ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is a term used in conjunction with Enterprise Resource Planning software which is designed to manage all the functions and information of a company or business from shared data stores.
An Enterprise Resource Planning system has modular software and hardware services and units that communicate on a LAN. The modular plan enables a business to reconfigure or add modules (maybe from various vendors) while maintaining data integrity in 1 shared database that can be distributed or centralized.
Summary of ERP solutions
Some organizations, usually those with enough in house Information Technology skills to integrate numerous software merchandises, select to implement only parts of an Enterprise Resource Planning system and make an outer interface to other stand-alone or ERP systems for their application needs. For instance, one can select to utilize human resource management system from a vendor, and do the integration amid the systems themselves.
This is familiar to retailers, where a middle sized vendor will have a distinct POS or Point of Sale product and monetary application, then a lot of modified applications to manage business necessities such as staff rostering, warehouse management, logistics and merchandising.
Ideally, Enterprise Resource Planning gives a single database that has all data for the different software modules that address areas like:
Manufacturing Engineering, scheduling, bills of material, workflow management, capacity, quality control, manufacturing process, manufacturing flow, manufacturing projects, and cost management.
Supply chain management
Order entry, order to cash, inventory, product configuration, purchasing, supply chain planning, inspection of goods, supplier scheduling, commission calculation, and claim processing
Financial
Cash management, general ledger, fixed assets, accounts receivable and accounts payable
Project management
Costing, expense and time, billing, performance units, and activity management
Human resources
Human resources, training, payroll, rostering, time and attendance, and benefits
Customer relationship management
Sales and marketing, service, commissions, call center and customer contact support
Data services
Different "self-service" interfaces for suppliers, customers, and employees
Access control
Management of user opportunities for various procedures
