ERP is an acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning.
A concept developed by the Gartner Group that describes the next generation of manufacturing business systems and manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) software. It will incorporate a client/service architecture, use graphical user interfaces, and apply open systems production. In addition to the standard functionality already available, it will include other features such as quality, process operations management, and alignment reporting. In particular, the underlying technology used by ERP will give users both software and hardware independence and thus easier upgrades. the key to ERP is that all users will be able to customize their applications and thus have a natural ease of use.
The Gartner Group suggests that the functionality criteria for ERP should include four areas:
1. Integrated functionality beyond the scope of MRP II
Including quality management; laboratory management; process operations management; recipe management; product data management; maintenance management; regulatory reporting and warehouse management.
2. Support for mixed-mode manufacturing environments
Includes support for both discrete and process manufacturing environments; ability to combine business processes in accordance with object-oriented business models and international scope of application.
3. Supports dynamic monitoring capabilities to improve business performance
Includes the use of control and engineering methods throughout the enterprise; simulation capabilities; decision support; and graphical capabilities for production and analysis.
4. Support for open client/server computing environments
Includes client/server architectures; graphical user interfaces (GUIs); computer-aided design engineering (CASE), object-oriented technologies; the use of SQL to query relational databases; and the internal integration of engineering systems, business systems, data acquisition, and external integration (EDI).
ERP is the MRP Ⅱ beyond, in essence, ERP is still MRP Ⅱ as the core, but in terms of functionality and technology beyond the traditional MRP Ⅱ, it is customer-driven, time-based, for the entire supply chain management of enterprise resource planning.
One of the ERP system management ideas
The core management idea of ERP is to realize the effective management of the entire supply chain, mainly reflected in the following three aspects:
1, reflecting the entire supply chain resource management ideas
In the knowledge-based economy in the era of relying on their own business resources can not be effective in participating in the market competition, but also have to be put into the supply chain. Business process of the parties concerned, such as suppliers, manufacturing plants, distribution networks, customers, etc. into a close supply chain, in order to effectively arrange the enterprise's production, supply and marketing activities, to meet the enterprise to use all the market resources of society as a whole to quickly and efficiently carry out the demand for production and operation, with a view to further improving the efficiency and gain a competitive advantage in the market. In other words, the modern enterprise competition is not a single enterprise and a single enterprise competition, but an enterprise supply chain and another enterprise supply chain competition between the ERP system to achieve the management of the entire enterprise supply chain, adapted to the enterprise in the knowledge-based economy in the era of market competition needs.
2, reflecting the idea of lean production, synchronous engineering and agile manufacturing
ERP system to support the management of mixed production methods, the management of the idea is manifested in two aspects: one is "Lean Production LP (Lean Production)" idea, which was developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the United States (MIT). Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) proposed a business strategy system. That is, the enterprise according to the mass production mode of production organization, customers, sales agents, suppliers, collaborative units into the production system, the enterprise and its sales agents, customers and suppliers of the relationship is no longer simply a business relationship, but the benefits of **** enjoy the partnership, this partnership consists of an enterprise supply chain, which is the core idea of lean production. The second is the idea of "Agile Manufacturing". When the market changes, the enterprise meets a specific market and product demand, the enterprise's basic partners may not be able to meet the requirements of new product development and production, at this time, the enterprise will organize a short-term or disposable supply chain composed of specific suppliers and sales channels, the formation of a "virtual factory", the supply and collaboration units as a part of the enterprise, using the "Agile Manufacturing" concept. An integral part of the enterprise, the use of "synchronous engineering (SE)", the organization of production, with the shortest possible time to market new products, and always maintain high quality, diversity and flexibility of products, which is the core idea of "agile manufacturing".
3, reflecting the idea of prior planning and control
ERP system in the planning system mainly includes: master production plan, material requirements plan, capacity plan, procurement plan, sales execution plan, profit plan, financial budget and human resources plan, etc., and these planning functions and the value of the control function has been fully integrated into the entire supply chain system.
On the other hand, the ERP system through the definition of transaction processing (Transaction) related accounting subjects and accounting methods, in order to automatically generate accounting entries at the same time as the transaction processing occurs, to ensure that the synchronization of capital flow and logistics records and data consistency. Thus, according to the status quo of the financial funds can be traced back to the ins and outs of the funds, and further traced back to the relevant business activities that occurred, changing the status of the funds information lagging behind the material information, and facilitating the realization of the control of the matter and make decisions in real time.
In addition, planning, transaction processing, control and decision-making functions are realized in the entire supply chain business processes, the requirements of each process in the business process to maximize the potential of each person's work and sense of responsibility, the process and the process between the emphasis on the spirit of cooperation between people in order to give full play to the organic organization of each of the subjective initiative and potential. Realize enterprise management from the "towering" organizational structure to the "flat" organizational structure of the transformation, improve the response speed of the enterprise to the dynamic changes in the market.
In short, with the rapid development and application of IT technology, ERP systems can be a lot of advanced management ideas into reality can be implemented in the application of computer software systems.
Two, the application of ERP and the relationship between the enterprise
ERP is borrowed from a new management model to transform the original enterprise's old management model, is advanced, proven management ideas and methods. ERP software in the actual promotion and application of the application depth and breadth are not in place, the majority of enterprises is not significant, did not cause the vibration of the decision makers of the enterprise and the widespread concern of the people. attention.
1. The implementation of ERP is a full range of changes in business management
2. Enterprise management team to get *** knowledge
3. ERP investment is a systematic project
4. The implementation of ERP requires composite talents
In short, the conditions of the enterprise to lose no time to ERP management system on the ground can not be engaged in purely theoretical research, and then research, a long time to study the ERP system. Research, re-research, a long time to visit. To first organize the internal management of basic data, selected or developed for their own enterprise ERP software, the conditions are ripe on.
Three, the risk of ERP and its prevention
Enterprise conditions, no matter how superior, no matter how well prepared, the risk of implementation still exists. In the ERP system implementation cycle, a variety of influencing factors may change at any time. How to effectively manage and control the risk is to ensure the success of ERP system implementation of one of the important links.
ERP project risk
Often people in the consideration of the factors of failure, generally focusing on the implementation process of the many factors of analysis, and often ignore the project before the start and implementation of the completion of the ERP system of potential risks. For ERP projects, the risk exists in the whole process of the project, including project planning, project pre-preparation, implementation process and system operation. Summarized, ERP project risks are mainly the following aspects:
1. lack of planning or planning unreasonable;
2. project pre-preparation is not sufficient, the performance of hardware selection and ERP software selection errors;
3. implementation process control is not rigorous, the results of the phase did not meet the standard;
4. design process lack of effective control links;
5. implementation of the implementation process is not strict, the results of the phase did not meet the standards;
4. design process lack of effective control links;
5. p>
5. the implementation of the effect of the assessment has not been done or the assessment is unreasonable;
6. the system security design is not perfect, there is a hidden danger of illegal invasion of the system;
7. improper or incomplete disaster prevention measures, which can easily cause the system to collapse.
1. Strategic Planning
Does a five-year IT system plan exist for an organization? With the informatization of society, IT systems for the enterprise is not only a tool, but also a technical means. ERP as an important part of the IT system, serves the long-term planning of the enterprise, is the means and guarantee of long-term planning. the objectives of the ERP stems from the IT system planning, is the evaluation of the success or failure of the ERP system of the basic standards, should be based on the IT system planning, the clear scope of the implementation of the ERP system and the implementation of the content.
2. Project pre-preparation
Determine the hardware and network program, select the ERP system and evaluation of consulting partners is the stage of the three main tasks, but also the implementation of the ERP system of the three elements. Hardware and network solutions directly affect the performance of the system, operational reliability and stability; ERP system functionality to determine the degree of satisfaction of business needs; consulting partner's ability to work and experience to determine the quality of the implementation process and implementation of the results.
3. Project implementation control
In the ERP system implementation, usually using project management techniques to control and manage the implementation process. Effective implementation control is manifested in the scientific implementation of the plan, a clear stage of results and rigorous review of the results. Not only that, effective control is also shown in the active coordination and smooth information transfer channels. The organizational structure for ERP implementation includes: steering committee, project manager, external consultants, IT department, functional implementation team and functional end-users. Good coordination and communication between departments determines the quality of work and efficiency of the implementation process. Currently, this risk is particularly evident and serious in the absence of a suitable project manager in the organization.
4. Business process control
Enterprise business process reengineering is completed in the design phase of project implementation. The process of control and monitoring links to ensure that ERP in the formal operation of the business is under effective control, to avoid man-made losses suffered by the enterprise. The design of the control link, to take into account the control and efficiency. Too many control links and business process redundancy is bound to reduce efficiency. And insufficient control links will have the risk of losing control of the business.
5. Project implementation results
While the project evaluation is the last part of the ERP implementation process. But this does not mean that the project evaluation is not important. On the contrary, the results of the project evaluation is a direct reflection of the effectiveness of ERP implementation. Correctly evaluate the results of the implementation, without a clear implementation of the objectives, objective evaluation criteria and scientific evaluation methods. At present there is a widespread problem of neglecting project evaluation. Neglect of project evaluation will bring the implementation team does not care about the implementation of the results of this hidden danger. This is where the great risk of ERP projects.
6. System security management
System security includes: operating system authorization, network equipment rights, application system function rights, data access rights, virus prevention, illegal invasion of the supervision, tracking of data changes, data security backup and archiving, the host room of the security management rules and regulations, the supervision of system administrators, and so on. At present, there are fewer people in the enterprise who are skilled in computer technology and fewer computers have access to the Internet. Therefore, in the implementation of ERP systems, there is a general lack of attention to the phenomenon of system security. Such as: users do not pay attention to password confidentiality, super-user authorization of multiple people. Lack of security awareness is a direct consequence of the system in the security design loopholes and defects. In recent years, there is a constant newspaper disclosure of the bank or enterprise computer system was illegally invaded, which gives enterprises a wake-up call.
7. Accidents or disasters
Floods, fires, earthquakes and other irresistible natural disasters can bring devastation to the ERP system. After the enterprise formally launched the ERP system, this damage will directly cause the interruption of business transactions, bringing incalculable losses to the enterprise. Saving for a rainy day strategy and countermeasures is a good recipe for reducing this risk. Such as the establishment of a remote backup and recovery mechanism; in the case of computer systems can not work properly, the resumption of manual processing of business steps and measures.
Four, ERP application of successful signs
ERP application is successful, in principle, can be measured from the following aspects:
1. System operation integration:
This is the success of the ERP application of the most basic performance in terms of technical solutions. ERP system is the integration of enterprise logistics, capital flow, information flow management software system, its core management concepts. ERP system is the integration of enterprise logistics, capital flow, information flow management software system, its core management idea is to realize the "supply chain (Supply Chain)" management. The application of the software will span multiple departments and even multiple enterprises. In order to achieve the desired application goals, the most basic requirement is that the system can be run to realize the integrated application, the establishment of enterprise decision-making perfect data system and information **** enjoyment mechanism.
Generally speaking, if the ERP system is only applied in the financial sector, can only standardize financial management, improve accounts receivable and fund management; only in the sales sector, can only strengthen and improve marketing management; only in the application of inventory management, can only help to master inventory information; only in the application of the production sector can only assist in the development of production plans and material demand plan. Only the integration of integrated operation, it is possible to achieve:
Reduce inventory, improve capital utilization and control of business risks;
Control product production costs, shorten the product production cycle;
Improve the quality of the product and the qualification rate;
Reduce the amount of financial bad debt, bad debt, and so on.
Whether these goals can really be achieved, but also depends on the implementation of business process reengineering effect.
2. rationalization of business processes:
This is the success of ERP applications in improving management efficiency is reflected in the success of ERP applications is the prerequisite for the implementation of business process reengineering, therefore, the success of ERP applications that means that the business process tends to be rationalized, and the realization of the application of ERP the following ultimate goal:
Enterprise Competitiveness has been greatly enhanced;
Enterprise response speed in the face of the market is greatly accelerated;
Customer satisfaction has improved significantly.
3. Dynamic performance monitoring:
The application of ERP will provide enterprises with a wealth of management information. How to use this information and in the enterprise management and decision-making process really play a role, is to measure the success of ERP application of another sign. In the ERP system fully into practical operation, enterprises should be based on management needs, the use of information resources provided by the ERP system to design a set of dynamic monitoring of management performance changes in the reporting system, with a view to immediate feedback and correction of problems in the management. This work, generally in the ERP system implementation is completed by the enterprise design completed. Enterprises that fail to utilize the information resources provided by the ERP system to establish their own performance monitoring system will mean that the application of ERP system is not completely successful.
4. Management improvement sustained:
With the application of ERP systems and the rationalization of business processes, the level of corporate management will be significantly improved. In order to measure the degree of improvement in the level of enterprise management, can be based on management consulting firms to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the level of enterprise management evaluation index system. Evaluation process itself is not the purpose, for the enterprise to establish a self-evaluation and continuous improvement of the management of the mechanism, is the real purpose. This is also the success of ERP application of an often unappreciated sign.
When the United States in the early 1990s, the Gartner Group definition of ERP such a software system, no one thought it would be in the global
Enterprises caused so much reaction. And in China today, this gradually subsided vibration, in the past two years there has been another and
a climax. However, looking back at the development of ERP and today's economic development, we have to face up to the emergence of such two issues:
1. Gartner Group's original definition has been too narrow, and the actual business life in the actual use of ERP has a greater
gap;
2. Some non-mainstream thinking for their own interests, the requirements of the
2. Some non-mainstream ideas, for the sake of their own interests, are constantly distorting the true meaning of ERP.
These two issues are constantly distorting the idea of ERP, for the later ERP's true colors have been hidden, so in the end what is ERP
it?
I'll start by reviewing how the Gartner Group defined ERP through a series of functional criteria, defined as
the following:
1, beyond the scope of MRP-II and integrated functionality;
2, support for mixed-mode manufacturing environments;
3. Support for dynamic monitoring capabilities to improve business performance;
4. Support for an open client/server computing environment.
By definition, ERP is an application software system, is based on MRPII software system to expand the scope of management, the basic idea
is to view the business process as a tightly linked supply chain, and will be divided into several collaborative operations within the enterprise support
Supporting sub-systems such as finance, marketing, manufacturing, services, maintenance, engineering and so on. Maintenance, engineering, etc., can effectively manage all the links in the supply chain, such as orders, purchasing, inventory, planning, manufacturing, quality control, transportation, distribution, service and maintenance, finance, cost
cost control, business risk and investment, decision support, laboratory/recipe, human resources, and so on, providing a richer functionality for enterprises in terms of the scope of management
and depth of management. provides enterprises with richer functions and tools.
From the scope of this application, to give the impression that the first ERP is for manufacturing enterprises, the second it is just a software. However, after the
Gartner Group defined the term ERP, SAP creatively combined ERP and BPR, two things that had not been linked together
into one, thus creating a world miracle of IT + management. At this time, the Gartner Group's concepts in the actual
practical application was completely updated, a new content and meaning was given to the birth of ERP:
1,) ERP is not just a software system, but a set of organizational models, business processes, business norms and information technology, implementation
methods as one of the integrated management application system. (2) ERP makes the core of enterprise management from "at the right time, manufacturing and selling the right products", transferred to "in the best
time and place, to get the maximum profit of the enterprise", this kind of management methods and tools. Management methods and means of its scope of application from the manufacturing enterprises extended to the
various industries;
3,) ERP from the dynamic monitoring to meet the development of the introduction of business intelligence, so that the previous simple things processing system, into a truly
intelligent management and control systems;
4,) from the software system structure Now the ERP must be able to adapt to the application of the Internet, can support cross-platform multi-organizational
application, and e-commerce applications with a wide range of data, business logic interface.
So let's give ERP a definition: the so-called ERP, is through the use of information technology, the realization of the enterprise's internal resources ***
Hanging and synergy, to overcome the bureaucratic constraints in the enterprise, so that the seamless and smooth convergence of various business processes, thereby improving the efficiency of the management and the accuracy of the business
service to obtain the improvement of profitability.
From the ERP function to understand, a mature ERP system must have the following functions:
1. To have a reference business model, and can be based on this model, according to the customer's actual needs for customized work, with a series of
Series of modeling tools and methods;
2. To achieve multi-accounting organization, multiple factories, multi-location application.
3. It must have at least five basic subsystems for finance, purchasing, sales, production, and human resources, and an information analysis platform,
to have or support specialized quality management, equipment management, industry-specific management, and business intelligence systems, and have interfaces with other
relevant applications, such as specialized CRM systems, and other systems that are not yet available. interfaces, such as specialized CRM, SCM, CAD, industrial control systems, etc., all of which can achieve seamless
logical integration;
4. Realization of the complete process of logistics, information flow and capital flow: i.e., logistics to achieve the positive flow from purchase to manufacturing to sales, and the reverse of the
information traceability; information flow to achieve sales forecasting, procurement planning and production planning automation.
Information flow to achieve sales forecasts, purchasing plans and production plans automatically generated, and associated changes; capital flow
To achieve online synchronization of accounting and logistics, and information flow online synchronization of the plan, to achieve ABC (operating costs) control.
5. Realize the process control of logistics, information flow and capital flow: for example, in the logistics process, to have invoices, orders and warehousing single
three single matching control; in the order process to have inventory, in the system, creditworthiness, financial budgets, and other multi-point control; to have a multilevel
workflow control, etc.
6.6. To have a certain customized development platform or tool, such platforms and tools at least need to support the customer on the output information of any
collection and arrangement.
7. Financial management should have at least accounting and management accounting functions, to have the ability to manage funds and asset management, the basic realization
realize that the accounting information comes directly from the business itself, rather than the financial system itself, that is, more than 90% of the accounting vouchers in the financial system is
automatically generated.
8. In production management, at least support the most basic discrete and process business models, that is, according to the BOM and the ability to plan and according to the work
execution, according to the process and the recipe for planning and according to the period of scheduling orders for production, and can be a mixture of the two models
use, of course, should also have the MRP and JIT model of the two models
mixed. Mixed use.
9. In the purchasing and selling process, to support multi-type and multi-location inventory management and warehouse management, where inventory management and warehouse management
are two different aspects; to support multi-dimensional control of the ordering process, i.e., inventory inspection, quality requirements, credit status, etc.
10.
10. In human resource management, the core should be goal management and performance appraisal rather than simple personnel management.
The above ten points should constitute the content of a basic ERP system. Of course, for a perfect solution, only the above
functionality is not enough, there should be a complete realization of the method.
The specificity of the ERP project determines that it must rely on the advice and services of professional consultants. However, companies must remember that the master of the project is the enterprise
their own, the consultant is only at a certain time for you to advise, he can not guarantee your success, and will not serve you for a lifetime, so
How to be able to learn the knowledge of the consultant in the shortest possible time, and that is essential.
ERP implementation, more or less will involve changes in business management processes, so BRP is often combined with its implementation, and only
there is such a combination, in order to make the enterprise's ERP system to maximize the role. A successful ERP implementation support must include
an extensive knowledge base and consultants with hands-on experience.
ERP implementation process is basically necessary to go through five phases and six steps, five phases:
1. infrastructure
2. introduction of concepts
3. business reorganization
4. system use
5. continuous improvement
Six steps:
1. program planning
2.
2. Project Organization
3. Comprehensive Training
4. Prototype Definition
5. Data Preparation
6. System Switching
These five phases and the six steps are interspersed with each other in a continuous cycle to ensure the success of the ERP project
For today's business managers, any inputs must yield a return, otherwise it is a loss of profit. Therefore, for information technology
investment, in the end, can bring what return to the enterprise, which is all business decision makers in the decision to make the most concerned about the matter, I think
This is also the implementation of ERP in these years around the enterprise is the root of the right and wrong.
Investment in information technology, especially in ERP projects, is a special investment.
First of all, this investment is not a one-time investment process, the enterprise once the choice of information technology, may produce a one-time purchase of hardware
and software costs, but the ensuing corresponding maintenance and service is a perennial investment, especially by the information technology triggered by the
The overall quality of the overall staff of the enterprise to improve the demand for more needs a long-term training investment process, therefore, the general investment in ERP. Long-term training investment process, so the general assessment of information
Information technology investment, we use the total cost of ownership (TCO) such a statement, which includes the cost of resources, management costs
costs, the cost of technical support and the cost of end-use.
Secondly, management information technology is a comprehensive project, which involves all aspects of an enterprise, so it is difficult to have an absolute
indicator to explain the return it produces, so it creates a feeling that there is only input in information technology, no output, which
makes the managers can not make clear the main points of it, or blindly invested in it, or are not willing to The first is that it is not a good idea to invest in information technology.
Thirdly, the construction of information technology requires a long cycle, in which the management of the enterprise will undergo a painful transformation
process, because the operation of the enterprise is a continuous process, the old management model can not be broken overnight, the new management model
could not be established overnight, the two sides of the friction and the gradual replacement that The gradual replacement of the two sides, so that people's management workload in a certain period of time will be a big
great increase, during which a lot of unanticipated costs will continue to arise.
Because of the specificity of this investment, many managers are not well prepared at the beginning of the investment, so there is often a project
delayed, or even abandoned halfway, the result is to produce more investment to make up for their perceived failures, resulting in a lot of money,
but the creation of a system to eat money. So how do you avoid these bad results? In fact, it is very simple, that is, in the decision to invest
time, we need to know clearly what kind of information return, that is, to establish a project evaluation system, to
clear, quantitative benchmarks to determine what kind of plan should be done, what kind of inputs should be done, what kind of
results should be obtained.
APICS once proposed an A-level MRPII evaluation criteria, but now it seems that its evaluation system is only from a side to describe the results of the
MRPII project, such as "inventory", "capital turnover" and so on. "and so on, it should be said that these criteria are only a series of business affairs
processing evaluation. However, with the marketization of enterprises, the degree of management autonomy, the operators of enterprises need to evaluate the system of the
fundamental point of the evaluation system has been from the evaluation of the business process, upgraded to the evaluation of the value of the enterprise's requirements, in addition to the "inventory", "capital
Golden Turnover Period
In addition to the requirements for "inventory", "capital turnover", more requirements for "corporate return on investment", "market value", "shareholders' investment in value-added rate"
The ERP program is a great way to get the most out of the ERP program. Therefore, for an ERP project, there is a greater need for a comprehensive evaluation tools to clearly reflect the effect of its projects, also
that is, to understand the return on information in the end how much.
In 1996, Benchmarking Partners, a leading U.S. standardization research organization, proposed a set of ERP project evaluation system. In this
Set of evaluation system, including project drivers, transaction processing indicators and critical success factors and other three aspects of assessment.
Project drivers: through the study of different industries, there are three main drivers for realistic ERP projects. For those who are more mature market
mature, relatively stable product changes in the industry, such as the chemical industry, semi-finished products processing industry, etc., the factors that drive their implementation of ERP is: focus on business
service cost reduction. For rapid product change, market growth of the industry, such as high-tech industry, electronics industry, etc., these
These projects are concerned about: to improve the ability to respond to the market and technology. For integrated conglomerates, the focus is on comprehensive, high-speed and standardized management processes. By evaluating the project drivers, you actually find a base
point, and an overall goal for the entire project.
Transaction metrics: The assessment of transaction metrics can be divided into strategic benefits and economic benefits. Strategic benefits are considered from an enterprise
strategic perspective, such as the integration of business processes, the utilization of information, responsiveness and flexibility to customers
degree of cost and business activities, and infrastructure for new applications; economic benefits are
valued to assess the value of the business processes caused by the project, and the overall goal of the project. value the benefits that result from changes in business
processes caused by the project, including benefits to financial management, people management, IT costs, inventory management, order management, and supply
management.
Critical Success Factors: Based on the ERP project implementation process, critical success factors are assessed in terms of project management, senior support,training, management reform, partner management, and process re-engineering, where each of these factors is specifically measured
for example, project management is measured in terms of resources, teams, skills, and management, and senior support is measured in terms of goals, activities, and so on. Senior support includes goals, activities, and other engagement
degree indicators; training includes cost, content, and time; management reform includes communication, expectations, resistance, and visibility;
partner management includes roles, pricing, and experience; and process reengineering includes cost and time.
ERP is a critical component of an organization, and for any growing business, it's not a matter of discussing what to do
or not to do, but rather how to do it, and how to do it as quickly as possible. For product suppliers and consulting services providers
providers, it is now more important to provide to the user