ERP And Supply Chain Management – Generate Rapid Improvement In Business

Supply chain management is an old concept but Enterprise Resource Planning has aided in reducing the inaccuracies. ERP has increased the performance of the supply chain. ERP and Supply Chain Management is a way of planning all the resources in the business enterprise effectively. The organizations establish operating systems and operating performance which help them in managing the business operations and meet the objectives of the business. ERP and SCM includes the trading partners of the organization also which are the customers and the suppliers. It is for the companies who are looking to generate rapid improvement in their operations. The assessment of ERP and SCM depends on the size of the operations and takes about three to four days. The organization’s intent, implementation and effectiveness of the existing operations are assessed based on an ERP model.

SCM or Supply Chain Management is essential to have an edge over the competition in the market. It improves the way the organization finds raw components it requires to make a product to deliver to the customers. The components of Supply Chain Management are Plan, Source, Make, Deliver and Return. Many of the SCM applications rely on the information which is with the ERP or the Enterprise Resource Planning software. ERP integrates the data in a single application and therefore benefits SCM applications. The SCM applications have a single source for the data which makes it easy. It is beneficial to implement ERP first to get the information in order. Nowadays the ERP vendors offer SCM modules too.

Investing on ERP systems provides a platform that enables effective response to the changing Supply Chain Management. An integrated ERP system can aid in improving the performance of the Supply Chain Management by achieving a global visibility. It is essential to optimize the investment on inventory and offer great customer service in today’s market. It is important to know about the inventory throughout the Supply Chain and this data is available with an ERP system. The manufactures can develop the best plan for production and make only what is required by having the knowledge of the inventory location and availability. This information also helps to provide the customers with inventory and product availability information. Real time data helps to make quick and correct decisions with the help of ERP.

ERP and SCM work together by developing a better customer interaction. It is important to know about the views of the customer and to obtain such information one needs to interact with the customer. This data can be achieved from different sources such as sales, marketing and supply chain systems. ERP offers this integrated view and helps the manufacturers to understand the customer needs better. They can provide better products and services which help the company to increase its profits. ERP and Supply Chain Management help in lean manufacturing, supplier integration and global sourcing. It helps to achieve a higher performance as the measurement and performance are linked together. ERP systems include analytics which enable to standardize metrics thereby bringing about speed and better quality.

Peter Filinovich PhotoAbout Author
Read about Types of ERP. Also know What is ERP System. Read information about Importance of Communication in Business.

Supply Chain ERP Selection Tools

Ten Steps Guide to Selecting the Right WMS Software


This concise, step-by-step guide will help you organize your software selection process from initial research to contract negotiation.
( 13 Pages PDF)

Is Software as a Service (SaaS) Right for Your Warehouse?


Make sure you fully understand the benefits and drawbacks of software as a service (SaaS) relative to traditional on-premise systems.
( 10 Pages PDF)

Enterprise Warehouse Management Comparison Guide


Select the right warehouse management software by using this detailed side-by-side comparison of leading WMS systems.
( 6 Pages PDF)

Small and Mid-Size Warehouse Management Comparison


Select the right warehouse management software by using this detailed side-by-side comparison of leading WMS systems.
( 6 Pages PDF)

Top Trends in Warehouse Management Software


Learn the top 10 trends to consider when evaluating WMS software. Our experts created this guide to get you up to speed quickly.
( 13 Pages PDF)

How to Assess Warehouse Management Vendors' Viability


Use this viability guide to make sure the software company you choose will be in business to provide support and upgrades for years to come.
( 7 Pages PDF)

Ten Steps Guide to Selecting the Right SCM Software


This concise, step-by-step guide will help you organize your software selection process from initial research to contract negotiation.
( 13 Pages PDF)

ERP and Cloud Applications Strategies

There is an informative article on ERP and Cloud Applications Strategies at SoftwareAdvice.com.  In the article, the author discusses the considerations of implementing the Suite of an ERP solution or doing a Best-of-Breed approach where a company would pick and choose the functionality from various vendors. Not so long ago, companies would only pick a suite and stay within its boundaries.

Now, however, companies are finding that moving to a varied vendor set, including a mix of traditional and cloud applications provides some advantages. This brings up some questions: How well does this work? What are some of the considerations you need to look at before making an investment in a cloud app? Let’s take a look at these issues.

Cloud Applications as a Best-of-Breed Approach

The typical scenario for many companies is one of adding a cloud CRM such as Salesforce.com, to their mix of in-house ERP applications. More often than not, Salesforce is acquired by the business users and IT does not even know of its existence until the business users ask for integrations to the back-end systems.

One concern for moving to Cloud Applications is that frequently, IT departments do not “get” cloud computing. In fact, they often see it as a threat. Because the applications are hosted elsewhere, there is little or no overhead required from an IT department. The IT department does need to be involved in Cloud Application selections and implementations so that they understand what will be implemented.

 

cloud applicationsSecondly, modern Cloud Applications such as Salesforce.com do not require traditional programming overhead.

Because it is configuration based, adding a field is as simple as filling out a form. If you find you don’t want that field, remove it. In traditional applications management, you would want to run this field addition in a sandbox, test it thoroughly to make sure it doesn’t break anything. In a cloud application, like Salesforce.com, you simply don’t expose the field to the users until you review it. You do not need to implement a sandbox to change configurable settings.

As pointed out above, IT departments frequently do not get this paradigm. They are used to code-upon-code where small changes make a big deal. In a configuration environment of a cloud application, there is little if any impact when configuration changes occur. Everything lives as metadata. Nothing touches the code.

Because many of the available cloud offerings are configuration driven, they are much faster to get up and running. Due to this, it often make sense to run an agile-like implementation of various releases (or sprints) of various best of breed applications coming on-line at different times. Not everyone chooses to do this, but a two or three-month release cycle of various solutions provides a way to move forward on systems quickly.

Integrating Cloud Applications with non-Cloud Applications

After configuration, integrations need to be defined and typically there are three options. First, you can manually export a csv file from the source system and upload it to the target system. This works for very basic updates. The next option is custom coding to push/pull the data from the APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). The last option is to use a Middleware product such as Pervasive, Informatica, or Boomi.

Traditionally, middleware was a separate application sitting on an on-premise server and it would transact the data between the source and target systems. It would also perform and data transformations that needed to occur to align the fields between the systems.

Now, there is a trend to going to Cloud-based middleware, such as with Informatica-on-demand. Like other cloud solutions, they come with a less expensive price tag and they do not require a full implementation on an on-premise server. Rather, what they do need is a small install of an “Agent” software that allows the cloud app to talk to the in-house solutions.

These middleware cloud applications work well, but they do have some limitations. First, since they are newer than the traditional software, they still have some bugs. Not a lot, but don’t be surprised if you run into one. Next, they have a more limited toolset than the traditional in-house solutions as the programming and scripting tools are not as robust (but they are getting better every day).

Moving forward with Cloud Applications

Using Cloud Applications has many benefits, including financial and technical reasons for approaching the platform. Often Cloud Apps can be charged as an expense monthly rather than being capitalized like large asset purchases. Further, you can buy as much or as little licensing as you need and scale up or down much more readily than a traditional application.

All-in-all, Cloud applications have tremendous benefits to organizations as part of a best-of-bread solution. For a smaller firm, an app like Netsuite may provide a complete solution, but for the larger enterprise, a “pick and choose” solution strategy may be a good way to go.

Video: Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – An Inside Look

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – An Inside Look

Don Fornes, CEO of our partner Software Advice, interviewed Microsoft’s Director of ERP Marketing, Guy Weismantel, about the latest updates to the Microsoft Dynamics ERP product line. Over the next two weeks, we are publishing 7 videos, each centered on one question about the Microsoft Dynamics ERP offerings.


They discuss amongst other things, the more than 1200 new features that are being incorporated into the new product. He makes an interesting point about the fact that many companies are around the tenth or eleventh year of use on their current ERP systems and so they are targeting these clients looking to get off of their legacy (Y2k) systems.

Additionally, they are looking into the Business Intelligence area with the new release. They are also enhancing the solution with several acquisition products. It should be a very exciting product when it is released at their user conference Convergence, later this year.

This is the first of a series of 7 videos that we will be posting.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 – Video 1

Microsoft Dynamics AX

Getting More Microsoft Dynamics Information

If you are interested in exploring Microsoft AX 2012 for your company, please select one of the two links below:

Microsoft Dynamics AX Featured Product:

Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0


For information on other ERP software products, please see our ERP Software Directory for many more vendors.

Microsoft Dynamics

Managerial Issues of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

Product Description
The primary purpose of this text is to lay out the scope of ERP Systems implementation, explain the competitive advantages of using ERP Systems, and support general concepts with short case studies. This text covers the fundamental issues important in ERP implementation and management, starting from an information systems, information technology project management perspective. Each chapter will include a review of real cases of ERP implementations related to that p… More >>

Managerial Issues of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems

ERP Software Selection

Best Practices in ERP Software Applications: Accounting, Supply Chain Planning, Procurement, Inventory

Product Description
The purpose of Best Practices in ERP Software Applications is to disseminate knowledge about the state-of-the-art in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and the business best practices embedded in the systems.It is written for business professionals, project managers, consultants, team leaders, programmers, technicians, vendors, service providers, executives, teachers and students who are working, managing or studying in the field of software application deve… More >>

Best Practices in ERP Software Applications: Accounting, Supply Chain Planning, Procurement, Inventory
ERP Software Selection

Top 10 Job Shop ERP Software

Top 10 Job Shop ERP Software

What are the top 10 Job Shop ERP Software systems available? Based on our experience and software currently available in the market, we have put together a list of likely Job Shop ERP Software that a company may look at when choosing their next ERP solution.

Job Shops are unique and don’t fit into the realm of traditional ERP systems with their large batch run MRP (Manufacturing Resource Planning) systems. What Job Shop ERP Software must provide is the ability to plan and account for small run or even one-off parts manufacturing. A traditional MRP won’t cut it.

Job Shops are often sub-contracted manufacturers who specialize in small jobs or specific small runs of a particular machined part. Often specializing in a particular metal fabrication, or a specialization around certain types of products, ie. fasteners or machined bar stock. They provide unique services for larger manufacturing operations such as working with unique materials, incredibly tight Job Shop ERP Softwaretolerances, the ability to generate quickly manufactured prototypes, design and CAD assistance, reverse engineering, quick-turn parts, in-house tooling amongst other services.

Job Shops serve a number of industries, including Aerospace, Automotive, Furniture Manufacturing, Machining, Medical, and specialty manufacturing. While this is a broad list of industries, the key elements of a job shop remain the same. They all have small runs or batches, unique parts for a contracted order, demands upon them to reduce costs while shortening delivery times, and the requirement to be flexible in their design, setup and manufacturing processes.

Because of these unique factors, most off the shelf manufacturing software does not fit these smaller manufacturers. As such, we have listed below our Top 10 Job Shop ERP Software solutions (in no particular order). Were possible, we have included links to request a demo or get a price quote.

Our List of the Top 10 Job Shop ERP Software

1. Fitrix ERP
About | Demo | Pricing

2. Epicor Manufacturing Express Edition
About | Demo | Pricing

3. Made2Manage ERP
About | Demo | Pricing

4. JOBSCOPE Enterprise Edition
About | Demo | Pricing

5. Intuitive ERP
About | Demo | Pricing

6. E-Z-MRP Manufacturing Software
About | Demo | Pricing

7. ECi M1 ERP Software
About | Demo | Pricing

8.DBA Manufacturing
About | Demo | Pricing

9. Global Shop Solutions
About | Demo | Pricing

10. Exact Globe Manufacturing Software
About | Demo | Pricing

Worth Noting: (Not an ERP software, but a Job Shop floor control system)
Shopvue Job Shop Floor Control System
About | Demo | Pricing

Other Job Shop ERP Software

The list above is 10 potential vendors, but you may want to look at our Vendor Directory for other candidate Job Shop ERP Software vendors. Keep in mind that sometimes a vendor can support Job Shop ERP Software requirements, but that is not their primary focus. This is something to look for, but also should be something to watch out for. Just because they say they can handle job shop requirements, does not mean that they are successful at it.

If you need more assistance in your search, you can talk to the experts at Software Advice to help you narrow down your search. Call them to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation.

Be sure to check out the Free Software Evaluation and Selection tools we offer. These tools can save you time and money as you proceed on your evaluation of different systems.

We hope that this top 10 list has been useful.
Let us know if there are other Job Shop ERP Software that you think should be included.

ERP Software Selection

Job Shop ERP Software

Enterprise Resource Planning 100 Success Secrets – 100 Most Asked Questions: The Missing ERP Software, Systems, Solutions, Applications and Implementations Guide

Latest Erp Software Amazon products

Enterprise Resource Planning 100 Success Secrets – 100 Most Asked Questions: The Missing ERP Software, Systems, Solutions, Applications and Implementations Guide

ERP Software Demos

Addresses the top 100 Enterprise Resource Planning consultancy & education forum questions, with tips & success factors on investigating, evaluating & implementing ERP Software, Systems, Solutions & Applications.

Enterprise Resource Planning 100 Success Secrets – 100 Most Asked Questions: The Missing ERP Software, Systems, Solutions, Applications and Implementations Guide

What To Look For In An ERP Solution

Browsing the web we ran across this article that is a good guide in helping in your ERP Selection process. Normally we are careful about vendor provided articles, but this one seemed to be on track. It clearly points out the issues that you need to be aware of when looking at an ERP solution. This is important today as even small companies are looking at larger tier vendors. Keeping an eye on the specific points made in this article will help you avoid choosing a software that just doesn’t fit.

What To Look For In An ERP Solution
Michael Panosh, Marketing Manager

Enterprise Resource Planning ERP describes software that integrates departments and functions across your business onto a single computer system. The intended outcome is a system that improves operational visibility, streamlines decision making, reduces costs and generally allows you to manage your business to better profitability.

Whilst there has been considerable hype – and horror stories – about ERP systems, up until recently only large corporations have implemented comprehensive ERP solutions, mainly because they have been perceived as cost prohibitive for smaller companies.

In recent years however, many small and medium sized enterprises SMEs have begun to see the value of ERP solutions as a way to respond to both legislative compliance and industry mandates for electronic trading. The reality now is that companies with a turnover of more than $10 million should be considering implementing an ERP solution, if not actively planning for one.

Read more at:What To Look For In An ERP Solution