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Unit 10: ERP Future Directions

10.5 application platforms notes

The ERP vendors offer central platform management tools along with comprehensive suites of
application modules. These application modules supports multinational deployment, year 2000
compliances and Euro (European currency) e.g. To centrally support R / 3 product uses popular
platform management tools. The vendors such as Computer Associates (Unicenter TNG) and
Tivoli (TME) offers these tools.
SAP is already ahead in this race; its R/3 product is one of the few that can be managed, centrally
using popular platform management tools from vendors such as Computer Associates (UniCenter
TNG) and Tivoh (TME),

10.6 new Business segments

After establishing in business/enterprise environments, ERP vendors are trying to deliver
specialized variants of their products to the business segments such as government, health care,
retail environments and financial services.

Some vendors are offering their services in more specialized areas such as demand forecasting
of sales automation and marketing and supply chain management. E.g. People Soft bought Red
Pepper Software to improve its supply chain application, BAAN bought Aurum Software for
its Aurum Customer Enterprise suit of CRM tools and also teamed up with Hyperion Solution
to strengthen its financial module. Hyperion Software links to Hyperion’s financial accounting,
budgeting and reporting solutions to BAAN’s distribution and manufacturing modules.

Task “According to the technology improvement in every field what is the future of
ERP in today’s scenario.” Suggest

10.7 Web enabling & snapshot

To deliver the self-services and e-commerce capabilities, ERP vendors are being forced to move
from client / server to browser / server architecture to web-enable their software. Vendor delivers
java based application for web enabling software. e.g. BAAN is working to deliver a java based
web interface to all its products and also focusing on the automation of supply chain relationship
via internet, on e - commerce via Microsoft merchant server (Site Server) and on using Hyperion
Software Corp.’s Spider – Man technology for report and alert distribution across the web.
PeopleSoft delivers java based self service applets with its version PeopleSoft – 7. J D Edward is
using java to its One World to be available either through a Windows client or a web browser.
Oracle has used java to deliver its web employee customers and suppliers module.

In 1997, SAP released 25 web applications for its version 3.1 of the R / 3 and also previewed
links to online catalogs for web based procurement. For their first generation of web enabled
application, ERP vendors are all using Java rather than Microsoft’s Activex. ERP vendors deliver
their universal application on Java based web interface. This makes them to move away from
proprietary technologies to more open tools.

E.g. SAP solutions and PeopleSoft offers tools for customerising their products ABAPG and
PeopleTools. These tools are proprietary and make the implementation expensive, whereas
many lower – tier software vendors invites their application front ends using the commercial
tools like Power Builder VB, or Microsoft Access ERP vendors are not using these options, thus
the customers have to pay a premium for ABAG and PeopleTools.

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