What are the Features of Enterprise Resource Planning?

Enterprise Resource Planning Systems are a suite of business tools to integrate your business processes and streamline the operations. ERP systems aim to provide enhanced operational visibility and greater profitability through centralization of data and removal of redundant tasks and costs.

Companies that are agile tend to also be performing well while staying organizationally healthy. Therefore, opting for an ERP has almost become a necessity in the manufacturing industry.

Implementing an ERP system can be very beneficial for company efficiency and growth, so it's important to know what features you must have for your unique business. 

The features of ERP systems include:

• Integration 
• Automation 
• Data Analysis 
• Tracking and Visibility 
• Report 
• Accounting 
• Supply Chain Management 
• Human Resource Management 
• Customer Relationship Management 
• Financial Management 
• Sales and Marketing

However, with the nature of your business, its requirements, and the flexibility of an ERP system, you can choose the features you plan/need to prioritize on. 

Are you on the hunt for a solution that optimizes your business operations and makes your finance team? An Enterprise Resource Planning system might be the magical answer to your conquest.

ERP systems remove redundant tasks and costs from your business operations, integrate and automate the essential functions and provide integrated and centralized data insights.

Not only that, but these systems facilitate best practices in procurement, inventory management, production, supply chain management, distribution, and order fulfillment too. Not only that, but adopting best practices minimizes implementation risks, adding to the list of reasons to undertake an ERP implementation.

Implementing an advantageous ERP with characteristic features, should optimize various financial and operational functions within your organization, such as: 

• API Access
• Asset Management
• Employee Information 
• Expense Management
• Human Resource Management
• Project Management
• Receipts

The are various stages of resource planning and the features provided in ERP systems that have made them a necessity in the manufacturing business world. 

• Integration

The core benefit of ERP systems is an integrated view of centralized business operations. This includes the display of all necessary data regarding the financial, operational, and business operations in real-time. This data can be used to make important decisions such as entering new markets or reallocating funds and inventory.

• Automation

By using ERP systems, most transactions can be automated and redundant business tasks can be removed. 

• Data Analysis

Data analysis can provide useful insights regarding the various operational workflows, helping in making informed and data-driven decisions. Costs can be lowered, and fraudulent occurrences can be avoided, and operations can be optimized.

• Tracking and Visibility

ERP software provided enhance operational visibility across all departments within an organization. This facilitates companywide tracking in almost real-time. Employees can track production and sales figures as well the productivity of staff. 

• Reporting

The information gathered and presented by ERP systems empower business owners to make informed decisions, optimize about business operations and business processes before the situation worsens. Reports are often presented as graphs and charts.

• Accounting

ERP systems perform tax management,  multi-currency reconciliation and other complex tasks. These ERP platforms provide robust tools to analyze and manage your sales and revenue. It improves order fulfillment accuracy and processing time of accounting tasks as well. 

• Supply Chain Management

By tracking the customer’s demand, keeping tabs on inventory levels, manufacturing processes, and monitoring logistics and distribution processes, ERP systems can provide a deep insight into supply chain workflows. A supply chain that has been integrated and automated by ERP implementation is more efficient and profitable.  

• Human Resource Management

Serving as as an end-to-end employee management platform, an ERP system helps in handling HRM tasks such as hiring, payroll, compensation management and timekeeping.

• Customer Relationship Management

By providing integrated information, ERP systems enable an improved customer service. All customer information such as their contact details and order history is easily accessible. Using this capability, customer relationships can be improved ensuring long-term business. 

• Financial Management

Unaided, Financial Management is a dry and complex task involving planning and organizing funds for business. However, ERP systems facilitate finance teams by tracking and analyzing business data and sharing useful reports that enable in informed decision making.

• Sales and Marketing

Using ERP systems, marketing teams may benefit by being able to drive more leads, quickly execute campaigns and track the activity of customers. Sales teams and marketing teams use ERP in alliance with their colleagues in finance as well as operations colleagues for provide an enhanced customer experience.

Although the scope, scale, usage, and functionality of different ERP systems vary a great deal, a majority of ERP software have the following two key features:

• Integration

Essentially, all business processes (functional and operational) across all business units and departments are centralized and integrated. An action taken in one department is notified to all.

This removes cross-departmental miscommunication or lack of communication and leads to a unified approach. Integration lessens the errors that arise due to distributed business processes and increases the efficiency of operations.

The time it takes to implement an ERP system in a small business or a large enterprise will depend heavily on the integrations needed.

• Real-Time Operations

All processes are updated in the integrated ERP system in real time, therefore, in case of a problem arising, it is quickly identified, tracked, mitigated, and informed. This reduces challenges in your ERP system like slow response time and lowers the chance of reoccurrence of a similar event.

Although the scope and functionality of different types of ERP systems vary, most of them exhibit the the following features:

• Common, Centralized Database

Although some ERP systems function with a split physical database for enhanced performance, a common database enables defining, storing, and using the same data across each department.

• Consistency

Comfort and confidence in the employees are essential for delivering their best. Having access to a consistent interface experience keeps employees comfortable and sure of what they are doing, therefore, ERP Systems come with a consistent user interface. Another benefit of this is a lowered need and costs of (re)training employees.

Enterprise resource planning software integrates, standardizes and streamlines both financial and operational processes across all departments and enables operational transparency and better real-time interdepartmental communication.

Moreover, ERP systems facilitate businesses in combating inefficiencies in their supply chains (from manufacturing and inventory management to transportation and distribution) and enjoy enhanced profits and their competitive streak in the market.

It's important to compare leading ERP providers like SAP vs. Oracle, and SAP vs. ServiceNow when you're deciding on which features you need in your ERP. While most vendors will offer similar packages and functionality, and you may be inclined to think that a particular like ERP like SAP is best, you'll want to know exactly what is most important to you and which vendor does it best.