Many organisations may have heard the term “ERP system” before, and some organisations may be looking for an ERP system. In this article, the author will briefly discuss the meaning of an ERP system—what an ERP system is, and how to carry out a basic, successful implementation—as introductory information for organisations looking for an ERP system or an ERP provider.

The content of the article consists of 2 parts, as follows:

What is an ERP system?
What must be done for a basic, successful ERP implementation?

The details of each part are as follows:

1. What is an ERP system?

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), or an ERP system, is a system designed to help manage all of an organisation’s or business’s resources with the highest efficiency.

The ERP system gathers all the resources within the organisation—personnel both internal and external, materials, capital, production, sales, services, and other related data—into the same system, and everyone in the organisation uses data from the same database.

The ERP system helps make all data and business processes systematic, making business decisions more thorough and faster.

The ERP system can combine data from different systems within the organisation, then link all the data into a single system, making data easy to access and helping reduce data duplication.

The ERP system has a variety of modules, such as accounting and finance, warehouse management, manufacturing, project management, human resource management, sales and marketing.

In addition, the ERP system has other related modules, such as the HR system, CRM, and Asset Management.

Using an ERP system enables the organisation to respond quickly to changes in the business environment, such as responding to product manufacturing in a timely way according to customer demand.

Furthermore, the ERP system is flexible and lets management see the overall picture of all internal work processes very well.

2. What must be done for a basic, successful ERP implementation?

For a basic, successful ERP implementation, there are various steps that should be carried out, as follows:

Plan and set goals
Provide training for employees or system users
Have a Super User team that supports and helps colleagues

The details of each item are as follows:

2.1 Plan and set goals

The organisation must have a clear objective for implementing the ERP system—what the organisation wants. For example:

A business organisation with a manufacturing system where the bill of material details are different and never repeat, making manufacturing hard to manage, therefore needing an ERP system with a manufacturing module to support this part.

Another example is a business with many branches, where management wants the work data of each branch to be linked, and all employees in every branch to be able to use data from the same database.

Therefore, the organisation’s objective for implementing the ERP system is a very important starting point in finding the right ERP provider.

2.2 Provide training for employees or system users

In an ERP implementation, providing training for system users is another key that enables the ERP system to be used to its full efficiency.

In training, system users should be allowed to try entering data, as well as choosing the various conditions the system specifies correctly and completely, so that users can run the system fully.

2.3 Have a Super User team that supports and helps colleagues

A super user is a key representative who helps support and manage the ERP system within the organisation—a group of users who are experts in using and managing data in the ERP system.

A super user is considered personnel who support colleagues in the organisation in using the ERP system to its full efficiency.

Sometimes a super user is responsible for adapting and customizing the ERP system according to the organisation’s needs, including setting access permissions, configuring various settings, and managing necessary data.

In summary

An ERP system is a highly efficient organisation management system that helps an organisation manage its internal processes to work in an orderly, non-duplicative way. In an ERP implementation, the organisation must initially have a clear objective for what it wants, as well as provide training in using the ERP system for the organisation’s employees, so they can use the system to the system’s full potential. There should also be a group of Super Users to look after colleagues’ use of the ERP system in the organisation, and to maintain the organisation’s ERP system as needed.