Why Use ERP?

Reliable Data: To make the right business decisions, you need access to the
right information at the right time. With an ERP solution configured to your
specific needs, you can rest assured that you are receiving accurate data to
make smart decisions. Even if you already have an ERP solution in place,
years of minor tweaking and connecting with disparate systems may have
turned it into a convoluted mess of obscure information. With a new ERP
solution, your business can put its trust in an up to date and reliable system.
Transparency: A huge boon to business is being able to identify which
products and departments are saving/providing money and which are falling
behind. With an ERP solution in place you can pin point exactly which areas
need to be addressed accordingly. By being able to quickly decipher where
your company's strengths and weaknesses are, you can improve profitability
before losing it.
Reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO): While it may seem like a large
investment at the time, the cost-saving benefits of an ERP solution will outweigh the initial expenditure on the solution. Even if your business already
has a legacy system in place, maintaining an outdated ERP solution can cost
an indefinite amount of time and resources as well as limit new opportunities.
An ERP solution needs to be looked at in terms of eventual return on
investment, not it's immediate cost.
Integration with new technologies: With the rise in use of the
internet and technology for business, it would severely inhibit a company's
ability to advance and grow if their systems did not stay up to date with
current tools and trends. Mobile technology and social media is heavily
influencing enterprise resource planning these days, so even businesses that
already have an ERP system in place will lose out if their solution is unable to
integrate with modern applications. Speed and accuracy are always being
improved, so being able to update your ERP system to meet these demands is
tantamount to staying ahead of your competition.

Increase user interaction: One of the big benefits of a modern ERP

solution is that they are designed to be used by everyone involved in the
implementation. Most legacy ERP systems have been put in place by a specific
set of people, which can cause drastic communication issues when other users
need access or upgrades. By having a fully integrated modern ERP solution,
your business will benefit from company wide interaction and smooth
upgrades to newest releases of the software.
Those are some of the most important reasons to implement/update an ERP
solution for your business. Stick with us for more blogs designed to help you
understand the world of ERP and CRM, and contact an ECI representative
today to find out more about our ERP solutions!
ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning is an important enterprise application that
integrates all the individual department functions into a single software application.
ERP Systems make it easier to track the workflow across various departments. They reduce
the operational costs involved in manually tracking and (perhaps) duplicating data using
individual & disparate systems. In this article, let us have a look at the advantages and disadvantages of implementing ERP (Enterprise Resource Management) Software Systems.

Advantages of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) System:

1. Complete visibility into all the important processes, across various departments of an
organization (especially for senior management personnel).
2. Automatic and coherent workflow from one department/function to another, to ensure a
smooth transition and quicker completion of processes. This also ensures that all the interdepartmental activities are properly tracked and none of them is missed out.
3. A unified and single reporting system to analyze the statistics/status etc. in real-time,
across all functions/departments.
4. Since same (ERP) software is now used across all departments, individual departments
having to buy and maintain their own software systems is no longer necessary.
5. Certain ERP vendors can extend their ERP systems to provide Business
Intelligencefunctionalities, that can give overall insights on business processes and identify
potential areas of problems/improvements.

6. Advanced e-commerce integration is possible with ERP systems most of them can
handle web-based order tracking/ processing.
7. There are various modules in an ERP system like Finance/Accounts, Human Resource
Management, Manufacturing, Marketing/Sales, Supply Chain/Warehouse Management,
CRM, Project Management, etc.
8. Since ERP is a modular software system, its possible to implement either a few modules
(or) many modules based on the requirements of an organization. If more modules
implemented, the integration between various departments may be better.
9. Since a Database system is implemented on the backend to store all the information
required by the ERP system, it enables centralized storage/back-up of all enterprise data.
10. ERP systems are more secure as centralized security policies can be applied to them. All
the transactions happening via the ERP systems can be tracked.
11. ERP systems provide better company-wide
better/faster collaborationacross all the departments.

visibility

and

hence

enable

12. It is possible to integrate other systems (like bar-code reader, for example) to the ERP
system through an API (Application Programing Interface).
13. ERP systems make it easier for order tracking, inventory tracking, revenue tracking,
sales forecasting and related activities.
14. ERP systems are especially helpful for managing globally dispersed enterprise
companies, better.

Disadvantages of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Systems:

1. The cost of ERP Software,
implementation, etc. is too high.

planning,

customization,

configuration,

testing,

2. ERP deployments are highly time-consuming projects may take 1-3 years (or more) to
get completed and fully functional.
3. Too little customization may not integrate the ERP system with the business process &
too much customization may slow down the project and make it difficult to upgrade.
4. The cost savings/payback may not be realized immediately after the ERP implementation
& it is quite difficult to measure the same.

5. The participation of users is very important for successful implementation of ERP

projects hence, exhaustive user training and simple user interface might be critical. But
ERP systems are generally difficult to learn (and use).
6. There maybe additional indirect costs due to ERP implementation like new IT
infrastructure, upgrading the WAN links, etc.
7. Migration of existing data to the new ERP systems is difficult (or impossible) to achieve.
Integrating ERP systems with other stand alone software systems is equally difficult (if
possible). These activities may consume a lot of time, money & resources, if attempted.
8. ERP implementations are difficult to achieve in decentralized organizations with
disparate business processes and systems.
9. Once an ERP systems is implemented it becomes a single vendor lock-in for further
upgrades, customizations etc. Companies are at the discretion of a single vendor and may not
be able to negotiate effectively for their services.
10. Evaluation prior to implementation of ERP system is critical. If this step is not done
properly and experienced technical/business resources are not available while evaluating,
ERP implementations can (and have) become a failure.

Function of ERP
1. With ERP , business can better control over its billing to customers and receivables.
With the ability to automate processes. It provides better operational, financial and
accounting control over its billing operations and receivables.
2. ERP system can be used for accomplish every task by integrating the information
system , seamless flow of information across every department . It is helpful to
make automation of every business process .
3. Because ERP works on IT's basic rules 'input -process-output ' , So it is also using
as management information system (MIS ) .
4. ERP treats the organisation as single entity and caters to the information needs of
the whole organisation because information is the key resource of every
organisation to win the competition . ERP system provides accurate , relevant and
timeliness information to all department on one software system .
5. Main function of ERP system and softwares is to provide information updated
and on real time .

6. In ERP , you can get answer of any query by its powerful query and
filtering facility .
7. Now advance ERP softwares packages are providing the facility to manage
import , export , tax and fulfilling other legal requirements .
8. Computer aided design can also integrate with ERP softwares for showing
design of products on real time and according to the need of customers .
9. ERP provides also all financial analysis under finance modules and comply
with India's and other international accounting standards .
10. ERP system can easily use in Government , healthcare , financial , retail
and other service sectors .

Free and open-source ERP software

Last
Name

Platform

Software

technology

license

Description

Countries

stable

of origin

released
ate

Integrated ERP
Adaxa Suite Java

GPL

built
on Adempiere

Australia/Ne
w Zealand

2010

Began as
Adempiere

Java

GPL

a fork of Compi Spain

2014 (3.7.0)

ere

Compiere

Java

GPL/Commer Acquired
by Consona
cial
Corporation in

USA

2010 (3.3.0)

Last
Name

Platform

Software

technology

license

Description

Countries

stable

of origin

released
ate

June 2010

For small and

medium
Dolibarr

PHP, MySQL

GPL

companies,

France

2014 (3.5.4)

foundations or
freelancers

A framework for
Epesi

PHP, MySQL

MIT license

building ERP

Poland, USA 2014 (1.5.6)

applications

ERP5

ERPNEXT

Fedena

Python, Zope,
MySQL

Python,JavaScript,
MySQL

Ruby, MySQL

Based on
GPL

unified

Worldwide

model[vague]

2014
(0.4.37)

ERP for small

GPL

and medium-

India

2014 (4.1.0)

size businesses

Apache
License

ERP for
schools/univers India
ities

2014 (3.1)

Last
Name

Platform

Software

technology

license

Description

Countries

stable

of origin

released
ate

FrontAccount
ing

PHP, MySQL

GPLv3

Web
application

2014
(2.3.21)

Tools to
GNU
Enterprise

develop
Python

GPLv3

interactive

2010

database
applications

ERP for small

and mediumsize businesses
HeliumV

Java

AGPL

(initial focus
has been

Austria,Germ
any

electronic
manufacturing)

Began as
iDempiere

Java

GPLv2

a fork of Ademp Worldwide

2013 (2.0)

iere

JFire

Java, Eclipse

LGPL

ERP and CRM

system

Germany

2011 (1.2.0)

Last
Name

Platform

Software

technology

license

Description

Countries

stable

of origin

released
ate

Double entry
accounting and
LedgerSMB

Perl, PostgreSQL

GPL

ERP system
(fork of SQL-

Distributed

2014

development (1.3.37)

Ledger)

ERP and ecommerce suite

Apache

Java, Apache

Apache

from the

OFBiz

HTTP Server

License2.0

Apache

USA

2014
(12.04.04)

Software
Foundation

Openbravo

Java,PostgreSQL,O
racle

ERP and Point

1

OBPL

of Sale (POS)

Spain

2013 (3.0)

software

Renamed
Odoo

Python,

from OpenERP

2012 (7.0,

Javascript,PostgreS AGPLv3

to reflect that is Worldwide

8.0RC in

QL

more than just

2014)

ERP

Phreedom

PHP, Javascript,
MySQL

GPLv3

Expanded from USA

Phreebooks

2012 (3.4)

Last
Name

Platform

Software

technology

license

Description

Countries

stable

of origin

released
ate

accounting
engine

Postbooks

C++, JavaScript,
PostgreSQL

CPAL

Accounting,
CRM and ERP

USA

2014 (4.5.0)

Double entry
SQL-Ledger Perl, PostgreSQL

GPL

accounting and Canada

2014 (3.0.6)

ERP system

Originally
forked from
TinyERP,
Tryton

Python, GTK+

GPLv3

cleaned-up
code base with

2014 (3.2)

continious
update/migratio
n path

WebERP

PHP, MySQL

GPLv2

LAMP-based
system

2013
?

(4.11.1)

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