Free «ERP Strategies» Essay Sample

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) refers to the integrated information systems serving departments within an organization. ERP system contains software that manages manufacturing of goods, orders entry, warehousing, general ledger transactions and management of accounts receivable or payable. Several traditional ERP implementation strategies exist in the market. Examples of such strategies include big bang, phased rollout and parallel adoption. In big bang implementation, the new ERP system is implemented on a particular date in a single instance. In phased rollout strategy, the change of new ERP system occurs in phases. In parallel adoption, the old and new ERP systems run simultaneously. It makes users learn how to operate the new system while they work on the old system.

Several ERP strategy products are available from the Internet vendors. Examples of such products include PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards from Oracle, Baan from SSA Global, Microsoft Dynamics and SAP. SAP’s ERP specializes in financial management, human capital management and operations management. PeopleSoft specializes in handling financial transactions. It was named by KLAS as the best ERP software in 2011 because it improves close period of financial data, reduces liability and maximizes available cash. J.D Edwards 9.1 from Oracle has intelligent work-order management facilities, new asset management capabilities and industry-specific features for real estate management. In addition, it has One View Reporting feature that helps users to create reports without receiving assistance from the IT department. Moreover, it has features that support end-user interface personalization. Baan mainly performs financial and administrative consulting services. Microsoft Dynamics majorly performs financial and accounting operations. In addition, it has out of the box functionality that helps businesses to conduct their operations more effectively.

I would recommend that companies adopt J.D. Edwards 9.1 as ERP strategy from the Internet vendors. This is because this system is user friendly as it has many features that are easy to understand. In addition, it is able to perform many functions, for example real estate management, asset management and financial analysis. The implementation strategy should be parallel strategy, since it allows users to learn how to use the new system.