The advent of the Internet, changing customer demands, the pressure to speed up business processes and establish the need for cooperative relationships with key suppliers and partners, companies are urging all organizations ERP solution. So what is ERP?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as a set of information, the information processes and information within and across functional areas within a company is based integrated “is described in [1].

traditional stand-alone applications designed for specific customers, with limited functionality, and isolated from other applications. Instead, the ERP companies, which integrates all applications required by an organization as a whole and connects to the organization from other companies to form a network. It is generally compromised in several modules, such as a financial module, a module distribution, production or module. Today ERP has new features such as managing the supply chain, product data management, electronic commerce and inventory management. Thus, ERP is a window of opportunity for companies that compete globally, meet increasing competitive pressures and income.


Features & ERP

Basic Operations:

ERP facilitates company-wide integration of information systems, all functional areas such as manufacturing, sales, accounts payable, accounts receivable, inventory, accounting, human resources, procurement, etc.

– ERP operates in the heart of business and increased customer satisfaction

-. ERP facilitates the flow of information between different areas, departments of the organization

-. ERP bridges the gap between the business partners for their cooperation during

-. ERP is a good solution for better project management

-. ERP is as an open system architecture that enables the automatic introduction of latest technologies such as Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet, intranet, video conferencing, e is integrated commerce, etc.

– ERP focuses not only on the current needs of society, but also offers the opportunity for continuous improvement of business processes and refining

-. ERP provides business intelligence tools like Decision Support Systems (DSS), Executive Information System (EIS), Reporting, Data Mining and early warning systems. (Robots) for enabling people to make better decisions and improve business processes

– ERP a wide range of events follows in an organization, and plans for future activities on the basis of these events

ERP drivers:

1 The need to increase supply chain efficiencies.

2 The need to improve customer access to products or services.

3 The need to reduce operating costs.

4 The need to respond quickly and flexibly to a changing market.

global ERP implementation:

the past, most international companies have managed their systems on a regional basis, because there is no single solution that was generally acceptable.

In the current dynamic economy, there is a strong need for institutions to compete globally. The key to success is customer satisfaction through understanding customer needs and providing quality goods and services as quickly as possible. To support a global perspective, many companies implemented or implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to improve to the level of coordination between the national units of the same company and with partners in business. But to achieve this level of coordination, it is important to have a strategy for the global market, a common IT infrastructure and business processes in place.

An analysis of the history of the global ERP projects, the importance of organizational alignment with business processes and business strategy with IT strategy on the international market to compete. “Threads” is a good example of an international company has its old system replaced with the ERP. “Threads” was a structure of the national organization that works on a country to country.

For a global perspective “threads” decided that his time has for the Company’s transition from a local to a global transformation of geographical perspective. This is how Europe does as a market for their business, but also to compete with an emphasis on quality, price and customer service guaranteed. The organizational structure and support for global ERP is shown in [2].

Enabling Technologies: The traditional ERP systems require sophisticated and expensive infrastructure of information technology such as mainframes. Today with the advance of information technology and reducing the cost of computers, it will be examined for SMEs, ERP possible. In addition, the power of the three levels of client-server architecture and scalable relational database management the use of ERP systems has facilitated at several locations. The implementation of ERP

implementation of an ERP project is a process consisting of several phases. After a gradual approach to simplifying the process and give more of a better result. The various phases of the implementation of an ERP are:

o Project Planning o

Business & operational analysis, including gap analysis

o Business Process Reengineering

o br




o module configuration

o system interfaces

o Data Conversion />

o Individual documentation


acceptance testing o o Post Implementation / Audit Support

short, implementation of ERP, the way an organization works. It helps the company, its resources is to use and distribute the best possible control on the basis of real-time. For example, in case the “net” the transformation of the old system to the ERP system to reduce data redundancy out, reducing overhead costs, increase customer care and customer service levels across the enterprise. This was facilitated by the implementation of a common global ERP system throughout its European operations.

critical success factors of ERP:

The successful implementation of an ERP project requires management to plan carefully and all the necessary human and financial resources available. Here is a list of the most important factors for the success of the ERP:

1 – Top Management Support:

The most important factors for successful ERP project is the commitment of management and support. The role of management includes developing an understanding of the possibilities and limitations of the proposed system, to set goals and communicate the IT strategy of the company to all employees [3].

2 – Project Management:

Another important factor for the success of the ERP is to manage the life cycle of projects to initiate closure. Project Manager (PM) is the sole responsibility and authority for planning and controlling project was limited to the expected results on time and on budget to meet.

3 – Select the appropriate package:

The selection of suitable packaging is an important decision management. Analysis and assessment of the needs of the organization and processes to ensure the right choice that best suits the business environment. Careful selection leads to a good minimum package of changes and the successful implementation and use. First, the selection of the wrong software represents a commitment to architecture and application that is not with the strategic objective of the organization or business process [3].

4 – User Training:

An implementation of quality can be poorly trained employees who do not know how to properly operate the ERP system derailed. Knowledge transfer to employees is probably more important than the quality of the system. For this reason, companies should hire consultants training, how the system works carried out and how they relate to business processes.

5 – Business Process Re-engineering:

Business Process Reengineering is a prerequisite for further progress in the implementation of ERP system. A thorough investigation must be made before OPI to ERP. Business Process Reengineering brings shortcomings of the existing system and attempts to maximize productivity through restructuring and reorganization of human resources and areas and departments in the organization

6 – Dedicated resources:

One of the key success factors of ERP is the human and financial resources necessary to determine to implement the system. This should be done at an early stage of the project. The lack of the necessary resources to commit often result in schedule and cost in suffering.

7 – Project Team Skills:

Another key to success or failure of the ERP, the knowledge, skills, abilities and experience of the project in liaison and team members. The project team should work in a coordinated manner to achieve a goal. Therefore, it is for team members who have technical and business skills to complement their work vital.

8 – Clear goals and objectives:

The definition of clear objectives and identifying the objectives of the ERP project is the third most critical success factor. The initial stage of any project must begin with a conceptualization of the goals and possible ways to achieve those goals. It is important to achieve the objectives of the project before, support from top management [3].

9 – Manufacturers ongoing support:

Seller further support is an important factor in any software. ERP systems require support provider course, with the latest modules and to keep the version up to date. In addition, vendor support for technical assistance and care.

10 – inter-departmental communication:

Good communication is the key to the success of ERP. Therefore, it is important to keep effective communication with members of the team and the rest of the organization it works correctly.

In summary, the ERP implementation was a complex and risky, if done improperly. Businesses, critical issues that affect the process of identifying implementation. For example: selecting the right software, getting a commitment and support from senior management, press and hold the cooperation of business partners with sufficient knowledge among team members, training staff and informing them. All these questions and more can further minimize the failure of the ERP project and maximize the successful implementation of ERP.

References:

[1] Kumar, K. and Van Hillegersberg, J. ERP experience and evolution, Communications of the ACM, (43:4), p. 23-26, 2000.

[2] C. Holland and B. Light (1999) Global Enterprise Resource Planning implementation Retrieved 27th August 2005: http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/proceedings/hicss/ 1999/0001/07/00017016.PDF

[3] TM Somers and K. Nelson (2001), The impact of critical success factors implemented in steps Enterprise Resource Planning, on the 34th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences was published in 2001, Hawaii

[4] CP Holland and B. Light (1999), a critical success factor model of ERP implementation, IEEE Software, May / June 1999, S . 30 -36

[5] M. Hammer and Champy J. (1994) Reengineering the Corporation, New York, Harper.

[6] Kerchevak M. (2005) Five Steps to an ERP solution obtained, 3 September 2005, from http://archives.tcm.ie/businesspost/2005/06/05/story5254. asp

[7] S. Robinson (2004) Overview, a developer of ERP, Accessed 1st September 2005, from http://www.developer.com/design/article.php/3446551

Mr. Nidal A. Bousaleh />
University of Western Sydney

ERP