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The main functions of the erp module. Functions of ERP systems

In this article, we will talk about what is meant by the term ERP system, when this software appeared on the market and what it was created for, and we will also try to predict in which direction systems of this class will develop.

We will also try to answer the main questions that arise from those who decide to figure out why this software is so in demand by modern enterprises:

What software can be classified as ERP?
Why do companies around the world spend significant sums for their business on the implementation of ERP systems?
How are these systems arranged?

The history of the concept of ERP

Before starting a conversation about ERP systems, it is worth remembering where this concept came from. ERP term or enterprise resource planning was a development of the concept of MRP (MPR-II), which was used to refer to a class of systems developed back in the 60s of the last century and intended for organizing production processes (first of all, material planning "MRP", and later resources in general " MRP-II") and production accounting. Those. the very concept of MRP (-II) was and still is related to information systems designed to automate production activities.

In the 1990s, the Gartner Group and a number of other companies were looking to apply the planning approaches implemented in MRP systems to other areas of business, expanding the capabilities of MRP in terms of planning activities and managing enterprise processes.

It was from these works that the term "ERP" was born, first used by the Gartner Group and intended to refer to a new class of systems.

From the very beginning, ERP systems have been positioned on the market as systems that, in addition to solving resource planning tasks, also solve data organization and optimization of processes related to the functioning of the back office, such as inventory management, sales, pricing, accounting, etc. d.

Figure 1. Composition of ERP systems

In addition to the term ERP, the definitions of "Enterprise Management System", "Integrated Enterprise Management System" are actively used, and in fact, they all describe ERP systems.

Architecture of modern ERP systems

While each company is unique in some ways, they all face a common challenge: to remain competitive in today's business environment, companies need reliable and efficient way storage and access to heterogeneous information. This problem is solved by the modern ERP system.

A typical ERP system is a set of modules (or even individual applications), each of which manages a specific process: purchasing, sales, production, accounting and tax accounting, HR processes, customer support, CRM, warehouse logistics, etc. At the same time, the system covers the main processes of all activities of the enterprise.

As a result, the ERP system is a comprehensive information management system for managing information within an organization that solves the entire range of tasks of managerial, regulated and other types of accounting, in contrast to specialized software designed to automate a specific business process or activity.

Figure 2. List of tasks solved by the 1C: ERP system Enterprise management

As a result of the introduction of an ERP system in a company, business owners and managers can simplify and automate time-consuming back-office tasks, help employees become more productive, and most importantly, get an operational (often in real time) cut across all areas of activity with the possibility of parallel analysis and development planning.

Classification of ERP systems

Having understood what is usually understood by the term "ERP system", we will try to classify these systems by type. It must be said right away that the classification is rather arbitrary, because there are quite a few signs by which such software can be classified: functionality, positioning, size of organizations for which the solution is intended, and much more. We tried to simplify the classification as much as possible by dividing ERP solutions into the following groups:

Complex information systems. This group includes universal ERP systems. They can be adapted to the processes of a wide variety of companies - from large industries to financial institutions. Such solutions have a wide range of settings and advanced integration mechanisms to remain as versatile as possible and meet the requirements of different business sectors. The largest players operate in this market, and the market for such systems occupies the largest share compared to the markets for other types of systems (which we will discuss below). Examples: Oracle, SAP, Netsuite, 1C.
Industry information systems. These ERP systems are focused on a specific industry, sometimes even on a narrow direction within the industry (for example, ERP systems designed to automate companies selling air and railway tickets). Often such products are released by startups or companies that, being unable to develop a product that competes with large players in established markets, are trying to find their own small niche and take a leading position in it. Many large companies, entering this market, start with specific industries, gradually developing the solution towards maximum versatility. Examples: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Brightpearl, Epicor Retail, 1C.
ERP for small business. Formally, such systems cannot be classified as ERP, however, small companies have enough functionality of such systems to meet all their needs at a lower cost of both the program itself and implementation and subsequent ownership. Often such ERP systems are modular, and the functionality is cut down compared to more expensive products.
Thus, instead of installing a comprehensive information system, the company implements a small product that serves one or two key business processes, but does not cover other areas of the enterprise. Example: PeopleSoft (a system that implements the functions of accounting, personnel management and CRM), 1C:UNF.
ERP systems open source. ERP open source systems occupy this moment a small part of the total ERP market. But such solutions are often supported by companies that have teams of developers and analysts on staff to refine and integrate the system with their local information resources. Example: Odo.

Advantages of modern ERP systems

The market for ERP systems is growing from year to year, both in value terms and in the number of workstations. This is evidenced by numerous market studies. Why are more and more enterprises, from giants to small companies, seeking to implement modern ERP systems?

The main advantages provided by the ERP system implemented at the enterprise:

A deeper understanding of the processes taking place in the company and a decrease in response time to changes. Thanks to the consolidation of all key information in a single system, it becomes possible to quickly receive management reporting on all aspects of the enterprise's activities in real time;
As a result, a private (but very important) advantage of consolidating operations and data in one system is to ensure data comparability, eliminate duplication and form a common vision of ongoing processes for all participants;
Modern ERP systems contain built-in predictive tools that can be used to make informed decisions about the next steps in business development;
Cost reduction through the introduction of unified end-to-end business processes, automation of labor-intensive tasks, elimination of redundant processes, as well as simplification of training and adaptation procedures for new users;
Thanks to a uniform IT landscape, the ERP system allows you to increase the security of data storage, simplify the tasks of restricting access, and thereby increase the level of information security.

Disadvantages of ERP systems

To complete the picture, having outlined the advantages, we should dwell on the disadvantages of switching to modern ERP systems:

High cost of implementation and ownership. Until now, the traditional scheme for implementing ERP systems implies large initial costs for implementation. Moreover, the money must be spent even before the system will work, and the business will receive its benefits.
High implementation risks. There are a large number of implementation difficulties, including a heavy legacy in the form of the peculiarities of the operation of old software that must be taken into account during the transition, and the resistance of personnel to change, and the lack of qualified personnel within the enterprise capable of organizing the transition process and further support, and much more. Until now, projects for the implementation of ERP systems in enterprises remain one of the most risky for business.
Insufficient universality of ERP solutions. Despite the fact that leading manufacturers are trying to make their solutions as flexible as possible and suitable for any business requirements, it is clear that practice is far from theory. There may simply be no completely suitable solution on the market, so often the product is adapted to a specific organization, which significantly increases the cost of the project.

ERP systems are constantly evolving, and leading vendors are trying to take into account the existing shortcomings in new versions of the software and level them as much as possible.

How to determine if your business needs ERP

Any company is unique in its own way, although it faces in different time with problems common to all such organizations. Below we will try to help determine if it is time for your company to consider investing in an ERP system.

If most of the points below apply to your business, then it's probably time to seriously consider implementing an ERP system in your business:

Your team members spend too much time on tasks that can be simplified or automated;
You do not have online access to the data required to make a decision here and now;
You have many diverse integrations with external systems;
Your enterprise uses a large number of unrelated software products and tools;
You do not have reliable information about the balance of goods and materials in warehouses or cash at the box office;
You personally spend a lot of time searching for information, trying to increase the productivity and efficiency of employees, and departments are difficult to interact and are reluctant to share information with each other;
You do not have full access to information when you leave the office;
You lack the tools to monitor the implementation of decisions made.

To be sure that the investment in a new ERP system will pay off, you need to detail the specific problems that exist in your organization, and before making decisions, understand exactly how the ERP system can help solve these problems.

The modern international market for ERP systems is huge and continues to grow. To date, thousands of software vendors are represented on it, the exact number of which no one knows - some players leave the market, but new ones are constantly appearing.

Mainly on the market are industry solutions, developed for the needs of specific industries: certain areas of production, logistics, retail other. However, in the lead international market there are companies that offer the most comprehensive solutions.

Founded in 1972, SAP has now opened subsidiaries around the world and organized interaction with a number of external teams involved in the development of add-ons for the company's software products.

SAP is represented on the market by two main products:

SAP Business All-in-One. This ERP solution, built on the latest SAP HANA platform to date, is positioned as a comprehensive solution covering 25 business sectors, including, of course, manufacturing and sales, and designed for large companies. Includes business intelligence (BI) and forecasting product.
SAP Business One. It was released to the market to strengthen the position of SAP in the segment of solutions for small / medium organizations. The solution is based on the same platform as SAP All-in-One, but less functional and versatile.

Microsoft took second place in 2017 with Microsoft Dynamics AX. Despite the lower versatility compared to SAP products, the solution is suitable for companies engaged in trade and services, thanks to which the company annually increases its market share and actively develops its product.

Third place was shared by Oracle and Infor, followed by (by a wide margin) second-tier companies: Epicor, Sage, NetSuite and others.

The Panorama study also notes that SAP has taken the first place in terms of the payback period for investments in ERP. In terms of implementation speed, Oracle products lead, and in terms of implementation costs, NetSuite systems took the lead, costing customers an average of 2.8% of revenue.

The benefits of Infor's systems were specifically highlighted, such as the wide range of mobile options for remote offices and employees, reliable and intuitive business data analysis tools, and optimal implementation time and cost, as well as return on investment.

The leading position in the Russian market with a share of slightly less than 50% is occupied by SAP, followed by 1C with a share of about 32% and other players with a significant margin: Oracle, Galaktika and others.

However, in addition to estimating the market share in dollar terms, one can look at the number of automated jobs in the Russian market. In terms of the number of implementations and workstations, more than 80% of the market is occupied by 1C, being in fact a monopolist in terms of ERP systems for small and medium-sized businesses.

The Future of ERP Systems

Since the 90s of the last century, the ERP systems market has been actively developing, as the number of organizations implementing ERP systems to optimize key business processes and improve data visibility has grown like an avalanche.

At the same time, the costs of implementing ERP systems were also rising, and it was not so much about the cost of hardware or software, but about the costs of implementing and developing systems in an ever-expanding market and changing processes. As a result, "traditional" systems, due to their high cost, have become simply inaccessible to small and medium-sized businesses.

The situation has changed with the advent of "cloud" technologies and the development SaaS (Software as a Service). Already now, all market leaders offer the opportunity to start using their key products by subscription.

The main advantages of this approach are:

Scalability - you can buy additional functions as your business grows without the need to implement a new system;
SaaS solutions, due to their specifics, provide access to the ERP system via the Internet anywhere and anytime;
Low capital costs - there is no need to buy equipment, related software, there are no large one-time payments for the implementation of the system;
The system is maintenance-free - the supplier takes over the tasks of updating the system, performs troubleshooting, thereby reducing downtime.

A significant disadvantage of SaaS is the impossibility of finalizing the solution to the requirements of a particular enterprise and a number of other restrictions, so some large enterprises opt for "hybrid" ERP systems, which offer the ability to combine traditional system ownership and subscription schemes. With this scheme, part of the subsystems is located in the cloud (and access to them is offered by subscription), and part is on the customer's servers.

It can be predicted that this market will only develop, moreover, systems that are distributed only via SaaS and do not have a “traditional” deployment option at the site of the customer company have begun to massively appear on the market.

Another clear trend is the widespread introduction mobile access to systems. Implemented access in various ways, some ERP systems support integration with their own mobile applications developed for iOS and Android, some offer access through a web browser. However, such access today is always a compromise between the restrictions imposed by mobile interfaces, security requirements and the functionality expected by the client.

You can be sure that in the future opportunities remote access to data will expand and new products for remote work will appear on the market, both from market leaders and from newcomers.

Another direction of development, under which they even came up with a new term "ERP 2.0" is the implementation social interactions in system. "Social" ERP system allows you to effectively use social networks, closely interacting with Facebook and Twitter, implements new channels of communication, helps to increase customer loyalty and, as a result, increase conversion when selling goods and services.

Results

It can be said for sure that today there is a rapid development and change in the ERP systems market. Thanks to the development of cloud technologies, ERP systems have become

are available to companies of any size and now even a small business, by subscribing, can start using a "heavy" ERP system, the implementation of which in a company in a more traditional way would be impossible.

As a result of the widespread introduction of new technologies, the modern user imposes more and more stringent requirements on the capabilities of the ERP system in terms of remote work. Therefore, in the near future, we can expect products to appear on the market that will not differ in terms of functionality and security, no matter whether the user works remotely or from the office.

All these changes benefit the end user of ERP systems and will certainly lead to an even greater increase in the market share occupied by EPR systems, making them familiar tools for companies of any industry and any size.

Annotation: ERP systems and business opportunity management. The composition of the ERP system. The main differences between MRP and ERP systems. Features of the choice and implementation of the ERP-system. The main problems of implementation and use of ERP-systems.

9. Information systems for resource planning and enterprise management: ERP systems

9.1. ERP and Business Opportunity Management

In the early 90s. analytical company Gartner Group has introduced a new concept. MRP II class systems integrated with the module financial planning(Finance Requirements Planning - FRP) are called enterprise resource planning systems (Enterprise Resource Planning - ERP). The term "Enterprise-Wide Resource Planning" is also sometimes encountered.

ERP systems are based on the principle of creating a single data warehouse (repository) containing all corporate business information: planning, financial, production, personnel data, etc. The presence of a single corporate repository eliminates the need to transfer data from one system to another (for example, , from the production system to the financial or personnel). Such a system also provides simultaneous access to information for any number of employees of the enterprise with the appropriate authority. The purpose of ERP systems is not only to improve the management of the enterprise's production activities, but also to reduce the costs and efforts to support its internal information flows.

There are many definitions of ERP systems. One of the most common ones is the following:

ERP-system is a set of integrated applications that allow you to create an integrated information environment (IIS) to automate the planning, accounting, control and analysis of all major business operations of the enterprise. ERP-systems are the basis of IIS of an enterprise.

As originally defined by the American Industrial and Inventory Management Society (APICS): "ERP is a method for effectively planning and controlling all the resources needed to receive, make, ship, and account for customer orders in a manufacturing, distribution, or service company."

AT latest edition APICS: "ERP is an approach for organizing, defining and standardizing the business processes required by an organization so that the organization can use internal knowledge to seek external advantage."

As a rule, ERP systems are built on a modular basis, and to one degree or another cover all the key processes of the company's activities (Fig. 9.1). The software toolkit used in ERP-systems allows carrying out production planning, to model the flow of orders and evaluate the possibility of their implementation in the services and departments of the enterprise, linking it with sales.

In 1990, the following IP formula based on Enterprise Resource Planning was proposed: , where not only materials and time of work centers are subject to planning, but also financial resources FRP, DRP - distribution resource management.

Rice. 9.1.

Main functions of ERP systems:

maintenance of design and technological specifications that determine the composition of manufactured products, as well as material resources and the operations necessary for its manufacture;
formation of sales and production plans;
planning the needs for materials and components, terms and volumes of deliveries to fulfill the production plan;
inventory and procurement management: maintaining contracts, implementing centralized purchases, ensuring accounting and optimization of warehouse and workshop stocks;
planning of production capacities from enlarged planning to the use of individual machines and equipment;
operational financial management, including drafting financial plan and monitoring its implementation, financial and management accounting;
project management, including planning the stages and resources required for their implementation.

Later, ERP systems began to include an additional module APS (Advanced Planning and Scheduling) - a planning technique that uses mathematical optimization methods in compiling calendar plans, since for solving even seemingly simple discrete planning problems for a distributed distribution network, ordinary algorithms become inoperable due to the large dimensionality of the data being processed.

In the late 90s. In the 20th century, the methodology "Customer Synchronized Resource Planning (CSRP)" was also developed, which covers the interaction of the enterprise with customers: issuing a work order, terms of reference, customer support, resource planning depending on the volume and composition of customer orders. If the MRP/MRPII/ERP standards are focused on inventory and capacity management, planning, production and sale of the product, then the CSRP standard includes the full cycle of the product life cycle - from its design taking into account customer requirements to warranty and after-sales service.

This new type of CIS in some sources began to be called the ERP II system, the basis of which is the management of the company's interaction with external environment. Where possible, internal and confidential processes become external and open. Excessive secrecy of corporate information, which complicated the activity, disappears. It is being replaced by a clearly regulated policy in the field of information security and the security of information systems themselves.

The combination of an ERP system with OLAP technologies, a balanced scorecard (Balanced Score Card) and a functional cost management system led to the emergence and development of BPM (Business Performance Management) systems - business performance management, which allow you to link the operational results of an enterprise with the effectiveness of the mission company [Yu. Amiridi, Intersoft Lab, http://www.iso.ru/cgi-bin/main]. What tasks do BPM systems solve and what place do they occupy among other business process automation software products?

To answer this question, we will use the materials of the report "Successful experience in business performance management: business and technical strategies" ("Best Practices in Business Performance Management: Business and Technical Strategies") of the International Data Warehousing Institute (DWI) 2004. This report positions BPM systems by analyzing general scheme development of software for automating business processes over the past twenty years (Fig. 9.2).

Rice. 9.2.

First, systems for automating internal (back-office) processes appeared, primarily production (inventory management and automation of production line management) and accounting. Then came the turn of the processes of interconnection with the external environment (front office processes): supplies, sales, services, marketing. At the end of the twentieth century, organizations moved to automate cross-functional processes that affect the work of several departments, implementing technologies for customer relationship management (Customer Relationship Management - CRM), and supply chain management technologies (Supply Chain Management - SCM). And, finally, the top of the pyramid, which has been automated quite recently, is corporate governance. To solve this problem in the world allocate special class software - BPM systems.

Moving up the levels of the pyramid reflects a gradual transition from automating operational business processes to automating business management strategies. Processes at higher levels of the pyramid control processes at lower levels. Thus, BPM systems are designed to automate the strategic planning of business development and, at the same time, to support tactical (or operational) business process management at different levels. The task of BPM-systems is to help in the implementation of strategic business goals in real conditions. To do this, they must provide the user with the right information at the right time in order to improve the efficiency of operational management.

The functional architecture of a classic BPM system consists of three constituent parts. The first part is the data warehouse. This is the basis of a BPM system. It consolidates operational information from various automated modules of the head office and branches of the organization, from subsidiaries and partner companies. The second component is a set of tools to support enterprise management technologies: financial planning, management accounting, forecasting, management of production and auxiliary processes, etc. The third component of BPM is OLAP analytical tools for operational work with business data that is accumulated in the warehouse.

Thus, BPM systems cannot be called something fundamentally new. They combine well-known management technologies and software solutions that were previously used locally and solved the problems of individual departments and users. What then are the advantages and novelty of the BPM approach? But the fact is that the BPM-system is designed to support the full cycle of company management.

This means that BPM tools are interconnected and ensure the execution of four main stages of business performance management:

Strategy Development. The purpose of the first stage is to identify business targets ( key indicators efficiency) and planning the quantitative values of their metrics (Key Performance Indicators - KPI). Strategic planning relies on one of the BPM methodologies known as the Balanced Scorecard (BSC).

Tactical planning. At the second stage, tactical plans are developed to achieve the set strategic goals. KPIs become benchmarks for developing tactical (operational) plans. The main tool for operational planning is the budgeting of various aspects of the enterprise.

Monitoring and control of execution. Third step in the cycle corporate governance- monitoring and control of execution of budgetary and production plans. Actual values for management and financial accounting calculated on the basis of the primary data collected in the warehouse. To compare the planned and achieved budget indicators and KPIs, tools of "plan-fact" analysis are used based on the technology of multidimensional data analysis OLAP.

Analysis and regulation. At the final stage, strategic plans are adjusted in accordance with the actual operating conditions of the enterprise. To plan changes, tools for forecasting and modeling various scenarios for the development of the situation are used. As a result, the cycle of corporate governance - between the chosen strategy and its practical implementation - closes.

ERP systems are focused on automating management processes, maintaining business processes and reducing operating costs, but are not able to provide comprehensive, easy and quick access to the necessary management information. In addition, it turned out that not all the information needed by both top management and managers and specialists in the field is available in the ERP system. This situation is exacerbated by the fact that companies often use not one, but several ERP systems inherited as a result of mergers and acquisitions.

In contrast, BPM systems provide a holistic, process-oriented approach to making decisions. management decisions, aimed at improving the company's ability to realistically assess its current state and manage the effectiveness of its activities at all levels, by bringing together process owners, managers, personnel and external counterparties within a common integrated management environment.

Note that in this sense the term "BPM-system" can be used in two meanings: as a management concept (i.e., a certain approach to making management decisions and their practical implementation) and as an information system (a set of software tools that support the BPM ideology and ensuring its practical implementation). This does not mean, however, that the BPM system "cancels" or "replaces" ERP. Figure 9.3 shows a possible interaction between ERP and BPM systems.

From the above diagram it can be seen that an important role in the transformation of data from ERP into a BPM system is the so-called Data Maps modules - tools for unifying data received from various sources and bringing them into line with unified directories(data conversion process). These funds are also used for feedback, for example, to transfer the results of strategic or operational planning to the ERP system, for the subsequent formation of more detailed plans.

We also note that not only ERP subsystems, but also transactional systems of other systems act as sources of financial and non-financial data for the BPM system:

customer relationship management (Customer Relationships Management - CRM);
supply chain management (Supply Chain Management - SCM);
asset management (Assets Management - AM);
personnel management (Human Resources Management - HRM);
other sources - databases, spreadsheets, etc.

Thus, with the solution an integral infrastructure is being created to support consistent strategic and tactical enterprise management based on a single data model. This is the fundamental difference integrated approach based on corporate management automation systems from an isolated solution of individual managerial tasks.

9.2. The composition of the ERP system

ERP-systems are designed to manage all the financial and economic activities of the enterprise. They are used to promptly provide the management of the enterprise with the information necessary for making managerial decisions, as well as to create an infrastructure for electronic data exchange between the enterprise and suppliers and consumers. ERP-system allows you to use one integrated program instead of several disparate ones. A single system can manage processing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing and accounting.

The information access control system implemented in ERP systems is designed (in combination with other enterprise information security measures) to counteract both external threats (for example, industrial espionage) and internal ones (for example, data theft). Implemented in conjunction with quality control and customer relationship support systems, ERP systems are aimed at maximizing the satisfaction of companies' needs for business management tools.

The main functional blocks of a typed ERP system are shown below.

Demand management. The block is designed to forecast future demand for products, determine the volume of orders that can be offered to the client at a particular point in time, determine the demand of distributors, demand within the enterprise, etc.

Sales and production planning. The result of the action of the block is the development of a plan for the production of the main types of products.

Advanced capacity planning. Used to specify production plans and determine the degree of their feasibility.

The main production plan (production schedule). Products are determined in final units (products) with the terms of manufacture and quantity.

Material requirements planning. The types of material resources (prefabricated assemblies, finished units, purchased products, raw materials, semi-finished products, etc.) and the specific timing of their delivery to fulfill the plan are determined.

Product specification. Determines the composition of the final product, the material resources necessary for its manufacture, etc. In fact, the specification is the link between the main production plan and the material requirements plan.

Planning for capacity requirements. At this stage of planning, production capacities are determined in more detail than at previous levels.

Routing/work centers. With the help of this block, both the production capacities of various levels and the routes in accordance with which products are produced are specified.

Checking and adjusting workshop plans for capacities.

Purchasing, inventory, sales management.

Financial management (maintenance of the General Ledger, settlements with debtors and creditors, accounting for fixed assets, cash management, planning financial activities and etc.).

Cost management (accounting for all costs of the enterprise and costing finished products or services).

Project/program management.

Personnel Management.

In addition, for ERP systems, it is almost mandatory to have the possibility of electronic data exchange with other applications, as well as modeling a number of situations related primarily to planning and forecasting.

In accordance with modern requirements, an ERP system should, in addition to the core that implements the MRPII standard (or its equivalent for continuous production), include the following modules:

supply chain management (Distribution Resource Planning - DRP);
advanced planning and production scheduling (Advanced Planning and Scheduling - APS);
customer relationship management (Customer Relation Management - CRM, formerly called sales automation module - Sales Force Automation);
e-commerce (Electronic Commerce - EU);
product data management (Product Data Management - PDM);
Business Intelligence add-ons, including solutions based on OLAP (On-Line Analytical Processing) and DSS (Decision Support Systems) technologies;
standalone module responsible for system configuration (Standalone Configuration Engine - SCE);
final (detailed) resource planning FRP (Finite Resource Planning).

Rice. 9.6.

If there are practically no problems with the acquisition of a small, as a rule, "box" system, then with medium-sized and, moreover, with large systems, everything is much more complicated.

Table 9.1. Ratio of implementation cost estimates

	Local systems	Small Integrated Systems	Medium integrated systems	Large integrated systems
Implementation	Simple, boxed version	Step by step or boxed version. More than 4 months	Only step by step. More than 6-9 months	Step by step, complex. More than 9-12 months.
Functional completeness	Accounting systems (by directions)	Comprehensive accounting and financial management	Integrated management: accounting, management, production
Cost ratio license/implementation/equipment	1/0,5/2	1/1/1	1/2/1	1/1-5/1
Estimated cost	5-50 thousand dollars.	50-300 thousand dollars.	200-500 thousand dollars.	500 thousand - more than 1 million dollars.

A large information ERP system cannot be bought, delivered, turned on and used so easily. The enterprise must be thoroughly prepared for the implementation of such a system. The introduction of an ERP system is akin to a complex surgical operation - both here and there you have to cut it "on the fly", and here and there a lot depends on careful preparation, on the skills of professionals, and something - on luck!

The choice of a specific ERP system for implementation is a complex and multi-criteria process for the following main reasons:

the high cost of the purchased product (up to several million dollars);
a wide variety of proposed ERP-systems;
the duration of the training period for specialists in the product being introduced;
pre-sale cycle (from several months to several years);
the implementation cycle itself (the implementation cycle of an ERP system, even at one production site of an enterprise, can last up to several years).

When choosing an ERP system, you need to understand that automation for the sake of automation does not make sense. It should be clear that the world's best ERP-system will not be able to solve all the problems of the enterprise.

Any ERP system is, first of all, a tool for improving the efficiency and quality of enterprise management, making the right strategic and tactical decisions based automated processing up-to-date and reliable information. At the same time, an ERP system is not only a toolkit for business, but also a technology for doing it.

The management of the enterprise should be primarily interested in choosing the right ERP system. The project to implement an ERP system should be considered by the company's management as a strategic investment.

Naturally, any enterprise would prefer to implement a proven, reliable and affordable ERP system for it. The question is which system makes sense to introduce - Western or domestic? And here it is impossible to give an unambiguous answer.

Currently, Russian systems demonstrate good development dynamics, however, Western systems are still richer in functionality. A feature of Western systems is also that they have been developed (and refined) for several decades in accordance with the global principles of efficient business conduct (without tax evasion, double-entry bookkeeping, etc.). That is, the so-called "correct" ("civilized") business model is much better implemented in Western systems. This advantage is at the same time their disadvantage (in relation to Russian conditions), since Western ERP systems are less adapted to work with complex, non-integral and illogical business models that are currently more viable in Russia. The disadvantage of Western systems is also their high cost, although some Russian software systems are already catching up with Western ERP systems in terms of cost.

If an enterprise decides to implement Russian enterprise management software, then in this case it cannot be said how "good" or "bad" the system is - in each case, a specific software product and specific conditions for acquisition and implementation should be considered.

The main thing when choosing an ERP system is to determine what new benefits the enterprise will gain from its implementation. It is necessary to understand in detail what an ERP system can provide for a business, what goals it will allow to realize and what impact it can have on the profitability of an enterprise and the cost of its products. At the same time, it must always be taken into account that the cost of delivery, implementation and maintenance of an ERP system cannot be more expensive than the cost of the entire business of the enterprise!

First of all, the management of the enterprise must understand why the enterprise needs an ERP system. Even before implementation, any system must have clear and measurable goals set in the so-called "S.M.A.R.T.-system": goals must be specific (Specific), measurable (Measurable), agreed (Adjusted), relevant (Relevant) and have certain time of execution (Time of Execution). It is desirable that the answer to this question could be formalized and presented visually in figures and diagrams (the amount of savings, higher turnover of goods, reduced time to work with suppliers and customers, etc.). The main requirements for the ERP system must be formulated and approved by the management of the enterprise:

what goals economic activity and the tasks of the business as a whole will be realized by the acquired and implemented system;
what functional areas and types of production it should cover;
what processes should be automated;
what reports to prepare;
what software and hardware platforms to use.

It is very important to clearly define the current and future needs of the enterprise or organization. It is necessary to understand well what drives a business, what factors are critical for success and what is necessary for the development of the company. The requirements must be formalized in the form of a special document (Vision Scope), which defines and prioritizes all the desired characteristics of the ERP system.

It is equally important to correctly assess the existing technological infrastructure of the enterprise. If, in order to implement an ERP system, an enterprise will first have to spend significant funds (comparable to the cost of the system being implemented) to upgrade their local or global networks, then this option may not be profitable. In general, the implemented ERP-system should correspond to the existing financial and technological level of the enterprise.

It should also be understood that the greatest effect is achieved with the integrated implementation of the ERP system. It is pointless to spend huge amounts of money on a system that will not be fully utilized, or a system that will need to be constantly upgraded.

Extremely important point is and right choice developer (or developer-implementer, as is often the case in Russia) of an ERP system, who should not only deliver his software to the client company, but become its long-term partner, providing support and further development systems.

The client company must be sure that high quality and the timeliness of future upgrades of the installed ERP-system (when new versions appear), in solving all the problems related to its flexibility and scalability. If the implementation of the ERP system is carried out by a consulting company, then it is equally important to understand the relationship between it and the developer of the ERP system. In any case, it is very useful to arrange a tender between ERP system vendors. The organization of the tender will significantly reduce the initial price of delivery and better understand the possibilities - both of the proposed systems and their developers.

It is not just a set of programs with documentation that is bought (most of which are created on the basis of standard tools and are based on common platforms) - the work and experience of an established team of an ERP system developer company that carries different kinds responsibility (ranging from legal to moral) for the quality and efficiency of installed and maintained software and technological systems.

The implementation of an ERP system should be carried out by the implementing firm (or, in some cases, the development company) in close contact with the IT department and the relevant interested departments of the enterprise. After the implementation of the ERP system certain types system upgrade work can be entrusted to external consultants of the development firm (consulting firm), and its overall support can be left to the IT department.

In some cases, enterprises rely on systems developed by their own IT departments. Practice shows that focusing on "self-written" systems allows you to get the IS most suitable for the company's business, but ultimately makes the company dependent on its own developers.

It is rare that such a self-developed software product remains viable for long enough. There is usually no corresponding complete and up-to-date documentation on it. It cannot be said that it has been professionally tested at the stages of development and commissioning and is reliably accompanied (an example of this is, for example, the Krupskaya confectionery factory in St. Petersburg, which had to hastily switch from legacy systems to the Parus software product due to departure of its lead programmers). A large enterprise can afford to invest in the development of its own (for its specific needs) CIS only if the following basic conditions are met:

there is no ready-made software product on the market that satisfies the enterprise in terms of functionality, cost and maintenance conditions;
the enterprise has a powerful IT department with experienced analysts, project managers and programmers;
there is a complete and competent statement of the problem;
there is a technical possibility to simulate the work of the created software during trial operation;
there is the possibility of real maintenance of the created system on its own;
the possibility of replicating the developed software for subsidiaries (industry) enterprises.

Basic principles for choosing an ERP system

When choosing an ERP system, you need to pay special attention to the following main points.

The image of the developer company, the time of its work on the market, the reputation of the system itself and total successful implementations. However, the solidity of the company is not the main factor of choice. Many newcomers to the market (who do not have annual turnover of millions and thousands of customers) offer interesting solutions based on modern technologies and at a very reasonable price. A large number of implementations may also be the merit of marketing, and not the actual quality of the system. There are at least a few cases when enterprises changed their ERP systems several times, which have well-known brands on the Russian market (both Western and Russian). The main reason for replacing these systems was the lack of functionality of the systems, low speed, low scalability, poor quality of support when systems needed to be improved, etc.

Number of successful implementations in Russia. First of all, we mean complex implementations. It is also important to know if there are implementations in related industry enterprises, and if the help of external consultants was required. It is also necessary to see how the system really works at least at one or two sites and talk with IT managers and its ordinary users (no marketing materials or even articles in specialized publications will help to get a more or less complete picture of real opportunities systems - in some cases they are even harmful, since advertising publications can form an inadequate idea of the ERP system from an unprepared manager!).

However, you should always remember that any (even extremely functionally rich) ERP system is customized to the needs of a particular enterprise (and there are simply no twin enterprises even within the same industry). In this case, it is important to understand whether the company-developer is able to "finish" the supplied system for the functionality required by the customer enterprise within a reasonable time. It should be remembered that in some cases the cost of finalizing the system and its subsequent maintenance may exceed the base cost.

Flexibility and openness. This is one of critical factors choosing an ERP system. In accordance with world experience, the period of a fully functional implementation of an ERP system usually lasts at least 3 years, and it should fully work for at least 10 years. During this time, the enterprise has changed significantly (its products, organizational structure, management system, business processes, roles and powers officials and etc.).

The information and analytical system, which is the basis of enterprise management, must change along with production. It should allow you to easily change automated workstations (AWS) and menus, generate reports and certificates, make arbitrary selections of information in a convenient presentation, change business process support technology and reporting form templates by parametric settings. The system should be easily configured and integrated within the IIS of an enterprise with other software (for example, with corporate payroll or personnel management software, document management software, CAD/CAM/CAE systems, PDM systems, etc.). An important point in this case is that all the necessary improvements to the system should be made by the developer company, which is legally responsible to the enterprise for the quality of its work.

Terminology. When analyzing the Western system, it is necessary to carefully analyze its terminology and the quality of Russification. Documentation should be complete and understandable, and terminology should be familiar. In turn, the accompanying documentation for the Russian system should also be complete and understandable.

Western system localization quality. The Russian economy has its own specifics (legal, accounting, tax, etc.). In the design and technological preparation of production in Russia, the standards of ESKD, ESTD and ESPD (Unified System for Design, Technological and Program Documentation) are universally adopted. In Western enterprises, a subject-closed organization of production has been adopted, while in Russia technological specialization is more common. In the West, it is not a shop management structure, but in Russia it is a shop structure. The system should also take into account such Russian realities as credit chains, prepayment, payment in non-monetary form, the possibility of off-balance ("gray") cash, etc.

A Russian company engaged in the localization and implementation of a Western system (or the development and implementation of Russian system) . The experience and qualifications of its employees, their real knowledge of production, approaches to implementation, the number of successfully implemented projects, real support for changes Russian legislation in the implemented and maintained system.

Geographical proximity of the company-developer or company-implementer. It is easier and more convenient to interact with a company whose employees will be able to quickly (within a few hours) appear at the enterprise where the system they have implemented is working. Geographical proximity is also important if the system needs to be finalized, since the developer company usually always includes in the cost of finalization travel expenses(we should not forget about the increase in the duration and inconvenience of the revision project if the developer is far enough away).

Acceptability of the price of the system. It should be borne in mind that the entire installation cycle of an ERP system (purchase, implementation, maintenance, development) will have to be spent several times more than for the purchase of the software itself (with a coefficient of 3.0-10.0). At the same time, the more complex and expensive the implemented ERP system, the higher the coefficient will be.

Possibility of modular acquisition of the system. To save money, it should be possible to purchase and implement an ERP system module by module and only for the required number of jobs. Buying a complete set of system modules at once is not the best way, since all modules will be implemented only in a few years, and during this time some of them may already become obsolete (like the system itself).

Table 9.2. An example of constructing a matrix "Criteria for choosing IP"

Criteria	criticality	By level of detail	According to the complexity of the assessment	By importance to potential users	Final weight
openness	0,8	0,1	0,2	0,8	1,9
Functionality	0,6	0,3	0,4	1	2,3
Tool set	0,6	0,2	0,4	0,4	1,6
Documentation	0,6	0,3	0,4	1	2,3
Reliability	0,9	0,4	0,3	0,8	2,4
Ease of use	0,3	0,2	0,4	0,8	1,6
Client base	0,8	0,5	0,5	0,3	2,1
Successful implementations	0,9	0,5	0,2	0,3	1,9
Technical support	0,7	0,3	0,3	0,9	2,1
Price	0,4	0,5	0,5	0,2	1,6

When deciding on the choice of a particular system, it is advisable to independently or with the help of a consulting firm build a matrix of criteria for choosing an IS. An example of constructing a matrix "IP selection criteria" is given in table 9.2.

Basic technical requirements for an ERP system

The ERP system you choose must meet the following general technical requirements(at least for most of them):

Ability to integrate with a large number of software products (with a minimum level of integration - at the level of open code command line or support for the OLE Automation standard).
Securing with various methods control and differentiation of access to information resources. The presence in the ERP system of software and hardware information protection certified by FAPSI (encrypting data that supports electronic digital signature and authenticating users based on it). The effectiveness of software protection tools can also be significantly increased through the use of hardware and biometric tools (hardware keys, tokens, smart cards, fingerprint recognition devices, retina, voice, face, digitized signature, etc.) recent times on the Russian market.
Scalability to work with a different number of client places and the possibility of developing the system.
The modular principle of building a system from operationally independent functional blocks with an extension due to open standards (API, COM, etc.).
It is desirable to use a three-tier architecture:<сервер базы данных, сервер приложений, клиент>. The client can be "thick", "thin" or "super thin".
The system must be able to migrate from platform to platform. There must be versions for MS Windows, Novell NetWare and UNIX (and its clones).
The set of DBMS supported by the selected ERP system must necessarily include software common in Russia (for example, DB2, Oracle, Sybase, MS SQL Server, Informix, etc.).
Support for distributed information processing technologies, Internet / Intranet technologies with the ability to work through a "thin client". This technical solution allows the use of standard data storages (document libraries, databases) from local, corporate and global networks without requiring significant costs for additional administration and maintaining the integrity, reliability and security of data storage.
Support for technologies of multi-level electronic archiving of information on various media (disk arrays, CD-ROM, CD-RW, magneto-optical disks and libraries, tape libraries, etc.).
The presence of analytical capabilities and built-in tools (allowing you to independently increase the functionality of the installed ERP system).
Satisfactory operational characteristics (ease of administration, training, ergonomics of workplaces, Russian-language interface, etc.).

Evaluation of the effectiveness of implementation

The effectiveness of the implementation of a corporate information system should be assessed by the return on investment (return on the cost of investments). In this case, in the general case, the following indicators are taken into account.

Rice. 9.7.

Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), including software, hardware, external maintenance and operating costs, maintenance and salaries of specialists and personnel. On fig. 9.7 shown exemplary structure total cost of ownership.

Meta Group conducted a special study of the cost of ownership of an ERP system (TCO), which included hardware and software, as well as the cost of services and personnel costs. The total included the cost of installing the system and a two-year implementation period during which the system is maintained, updated or upgraded and optimized. Among the 63 companies that participated in the study (they represented different industries and belonged to both small or medium-sized and big business), average value TCO was $1.5M (with a range of $400K to $3.0M). There are also estimates by foreign analysts that the cost-effectiveness ratio for the implementation of MRP / ERP systems is in the range of 0.25-2.0.

Implementation time (Time to Implement - TTI), in addition to which it is necessary to take into account the time it took to pay back the implementation ( total time called Time to Benefit - TTB).

Return on Investment (ROI). According to a study by Meta Group, the average ROI after the implementation of ERP systems was $1.6 million per year. At Russian market its own specifics of calculating the return on investment, however, there are a number of cases when the funds spent on the supply and implementation of enterprise management software paid off fairly quickly. One such example is the implementation of the Everest financial and management accounting system (developed by the St. Petersburg company BIT) at OAO Vodokanal, St. Petersburg. After the introduction of approximately 100 Everest jobs in 15 branches of Vodokanal, by reducing at least half of the posts, the investment paid off in a year (in terms of at least savings in wages).

The total cost of an enterprise to implement an ERP system (Net Present Value - NPV), which includes the cost of software and hardware, services, salaries, costs after implementation and return on investment.

Features of the implementation of the ERP system

At its core, the implementation of an ERP system is not just the installation of an acquired software package, it is also a complex of labor-intensive measures both to reengineer the business processes of an enterprise and refine the implemented software, and to train employees of an enterprise to work with the system.

It is necessary to imagine the approximate cost of implementation. Sometimes it's better to buy an expensive and feature-packed system right away than to buy a few inexpensive software packages, the cost of customization and integration of which can exceed the price of a more expensive system.

You should also not save on the services of implementation firms, since independent implementation will require much more time and effort. In this case, the implementation team must necessarily fulfill the conditions below.

Prepare control and test cases of the implemented software based on the data provided by the client. In this case, you can understand how fully the functionality already available in the system allows you to automate the main business processes of the enterprise and the approximate amount of necessary software refinement.
Provide a detailed description of the implementation project (cost, content and timing of the stages, a detailed description of the expected results).
To train specialists of the enterprise to work with the implemented system already at the stage of implementation.
Participate in the preparation of the first after the introduction of the balance sheet of the enterprise and the necessary reporting forms.

A very important point in the preparation of the implementation agreement is a clear formulation of its terms, especially in relation to what the system being implemented should do. Unless the contract provides, for example, that the implementation company migrates data from legacy systems to the installed ERP system as part of total cost contract, then it is incorrect to additionally require her to perform this voluminous and routine work free of charge. It is necessary to competently and fully draw up the terms of reference for the ERP system implementation project.

Employees of the enterprise must necessarily participate in the implementation project (at all its stages) in order to gain experience for the subsequent maintenance of the system. At the same time, the level of qualifications and abilities of the involved employees will directly affect the success of the entire implementation project. The more serious the attitude of the management to the selection of personnel for the implementation group, the greater the return on implementation will be received by the enterprise. Enterprise specialists included in the implementation group must be trained (the cost of which for Western ERP systems can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars).

When organizing an implementation project, it is necessary to clearly separate the consulting support for the implementation of the ERP system and the direct implementation of the ERP system. Implementation consulting support refers to the training and consultations of enterprise employees on various issues (setting up modules, the features of their use for solving specific problems at the stage of examination and implementation, etc.).

Consulting support is carried out by specialists-implementers. In turn, direct implementation (formation of a base of regulatory and reference information, modeling of activity processes, conducting trial operation of the ERP system and putting it into commercial operation) should be carried out by employees of the enterprise included in the implementation group.

In the process of implementation, the enterprise must receive not only a configured and functioning ERP system, but also its professionally trained employees who are able to independently accompany it (an important point is also additional material and moral incentives for employees of the enterprise participating in the implementation project).

The introduction of an ERP system is always accompanied by a certain adjustment (optimization) of both the organizational structure of the enterprise and the processes of its activities. At the same time, the main criterion for the need for changes should be considered their expediency in terms of ensuring the efficiency of the enterprise management process as a whole.

This problem is the main one and indicates that any advanced technology will be useful only if it is properly implemented and used. In many enterprises that have spent huge amounts of money on the acquisition and implementation of ERP systems, their launch has only led to negative results. It should be said that according to foreign analysts, up to 40% of ERP systems implementation projects fail. After a long, painful and expensive implementation, many enterprises eventually came to the conclusion that almost the same results could be achieved without installing ERP systems (for example, due to the usual optimization of business processes based on existing hardware and software) .

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) report explored the problem of enterprise satisfaction with the results of their implementation of ERP systems. The study interviewed 100 IT managers who were responsible for the implementation of an ERP system in enterprises over the past 5 years. According to BCG analysts, ERP systems are vital for enterprises, however, the success of implementation depends on whether they were able to adapt as closely as possible to the business processes of the enterprise or, conversely, rebuild business processes to fit the standard functionality of the ERP system.

The results of the survey show that only every third company is satisfied with the results of the implementation of the ERP-system when assessed according to the criteria of pricing, cost effectiveness, real financial impact and achievement of goals. According to BCG, about 50% of ERP system users rate their financial, production and personnel applications as not meeting their goals (only about 30% rate the implementation of an ERP system as successful).

Quite indicative are other results of the BCG study. There are relatively few successful implementations. There is also no convincing evidence of the benefits for the enterprise from the introduction of an ERP system. While 60% of managers believe that their efforts to implement such systems have brought significant benefits, 52% believe that they have achieved their business goals, and only 37% report a noticeable positive financial effect after implementing an ERP system.

The survey also revealed an increase in customer dissatisfaction with ERP system developers. 15% believe that ERP developers do not focus on business goals, 33% believe that ERP developers only contribute to unnecessary expenses for their customers, and 12% simply terminated the contract with their first ERP supplier. In addition, many respondents believe that the cost of implementing an ERP system is too high. One in five who have implemented an ERP system in their enterprise believes that they could do the same for a lower price (they also believe that more than half of the costs were unnecessary). All interviewed managers consider lower cost ERP systems to be the best.

Rice. 9.9.

As experience has shown, the average cost of projects for the implementation of ERP systems that have received a positive assessment is 7-10 million dollars, and the average cost of a project with a negative assessment is up to 90 million.

According to research by the Gartner Group, in many cases a successfully implemented system does not fully realize its functions due to unsatisfactory use and maintenance. There are many reasons for this: insufficient preparedness of the enterprise, poorly trained personnel, lack of security policy, outdated network and electrical equipment, etc. (Fig. 9.9).

The quality of execution of the ERP-system implementation project also does not always satisfy the customer. In 58% of those with a positive assessment of the results of the implementation of the ERP system, project implementers completed them on time and within budget. A similar picture is typical for 33% of respondents with a negative attitude towards the results of the implementation of the ERP system.

There is also data from the Standish Group that only in 16% of cases the full-functional implementation of ERP systems is completed on time and within the planned budget. In almost 30% of cases, the implementation is terminated ahead of schedule, in other cases, the implementation project deadlines/budget are exceeded or the functionality provided for in the project is limited. In connection with all of the above, ERP system vendors prefer to talk about their experience of "productive" rather than "successful" implementations.

Difficulty in effectively integrating ERP systems with third-party applications

First of all, it concerns applications of electronic business (e-Business). If previously created ERP systems were designed to integrate a large part of the internal business processes of an enterprise (for example, managing warehouses, processing orders or making payments), now an increasing number of users want to integrate their internal system (Back-Office) with external system(Front-End), through which interaction with customers and partners is carried out.

The main reason for managers' dissatisfaction is the inability of ERP systems to successfully interact with e-commerce applications. How difficult it is to link ERP systems with e-commerce applications is also evidenced by the results of AMR Research.

Of the 800 companies surveyed, only 15% allow their customers and partners to check order status directly on the Web site, and only 5% to 10% allow them to complete transactions. According to various estimates, at present there are not so many electronic stores that have fully integrated with back-end systems. In some online stores, an order received via the Internet still first goes to an employee who manually enters it into the ERP system.

Limited analytical capabilities of ERP systems and insufficient support for decision-making processes

ERP systems are good at receiving and storing data, but when it comes to analyzing and processing information, the capabilities of ERP systems are very limited. The data schema used to manage enterprise resources is very complex. All corporate data is "inside" the ERP system, but they remain "hidden" and it is quite difficult to extract them for analysis. In addition, ERP-systems are not fully integrated with other applications and external sources of information, where data for analytical processing comes from.

For example, PacifiCorp (part of the ScottishPower group of 8,000 employees), which supplies electricity to 1.4 million consumers (domestic, commercial and industrial) in the 6 western US states, has implemented an ERP system SAP R / 3. After PacifiCorp integrated its legacy systems into the SAP R/3 environment, it became clear that critical business information needed to analyze the status of inventories, personnel, finances, customers, etc. became difficult to access. In fact, after the introduction of R/3, the ability to quickly access was seriously skeptical about this information. PacifiCorp had to additionally implement PowerConnect for SAP R/3 software and Informatica's PowerCenter software to access this information and integrate it with information stored in the customer service system.

If the current trends in the development of the Russian corporate software market continue in the coming years, it is possible to predict with a high degree of probability a sharp increase in competition between Western and Russian ERP systems, especially those intended for medium and large enterprises.

An ERP system is a set of integrated applications that form the conditions for automating an enterprise's business processes for accounting, control, planning and data analysis. The operation of the product is based on the principle of forming a common place for storing important corporate information for the purpose of its subsequent transfer and processing. All divisions of the company have access to such data: financial, production, personnel, planning and others.

Thanks to the centralized collection of information at all stages of the operation of the enterprise, it is possible to significantly optimize production resources. Installing an ERP system is justified by the presence of useful functions:

the possibility of forming plans for production and sales;
optimization of the amount of inventory in the warehouse and calculation of purchase volumes;
determination of parameters by the quantity of raw materials, taking into account the time required to fulfill the production plan;
support of technological processes of product creation;
distribution of production capacities for small and large projects;
organization of management and financial accounting.

The principle of building ERP systems

The structure of ERP systems is based on a modular principle, which allows you to cover all significant business and management processes at the enterprise. Each subsection is responsible for collecting data in its area and is subsequently included in a common database.

The structure of an ERP system consists of several levels. On the first of them are basic elements, on the second - auxiliary (or extended). According to this classification, it is most convenient to present the principle of operation of the product.

The base element includes a production management module:

drawing up a plan for the use of capacities;
determination of the required amount of raw materials and materials;
inventory management in the warehouse and the procurement process.

Extended Elements is a collection of the following management modules:

supplies - forecasting demand for products, logistics in the warehouse, production and in the sales process, managing the list of counterparties;
production cycle - maintenance of the process from the moment of design to disposal;
personnel - level planning wages, drawing up a work schedule, determining the personnel composition and working out the motivation of employees;
communication with contractors - marketing, sales management and other CRM functions;
sales - distribution of distribution channels, orders, prices and transport;
finance - the formation of the general ledger, the distribution of data on the accounts of settlements with debtors and creditors, accounting and reporting.

The structure, number and name of modules may vary depending on the system manufacturer. At the request of the client, the product can be implemented only partially.

The scheme of the ERP-system is based on the movement of documents on the listed modules. Initially source documents fall for processing as raw data in a common database. After successively overcoming all production stages they are converted to the following form:

analytical reports;
charts and diagrams;
accounting financial statements;
forecasts and plans for the next year.

It is possible to observe positive changes and count on profit growth due to the debugging and automation of all work processes only after the high-quality installation of the system, staff training and the gradual introduction of the product into production activities. The implementation of these necessary actions will be carried out by an experienced ASAP Consulting team.

The group of criteria "needs of the organization" may include:

Compliance with the business processes of the organization. An ERP system should be able to be customized to the organization's processes. This criterion determines the flexibility of the system in case of changes in the company's activities.
Scalability. An ERP system should allow replicating solutions for several departments or several types of company activities. Also, it should be able to adapt to the scale of the organization.
Alignment with the organization's strategy. The operation of the ERP system is carried out for a long period of time. Therefore, it should help the implementation of the company's strategic plans. The choice of the system must be carried out taking into account the prospects for development.
Availability of industry solutions. The processes of an organization depend on the industry and the market in which it operates. When choosing a system, these factors must be taken into account.

The group of criteria "applied technologies" may include:

Software architecture. Depending on the needs and capabilities of the organization, it is necessary to choose the appropriate software architecture of the ERP system, such as "cloud services", "client-server" architecture or "object-oriented" architecture.
Technical architecture. This selection criterion is related to the previous one. The choice of technical architecture may require the organization to update communication channels, hardware, and computer equipment.
ERP system implementation technology. This criterion depends on the service provider. As a rule, large manufacturers of ERP systems offer to use implementation technology for their software product. SAP, ORACLE, Microsoft, etc. have such technologies.

The group of criteria "functionality" may include:

The composition of the modules. The choice of ERP system modules must be made depending on the current and future needs of the organization. The system should be able to expand in functionality.
Integration. When choosing a system, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of integration with existing control systems in interrelated areas.
visibility. An essential element of the functionality of the ERP system is the simplicity of the interface and the convenience of users. When choosing, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of customizing the interface to the needs of users.
Regulatory Compliance. The ERP system affects many areas of the enterprise, which are regulated by law. Therefore, an important selection criterion will be the ability of the system to adjust to the requirements of local legislation.

The group of criteria "support" may include:

support cycle. When choosing an ERP system, it is necessary to determine how long the supplier will support the system. Is it possible to switch to new version ERP system, is it possible to refine the system to the needs of the organization.
Availability of a support service. In the course of work, users of the ERP system will always have questions and difficulties. For the efficient operation of the system, it is important that the supplier can guarantee the support of the users of the system.
Implementation experience. This criterion is related to the performance of the ERP system provider. It is necessary to pay attention to the number of successful implementations of ERP systems from a particular supplier.

The group of criteria "cost of ownership" may include:

Software cost. For the operation of the ERP system of the organization, it is necessary to purchase licenses for its use. When choosing, you need to take into account the method of calculating the cost of these licenses (for example, per user group or per workplace etc.).
Hardware cost. Depending on the architecture used, the cost of hardware can vary significantly. An organization may need to purchase server hardware, update the fleet of computing facilities.
Service cost. This criterion is also significant in the cost of acquiring an ERP system.
The cost of upgrading and updating. For some ERP system vendors, the cost of upgrades and upgrades may equal or exceed the cost of the original purchase.

Implementation of an ERP system

The implementation of an ERP system is usually a lengthy and complex process. Each major ERP system manufacturer has developed its own technologies and implementation methods. These techniques are somewhat different from each other, but the general procedure is basically the same. In addition, the order of implementation of the ERP system may vary depending on the software and hardware architecture of the ERP system. These techniques should be considered when choosing a service provider.

An organization that has decided to implement an ERP system must, for its part, take a number of actions for the successful implementation of the implementation project.

These actions include:

1. Preparation for implementation. At the stage of preparation of the organization, it is necessary to determine the main goals for which the ERP system will be implemented. This will allow you to clearly understand the results and expectations from the implementation of the ERP system. Since the implementation of an ERP system is a rather expensive project, it is necessary to estimate the estimated budget that the organization can allocate for implementation. Also, at this stage, the person responsible for the project is determined, and key specialists (members of the project team from the organization) are identified, the order of their interaction is determined.

2. Business analysis. These activities are among the most critical in the entire project. As a rule, an ERP system should work for a decade or more. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the development prospects of both the organization itself and the market for a long period.

At this stage, the organization should evaluate:

prospects for the development of the market and the company for several years;
composition and possibility of development of business processes of the organization;
automation needs.

3. Choosing an ERP system. System selection should be based on current and future business needs. When evaluating various options, it is necessary to be guided by the criteria indicated above (criteria for selecting ERP systems). To choose the system most suitable for the needs of the business, it is advisable to select at least 3 options for systems from different manufacturers.

4. Choice of supplier. As a rule, there are many suppliers of the same ERP system on the market. These are vendors or system integrators. They offer a range of services for the technical implementation of the ERP system. When choosing an ERP system supplier, you need to pay attention to its specialization. There are three types of supplier specialization.

Each supplier type has its own advantages and disadvantages:

horizontal specialization. These companies have a large number of customers who work in different industries. As a rule, such providers have developed support services. However, their approach to implementation is “typical” for all customers.
vertical specialization. These vendors specialize in working with customers from a limited number of industries (from one to three). This allows them to create solutions specifically tailored to the specifics of the industry. The approach to implementation of such companies is “tailored” for a specific industry.
customer-oriented specialization. These vendors typically implement an ERP system to suit the needs of the customer. During implementation, they take as a basis the basic functionality of the ERP system and modify it to suit the customer's business conditions. This option has a significant drawback associated with updating the system and the stability of its work.

5. Project management. Responsible for the implementation of the ERP system and the organization's specialists must manage the project within the company. They must maintain a project plan, control the timing, budget, scope of work, compliance with the implementation goals. Another important project management task is to coordinate the interaction of the employees of the organization with the representatives of the supplier (the implementation team from the supplier).

6. Testing. Even with the most the best organization implementation, there is a risk of errors in the operation of the system. Therefore, during the commissioning of the ERP system functionality, it is necessary to provide for mandatory testing of the operation of processes, departments and modules of the ERP system. The best way to test is to run parallel work in the old system and in the implemented ERP system. This will get rid of the main errors.

7. Training and education. Employee training is prerequisite operation of the ERP system. Depending on the complexity of the system, it may take several weeks. Before starting training, you need to make sure that the ERP system has been tested. One bad option is when the service provider combines testing and user education. In this option, employees of the organization (future users of the system) act as system testers.

8. Commissioning. Commissioning is an important moment in the process of implementing an ERP system. There are two options for putting the system into operation: launching the system at once in the entire organization, and phased introduction. The second option is more preferable, because. allows you to gradually move to new working conditions. In the event of errors or problems in operation, only a part of the business (individual processes or departments) will be affected, and not the entire organization.

The main mistakes when implementing an ERP system

Implementing an ERP system is one of the most complex, time-consuming and expensive business improvement tasks. In the course of implementation, problems and errors always arise, to one degree or another affecting the timing, cost, and effectiveness of the project.

The main mistakes of the ERP system implementation project include:

bad planning. For the successful implementation of the project, the implementation of the ERP system must be carefully planned. Poor planning often leads to loss of priorities, confusion with process automation, poor understanding of the current and future state of processes.
insufficient assessment of ERP system vendors. Organizations are not working out the issue of selecting ERP system vendors. As a result, the choice is made in favor of the suppliers who offered the lowest price. Often, the supplier reduces the price in order to get at least one client and work out the implementation of a new system for him. As a result, after the completion of the project, it may turn out that the functionality of the ERP system is severely limited or the system works with errors.
lack of understanding of needs. Starting the implementation of the ERP system, many organizations do not understand what functions and modules they need, what needs of the organization can be automated through the ERP system. This leads to the fact that a lot of unnecessary and unused functions and modules are being introduced, or vice versa, the necessary functions are applied to a limited extent.
insufficient understanding of time and resource costs. Typically, organizations underestimate the time and resources required to implement an ERP system. This leads to high expectations from the system. Employees of the organization begin to believe that the ERP system will begin to work in full in a short time and it will not require much effort to work.
lack of qualified personnel in the implementation team. A common mistake of ERP system implementation projects is to involve simple performers in the project team. The project team on the part of the organization should include highly qualified specialists ( key personnel) for each area of the organization's activities: finance, management, procurement, production, warehouse, etc.
lack of priorities. Organizations do not prioritize achieving goals before starting a project. This leads to the fact that during the implementation of the ERP system, you have to solve many tasks, constantly switching between them. As a result, implementation time increases, additional errors and problems appear.
employees are not trained. Insufficient or complete lack of employee training is a common reason for the unsuccessful implementation of an ERP system. Employees do not understand how to work in the system and this causes rejection. The system will be unclaimed, its functionality will be used to a limited extent.
underestimation of data accuracy. At the heart of the ERP system is data processing. Therefore, the accuracy and efficiency of the system will depend on the reliability and accuracy of the data that is entered into the ERP system. To reduce errors, it is necessary to initially enter reliable and accurate data into the system. Employees working with the system must carefully check the data before entering it into the system.
using outdated applications. Another problem leading to the low efficiency of the implementation of the ERP system is the continued use of legacy applications. The work is duplicated in the ERP system and old applications. Organizations continue to use them because paid for their support and renewal of licenses. This leads to the fact that the transition to work in the ERP system is delayed.
there is no effective testing of the system. Often, ERP system vendors offer to test on a limited number of users. Such testing will not be able to reveal all the shortcomings and will not allow simulating a real user load.
lack of maintenance and modernization strategy. If a company does not develop a strategy for maintaining and upgrading its ERP system, then it will quickly become obsolete. The technical (hardware) part of the ERP system requires modernization, because over time, the volume of data grows, and new computing power is required. The software part must be constantly upgraded in accordance with the changing requirements of the legislation and the market.

The above implementation problems are the most common and frequently encountered. In addition to these, there are always problems specific to each particular enterprise or organization. "An effective method to avoid or minimize losses from such errors is to carefully prepare and plan each stage of the ERP system implementation project.

Translated from English, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) means "enterprise resource management". ERP system is designed to plan the company's resources needed in production, procurement and sales.

The principle of operation of the ERP system is based on the creation, filling and use of a single database, which includes information necessary for all departments of the enterprise: accounting, supply departments, personnel, etc.

The functionality of ERP systems differs, however, there are functions that are common for all software products:

1. Development of plans for production, sales.
2. Maintenance of technological specifications that provide for the operations and resources necessary for the production of a particular product.
3. Determining and planning the needs for the production of components and materials, costs and deadlines for the implementation of the plan.
4. Purchasing and inventory management.
5. Managing production resources at various scales: from an enterprise or a separate workshop to a specific machine.
6. Financial management of the enterprise, management, accounting and tax accounting.
7. Project management.

Compared to others software solutions An ERP system has a number of advantages:

Creation of a unified information environment that greatly facilitates and optimizes the work of departments and management.
The ability to distribute access rights between employees of any departments, from the head to the junior manager of the sales department.
Availability of a wide range of solutions for organizations of various types and sizes.
Ability to manage multiple divisions, enterprises, concerns, corporations.
Compatible with various software products and platforms, high reliability, flexibility, scalability.
Ability to integrate with systems and applications already used in the enterprise, in particular, with systems for design automation, process control, sales, workflow.

Along with other systems that automate production, ERP greatly simplifies the process of enterprise management, resource allocation and sales planning.

When do you need an ERP system?

At the first stages of the company's existence, there are no special needs for automation: all documents are developed using conventional office programs, and in order to get this or that information, the manager just needs to call the employee. Gradually, the number of documents, the number of employees, the volume of operations is growing, and there is a need to create storages and systematize data.

In an enterprise operating without ERP, all documents are often stored haphazardly, which greatly complicates management. There are also cases when some systems are still installed, but they work exclusively for a specific department.

Accounting, personnel, supply and other departments have their own databases, the workflow between which is difficult. This directly affects the efficiency of work: in order to find out this or that information in the personnel department, the accountant has to make a request by e-mail or call the personnel officer.

It is impossible to achieve effective management, optimization of resources of the entire enterprise and, finally, an increase in the productivity of various departments in such conditions.

ERP system - optimal choice for enterprises of any scale, groups of companies, firms with geographically distributed branches.
ERP system:

Significantly speeds up document flow between departments
allows an employee with certain rights to get instant access to information
makes it possible to effectively manage the work of remote branches and employees.

Also, various accounting programs are often offered as alternatives, created exclusively for the formation of financial and tax reporting.

Distinguishing ERP from other systems is quite simple. ERP system:

integrates databases and tasks of ALL departments of the enterprise: from accounting and customer service to production and logistics;
can help in the performance of any tasks of the enterprise;
allows you to create a single information environment.

The main task of an ERP system is to optimize the management of ALL enterprise resources, regardless of the form in which they are presented. This is one system, which includes solutions for accounting, engineering department, supply department, personnel, warehouse, etc.

Such different ERPs

At the moment, there are two main concepts of ERP-systems. These are ERP and ERP II.

The first is understood as software that allows you to organize the work of an enterprise of any type and covers all production processes.

ERP II is a specialized management system that takes into account the key features of an enterprise. It is developed taking into account the tasks that need to be solved by a company of a certain size, type of activity, form.

There are a huge number of ready software development specializing in small firms manufacturing enterprises companies operating in the service sector, trade organizations etc. There are ERP systems designed for one standard enterprise, a company with geographically remote branches, and even a multinational company.

ERP systems may have different structure. In particular, cloud ERP has recently gained the most popularity - more convenient, scalable and easy to use for medium and small businesses.

How to avoid unnecessary costs for an ERP system with the online program Class365

The implementation of a full-function ERP system in small and medium-sized businesses may not be cost-effective, both because of the high cost and the long implementation period.

You can automate the processes of a small company and avoid high costs using the Class365 online program. The online service allows you to automate the work of the warehouse, outlets, customer relationships. In the program, you will also be able to manage all financial flows. This solution is optimal for wholesale and retail trade enterprises, companies providing services, engaged in online sales.

The online solution is beneficial for the manager, since he does not need to additionally train the staff. The program, despite the wide functionality, is surprisingly simple and employees can master it on their own in no more than 15 minutes. In addition, the company does not have to squeeze into a tight budget to purchase a standard licensed application.