There was a time when enterprise applications where viewed in a balkanized manner. Every department had held its own island of information, with no direct inter-linkage. ERP has revolutionized the business scene by providing a solitary Enterprize-wide system that is used to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of a business. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is not explicitly software but a business methodology that enables better organizational control and profitability. Since software is what facilitates ERP – the term is almost always used in the IT context. By transcending all divisions (departments) ERP facilitates aggregated information intelligence and decision making that was earlier not possible. The most typical characteristics of any ERP systems include - a integrated system that operates real time (or near real time), a common database supporting all sub-applications, a consistent User Interface accross the board and the reduced need for IT depratment support.

Major ERP modules include Finance, Accounts, Inventory, Purchase, Production, Distribution and many others. Because all modules within the ERP umbrella are so closely integrated, the presence of an ERP system will alleviate the need for you to require any other disparate software application.

Most contemporary ERP vendors, including us, don’t believe auxiliary tools can be fully disconnected from ERP. Having disjointed applications would lead to tremendous redundancy, duplication of work and will result in efficiency wastage (a phenomena which Japanese theorists call ‘Muda’). Like all new age vendors we prefer to think of ERP as an umbrella term which encompasses all Enterprise Information Technology needs. Since clearly CRM, PLM, BI, PS and others have dependency on the ERP system we prefer to think of these as extensions rather than separate programs. ERP is like the central engine or the chassis around which other components and accessories are built. Figure 2 explains how we see ERP as an “Umbrella Term”