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BPMJ 6,5

Enterprise resource planning in reengineering business


Central Leather Research Institute, Adyar, Chennai (Madras), India
Keywords Resource management, BPR, Information technology, Computer software Abstract Highlights the need for business process reengineering and impact of IT on enterprises. Presents in detail the evolution, modules, verticals, model, management concerns and network infrastructure, selection of software packages and enterprise preparedness for implementation of enterprise resource planning. Briefly describes the key features of popular ERP packages, viz. MFG/ PRO, IFS/AVALON, SAAP, BAAN IV, J.D. Edwards, Marshal (R) and PeopleSoft. Concludes that enterprises definitely attain best business practices by implementing ERP, in an effort to position for success in the twenty-first century.

Subba Rao Siriginidi

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Introduction The business environment world over has changed more in the last five years than it did over the last 50 years. The key forces are customer, competition and change. The pace of change continues to accelerate and enterprises around the world seek to undergo business process reengineering (BPR), i.e. revitalize, reinvent and resize themselves in an effort to position for success in the twentyfirst century. BPR represents the radical transition that enterprises must make to keep pace with today's ever-changing global markets. The winners of tomorrow will be those businesses that most effectively gather and act quickly upon crucial information. Making informed business decisions will enable enterprises to accomplish their business growth and enable them to utilize the information to competitive advantage. To make it possible for the enterprises to execute this vision, the need will be for an adequate infrastructure that provides information across the enterprise. The use of information technology (IT) facilitates the creation of integrated management information and offers new possibilities for the enterprises. Impact of IT on enterprises IT plays a vital role in improving coordination and information access across the enterprising units and allows more effective management of task interdependence. The generic IT capabilities and their impact on enterprises include: transactional transforms unstructured processes into structured transactions; geographical transfers information rapidly and with ease across large distances, thus making the processes independent of geography; automation replaces or reduces human labor in processes; analytical introduces complex analytical methods to enlarge the scope of analysis; informational brings vast amount of detailed information into the process; sequential enables changes in the sequence of tasks in a process, often allowing multiple tasks to be performed concurrently; knowledge management

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allows collection, dissemination of knowledge and expertise to improve the process; tracking allows detailed tracing of task status, inputs and outputs; and disintermediation connects two parties, internal or external within a process that would otherwise communicate through intermediaries. Business engineering (BE)/BPR According to Morris ``Business engineering is the re-thinking of business processes to improve the speed, quality and output of materials or services''. BE revolves around IT and continuous change and constant refinement of an enterprise's changing needs. According to Hammer and Champy ``Business reengineering represents the radical transition that companies must make to keep pace with today's ever-changing global markets''. BE makes enterprises more customer-focused and responsive to changes in the market. It achieves these results by reshaping corporate structures around business processes and implements change not by the complete automation of a business but rather by the redefinition of enterprise tasks in holistic or process-oriented terms. In the majority of cases, IT powers BPR. Previously, IT was used to help enterprises automate existing business processes but recently, technology is being used to change those processes fundamentally. The recent developments in IT have made BPR possible on a radical, extensive scale and also more effective. The merger of the two concepts has resulted in the latest concept, BE. The entirety of BE lies in radical, process oriented business solutions that have been greatly enhanced by the IT of client/server computing. Most of the enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems developed are based on the client/ server solution model and BE blue print that represent an advanced integration of BPR and IT. Before going ahead with BE, the management, users of IT and IT experts must chart out enterprise goals together and identify the key processes that affect its success. These processes have to be reengineered to improve their effectiveness. The financial benefits possible when IT is coupled with BE include increased revenues per sales call, decreased inventory, hardware, administrative and operating costs, recaptured market share, reduced or eliminated overtime, etc. (Malhotra, 1998). ERP One may be under pressure to make a choice between making a high quality decision or a fast one. More information may give extra accuracy and confidence, but the response would be delayed if more input were needed. There is a right moment for most decisions. The right moment may be when one knows that one can lay hands on the expertise to get it right. It would be at such a time that tools like ERP come in handy. Evolution of ERP Manufacturing enterprises involved in manufacturing, sales and distribution activities have been using computers for 30 years to improve productivity, profitability and information flow across the enterprise. In the 1970s, the

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production oriented information systems were known by the name manufacturing resource planning (MRP). The MRP at its core is a time phased order release system that schedules and releases manufacturing work orders and purchase orders, so that items arrive at the assembly station just as they are required. Some of the benefits of MRP are reduction of inventories, improved customer service, enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. In the 1980s an enlarged version of MRP known as MRP II came into practice. MRP II has certain extensions like rough cut capacity planning and capacity requirements planning for production scheduling on shop floor as well as feedback from manufacturing shops on progress of fabrication. Further extensions like costing module make this closed loop MRP highly attractive to production managers. This extended MRP was labeled as MRP II. Since the 1980s, the number of MRP II installations has continued to increase, as MRP II applications became available on mini and microcomputers. ERP is the latest enhancement of MRP II with the added functionality of finance, distribution and human resources development, integrated to handle global business needs of an integrated and networked enterprise. The scope of ERP offerings expanded in the mid-1990s to include other ``back-office'' functions such as order management, financial management, warehousing, distribution production, quality control, asset management and human resources management. The range of functionality of ERP systems has further expanded in recent years to include more ``front-office'' functions, such as sales force and marketing automation, electronic commerce and supply chain systems. The scope of ERP implementation encompasses what is often referred to as the entire value chain of the enterprise, from prospect and customer management through order fulfillment and delivery. The world of the 1990s and beyond could be one of interconnected enterprises creating global information systems. An enterprise, to stay competitive, has to not only identify information needs, but also ensure that the information infrastructure provides the right support to serve the enterprise, its customers and suppliers. If it doesn't, it runs the risk of being disconnected and excluded from future opportunities. Modules of ERP ERP could be defined as an integrated suite of application software modules, providing operational, managerial and strategic information for enterprises to improve productivity, quality and competitiveness. ERP would be balancing the resources of an enterprise like manpower, machines, materials, methods, money and marketing to stay competitive in a globalized economy. The various modules of ERP include engineering data control (bill of materials, process plan and work centre data); sales, purchase and inventory (sales and distribution, inventory and purchase); material requirement planning (MRP); resource flow management (production scheduling, finance and human resources management); works documentation (work order, shop order release, material

issue release and route cards for parts and assemblies); shop floor control and management and others like costing, maintenance management, logistics management and MIS. ERP verticals One of the most important aspects of modern ERP systems lies in the integration that would be implicit in the design of the software and allows a considerable amount of integration between different elements of the business. For example, manufacturing processes could be integrated with the order processing system, which in turn could be directly linked to the financial system. The ability to integrate previously separate corporate functions into a single software system arrived at an auspicious time in the history of management thinking. The wave of downsizing and BPR that began in the early 1990s convinced management that existing business processes, particularly those that supported inefficient, non-integrated functionality, had to be changed. The way to accomplish this was to apply IT to solve the problem. The best way to harness the IT department for the task was to implement an ERP package that would integrate functions from across the entire enterprise. The key ERP vertical industries include aerospace and defense, automotive, banking, chemicals, consumer products, engineering and construction, healthcare, high tech electronics, insurance, media, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, public sector, retail, service provider, telecommunications, transportation, utilities, etc. The maturation of the ERP market has also seen an expansion within the enterprise. The ERP systems could and do provide a truly integrated multifunctional, multi-site and multinational business management tool. The software and hardware architecture of ERP systems has evolved rapidly in the last five years. Most ERP systems run on two- or three-tier client/server architecture using UNIX, AS/400 and NT operating systems. An increasing number of customers would be interested in hosting all or part of their ERP systems using Web-browser architecture. Thus, it aids an enterprise in utilizing the developments in computing and communication technologies (Sastry, 1998; Greenbaum, 1999). General model of ERP Figure 1 represents the general model of ERP and execution, integrated functionality and the global nature of current day enterprises. The circle at its centre represents the entities (enterprise, payroll/employees cost accounting, general ledger, job/project management, budgeting, logistics, materials, etc.) that constitute the central database shared by all functions of the enterprise. The border represents the cross-enterprise functionality (multi-platform, multi-mode manufacturing, electronic data interchange, workflow automation, database creation, imaging, multi-lingual, etc.) that must be shared by all systems. The cross-enterprise border would be multi and act as multi-facility and represent the capability required by it to compete and succeed globally.

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Figure 1. General model of ERP

The total solution must support multiple divisions or companies under a corporate banner and seamlessly integrate operating platforms as the corporate database that results in integrated management information The other segments, viz. the strategic and business planning activities for materials and resources influence engineering change management and the operational planning and execution of materials and resources influence workin progress management, intelligent resource planning and total quality management. The heart of any ERP exercise materializes in the creation of an integrated data model. Taken in its entirety, the ERP and execution model and its flexible set of integrated applications would keep operations flowing efficiently. It should be looked upon as the acquisition of an asset, not as expenditure. The model of ERP includes areas such as finance (financial accounting, treasury management, enterprise control and asset management), logistics (production planning, materials management, plant maintenance, quality management, project systems, sales and distribution), human resources (personnel management, training and development and skills inventory) and workflow (integrates the entire enterprise with flexible assignment of tasks and responsibilities to locations, positions, jobs, groups or individuals). Hence, EPP as a business tool seamlessly integrates the strategic initiatives and policies of the enterprise with the operations, thus providing an effective means of translating strategic business goals to real time planning and control. The ERP implementation could be undertaken as a proactive measure to be ahead in the race. The normal symptoms that would suggest the need for ERP would be high levels of inventory, mismatched stock, lack of coordinated activity, excessive need for reconciliation, flouting of controls, poor customer response levels and operations falling short of industry benchmarks in terms of

cost controls and general efficiency. The tangible benefits that accrue due to ERP include: reduction of lead time by 60 per cent, 99 per cent on-time shipments, increased business, increase of inventory turns to over 30 per cent, cycle time cut to 80 per cent and work in progress reduced to 70 per cent. The intangible benefits include: better customer satisfaction, improved vendor performance, increased flexibility, reduced quality costs, improved resource utility, improved information accuracy and improved decision making capability (Garg and Venkitakrishnan, 1999). ERP and management concerns The number of enterprises going in for ERP systems is growing rapidly. The concerns to be kept in mind by the decision makers while implementing the ERP could be divided into three categories: short term, medium term and long term. The short-term issues cover compliance with problems like Y2K, single European currency, shifting from legacy systems and avoiding implementation delays. The medium term issues cover return on investment. The long-term issues cover incorporating best practices from the industry into the enterprise's systems and procedures. The implementation delays of ERP would result in exponential growth in costs both direct and indirect. The implementation includes a wide variety of activities such as coding, testing, networking, training, redeployment of people, etc. The deployment of ERP has two parts, viz. selection and implementation. The selection involves listening to the views of various people whose involvement would be essential and the criteria to go beyond technical issues such as proven experience of the supplier in the desired industry, along with support infrastructure. Selecting a system that would be simple, offers smart tools for system administration, consistent interface, and supports graphical and character interfaces could reduce the implementation time. Working on a proven methodology could reduce the actual implementation time, with partners and certified consultants who could be experts in their line. In due course, ERP should enable an enterprise to use information as a means to gain increased competitive advantage by achieving the most effective practice in the industry. In principle, it would be always better to carry out BPR in advance of ERP. Pragmatically it may not be easy to do so because BPR is effort intensive and costs money and time. Also, carrying out BPR in advance of ERP implies that the enterprises need to put resources into two successive projects. In addition, it would be worth implementing the ERP package in its vanilla form. ERP packages offer many best business practices that might be worth including as part of BPR. After the ERP implementation, one could get into continuous process re-engineering. Several enterprises may have different primary objectives in implementing ERP. They would probably fall in one of the following: standardization of objectives, BPR, elimination of organizational and technical bottlenecks, improvement in quality of information, replacement of out of date procedures and systems, integration of business processes,

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reduction in standalone systems and interfaces, and covering areas previously neglected. The objectives and the corresponding expectations should be clearly documented. Network infrastructure for ERP Implementation of ERP could be a two-fold process, the former involving all the functions at the time of reengineering the business and the later, very vital but often ignored, in providing an acceptable mean response time (MRT) to the end user. MRT may be defined as the time taken by the system to provide an output when an active user inputs to the system. There are two factors that directly affect MRT: (1) computer infrastructure; and (2) network or inter-network infrastructure. Almost all ERP vendors provide tools to determine the kind of computer infrastructure required, called sizing tools such as CPU, memory, disk and other configurations required for a given number of active users. Most vendors also provide a response time guarantee at the server level using the above tools. However, there is no standard sizing for the network either at the local area network (LAN) or at wide area network (WAN). A network is a resource that would be driven by several factors like traffic, protocols and errors, bandwidth, etc. To provide a proper network infrastructure for an ERP requires an in-depth understanding of the application architecture. This should be done well in advance to ensure optimal resource utilization. It has been observed that for identical expenditure on network infrastructure, MRT may vary by as much as a factor of five between a welldesigned and poorly designed network. The client/server architecture became very popular and several enterprises consider it a de facto standard. The client/ server architecture essentially comprises presentation, application and database logic. The presentation logic is the user interface, application logic includes the business rules and transaction logic involves database transactions of the enterprise. An important point to be kept in mind is that the response time does not depend just on the amount of bandwidth available, but on the throughput and the suitability of a carrier for transmission. Therefore, it would be better to go for a deterministic network, i.e. a network with a fixed response time between the servers using technologies like fiber or copper distributed data interface (FDDI/CDDI), which is then collapsed on to a switched Ethernet network for clients. In the case of single server environments it could simply be an Ethernet switched network (preferably 100 BASE T or 10 BASE T). In a WAN environment a three-tier implementation of ERP would be a better choice where application servers are distributed to all the branches. A central server that serves the transaction logic could be provided at the central sites. The media for transmission could be chosen on the basis of their effectiveness and availability. This could be a vital decision point for any wide area

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implementation of ERP. Optimization now needs to be done in the implementation of the network. A three-tier architecture in a WAN environment takes care of reducing the traffic to the database server. On the face of it, it may appear that the cost involved in the computer infrastructure is rather high for a three-tier implementation. However, it could be more than compensated by savings accrued in the recurring cost of operating the network. Once a suitable network infrastructure is put in place, the task of implementing ERP does not end with just deploying the network. Its success lies in periodic monitoring and data analysis to determine its utilization. Also, in case of problems, this exercise would be useful in diagnosing its origin. Unless the network management is competent enough, it would not be possible to set up an effective network for any application environment, particularly ERP. In order to design a proper network infrastructure for ERP, the application architecture and transaction density factors play a vital role. The management of the network after its implementation would be another key component that leads to revolutionizing the systems and processes of any enterprise and ensuring that benefits of the major investments made in ERP implementation are fully realized (Murthy, 1998). Selection of an ERP package The criteria to be used in selection of an ERP package comprises: (1) Stability and history of the company. Since ERP packages would have been in use for a decade or more, the size and stability of the supplier should be one of the primary criteria. Software companies in many ways differ from most other companies. At the start of the PC revolution, Ashton Tate through its product, dBase, gained absolute market leadership. It seemed to be going from strength to strength through three successful version releases. Then in attempting a fourth release, it could not withstand the competition and had to be sold out in less than two years. Lotus Inc., till recently, was the undisputed leader of office automation products and had become a generic name for spreadsheets. The unprecedented competition from Microsoft resulted in falling sales quarter by quarter and it did not take too many quarters before it had to sell itself to IBM. Most Lotus users had to migrate and migration from an office automation package is nowhere as traumatic as if one had to migrate from one ERP to another. (2) Last 12-month track record of sales. The recent trend of sales would be a good indicator of how others have evaluated the packages. Some enterprises have actually evaluated suppliers extensively by deputing teams for visiting a number of reference sites. If one consulted a few of them, one would not be reinventing the wheel. (3) Implementation support. Implementation support from suppliers and more importantly from third parties would be a significant criterion. The more third parties for implementing the product, the greater the

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flexibility. Sometimes, one party could be used for implementation and another for quality checks. (4) Availability of third party product with the package. An ERP package would ultimately become a basic infrastructure. It would handle workflow management through online transaction processing and become a base from which further creativity could take off. For many of the world class packages, standard interfaces develop add-on products with a plug and play nature. Once the basic ERP implementation is achieved successfully, most enterprises require such products in niche areas. The ERP systems with a large number of third parties working on add-on products would be a plus point for the future. (5) Improvement in ERP packages. Competition among ERP packages would be the driving force that makes the suppliers improve the packages all the time with huge investments. Factors to be considered include: . Stability of the product. One of the most predictable things about software application packages would be that they are never completed on time. Even companies like Microsoft have often had to delay their releases due to last minute bugs. Hence, it would be advisable to go for tried and tested products. . Functionality. Comparison of functionality between two packages has often been the driving force for some enterprises in selecting the ERP package. Functionality is an extremely dynamic feature and at present, when comparing two-world class packages, it would be only a matter of time that the second package incorporates the functionality introduced in the first one. The richness of functionality could even keep swinging from one package to another as fresh releases come out at different points in time. One should ensure that the functionality of the package is generally rich and, more importantly, it has the infrastructure to go on improving it. Enterprises preparedness for embarking on ERP The following factors should be considered before embarking on an ERP system: . Infrastructure resources planning. The objective would be to ensure the availability of adequate infrastructure for the pre- and postimplementation stages. The hardware and networking infrastructure would be basic and required even for non-ERP applications. The generic network standards could be planned and put in place in advance. A reliable LAN with adequate bandwidth must be in place for ERP and should not have to contend with the teething problems of networking. . LAN. The latest network trend would be for a centralized server location on a widespread campus. The cabling could be category 5 UTP with

fibre optics for the campus, and switched Ethernet or fast Ethernet should be adequate for any ERP system. The same would also support other applications. Servers. The selection of servers mainly depends on the ERP selection and could be ordered only after the finalization of the ERP. It would always be better to plan for a lower end server that serves for training and modeling. This could be made available from the time the decision for the ERP is made, because most enterprises take a long time in deciding about which ERP package to deploy, but from then onwards, the number of days taken are counted. It would be absolutely necessary to have an adequate server/ network even during the training/modeling phase. PCs. The PCs bought should be of the latest configuration. They should be adequate for most ERP applications. Training facilities. A training center with adequate facilities must be planned, and a make-shift temporary one could be counter productive. Human resources planning. The successful implementation of ERP could be achieved only through teamwork, and the team should span across the entire enterprise. Education about ERP. The people in the enterprise have to be appraised about what ERP would be and what it would not be. This could cover ERP principles in generic items and case studies to point out what attitudes and principles have succeeded in other places and what have been the stumbling blocks. Commitment to release the right people. Once decided that ERP implementation is necessary though difficult, the best and committed people must be released for it on a full time basis. Those who cannot be spared are the ones who will be required on the ERP team. An advance plan to release the selected people and commitment for this at all levels is essential. Top management's commitment. Top management has to have the willingness to allow for a mind set change by accepting that a lot of learning has to be done at all levels, including their own. This attitude would facilitate the exchange of ideas with people who already have experienced and successfully implemented this change. Also, management has to categorize the ERP implementation as one of the priority projects of the enterprise for that year. Commitment to implement vanilla version. A total of 80 per cent of benefits would come out of integration, geographical transparency of the data, actionable information to people who would be front ending the customers, etc. About 10-20 per cent of customization needs arise from these areas and 80 per cent come from areas that are handling statutory requirements. A clear policy has to be made for implementation of the

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ERP in vanilla form and its review could be made only after six months. In this way, 80 per cent of the benefits would be achieved very fast. Overall, the morale of the enterprise would be high if the implementation could be completed at quick speed, even if it may not be optimal implementation. Ability and willingness to consider an ongoing site as a greenfield site. Implementing an ERP on a greenfield site would be easier than on an existing site because at an existing site, unlearning and retraining become major hurdles. Also, migration of the past into the new system is not required. Coupled with this, it would not be easy to spare people from their current jobs to take on the new task. However, an enterprise is willing to consider a current site, almost as a greenfield site and focus on learning and implementing only the new procedures, the implementation could be speeded up considerably. Setting the existing house in order. BPR would look at ``doing the right thing'', but one must ensure that one is ``doing the things right''. Reasonably well working manual systems. Similar to the manual systems followed for materials management like stores procedures, the discipline of doing work through documentation would be a necessary prerequisite. An audit should be carried out to find the current status and correction action or training carried out to make the current systems give an acceptable correspondence between the physical stock and book stock. Strategic decision on centralized vs. decentralized implementation. Most enterprises have more than one manufacturing location and branches. The broad decision one needs to make involves whether each location would have servers or if would they be only at a central location. It would always be worthwhile to go for centralization of IT resources. Major reasons for centralization. The overall centralized costs could be found to be two to three times lower than decentralized ones. The cost of consolidation would be dramatically reduced. The larger the server platform, the lower the costs per user. The operating system and relational database management systems could be much lower and only add on client software required at remote sites. The costs of providing for redundancy and fault tolerance could be considerably reduced. The manageability and IT expertise required could also reduce many fold. The availability of data at one place results in more complete empowerment of people through complete access to available information, absolutely online. The premises rent for server rooms could be reduced/eliminated, more significantly in major cities. The power conditioning needs and the need for stand-by power also could be reduced. The implementation of software would be far easier at a central location. The introduction of total standardization could be easily achieved. The need for consolidation and reconciliation could be totally eliminated.

ERP packages In the earlier years, MRP II systems were usually developed in-house. Though these enterprises developed ERP solutions to cater to the specific needs of the enterprises, they have certain problems like long development time, poor documentation and maintainability. Today, ERP implementation is one of the fastest growing segments in the IT industry. The select list of ERP packages include Baan from Baan, eBPCS from SSA, CONTROL from Cincom Systems, MFG/PRO from Qad, ORACLE from Oracle Corporation, PEOPLESOFT from PeopleSoft, Inc., Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS), SAP R/3 from SAP AG, J.D. Edwards, Marshal from Ramco Systems, etc. The ERP packages need to be customized and parameterized to suit the needs of individual enterprises. The following section provides the key features of some of the popular ERP packages: . MFG/PRO. A flagship product from an ISO 9002 certified company, Qad, that started operations since 1979. The products marketed by Qad include MFG/PRO, Qwizard, Decision Support and Service/Support Management. The software is available in 26 languages with more than 3,600 installed sites in over 82 countries. MFG/PRO software provides multinational enterprises an integrated global supply chain management solution that includes manufacturing, distribution, financial and service/support management applications within an open system environment. The software supports host and distributed client/ server applications. The component based application development enables flexible and scalable architecture to ensure a sound path for future growth. Qad's time to benefit methodology makes MFG/PRO quick to implement, and easy to use and maintain. The Window's based graphical user interface is an intuitive navigational tool that simplifies the learning process (WideSoft, 1999). . IFS/AVALON. IFS is a pioneer in providing ERP solutions to the manufacturing community and its solutions have been successfully implemented around the globe, from Fortune 500 companies to small/ medium sized enterprises. Its software is designed with best-practice standard tools such as ORACLE and Relational ROSE. The component-based architecture is truly flexible, supporting the current operations as well as the unique changes continually occurring in business. The IFS's software modules include financial, distribution, manufacturing, resource management, maintenance and engineering (IFS, 1999). . SAP. The SAP system comprises a number of fully integrated modules that cover the whole business. The SAP AG was founded in 1972 and is the leading global provider of client/server business-application solutions. More than 9,000 customers in over 90 countries have chosen SAP client/server and mainframe business applications to manage comprehensive financial, manufacturing, sales and distribution and

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human resources functions essential to their operations. The SAP markets its products to almost every industry imaginable such as raw materials, mining and agriculture, oil and gas, chemical, automotive industry, electronics and communication equipment and services, clothing and textiles, health care and hospitals, consulting and software, utilities and services, etc. The most prominent among SAP's product range are the enterprise application suites R/2 and R/3. The R/2 applications are for the mainframe environment and R/3 applications for open client/server systems. With both R/2 and R/3, customers can opt to install the core system and one or more of the functional components, or purchase the software as a complete package. The complete suite of R/3 applications is available in 24 languages, including Japanese (Kanji) and other double-byte character languages. The R/3 is accepted as the standard in key industries such as oil and gas, chemicals, consumer products, high technology and electronics. Many corporations today, including General Motors, Nestle , IBM and Microsoft, use SAP products (Montgomery Research, 1998a). BAAN IV. Baan is a worldwide leader in enterprise-wide business software applications and consulting services since 1978 for companies in the hybrid manufacturing, automotive, electronics, process and heavy equipment and project services industries, with over 4,000 customer sites. The family of products is designed to help enterprises maintain a competitive edge in the management of critical business processes by means of a product architecture that lends itself to fast implementations and ease of change. BAAN IV is an integrated family of manufacturing, distribution, finance and transportation, service, project and Orgware modules. The solution offers a new concept in business management software that incorporates and goes beyond ERP. By using the principle of dynamic enterprise modelling implemented through its Orgware capabilities, BAAN IV enables an enterprise to match its specific business processes and organization model with the extensive functionality of the Baan applications. Baan extends supply chain support beyond the boundaries of an enterprise to support trading partner management as well. BAAN IV is specifically designed to meet the needs of key vertical markets. It provides a scalable architecture making it possible for all enterprises as Fortune 500, mid-size or small-scale to cost effectively implement the Baan software. BAAN IV has a client/server architecture that runs on most popular environments and is Internet enabled to provide customers with the operational flexibility they need to be the leaders in their marketplace (Baan, 1998). J.D. Edwards. For more than 20 years, J.D. Edwards has delivered the innovative, flexible software solutions essential to run multinational enterprises of all sizes, leverage their existing investments, take

advantage of new technologies and achieve rapid idea to action. J.D. Edwards provides industry-specific solutions for a number of complex business sectors, including fabricated metals, automotive, consumerpackaged goods, pharmaceuticals, architecture, engineering, construction, etc. J.D. Edwards ActivEra enables business professionals to put new business ideas into practice. It enables this unique independence via the visual activator suite, which is composed of business activators and technology activators. These activators are based on a componentized architecture that separates business rules from underlying technology. The J.D. Edwards Supply Chain Optimization and Real-time Extended Execution (SCOREX) provides a dynamic, comprehensive information backbone for managing processes and enterprise data between suppliers' suppliers and customers' customers. It enables flexible, time-critical management of diverse customer-centric supply chains across multiple, global facilities. The powerful back office ERP manufacturing, distribution and financial functions are extended to include such core supply chain processes as: advanced planning and scheduling, product configuration with mobile order configurator, pricing and promotion management, order management, warehouse management, transportation management, customer service management, post-sales service and warranty management, managerial and activity-based accounting (Montgomery Research, 1999). Marshal (R). Ramco Systems has established its credentials as one of the leading providers of complete business solutions, comprising Ramco e.Applications, Enterprise Networking, Open Cast Mining and RealTime Process Control Solutions. Ramco e.Applications comprise ERP offerings (35 modules) as well as Ramco Gateway products to help customers leverage Internet, e-Commerce and EDI. One key aspect of Ramco is that it combines comprehensive ERP and plant system capabilities into a single modular product. Ramco's global customers include Fortune 500 companies with 600 customer installations and 10,000 users worldwide. Customers span across a wide range of retail, food and industry segments such as financial services, textiles, petroleum, healthcare and transportation. Ramco's Marshal (R) is an integrated client/server suite of business applications designed for Windows NT and Microsoft SQL Server. Applications include sales, logistics, discrete and process production, plant maintenance, finance, treasury, statistical process, quality control and human resources with payroll. Products are sold to multiple industries and are seamlessly integrated for optimum productivity, quick implementation and ease of use (Ramco Systems, 1999; WDC, 1999). PeopleSoft. founded in 1987, PeopleSoft is one of the leading providers of enterprise-wide client/server business solutions for Fortune 1,000

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companies. PeopleSoft develops, markets and supports enterprise-wide software solutions to handle core business functions including human resources management, accounting and control, project management, treasury management, performance measurement and supply chain management. It also provides industry-specific enterprise solutions to customers in select markets such as communications, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, higher education, public sector, services, retail, transportation and utilities. In addition, the company also offers PeopleSoft Select, a complete packaged solution including software, hardware and services to address the needs of medium-sized organizations (Montgomery Research, 1998b). Conclusion Enterprises could make use of IT capabilities to improve coordination and information access across their units for effective management. As ERP evolved over the years with experimentation, it targets workflow automation by utilizing the advancements in computing and communication technologies, incorporates benchmarked business processes, viz. globalization, competition, faster response to marketplace, contains costs, efficiency improvement, etc. Implementation of ERP facilitates enterprises to attain ``best business practices'', irrespective of their size.
References Baan, (1998), ``BaanERP'', http://www2.baan.com/cgi-bin/buisapi.dll Garg, V.K. and Venkitakrishnan, N.K. (1999), ``ERP a curtain raiser'', in Enterprising Resource Planning: Concepts and Practice, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi, pp. 3-19. Greenbaum, J. (1999), ``The origin and future of ERP outsourcing'', http://www.erp-outsourcing. com/eman.html IFS (1999), ``IFS eBusiness'', http://www.ifsab.com/usa/products/ebusiness_cont.asp#Traditional ERP users Malhotra, Y. (1998), ``Business process redesign: an overview'', http://www.brint.com/papers/ bpr.htm Montgomery Research (1999), ``J.D. Edwards: enterprise business solutions for the era of active software'', http://www.ascet.com/ascet/sp/spJDEdwards.html Montgomery Research (1998a), ``SAP the world leader in business software solutions'', http:// sap.se-com.com/ Montgomery Research (1998b), ``PeopleSoft'', http://peoplesoft.se-com.com/ Murthy, M.L.N. (1998), ``Effective network infrastructure for ERP'', The Economic Times, 29 May-4 June, p. 4 Ramco Systems (1999), ``Ramco systems'', http://www.ramco.com/ Sastry, M.V.S.P. (1998), ``Planning a career in enterprise resource planning'', The Economic Times, 26 May, p. 19. WDC (1999), ``The making of Marshal'', http://www.miningindia.com/planning/erp/2.htm WideSoft (1999), ``MFG/PRO'', http://www.widesoft.com.br/corporate/qad/info/mfgpro.html

Further reading Brint.com, (1999), ``Business process reengineering and innovation'', http://www.brint.com/ BPR.htm Cromer, L. (1998), ``ERP enterprise resource planning'', http://www.mindspring.com/~clemsontigr/ _private/erp/ Dubuc, R. et al. (1998), ``ERP systems'', http://cis.bently.edu/syudents/curven_fran/web/Final %20ERP%20SLIDES/sld001.htm PRGGuide.com, (1998), ``Future of Internet enabled ERP solutions'', http://www.prgguide.com/ reports/tocs/r141-057toc.html Shankarnarayanan, S. (1998), ``ERP systems using IT to gain a competitive advantage'', http:// www.expressindia.com/newads/bsl/advant.htm Tuteja, A. (1998), ``Enterprise resource planning: what's there in it!'', http://www.geocities.com/ CollegePark/Library/6045/erp.html

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