ERP is an Acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning

What is ERP - ERP is a business strategy that organizes the business processes of a company.  ERP considers the business process needs of each employee of each department and fits them together like a puzzle.  ERP software automates these businesss processes by allowing employees to function more productively in servicing the business and customers.  ERP software is designed to automate the business process requirements of each department so each employee is able to perform the tasks associated with their job using the integrated ERP software system. For example the purchasing department can enter purchase orders into the ERP software and the accounts payable department can receive invoices and pay them against the puchase order.  The sales department can enter a sales order into the customer relationship management (CRM) system and the accounting department can invoice the customer without having to re-key the customer data into the accounting system.  The sales department can be reminded to help collect on outstanding accounts receivable because the accounts receivable department has flagged the customer account for collections and so on and so on.

The key to understanding ERP is INTEGRATION.  If your business is running an ERP software system, then your data would flow in an integrated way to the key stakeholders in the business.  The accounting system would connect with the manufacturing system, the sales system and any other critical software system you use to run your business. The primary objective and justification for investing in an ERP software system is an increase in operational excellence and profitability by lowering operating costs and running more efficiently.

Before you consider any ERP software system, it's critical that you perform a business process assessment to fully understand what your business requires from an ERP system. To get started, each department within the business selects a Business Process Assessment  Committee member to represent their department.  Each committee member asks each person within their department a series of questions to identify human and software related bottlenecks and inefficiencies.  It is helpful for each committee member to find out what each person in their department likes and dislikes about the existing software they use to do their job.  The department committee representative surveys the department to identify opportunities to improve and reports the information back to the Business Process Assessment Committee.  The Business Process Assessment Committee then investigates and makes recommendations on how the bottlenecks or inefficiencies can be improved with extra employee training or implementation of software.  If the Business Process Assessment Committee decides the inefficiencies are Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software related, then the committee will define the business process management objectives and write a request for proposal from ERP software vendors.  Once the ERP software selection is final the Business Process Assessment Committee overseas the new ERP software related implementation to ensure it meets the objectives of resolving the business process inefficiencies. Some examples are; the ERP system would help the business outperform the competition because real-time executive dashboards and improved reporting offers a clear vision to run the business more strategically.  Employees can prioritize and plan according to information that is measured on a day-to-day basis.  Business processes will run more efficiently  Duplicate and error prone data entry is significantly decreased or eliminated because information now automatically flows where it needs to go.  

Contribution by Kerry Gardner:  Director of Sales and Marketing - Klear Systems

Klear Systems

Klear Systems is a Sage, Microsoft and NetSuite business partner delivering world-class ERP and CRM solutions as well as custom development and IT services to customers throughout Southern California, including Orange County, Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Irvine.

We’re a young company with a tenured staff of professionals that bring broad experience and extensive talents to every engagement. Your business success is the measure of our success. Klear System’s talented team of programmers, consultants, and technicians never stops looking for innovative ways to solve business challenges. From project-planning, implementation, custom development, and ongoing support we keep the focus on delivering a measurable return on your technology investment.