separate databases/spreadsheets/programs that require manual processes for data management and fall out of sync regularly
• Information and analytics are difficult to access and/or out of date
  
• Day-to-day processes are difficult or overly time consuming, such as paper-based accounting, financial reporting, etc.
  
• Sales and customer experience are suffering due to inaccurate or incomplete data and cause poor reputation for reliability and services
  
• Inefficient/complex/complicated IT processes. Current systems have bad scalability, fragmented systems and legacy solutions.
  
• IT time is spent fixing/patching legacy systems to try and keep up with growth
  
• Does not support new and advanced technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence, etc.
  

Once broken processes are identified, businesses can take the next steps to overcome these business challenges and support business growth.

1.0 Features of Human Resource Management (HRM)

• Personnel Management: The personnel management comprises Employee master-data, recruitment and salary administration, personnel administration. It also includes transfer, posting, job history, retirement etc., are included in the personal administration;
• Organizational Management: Organizational management includes, organizational structure, staffing schedules & job description;
• Time Management: Time management includes shift planning, time recording and absence;
• Holiday calendar: It facilitates leave management to reduce absence management; Allows employees to submit leave claims and monitor their leave balance, while managers can review such requests and notify employees of approved or declined claims. The module also calculates accrued leaves for wage calculation; and
• Personal Development: This section comprises training and event management, additional training determination and training assessment.
• Recruitment and associated works: Manage Openings and Job Applications, selection, joining, training, transfer posting, promotions.

2 Features of Payroll Module

• Prepare, run and pay with minimum effort with our inbuilt payroll function;
• Wages are automatically calculated while run based on your pre-set schedule: daily, weekly, bi-weekly or monthly;
• Post it to general ledger in a click with auto generated journal;
• Consolidates wage-related items like attendance, salary grade, benefits, reimbursements, leaves, advances, tax deduction, loan deduction to compute wages;
• Expenses, deductions, loans, advances and other employee costs including various benefits claims, including CBA, allowances and other employee perks are entered, tracked and calculated in this module;
• Gives loan ledger to account for all approved employee loans;
• Handle expenses reimbursements based on approved expenses;
• It helps you comply with various taxes and social security requirements;
• The system automatically does the calculations based on latest regulations;
• Provide tools for income tax projections, TDS estimates for tax deduction purpose;
• Time and attendance tracking;
• Let you manage multiple shifts and transfers and biometric integration to show real-time clock-in/out;
• Generate various reports including salary statements, benefits reports or leave summaries;
• Generate Payslips, and Forms to ensure legal compliance and mitigate risks level in workflow procedures;
• Send payslip online;
• Keep employee records and pay related documents.
• Streamlines workflow, processes to obtained data and runs complex payroll processes efficiently;
• Window based with instant help through help window provides a user friendly interface;
• Enriched with robust self learning help menu containing work process flow, quick instructions, video tutorials and complete user manual;
• Helping operational and HR managers accurate and timely information to make informed personnel decisions.
• Robust dashboard helps you to view employee data in one location enabling managers to simplify tasks, reduce paperwork, optimize workflows, and make better and faster decisions;
• Can handle complex payroll processes: In compliance with current legal regulations in multiple countries. Predefined reports can help you address various legal and compliance issues, increase the visibility and transparency of your HR processes, and simplify overall management of compliance-related concerns;
• Can help you improve collaboration and efficiency across your entire organization.

2.0 Features of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Module

• Build strong relationships with prospects (LEADS, OPPORTUNITY) and customers;
• Create effective marketing campaigns, comparing costs against planned budget;
• Manage your contacts and sales pipeline;
• Deliver outstanding and better customer service;
• Support call center capabilities with instantly traceable information from knowledge Base
• Robust KPI reporting with dashboard for faster and efficient decision making.

2.1 Features of Sales & Distribution (SD) Module

• Easy to search and select products from linked product masters helping you to save typing time.
• Linked with customer master to search and select customer helping you to save typing time;
• Classify customer based on sales turnover, debtors turnover, payment habit etc., to serve them better;
• Customizable pricing rules by item and by customer;
• Calculate sales commissions by sales person / sales agent or by territory based on respective sales;
• Track and manage open items;
• Create your own cash collection process through designing special communication including automated reminders or follow up;
• Optimize and streamline your Inventory using integrated Materials Management & Buying and Procurement Module to cover whole supply chain;
• Handle ever increasing new products effectively through robust materials master;
• Better order processing resulting in improved Customer service levels, Increased productivity, and Increased sales volume;
• Additional cash flow by better accounts receivable monitoring resulting a lower costs of doing business means higher profitability;
• Increased overall profitability through increased personnel productivity; and
• Robust KPI reporting with dashboard for faster and efficient decision making resulting in enhanced competitive edge.