Your trusted source for product specific ERP information from leading technology vendors.
Welcome
Welcome to the Next Generation ERP Portal. Here you will find the latest information Oracle, SAP and Microsoft's ERP offerings and what that may mean for your plans of investing in one of these leading solutions. As the next generation of solutions evolve into more robust systems using open standards and greater points of integration with your existing systems, we find that customers are left with trying to figure their way through the hype. The more information you find before your invest in the next upgrade or new implementation, the better you will be equipped to make an informed decision. Your organizations next ERP solution could very well represent the nest egg of your firm in terms of future profits, competitive advantages, business efficiency and human capital.
What can I find here?
The information here is a collection of vendor specific solutions, white papers, case studies, relevant customer references, project support, and information provided by our readers who are either in the process of implementing one of these ERP solutions, supporting an ERP application or upgrading an ERP application. Information is power and the more we gather allows you to empower your team in making the right decision based on your enterprises' specific needs. We hope you find this site useful for beginning such an endeavor. Visit often!
An ERP Primer
ERP or Enterprise Resource Planning Applications gained momentum during the 90's as an out of the box, one size fits all solution for the looming Y2K crisis. An ERP packaged solution typically consisted of core business processes, such as payroll and accounting, human resources (HR), manufacturing, and sales and distribution.
As century mark passed, vendors turned to additional value added solutions to make up for declining demand. ERP Vendors embraced e-commerce, advanced planning and scheduling (APS), Internet-based procurement, business intelligence (BI), and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to add to their existing offerings. The oversupply of these solutions has lead to some consolidation in the industry lead primarily by Oracle Inc. Oracle had acquired both PeopleSoft Software and Seibel CRM Software over the past few years as part of its long term strategy. Prior to being acquired by Oracle in 2005, PeopleSoft has acquired JD Edwards. Of course, such consolidation has lead to vast improvements in potential offerings and uncertainty in the customer community in regards to investment and licensing costs. Oracle is still working towards a unified solution for its customer base in what is has termed as "Fusion" or its next generation ERP solution.
So, today, the major players in the ERP playing field for large and midsize enterprises are Oracle and SAP with Microsoft advancing in the midsize market with its next generation ERP solution coined "Microsoft Dynamics." A key component of the Next Generation ERP solution is the utilization of web based technologies and open standards. The use of the Internet and the Web to communicate, collaborate, and trade with customers and business partners is causing a fundamental shift in how companies define and manage their business processes. Organizations can no longer think of their business singularly; they must consider their trading partners and customers. As a result, they need systems that support e-businesse transactions.ERP systems leverage Internet technology and the component-based architectures of the newer software to open the purchasing function, simplifying participation in the purchasing process. In addition, Internet-based procurement benefits companies, allowing them to reduce costs by controlling purchasing habits, leveraging total spending power, and lowering the number of suppliers they must manage.
Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:
Manufacturing
Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management, Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow
Supply Chain Management
Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation
Financials
General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets
Projects
Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management
Human Resources
Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits
Customer Relationship Management
Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support
Data Warehouse
Business Intelligence, Portals, Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators
Self Service
Various Self-Service interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees
Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP). MRP evolved into ERP when “routings” became a major part of the software architecture and a company’s capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.[citation needed] ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management.Modern ERP systems claim they can manage all processes within an organization.That claim might be true for some of the largest vendors - they do have software components that can cover every process a company can imagine, mainly through customization,3rd party add-ons or acquisitions,but each approach has its own challenges.A true-ERP system,that can cover all business processes within a single software package,without extensive customization does not and probably will probably never exist.
As century mark passed, vendors turned to additional value added solutions to make up for declining demand. ERP Vendors embraced e-commerce, advanced planning and scheduling (APS), Internet-based procurement, business intelligence (BI), and customer relationship management (CRM) solutions to add to their existing offerings. The oversupply of these solutions has lead to some consolidation in the industry lead primarily by Oracle Inc. Oracle had acquired both PeopleSoft Software and Seibel CRM Software over the past few years as part of its long term strategy. Prior to being acquired by Oracle in 2005, PeopleSoft has acquired JD Edwards. Of course, such consolidation has lead to vast improvements in potential offerings and uncertainty in the customer community in regards to investment and licensing costs. Oracle is still working towards a unified solution for its customer base in what is has termed as "Fusion" or its next generation ERP solution.
So, today, the major players in the ERP playing field for large and midsize enterprises are Oracle and SAP with Microsoft advancing in the midsize market with its next generation ERP solution coined "Microsoft Dynamics." A key component of the Next Generation ERP solution is the utilization of web based technologies and open standards. The use of the Internet and the Web to communicate, collaborate, and trade with customers and business partners is causing a fundamental shift in how companies define and manage their business processes. Organizations can no longer think of their business singularly; they must consider their trading partners and customers. As a result, they need systems that support e-businesse transactions.ERP systems leverage Internet technology and the component-based architectures of the newer software to open the purchasing function, simplifying participation in the purchasing process. In addition, Internet-based procurement benefits companies, allowing them to reduce costs by controlling purchasing habits, leveraging total spending power, and lowering the number of suppliers they must manage.
Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:
Manufacturing
Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management, Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow
Supply Chain Management
Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation
Financials
General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets
Projects
Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management
Human Resources
Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits
Customer Relationship Management
Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support
Data Warehouse
Business Intelligence, Portals, Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators
Self Service
Various Self-Service interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees
Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP). MRP evolved into ERP when “routings” became a major part of the software architecture and a company’s capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.[citation needed] ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management.Modern ERP systems claim they can manage all processes within an organization.That claim might be true for some of the largest vendors - they do have software components that can cover every process a company can imagine, mainly through customization,3rd party add-ons or acquisitions,but each approach has its own challenges.A true-ERP system,that can cover all business processes within a single software package,without extensive customization does not and probably will probably never exist.
