Page 174 - DCAP302_ENTERPRISE_RESOURCE_PLANNING

Enterprise Resource Planning

notes There are various criteria that should be considered before ERP vendor selection. To begin with,
the company needs to study about the ERP vendor. The studies should be conducted thoroughly
so that the outcomes are applicable. The company must take decisions on the basis of the studies,
as it is not proper to go for the Market leader in ERP vendors, if the studies suggest that they do
not meet the requirement. The popularity of ERP software vendors does not necessarily mean
that their service in terms of the needs and business of the company should comply.

There are a large number of ERP vendors competing in the market. They should look for the
vendor who offers some extra features as compared to others. This narrows the selection in the
right direction and increases competition among vendors. Further, the vendors strive to improve
the quality in products and services in order to attract the companies. In either way the results
are in favor of the company.

The company should verify the ERP software through practical demonstrations. It is difficult
to have an idea of the services unless they experience it. The decision-making authority should
even visit the vendor’s premises to ensure the criterion, standards, and other features. For better
execution, the authorities can choose few players in the ERP vendors list.
It is essential to collect information about the ERP vendor’s stake in the market. This would help
determining the advantages and problems while choosing a vendor. A look at the background,
previous experiences, and business will help to decide, if that particular vendor is apt to offer
services. The credibility of the ERP vendor should be analyzed with respect to the field of service
where the company desires to implement ERP. If such an assessment is conducted it will add
value and meaning in terms of making the decision of choosing the ERP vendor.
The company should go for an ERP vendor who has flexibility. In a broader sense, it means that
the vendor should abide and implement the suggestion of the vendors. On the other end, the
company should pay heed to the suggestions of the vendor in terms of technical aspects and
expertise. Both the sides should be able to work in coordination and find solutions. This would
help in attaining mutual benefits.
Having ERP in India is like an investment that most business houses look up to. ERP or enterprise
resource planning can be defined as an integrated, multi-module system that assimilates all the
data and processes of an organization into a unified system. To attain this goal, it is essential to
strike a successful combination of both hardware and software.

The whole concept of enterprise resource planning originated in the large industrial types of
companies where the system was used to simplify their processes and workflow. However, with
the passage of time, ERP has evolved as a more comprehensive system and now it is largely
available to companies of all types and sizes. It serves and supports a wide range of business
functions like manufacturing, order entry, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger,
purchasing, warehousing, transportation and human resources.
There are three levels of consulting for a comprehensive ERP project:
Systems architecture: The overall dataflow for the enterprise including the future dataflow plan
is designed by the systems architect.
Technical consulting (primarily programming and tool configuration activity): Generally this
involves extensive programming.

Business process consulting (primarily re-engineering): The business consultant learns the current
business processes of an organization. It also evaluates the corresponding processes in the ERP
system, which helps to configure the ERP system to the requirements of the organization.
Usually the ERP sellers permit the businesses to modify their software in order to meet needs of
their customer. However, the most important consideration in ERP implementation is cost.

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