Question

Based on your work experience or reading of the chapter, briefly describe how an ERP can connect and integrate the cycles of a business (e.g., revenue-expenditure cycles, revenue-payroll cycles, and etc)

Answer 1

Answer:

Enterprise Resource Planning:

An enterprise is a group of people with a common goal, which has certain resources at its disposal to achieve goal.

Enterprise Resource Planning covers the techniques and concepts employed for the integrated management of business as a whole, from the viewpoint of the effective use of management resources, to improve the efficiency of an enterprise.

Enterprise Resource Planning software is designed to model and automate many of the basic processes of a company, from finance to the shop floor, with the goal of integrating information across the company and eliminating complex, expensive links between computer system that were never meant to talk to each other. Enterprise Resource Planning software is a mirror image of the major business processes of an organisation, such as customer order fulfillment and manufacturing.

Enterprise Resource Planning system has required strategic & operational planning, manufacturing, materials management, quality management, finance, human resource, logistic management, maintenance management, sales & distribution.

More to the point three forces, separately and in combination, today's companies deeper and deeper into a territory that most of their executives and managers find frighteningly unfamiliar. I call these forces the three Cs: Customers, Competition and Change. Their names are hardly new but the characteristics of the three Cs are remarkable different from what they were in the past.

Traditionally companies developed computer applications for each of the functional areas like general ledger, purchasing, inventory and planning. The group has some key functions to perform in order to achieve its goal. resources included are money, manpower, materials and all the other things that are required to run the enterprise.

Enterprise Resource Planning system solutions are currently in high demand by both manufacturing and service organisations because they provide a tightly integrated solution to an organisation's information system needs.

Benefits of Enterprise Resource Planning system:

• Internal efficiency
• Better decision making
• Increased agility
• Enhanced security.

Enterprise Resource Planning improve enterprise efficiency and effectiveness by, integrating financial information, integrating orders, providing insights from customer information, standardizing HR information & procurement, facilitating government reporting.

Revenue Cycle Accounting information systems provide the tools to operate and maintain important data related to an organisation and interpret the information to develop quality financial reports. The five accounting cycles that a business may use to operate different functions within the company play an important role in the decision making process. These cycles are the revenue cycle, the expenditure cycle, the financing cycle, the fixed asset cycle and the conversion cycle and revenue payroll cycle.

At last, successful implementation is the obvious goal of any organisation that has chosen to go for Enterprise Resource Planning. Since almost all methodologies look same, the company should look into minute details when comparing different methodologies and also considers key factors which determine the success of Enterprise Resource Planning project implementation.

At last i can say that developing and implementing Enterprise Resource Planning package is very complex and time consuming process. Therefore it requires implementation consultants, vendors, end users to work as an effective team.