Enterprise Resource Planning For small business

The classification of a certain management software as ERPdetermines that it has a series of requirements and functionalities that allow its differentiation. In today's software market, it is common for any management suite to claim more recognition (usually unreal, given that normal management software is equally necessary than an ERP, only for different levels) because of the fact Be known as ERP rather than as management software. Thus we can see as marketing strategies that certain management programs that have been on the market for several years, abruptly change their name to ERP, seeking a niche of higher work (usually accompanied by a higher remuneration, recognition, etc.) without increasing Proportionally the functionality.

The main difference lies in the definition. An ERP is an application that integrates into a single system all the business processes of a company. In addition, it is intended that all data be available at all times for everyone in the company (for the time being, bypassing availability, etc.) in a centralized manner.

This discards as ERP those programs based on multiple independent applications ( modular suites ) that duplicate the information (even when it is linked automatically) or do not centralize it in a single database. It also removes those programs that are based on independent database filesystems (without database engine).

On the other hand, the traditional definition tells us that ERPs are designed to model and automate all basic processes with the objective of integrating information through the company, eliminating complex connections between different systems. An ERP is a software architecture that facilitates the flow of information between a company's manufacturing, logistics, finance, and human resources functions.

So to the characteristic of the centralized database and that the components of the ERP interact with each other, consolidating all the operations, it should be added that in an ERP system the data are entered only once, having to maintain the consistency, and be complete. As a collateral characteristic, it can be added that, normally, companies must modify some of their processes to align them with those of the ERP system. It is what is known as Process Reengineering.