Enterprise Resource Planning

ERP ASSIGNMENT

SUBMITTED BY –

AMISHAA ARORA

MALVIKA SRIVASTAVA

B.F.TECH (SEM 7)

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CONTENTS

S.N Title Page No.

o
1. Introduction 3
2. ERP systems defined 4
3. What is ERP? 5
4. Evolution of ERP systems 6
5. ERP systems and organizations 7
6. ERP systems Architecture 8
7. Commercial ERP systems 9
8. ERP explained 9
9. Implementation 11
10. Advantages 12
11. Disadvantages 13
12. Hidden costs of ERP 14

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1. INTRODUCTION

The unprecedented growth of information and communication technologies (ICT) driven

by microelectronics, computer hardware and software systems has influenced all facets
of computing applications across organizations. Simultaneously the business
environment is becoming increasingly complex with functional units requiring more and
more inter-functional data flow for decision making, timely and efficient procurement of
product parts, management of inventory, accounting, human resources and distribution
of goods and services. In this context, management of organizations needs efficient
information systems to improve competitiveness by cost reduction and better logistics.
It is universally recognized by large and small-to- medium-size enterprises (SME) that
the capability of providing the right information at the right time brings tremendous
rewards to organizations in a global competitive world of complex business practices.

Starting in the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s new software systems known
in the industry as enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems have surfaced in the
market targeting mainly large complex business organizations. These complex,
expensive, powerful, proprietary systems are off the-shelf solutions requiring
consultants to tailor and implement them based on the company’s requirements. In
many cases they force companies to reengineer their business processes to
accommodate the logic of the software modules for streamlining data flow throughout
the organization. These software solutions, unlike the old, traditional in-house-designed
company- specific systems, are integrated multi-module commercial packages suitable
for tailoring and adding “add-ons” as and when required.

The phenomenal growth of computing power and the Internet is bringing ever more
challenges for the ERP vendors and the customers to redesign ERP products, breaking
the barrier of proprietorship and customization, and embracing the collaborative
business over the intranet, extranet and the Internet in a seamless manner. The
vendors already promise many “add-on” modules, some of which are already in the
market as a sign of acceptance of these challenges by the ERP vendors. It is a never-
ending process of reengineering and development bringing new products and solutions
to the ERP market. ERP vendors and customers have recognized the need for packages
that follow open architecture, provide interchangeable modules and allow easy
customization and user interfacing.

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2. ERP SYSTEMS DEFINED

Enterprise resource planning systems or enterprise systems are software systems for
business management, encompassing modules supporting functional areas such as
planning, manufacturing, sales, marketing, distribution, accounting, financial, human
resource management, project management, inventory management, service and
maintenance, transportation and e-business. The architecture of the software facilitates
transparent integration of modules, providing flow of information between all functions
within the enterprise in a consistently visible manner. Corporate computing with ERPs
allows companies to implement a single integrated system by replacing or re-
engineering their mostly incompatible legacy information systems.

American Production and Inventory Control Society (2001) has defined ERP systems as “a
method for the effective planning and controlling of all the resources needed to take, make,
ship and account for customer orders in a manufacturing, distribution or service company.”

“ERP (enterprise resource planning systems) comprises of a commercial software

package that promises the seamless integration of all the information flowing through
the company–financial, accounting, human resources, supply chain and customer
information” (Davenport, 1998).

“ERP systems are configurable information systems packages that integrate information and
information-based processes within and across functional areas in an organization” (Kumar &
Van Hillsgersberg, 2000).

“One database, one application and a unified interface across the entire enterprise” (Tadjer,
1998).

“ERP systems are computer-based systems designed to process an organization’s

transactions and facilitate integrated and real-time planning, production, and customer
response” (O’Leary, 2001

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3. WHAT IS ERP?

Enterprise resource planning software, or ERP, doesn’t live up to its acronym. Forget about
planning—it doesn’t do much of that—and forget about resource, a throwaway term. But
remember the enterprise part. This is ERP’s true ambition. The software attempts to integrate
all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve
all those departments’ particular needs.

Building a single software program that serves the needs of people in finance as well as it
does the people in human resources and in the warehouse is a tall order. Each of those
departments typically has its own computer system optimized for the particular ways that
the department does its work. But ERP combines them all together into a single,
integrated software program that runs off a single database so that the various
departments can more easily share information and communicate with each other.

That integrated approach can have a tremendous payback if companies install the
software correctly.

Take a customer order, for example. Typically, when a customer places an order, that
order begins a mostly paper-based journey from inbox to inbox throughout the company,
often being keyed and rekeyed into different departments’ computer systems along the
way. All that lounging around in inbox causes delays and lost orders, and all the keying

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into different computer systems invites errors. Meanwhile, no one in the company truly
knows what the status of the order is at any given point because there is no way for the
finance department, for example, to get into the warehouse’s computer system to see
whether the item has been shipped. "You’ll have to call the warehouse" is the familiar
refrain heard by frustrated customers.

ERP vanquishes the old standalone computer systems in finance, HR, manufacturing and
the warehouse, and replaces them with a single unified software program divided into
software modules that roughly approximate the old standalone systems. Finance,
manufacturing and the warehouse all still get their own software, except now the software
is linked together so that someone in finance can look into the warehouse software to see
if an order has been shipped. Back in the ‘90s ERP was developed as a tightly integrated
monolith, but most vendors’ software has since become flexible enough that you can
install some modules without buying the whole package. Many companies, for example,
will install only an ERP finance or HR module and leave the rest of the functions for
another day.

4. EVOLUTION OF ERP SYSTEMS

The evolution of ERP systems closely followed the spectacular developments in the field
of computer hardware and software systems. During the 1960s most organizations
designed, developed and implemented centralized computing systems, mostly
automating their inventory control systems using inventory control packages (IC).
These were legacy systems based on programming languages such as COBOL, ALGOL
and FORTRAN. Material requirements planning (MRP) systems were developed in the
1970s which involved mainly planning the product or parts requirements according to
the master production schedule. Following this route new software systems called
manufacturing resources planning (MRP II) were introduced in the 1980s with an
emphasis on optimizing manufacturing processes by synchronizing the materials with
production requirements. MRP II included areas such as shop floor and distribution
management, project management, finance, human resource and engineering. ERP
systems first appeared in the late 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s with the power
of enterprise-wide inter-functional coordination and integration. Based on the
technological foundations of MRP and MRP II, ERP systems integrate business processes
including manufacturing, distribution, accounting, financial, human resource
management, project management, inventory management, service and maintenance,
and transportation, providing accessibility, visibility and consistency across the
enterprise.

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During the 1990s ERP vendors added more modules and functions as “add-ons” to the
core modules giving birth to the “extended ERPs.” These ERP extensions include
advanced planning and scheduling (APS), e-business solutions such as customer
relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM).

5. ERP SYSTEMS AND ORGANIZATIONS

It is generally a misleading perception that implementing an ERP system will improve

organizations’ functionalities overnight. The high expectation of achieving all-round cost
savings and service improvements is very much dependent on how good the chosen
ERP system fits to the organizational functionalities and how well the tailoring and
configuration process of the system matched with the business culture, strategy and
structure of the organization. Overall an ERP system is expected to improve both
backbone and front-end functions simultaneously. Organizations choose and deploy ERP
systems for many tangible and intangible benefits and strategic reasons. In many cases
the calculation of return on investment (ROI) is weighted against the many intangible
and strategic benefits.

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6. ERP SYSTEMS ARCHITECTURE

ERP vendors, mostly experienced from the MRP and financial software services fields,
realized the limitations of the old legacy information systems used in large enterprises
of the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these old systems were developed in-house while
others were developed by different vendors using several different database
management systems, languages and packages, creating islands of noncompatible
solutions unfit for seamless data flow between them. It was difficult to increase the
capacity of such systems or the users were unable to upgrade them with the
organization’s business changes, strategic goals and new information technologies.

An ERP system is required to have the following characteristics:

• Modular design comprising many distinct business modules such as financial,

manufacturing, accounting, distribution, etc.

• Use centralized common database management system (DBMS)

• The modules are integrated and provide seamless data flow among the
modules, increasing operational transparency through standard interfaces

•They are generally complex systems involving high cost

• They are flexible and offer best business practices

• They require time-consuming tailoring and configuration setups for integrating

with the company’s business functions

• The modules work in real time with online and batch processing capabilities

• They are or soon they will be Internet-enabled

Different ERP vendors provide ERP systems with some degree of specialty but the core modules
are almost the same for all of them. Some of the core ERP modules found in the successful ERP
systems are the following:

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• Accounting management
• Financial management
• Manufacturing management
• Production management
• Transportation management
• Sales & distribution management
• Human resources management
• Supply chain management
• Customer relationship management
• E-Business

7. COMMERCIAL ERP SYSTEMS

The five dominating ERP software suppliers are SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Baan and J.D.
Edwards. Together they control more than 60% of the multi- billion dollar global market.

Each vendor, due to historic reasons, has a specialty in one particular module area such
as Baan in manufacturing, PeopleSoft in human resources management, SAP in logistics
and Oracle in financials. There are also about 50 established and a few more newly
emerging smaller and midsize ERP vendors including third-party developers competing
for the ERP market. The result is stiff competition and feature-overlapping products
difficult to differentiate. Due to keen competition for control of the lucrative ERP market
share, the vendors are continuously updating their products and adding new technology-based
features. Long-term vision, commitment to service and support,
module features, specialty, experience and financial strength for R&D are considered
the major vendor qualities for product selection and turnkey implementation.

8. ERP EXPLAINED

Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource

planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP). MRP evolved
into ERP when "routings" became major part of the software architecture and a
company's capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.
ERP systems typically handle themanuf actur ing,logist ics,distribu tion,inventory,shipping,
invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid
in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production,
inventory management, quality management, and human resources management.

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ERPs are often incorrectly called back officesystems indicating thatcustomers and the
general public are not directly involved. This is contrasted with front office systems like
customer relationship management (CRM) systems that deal directly with the customers,
or the eBusiness systems such as eCommerce, eGovernment, eTelecom, and eFinance, or
supplier relationship management (SRM) systems.

ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are
involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to
manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and Information Technology, this would include
accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.

ERP II means open ERP architecture of components. The older, monolithic ERP systems
became component oriented.

EAS - Enterprise Application Suite is a new name for formerly developed ERP systems which
include (almost) all segments of business, using ordinary Internet browsers as thin clients.

Before

Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization would have their
own computer systems. For example, the Human Resources (HR) department, the Payroll
(PR) department, and the Financials department. The HR computer system (Often called
HRMS or HRIS) would typically contain information on the department, reporting
structure, and personal details of employees. The PR department would typically
calculate and store paycheck information. The Financials department would typically
store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set
of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary
information to the PR system, an employee number would need to be assigned and
remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The Financials
system was not interested in the employee level data, but only the payouts made by the
PR systems, such as the Tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee
benefits to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person
could not be paid in the Payroll system without an employee number.

After

ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly disparate applications.
This made the worry of keeping employee numbers in synchronization across multiple

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systems disappear. It standardised and reduced the number of software specialities

required within larger organizations.

Best Practices

Best Practices were also a benefit of implementing an ERP system. When implementing an ERP
system, organizations essentially had to choose between customizing the software or modifying
their business processes to the "Best Practice" functionality delivered in the vanilla version of
the software.

Typically, the delivery of best practice applies more usefully to large organizations and
especially where there is a compliance requirement such as IFRS, Sarbanes-Oxley or
Basel II, or where the process is a commodity such as electronic funds transfer. This is
because the procedure of capturing and reporting legislative or commodity content can be
readily codified within the ERP software, and then replicated with confidence across
multiple businesses who have the same business requirement.

Where such a compliance or commodity requirement does not underpin the business
process, it can be argued that determining and applying a best practice actually erodes
competitive advantage by homogenizing the business compared to everyone else in their
industry sector.

Evidence for this can be seen within EDI, where the concept of best practice, even with
decades of effort remains elusive. A large retailer, for example, wants EDI plus some
minor tweak that they perceive puts them ahead of their competition. Mid-market
companies adopting ERP often take the vanilla version and spend half as much as the
license cost doing customisations that deliver their competitive edge. In this way they
actively work against best practice because they perceive that the way they operate isbest
practice, irrespective of what anyone else is doing.

9. IMPLEMENTATION

Because of their wide scope of application within a business,ERP softwares yste ms are
typically complex and usually impose significant changes on staff work practices (if they
did not, there would be little need to implement them). Implementing ERP software is
typically not an "in-house" skill, so even smaller projects are more cost effective if
specialist ERP implementation consultants are employed. The length of time to
implement an ERP system depends on the size of the business, the scope of the change
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and willingness of the customer to take ownership for the project. A small project (e.g., a
company of less than 100 staff) may be planned and delivered within 3 months; however,
a large, multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years.

The most important aspect of any ERP implementation is that the company who has
purchased the ERP product takes ownership of the project.

To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-
party consulting companies. These firms typically provide three areas of professional
services: Consulting, Customisation and Support.

10. ADVANTAGES

In the absence of an ERP system, a large manufacturer may find itself with many
software applications that do not talk to each other and do not effectively interface. Tasks
that need to interface with one another may involve:

• design engineering (how best to make the product)

• order tracking from acceptance through fulfillment

• the revenue cycle frominvoi ce through cash receipt

•managing interdependencies of complex Bill of Materials

• tracking the 3-way match between Purchase orders (what was ordered),Inventory
receipts (what arrived), andCost ing (what the vendor invoiced)

• theAccounting for all of these tasks, tracking theRevenue,Cost andProfit on a

granular level.

Change how a product is made, in theengin eering details, and that is how it will now be
made. Effective dates can be used to control when the switch over will occur from an old
version to the next one, both the date that some ingredients go into effect, and date that
some are discontinued. Part of the change can include labeling to identify version
numbers.

• Computer security is included within an ERP to protect against both outsider crime, such as
industrial espionage, and insider crime, such ase mbezzle ment. A data tampering

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scenario might involve aterror ist altering a Bill of Materials so as to putpoison in food
products, or other sabotage. ERP security helps to prevent abuse as well.

11. DISADVANTAGES

Many problems organizations have with ERP systems are due to inadequate investment in
ongoing training for involved personnel, including those implementing and testing
changes, as well as a lack of corporate policy protecting the integrity of the data in the
ERP systems and how it is used.

Limitations of ERP include:

• Success depends on the skill and experience of the workforce, including training
about how to make the system work correctly. Many companies cut costs by
cutting training budgets. Privately owned small enterprises are often
undercapitalized, meaning their ERP system is often operated by personnel with
inadequate education in ERP in general, such asAPICS foundations, and in the
particular ERP vendor package being used.

• Personnel turnover; companies can employ new managers lacking education in the
company's ERP system, proposing changes in business practices that are out of synchronization
with the best utilization of the company's selected ERP.

• Customization of the ERP software is limited. Some customization may involve

changing of the ERP software structure which is usually not allowed.

• Re-engineering of business processes to fit the "industry standard" prescribed by

the ERP system may lead to a loss of competitive advantage.

• ERP systems can be very expensive to install.

• ERP vendors can charge sums of money for annual license renewal that is
unrelated to the size of the company using the ERP or its profitability.

• Technical support personnel often give replies to callers that are inappropriate for
the caller's corporate structure. Computer security concerns arise, for example
when telling a non-programmer how to change a database on the fly, at a

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company that requires an audit trail of changes so as to meet some regulatory

standards.

• ERPs are often seen as too rigid and too difficult to adapt to the specificworkflow and
business process of some companies—this is cited as one of the main causes of their failure.

• Systems can be difficult to use.

• The system can suffer from the "weakest link" problem—an inefficiency in one
department or at one of the partners may affect other participants.

• Many of the integrated links need high accuracy in other applications to work effectively. A
company can achieve minimum standards, then over time "dirty data" will reduce the reliability
of some applications.

• Once a system is established, switching costs are very high for any one of the
partners (reducing flexibility and strategic control at the corporate level).

• The blurring of company boundaries can cause problems in accountability, lines

of responsibility, and employee morale.

• Resistance in sharing sensitive internal information between departments can

reduce the effectiveness of the software.

• There are frequent compatibility problems with the various legacy systems of the
partners.

• The system may be over-engineered relative to the actual needs of the customer

12. HIDDEN COSTS OF ERP

Although different companies will find different land mines in the budgeting process,
those who have implemented ERP packages agree that certain costs are more commonly
overlooked or underestimated than others. Armed with insights from across the business,
ERP pros vote the following areas as most likely to result in budget overrun.

1.Training—Training is the near-unanimous choice of experienced ERP

implementers as the most underestimated budget item. Training expenses are high

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because workers almost invariably have to learn a new set of processes, not just a
new software interface. Worse, outside training companies may not be able to help
you. They are focused on telling people how to use software, not on educating
people about the particular ways you do business. Prepare to develop a curriculum
yourself that identifies and explains the different business processes that will be
affected by the ERP system. One enterprising CIO hired staff from a local
business school to help him develop and teach the ERP business-training course
to employees. Remember that with ERP, finance people will be using the same
software as warehouse people and they will both be entering information that
affects the other. To do this accurately, they have to have a much broader
understanding of how others in the company do their jobs than they did before
ERP came along. Ultimately, it will be up to your IT and businesspeople to
provide that training. So take whatever you have budgeted for ERP training and
double or triple it up front. It will be the best ERP investment you ever make.

2.Integration and testing—Testing the links between ERP packages and other
corporate software links that have to be built on a case-by-case basis is another
often-underestimated cost. A typical manufacturing company may have add-on
applications from the major—e-commerce and supply chain—to the minor—sales
tax computation and bar coding. All require integration links to ERP. You’re better
off if you can buy add-ons from the ERP vendors that are pre-integrated. If you need to build
the links yourself, expect things to get ugly. As with training, testing
ERP integration has to be done from a process-oriented perspective. Veterans
recommend that instead of plugging in dummy data and moving it from one
application to the next, you should run a real purchase order through the system,
from order entry through shipping and receipt of payment—the whole order-to-
cash banana—preferably with the participation of the employees who will
eventually do those jobs.

3.Customization—Add-ons are only the beginning of the integration costs of ERP.

Much more costly, and something to be avoided if at all possible, is actual
customization of the core ERP software itself. This happens when the ERP
software can’t handle one of your business processes and you decide to mess with
the software to make it do what you want. You’re playing with fire. The
customizations can affect every module of the ERP system because they are all so
tightly linked together. Upgrading the ERP package—no walk in the park under
the best of circumstances—becomes a nightmare because you’ll have to do the
customization all over again in the new version. Maybe it will work, maybe it

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won’t. No matter what, the vendor will not be there to support you. You will have
to hire extra staffers to do the customization work, and keep them on for good to
maintain it.

4. Data conversion—It costs money to move corporate information, such as

customer and supplier records, product design data and the like, from old systems
to new ERP homes. Although few CIOs will admit it, most data in most legacy
systems is of little use. Companies often deny their data is dirty until they actually
have to move it to the new client/server setups that popular ERP packages require.
Consequently, those companies are more likely to underestimate the cost of the
move. But even clean data may demand some overhaul to match process
modifications necessitated—or inspired—by the ERP implementation.

5. Data analysis—Often, the data from the ERP system must be combined with data
from external systems for analysis purposes. Users with heavy analysis needs
should include the cost of a data warehouse in the ERP budget—and they should
expect to do quite a bit of work to make it run smoothly. Users are in a pickle
here: Refreshing all the ERP data every day in a big corporate data warehouse is
difficult, and ERP systems do a poor job of indicating which information has
changed from day to day, making selective warehouse updates tough. One
expensive solution is custom programming. The upshot is that the wise will check
all their data analysis needs before signing off on the budget.

6. Consultants ad infinitum—When users fail to plan for disengagement,

consulting fees run wild. To avoid this, companies should identify objectives for
which its consulting partners must aim when training internal staff. Include
metrics in the consultants’ contract; for example, a specific number of the user
company’s staff should be able to pass a project-management leadership test—
similar to what the consultants have to pass to lead an ERP engagement.

7. Replacing your best and brightest—It is accepted wisdom that ERP success
depends on staffing the project with the best and brightest from the business and
IS divisions. The software is too complex and the business changes too dramatic
to trust the project to just anyone. The bad news is a company must be prepared to replace
many of those people when the project is over. Though the ERP market is
not as hot as it once was, consultancies and other companies that have lost their
best people will be hounding yours with higher salaries and bonus offers than you
can afford—or that your HR policies permit. Huddle with HR early on to develop

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a retention bonus program and create new salary strata for ERP veterans. If you
let them go, you’ll wind up hiring them—or someone like them—back as
consultants for twice what you paid them in salaries.

8. Implementation teams can never stop—Most companies intend to treat their

ERP implementation as they would any other software project. Once the software
is installed, they figure the team will be scuttled, and everyone will go back to his
or her day job. But after ERP, you can’t go home again. The implementers are too
valuable. Because the implementers have worked so closely with ERP, they know
more about the sales process than the salespeople and more about the
manufacturing process than the manufacturing people. Companies can’t afford to
send their project people back into the business because there’s so much to do
after the ERP software is installed. Just writing reports to pull information out of
the new ERP system will keep the project team busy for a year at least. And it is
in analysis—and, one hopes, insight—that companies make their money back on
an ERP implementation. Unfortunately, few IS departments plan for the frenzy of
post-ERP installation activity, and fewer still build it into their budgets when they
start their ERP projects. Many are forced to beg for more money and staff
immediately after the go-live date, long before the ERP project has demonstrated
any benefit.

9.Waiting for ROI—One of the most misleading legacies of traditional software

project management is that the company expects to gain value from the
application as soon as it is installed, while the project team expects a break and
maybe a pat on the back. Neither expectation applies to ERP. Most of the systems
don’t reveal their value until after companies have had them running for some
time and can concentrate on making improvements in the business processes that
are affected by the system. And the project team is not going to be rewarded until
their efforts pay off.

10.Post-ERP depression—ERP systems often wreak cause havoc in the companies

that install them. In a recent Deloitte Consulting survey of 64 Fortune 500
companies, one in four admitted that they suffered a drop in performance when
their ERP system went live. The true percentage is undoubtedly much higher. The
most common reason for the performance problems is that everything looks and
works differently from the way it did before. When people can’t do their jobs in
the familiar way and haven’t yet mastered the new way, they panic, and the
business goes into spasms.

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There are five major reasons why companies undertake ERP-

1. Integrate financial information—;As the CEO tries to understand the

company’s overall performance, he may find many different versions of the truth.
Finance has its own set of revenue numbers, sales has another version, and the
different business units may each have their own version of how much they
contributed to revenue. ERP creates a single version of the truth that cannot be
questioned because everyone is using the same system.

2. Integrate customer order information—;ERP systems can become the place

where the customer order lives from the time a customer service representative
receives it until the loading dock ships the merchandise and finance sends an
invoice. By having this information in one software system, rather than scattered
among many different systems that can’t communicate with one another,
companies can keep track of orders more easily, and coordinate manufacturing,
inventory and shipping among many different locations simultaneously.

3. Standardize and speed up manufacturing processes—;Manufacturing

companies—especially those with an appetite for mergers and acquisitions—often
find that multiple business units across the company make the same widget using
different methods and computer systems. ERP systems come with standard
methods for automating some of the steps of a manufacturing process.
Standardizing those processes and using a single, integrated computer system can
save time, increase productivity and reduce headcount.

4. Reduce inventory—ERP helps the manufacturing process flow more smoothly,

and it improves visibility of the order fulfillment process inside the company. That
can lead to reduced inventories of the materials used to make products (work-in-
progress inventory), and it can help users better plan deliveries to customers,
reducing the finished good inventory at the warehouses and shipping docks. To
really improve the flow of your supply chain, you need supply chain software, but
ERP helps too.

5. Standardize HR information—;Especially in companies with multiple business

units, HR may not have a unified, simple method for tracking employees’ time
and communicating with them about benefits and services. ERP can fix that.

In the race to fix these problems, companies often lose sight of the fact that ERP
packages are nothing more than generic representations of the ways a typical company

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does business. While most packages are exhaustively comprehensive, each industry has
quirks that make it unique. Most ERP systems were designed to be used by discrete
manufacturing companies (that make physical things that can be counted), which
immediately left all the process manufacturers (oil, chemical and utility companies that
measure their products by flow rather than individual units) out in the cold. Each of these
industries has struggled with the different ERP vendors to modify core ERP programs to
their needs.

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