PeopleSoft

What is PeopleSoft?
PeopleSoft is a software company. They make ERP software.Here's my definition of their software:"PeopleSoft is an integrated software package that provides a wide variety of business applications to assist in the day-to-day execution and operation of business processes. Each individual application, such as Financials, Customer Relationship Management and Human Resources, interacts with others to offer an effective and efficient means of working and reporting in an integrated fashion across the enterprise"I think that works..So, let's talk a little bit about the company.

About PeopleSoft
Dave Duffield and Ken Morris founded PeopleSoft in 1987, when they engineered the company's first human resources application. Built on a client-server architecture, their solution offered flexibility and ease-of-use to a class of users previously barred from simplified access to the information and capabilities centralized in mainframes.
By putting ease of functionality directly in the hands of users, PeopleSoft quickly assumed industry leadership status in human resources solutions.This would be the first of many innovations that would transform the way enterprises do business on a global scale. In 2000, PeopleSoft introduced the Pure Internet Architecture®. Even today, it is the only pure-internet architecture with no code on the client.
It has enabled what PeopleSoft calls the Real-Time Enterprise. It allows organizations to connect people directly to business processes, eliminating intermediaries, inside and outside the enterprise. It creates unprecedented efficiency and lowers costs.
It provides businesses with an unmatched competitive advantage. The Real-Time Enterprise sets the standard for business performance in the 21st century, and PeopleSoft is at the forefront of enabling businesses to make this model a reality.PeopleSoft was the world's second largest provider of enterprise application software. PeopleSoft's business solutions are built with the flexibility to fit your business today and the adaptability to change with your business over time.
A broad portfolio of applications with industry-specific functionality gives you unprecedented flexibility to optimize business operations and compete more effectively.PeopleSoft is a worldwide leader in providing complete solutions for more than 24 industries—from industrial manufacturing and consumer goods to financial services, healthcare, and public sector organizations.
More than 12,200 organizations worldwide—from mid-sized manufacturing companies to the largest service enterprises in both the private and public sectors—are using PeopleSoft solutions to build stronger and more profitable businesses.PeopleSoft applications are built on innovative and open technology, enabling easy integration with third-party applications and legacy systems. And PeopleSoft's pioneering Total Ownership Experience initiative ensures the best overall user experience at the lowest cost of ownership.Founded in 1987 and headquartered in Pleasanton, California, PeopleSoft has 12,000 employees and annual revenues of more than $2.3 billion.

More about PeopleSoft
Founded: August 1987IPO
Date: November 1992
Market Capitalization: $7 billion (1-98)
Revenue: $815.7 million (1-98)
Employees: 3,000 (1-98)
Location: Pleasanton, California
Company Mission: PeopleSoft's mission is to provide innovative software solutions that meet the changing business demands of enterprises worldwide.

PeopleSoft Inc. (NASDAQ: PSFT) was established in 1987 to provide innovative software solutions that meet the changing business demands of enterprises worldwide. A client/server applications pioneer and market leader, PeopleSoft develops, markets, and supports a complete suite of enterprise solutions for finance, materials management, distribution, supply chain planning, manufacturing, and human resources.

In addition, PeopleSoft provides industry-specific enterprise solutions to customers in select markets including communications, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, higher education, public sector, services, transportation, U.S. federal government, and utilities.

The company also offers PeopleSoft Select, a complete packaged solution including software, hardware, and services to address the needs of medium-sized organizations. With more than 1,800 customers around the world, PeopleSoft has been recognized for both its award-winning customer service and its remarkable growth.

It was listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the fastest growing companies in America in 1994, 1995, 1996 and again in 1997. PeopleSoft product and service information is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.peoplesoft.com/

About Dave Duffield
David A. Duffield is a founder of PeopleSoft and has served as chairman of the board since PeopleSoft's incorporation in 1987. He also served as chief executive officer from August 1987 through September 1999 and president from August 1987 through May 1999.

Prior to founding PeopleSoft, he was a founder and chairman of the board of Integral, a supplier of human resource and financial applications software, from 1972 through 1987. Mr. Duffield also served as Integral's CEO. Mr. Duffield was the co-founder of Information Associates (now a subsidiary of Systems and Computer Technology). He holds a B.S. degree in electrical engineering and an M.B.A. degree from Cornell University.

More about Dave Duffield
Duffield, 62, saves unwanted house pets through Maddie's Fund, a $240 million foundation he set up in memory of a beloved miniature schnauzer.PeopleSoft is the third company that Duffield has started. He left IBM to found a company that built a payroll system for the University of Rochester. Then he jumped into human resources software with his second company, Integral Systems.Sitting on a beach in Hawaii during a retreat for Integral salespeople, Duffield pieced together a plan to write payroll programs for server computers and the PCs that hooked up to them.
The Integral board wouldn't go for it, Duffield said in a December 2000 interview with Bloomberg News. So he and engineering buddy Ken Morris left to start PeopleSoft. He gave up the CEO post in 1999. As CEO, Duffield coddled workers. He gave everyone a laptop and twice invited the whole company to spend the weekend at his house on Lake Tahoe, Duffield said in the 2000 interview. He once heard a band playing on the PeopleSoft campus. It sounded terrible, so he bought all the musicians new instruments. "Dave Duffield cherishes everybody who works for him," said Richard Avanzino, president of Maddie's Fund, which Duffield started in 1999 with $200 million of his own money. "PeopleSoft is his baby." Duffield rarely talks to the press.Duffield is PeopleSoft's second-largest shareholder with 9 percent of the stock, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The value of his stake has risen 12 percent to $489 million from $436 million since Ellison made his offer.

SAP announced enhancements to SAP BusinessObjects Data Services

SAP announced enhancements to SAP BusinessObjects Data Services
To provide organizations with a foundation of trusted information for all their key business processes and decisions, SAP AG today announced enhancements to SAP BusinessObjects Data Services and SAP BusinessObjects Data Federator software, part of SAP BusinessObjects information management (IM) solutions

These solutions support both SAP and non-SAP IT environments, and today have expanded support for SAP customers with integration with the SAP NetWeaver Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) capability. Regardless of the underlying system, SAP provides companies with trusted information to launch successful initiatives in areas such as business intelligence (BI), customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise resource planning (ERP), supply chain management (SCM), system migrations and data governance. Significant customer momentum and industry recognition illustrate how market leadership for SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions is providing business users with integrated, accurate and timely data. In today's world of huge data volumes and multiple, disparate sources, it is more important than ever that people can trust the accuracy and timeliness of business information. The growth of organizations, both organically and through mergers and acquisitions, has added to this challenge. SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions continue to help companies tackle this problem by helping to ensure the availability, completeness and transparency of all their data uro regardless of its origin or format.

Providing Customers With a Clear View into Information Assets
Nearly one-third of the 2009 Global 100 companies use SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions to achieve their business objectives for data quality, data integration and metadata management. More customers are turning to SAP to deliver market-leading information management innovation. For example, SAP BusinessObjects Data Services is a unique software solution that combines data integration and data quality into a single solution, providing companies with one environment for improving data and delivering it anywhere. Customers worldwide like the Oslo Stock Exchange and London-based television network Channel 4 are benefiting from this and other SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions today.
said Ketil Smaaskjer, head of Database Systems, Oslo Stock Exchange. 'By standardizing on SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions we have better visibility into our report information where the data is coming from and what it really means. This one solution allows us to ensure that our data is unified, complete and accurate.'
SAP BusinessObjects IM Solutions Receive Industry RecognitionGartner, Inc. has positioned SAP BusinessObjects technology in the leaders quadrant of the 'Magic Quadrant for Data Quality Tools' 1 report, based on completeness of vision and ability to execute. Additionally, SearchDataManagement.com recently named the software as a Data Integration 'Product of the Year,' an award conferred by a panel of industry analysts and consultants (see ' SearchDataManagement.com Names SAP BusinessObjects Data Services a Data Integration 'Product of the Year'').

We selected SAP BusinessObjects Data Services for our data integration needs
because of its total cost, a richer pre-built function set, and we wanted one
vendor for both reporting and data integration,

'said Ketil Smaaskjer, head of Database Systems, Oslo Stock Exchange. 'By standardizing on SAP BusinessObjects IM solutions we have better visibility into our report information where the data is coming from and what it really means. This one solution allows us to ensure that our data is unified, complete and accurate.'

More Information visit: SAP News

BUSINESS ONE SAP

What is SAP BUSINESS ONE?

A SINGLE INTEGRATED BUSINESS MANAGEMENT APPLICATION FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
The SAP Business One application integrates all core business functions across your entire company – including financials, sales, customer relationship management, e-commerce, inventory, and operations. Unlike many other small business solutions on the market today, SAP Business One is a single application, eliminating the need for separate installations and complex integration of multiple modules.

With an SAP Business One solution, you can:

• Improve efficiency for a stronger bottom line – Centralize and integrate your entire business – across sales, inventory, purchasing, operations, and financials – in one system, eliminating redundant data entries, errors, and costs.
• Focus on growing your business – Streamline operations from end to end, so you can focus on making your business more profitable.
• Make smarter, faster decisions – Put your business information into a single data source, so you can instantly drill down to complete, up-to-date information – and so your people can respond quickly to customer needs and be more empowered to make decisions.
• Get faster time to value – Be up and running within six to eight weeks with a single application. The intuitive user experience minimizes user training and reduces the cost of ongoing IT support.
• Support your changing needs – With easy-to-use customization tools and over 550 add-on solutions provided by our software solution partners, SAP Business One can be flexibly tailored and extended to meet your specific business needs.

Navision Modules

DYNAMICS NAV MODULES

Microsoft Dynamics NAV(Navision) having Manily 7 Modules. Following note gives you a brief introduction about Navision Modules. You will get detailed notes of each sub modules from the related topics. So please go through that also.

• Finance Management: This module deals with all the Financial Transaction that we carry out in a company.
• Sales & Marketing: All the sales that we carry out in the company are carried out through this module.
• Purchase: This module deals with Supply chain Management that is purchase of materials needed for production of the finished goods.
• Warehouse: Store details are tracked over in this module. Material inward acceptance and Material issues according to work order are done here
• Manufacturing: This module handles with planning of material production in a company. The Planning team will be producing the finished goods considering the customer requirement and Production forecast. The production works in a company are also carried out in this module.
• HumanResources: This module handle all the HR activities in an organizations.
• Administration: This module handle all the admin activities in the system. Such as setup warehouse employees etc.

Related Topics:

Manufacturing Modules

Warehouse Modules

Microsoft unveils Twitter tracker for Dynamics CRM

Yesterday Microsoft unveiled what can only be called a Twitter tracker as part of a collection of "solution accelerators" for their midrange Dynamics CRM offering that will be downloadable in the next few weeks. Two of the new applications covered conventional customer relationship tasks - website integration and channel partner lead management, but the third, the Social Networking Accelerator is rather different:

The Social Networking Accelerator allows business professionals to monitor and analyze customers’ conversations on social networking sites, and as a result, provides real-time status updates about their products and services. This accelerator delivers integration with Twitter; other networks will be introduced in future releases. The Social Networking Accelerator can be viewed online at http://crm.dynamics.com/.

If you follow the link, you’ll find that the demo is not currently working, but a Microsoft presentation summarizes the functionality as:

What it does:

• Create and manage multiple Twitter accounts.
  
• Create instant tweets or schedule them for publishing later.
  
• Re-publish one tweet many times in scheduled intervals for global reach.
  
• Provide a hyperlink with your tweets, that automatically gets shortened by bit.ly.
  
• Automatically track changes in followers and follows on all your Twitter accounts.
  
• Automatically track click-through on your tweets.

The SeattlePI also has an instructive video.

Microsoft is not the first to try mining the Twitter vein for contact relationship management - their nemesis Salesforce.com and a start-up named CoTweet are digging into it as well and there is also speculation that Twitter would like to do it themselves. Whether there is actually some gold there is another question but the topic of Twitter reputation management is currently getting a lot of buzz.

Related posts:

1. Microsoft ships freebies for Dynamics CRM Online
   
2. Microsoft touts Dynamics “Enterprise-Scale” deployments
   
3. Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM Online now generally available

SAP Brings Intelligence to Unified Governance, Risk and Compliance Apps

Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) challenges have been around for a long time, even before some of the newest requirements set forth by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Patriot Act. The trouble is, many enterprises make things harder by separately addressing the components of GRC -- and even the individual applications and initiatives within each category.

"Companies are starting to realize that they are handling similar risk and compliance activities over and over again with different applications, different capabilities and separate initiatives," says Narina Sippy, senior vice president and general manager, GRC Solutions at SAP BusinessObjects. "Companies are now looking to lower GRC costs, and one way they can do that is to improve visibility so they can see where there are shared risks and dependencies."

SAP's strategy has been to unify the disciplines of governance, risk and compliance, ensuring uniform and reusable policies and controls, wherever appropriate, deployed within business processes across the enterprise. With last week's release of upgraded SAP BusinessObjects Risk Management and SAP BusinessObjects Process Control applications, the company says it's taking a next step to integrate GRC activities by embedding dashboarding, analytics and reporting capabilities from SAP BusinessObjects Xcelsius and Crystal Reports.

"With embedded analytics, we can give you insight into what's going on in your business tied to key risks and business objectives," Sippy explains. "These applications previously had key risk indicators, but they weren't as comprehensive as they are now, and we didn't have a way to easily visualize what's going on in the business."

Executives utilizing the Risk Management application, for example, can use the reporting capabilities provided by Crystal Reports software to create, customize and distribute reports on, say, ongoing compliance status or control activities. For a more proactive approach, Xcelsius-based dashboards can be used for real-time monitoring. When performing a compliance review, heat-map visualization capabilities from Xcelsius can be used to present a prioritized view of which activities or locations across the enterprise present the highest risk of being out of compliance. In addition, predictive capabilities can be used to spur preventative action.

"If a particular plant is approaching a risk threshold, you can trigger an alert that will prompt someone to review the compliance activities related to that site," Sippy explains. "That user can then put new risk mitigation plans in place, implement new controls or initiate new activities that will ensure compliance."

SAP says that for many years it has focused on managing multiple compliance programs centrally -- be it Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPPA, Patriot Act or other compliance mandates -- by ensuring consistent and cohesive policies and controls across initiatives. With the newly embedded reporting and monitoring capabilities, the intent is to help companies know when and where to take action to ensure compliance.

"We have customers that have thousands of controls and risks, and in many cases they don't know where to focus their energies," Sippy says. "With these upgraded applications, we're enabling them to quickly and visually tie what they are doing in GRC with key performance indicators, key risks and their overriding corporate strategy."

SAP System Architecture

The SAP System follows a three tier architecture containing Presentation, Application and a database layer. Each of these layer has it’s own software component. With this setup, the overall system can be distributed among a range of computers or it can also be in one system like MiniSAP which has all these components in one computer. A common configuration includes where in the database and the application server run concurrently in a single large computer. All the other application servers run on their computers. Let’s explain all these three components further so that you can develop a better understanding of the SAP system architecture.
Presentation Layer
This is the view you see when you login into SAP from your computer. This is presentation layer that has been generated. The SAP GUI Software components ensure that the SAP system user interface is shown and that the user’s actions are passed to the application server for further processing.
Application Layer
The application layer is the one where the entire work is carried out for your. All your actions are processed at this place. This software component can have one or more than one based on the requirements and the processing needs of each and every organization.The application server provides a range of services for the operation of the SAP system. The application servers processes are carried out through work processes. This is defined at the start of the SAP system. The work processes are components that are able to execute an application. One thing to note here is that each work process is registered as a user in the database system for the entire runtime of the SAP system.
Database Layer
Each SAP system has a central database in which the entire data is stored. Everything, like the customer records, programs, just about anything which needs to be stored is maintained at this level.
In a nutshell, any actions you do on the presentation layer is passed to the application layer for processing which would retrieve any relevant data from the database layer and the application layer processes the data and presents it to you via the presentation layer.

What is the Microsoft Dynamics-NAV?

A comprehensive, easy-to-use ERP software system, Microsoft Dynamics-Navision ERP enables mid-size organizations to streamline business processes for accelerated growth. You can tailor Microsoft Dynamics-Navision to your business processes—manufacturing, distribution, financial management, sales and marketing, human resources, and others—and use it to accomplish your goals with optimal efficiency. Navision, a part of the Microsoft Business Solutions, is today the world's most leading ERP solution for mid market enterprises. One of the most cost-effective and adaptable integrated business solution that has been helping companies in their quest to grow has the largest number of implementations worldwide amongst its class of products. A true enterprise level solution, Navision has one of the lowest possible total cost of ownership amongst its category of solutions. Its unique architecture and extremely efficient development environment ensure that unlike most other competing products, Navision customization and implementation can be completed within just a few weeks and by small teams

For More Information Please visit : Navision Planet(http://microsoft-dynamics-nav.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-is-microsoft-dynamics-nav-erp.html)

More About ERP Software

ERP Software (Enterprise Resource Planning) often leads people to a lot of confusion. Which software is best and which ERP software will be the easiest to implement. The key to selecting ERP software systems is to understand your own requirements first. Document your specific requirements of what the ERP software should do for you. Do not only make a wish list, but include the things your current software does right. Many times people make the mistakes of selecting systems on what their system doesn't do currently, but then come to find out, all the things that the old system did well, the new ERP software does not do. Be comprehensive.Next look at your business and determine the broader category of what you do. Are you a discrete manufacturer, a process manufacturer (using formulas or recipes), or are you a service based company? Is your company heavily retail with Point of Sale needs? ERP software is segmented by the various niches that a company can fall into. This makes it easier to narrow down the field of software to look at. Be sure to look at the size in sales and see what Tier of ERP software you might fit into. Tier 1 is for larger multinationals or companies with many diverse business units. Tier 2 is for the companies with one to many branches doing similar things. Tier 3 looks at smaller single site companies that do not have very complex processes.

For example. If you are work for a company with four manufacturing facilities, all making roughly the same sort of products, and your revenues are are under $250 million dollars, then you are a good candidate for a Tier 2 ERP software. The following is a sample list of some main ERP software vendors:
Tier 1 ERP Software

• SAP
• Oracle
• JD Edwards

Tier 2 ERP Software

• SSA ERP LN
• Epicor Vantage
• QAD
• IFS
• IBS
• Microsoft Dynamics AX (or NV)

Tier 3 ERP Software

• Made-2-Manage
• Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Intuitive Software
• Global Shop
• DBA Software
• Epicor Vista

Once you have narrowed down your criteria to which tier you fit into and then you can start investigating the focus niches of each of these systems. From that you can then compare your specific requirements to the functionality of each of the targeted the ERP systems. The selection process should be deliberate and there are many pitfalls.Once you have a few ERP vendors that you are working with, you can then narrow it down to the 2 or 3 based on requirements to have them show you the system in detail. This detailed system review should be done completely based on the requirements and should show the daily processing of your business processes. Don't forget too that you are also looking at a vendor with whom you can work for the next few years. It is like a marriage and so you want to make sure that the partner you are selecting is one you can live with.When you finally select the system, ensure that you do reference checks. The ERP software vendors will always give you favorable clients to contact. But remember that often what is unsaid is more important than what is said. If you visit the references, be sure to watch transactions being entered. Try to see how the people are using the system. Learn from their mistakes too! Find out what went right and wrong during their implementations. Often these lessons learned will help you in your implementation.In summary, ERP Software is very complex and requires more time and diligence than people realize. When selecting, it can be overwhelming. As such, a third party may be able to assist you. Take a look at consultants who are unbiased and specialize in helping companies select systems. But if you choose to do it on your own, make sure that you have your baseline of requirements to lead you through. Focus on the business process and the business needs, not only on the look and feel of the software. If you keep coming back to the requirements, you will ultimately see which ERP Software works for you.

What is PeopleSoft?

"PeopleSoft is an integrated software package that provides a wide variety of business applications to assist in the day-to-day execution and operation of business processes. Each individual application, such as Financials, Customer Relationship Management and Human Resources, interacts with others to offer an effective and efficient means of working and reporting in an integrated fashion across the enterprise"
For More information visit: http://www.peoplesoft-planet.com/whatispeoplesoft.html

What is SAP?

SAP is an acronym for "System Application & Products" which creates a common centralised database for all the applications running in an organization. The application has been assembled in such a versatile way that it handles all the functional department within an organisation. Today major companies including Microsoft and IBM are using SAP's Products to run their own businesses.
R/2, which ran on a Mainframe architecture, was the first SAP version. Sap's products are generally focused on Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). Sap's applications are built around R/3 system which provide the functionality to manage product operations, cost accounting, assets, materials and personnel. The R/3 system of SAP runs on majority of platforms including windows 2000 and it uses the client/sever model.
SAP provides majority of enterprise applications that includes:
1. SAP Knowledge Warehouse (KW)
2. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
3. Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS)
4. Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
5. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
7. Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO)
8. Business Information Warehouse (BW)
SAP NetWeaver is the latest technology introduced by SAP. SAP's products are mainly focussed on large organizations which mainly comprises of Fortune 500 companies and its a number one choice for ERP system worldwide. SAP has software solutions called SAP Business One (SAP B1) and SAP all in one which are mainly created for small and mid sized organizations. SAP products are used by millions people worldwide and in more than 120 countries and is constantly increasing. SAP had over 38, 4000 employees in over 50 countries, and more than 36,200 customers around the world as on Jan 2007.
For More Information visit:http://www.sap.com/

What is ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning)?

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is a way to integrate the data and processes of an organization into one single system. Usually ERP systems will have many components including hardware and software, in order to achieve integration, most ERP systems use a unified database to store data for various functions found throughout the organization.

The term ERP originally referred to how a large organization planned to use organizational wide resources. In the past, ERP systems were used in larger more industrial types of companies. However, the use of ERP has changed and is extremely comprehensive, today the term can refer to any type of company, no matter what industry it falls in. In fact, ERP systems are used in almost any type of organization - large or small.
In order for a software system to be considered ERP, it must provide an organization with functionality for two or more systems. While some ERP packages exist that only cover two functions for an organization (QuickBooks: Payroll & Accounting), most ERP systems cover several functions.
Today's ERP systems can cover a wide range of functions and integrate them into one unified database. For instance, functions such as Human Resources, Supply Chain Management, Customer Relations Management, Financials, Manufacturing functions and Warehouse Management functions were all once stand alone software applications, usually housed with their own database and network, today, they can all fit under one umbrella - the ERP system.

Integration is Key to ERP
Integration is an extremely important part to ERP's. ERP's main goal is to integrate data and processes from all areas of an organization and unify it for easy access and work flow. ERP's usually accomplish integration by creating one single database that employs multiple software modules providing different areas of an organization with various business functions.
Although the ideal configuration would be one ERP system for an entire organization, many larger organizations usually create and ERP system and then build upon the system and external interface for other stand alone systems which might be more powerful and perform better in fulfilling an organizations needs. Usually this type of configuration can be time consuming and does require lots of labor hours.
The Ideal ERP System
An ideal ERP system is when a single database is utilized and contains all data for various software modules. These software modules can include:
Manufacturing: Some of the functions include; engineering, capacity, workflow management, quality control, bills of material, manufacturing process, etc.
Financials: Accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger and cash management, etc.
Human Resources: Benefits, training, payroll, time and attendance, etc
Supply Chain Management: Inventory, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, claim processing, order entry, purchasing, etc.
Projects: Costing, billing, activity management, time and expense, etc.
Customer Relationship Management: sales and marketing, service, commissions, customer contact, calls center support, etc.
Data Warehouse: Usually this is a module that can be accessed by an organizations customers, suppliers and employees.
ERP Improves Productivity
Before ERP systems, each department in an organization would most likely have their own computer system, data and database. Unfortunately, many of these systems would not be able to communicate with one another or need to store or rewrite data to make it possible for cross computer system communication. For instance, the financials of a company were on a separate computer system than the HR system, making it more intensive and complicated to process certain functions.
Once an ERP system is in place, usually all aspects of an organization can work in harmony instead of every single system needing to be compatible with each other. For large organizations, increased productivity and less types of software are a result.
Implementation of an ERP System
Implementing an ERP system is not an easy task to achieve, in fact it takes lots of planning, consulting and in most cases 3 months to 1 year +. ERP systems are extraordinary wide in scope and for many larger organizations can be extremely complex. Implementing an ERP system will ultimately require significant changes on staff and work practices. While it may seem reasonable for an in house IT staff to head the project, it is widely advised that ERP implementation consultants be used, due to the fact that consultants are usually more cost effective and are specifically trained in implementing these types of systems.
One of the most important traits that an organization should have when implementing an ERP system is ownership of the project. Because so many changes take place and its broad effect on almost every individual in the organization, it is important to make sure that everyone is on board and will help make the project and using the new ERP system a success.
Usually organizations use ERP vendors or consulting companies to implement their customized ERP system. There are three types of professional services that are provided when implementing an ERP system, they are Consulting, Customization and Support.
Consulting Services - usually consulting services are responsible for the initial stages of ERP implementation, they help an organization go live with their new system, with product training, workflow, improve ERP's use in the specific organization, etc.
Customization Services - Customization services work by extending the use of the new ERP system or changing its use by creating customized interfaces and/or underlying application code. While ERP systems are made for many core routines, there are still some needs that need to be built or customized for an organization.
Support Services- Support services include both support and maintenance of ERP systems. For instance, trouble shooting and assistance with ERP issues.
Advantages of ERP Systems
There are many advantages of implementing an EPR system; here are a few of them:

• A totally integrated system
• The ability to streamline different processes and workflows
• The ability to easily share data across various departments in an organization
• Improved efficiency and productivity levels
• Better tracking and forecasting
• Lower costs
• Improved customer service

Disadvantages of ERP Systems
While advantages usually outweigh disadvantages for most organizations implementing an ERP system, here are some of the most common obstacles experienced:
Usually many obstacles can be prevented if adequate investment is made and adequate training is involved, however, success does depend on skills and the experience of the workforce to quickly adapt to the new system.

• Customization in many situations is limited
• The need to reengineer business processes
• ERP systems can be cost prohibitive to install and run
• Technical support can be shoddy
• ERP's may be too rigid for specific organizations that are either new or want to move in a new direction in the near future.