What is ERP software?

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is a recent addition to phrases making the rounds of IT departments and manufacturing managers today. Definitions seem to be rather arbitrary of what this software actually does, and some kind of real definition seems elusive.

The simple fact is this: ERP software is what you make it. The included features, modules, areas of interest, etc., this all depends on what you need, what you want, what your enterprise requires of it. One definition of ERP software explains it this way:

ERP Systems usually incorporate the following capabilities: Inventory control or Warehouse Management, Accounting, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Customer
Relations Management (CRM), Human Resources (HR) Management, Scheduling or
Advanced Planning and Employee Training.

Note the use of the word "usually" in the beginning of that sentence. These are standard modules or areas people are interested in, sometimes without even realizing what they're looking for. They'll describe the features they're looking for to a software developer, and when all is said and done, the above list is what's created as a master feature or module list. This list seems stable as a base definition of what's known as ERP software.

One thing to remember is that Production Scheduling is far more important in these kinds of software systems than people realize. They'll say something similar to, "Oh and we need to be able to schedule people as well", and hope for something to replace the spreadsheet they've been constantly developing over a period of years. This is sometimes an offhand remark, a sidebar, but the reality is that properly managing the schedule and the resources involved will affect the resources managed by the rest of the system more than vice versa.

When you're looking for an ERP software system, do a little homework. Ask the people you work with, have meetings, make lists and organize them. And then when you do go shopping for a custom-tailored, open-source ERP software system, you'll have a much better idea of exactly what you're looking for to benefit your manufacturing facility and, ultimately, your company.

Configurable Open-Source ERP Software

When considering an Open-Source ERP software solution, you need to ask your solution provider or develop just how much of the software is open-source and how much of it your IT crew actually has access to. There's a huge difference between software that's labeled as "configurable" and software that's actually open-source enough that you and yours can make serious changes to.

Some of the ERP software available today is certainly configurable but it comes at a cost. The software itself is rather high-end, and has an equally rather serious price tag. Out-of-the-box, the software needs to be configured by your IT department into the software your facility can use based on how your workflows are arranged and what you make. This can actually take longer than expected. Some software like this is so complex that this configuration can take six months or more by someone in your IT department working full-time on the project to get it right. And then there's the testing period, with further changes being made as bugs are found and features are tweaked.

A better style of open-source software is software that's first configured by the software's developers for your specific purposes. This process may take a couple months before the software is ready for your company to use. At that point, however, the software is actually ready to use, not more than half-a-year down the road. The developers of the software may also offer classes on their software (for a fee) to instruct your IT people on how to best make changes to the underlying code. Once your people have completed these classes, changes to the facility or your manufacturing procedures which require changes to the software can be handled in-house without too much trouble.

Configuring software is one thing. Having real access to how your software is built, and having that software built right in the first place, that's something else entirely ... and is probably what you're actually looking for.

Open-Sourcing Your ERP Software

There are some ERP software systems out there that are "configurable". You'll pay a lot of money for some of these systems, and then spend months learning how to configure them properly and get them configured to the point where they can do what you want them to do. It's considerably more difficult than it would appear at first glance. Even some of your home-grown "I can do that with Access" IT people will have a difficult time with these systems, and it will take just as long as their Access project.

Real open-source ERP software gets you right into the middle of things, "into the weeds" if you will. Custom-tailored software, built on an open-source framework managed by the team performing the custom tailoring, won't take as long to develop and the finished project will work even better because it was designed specifically for what you're doing.

It's also possible to take classes on frameworks such as this so your IT people can help with the management of the software. They'll be able to track down minor bugs and glitches, and make changes as necessary, with the support of the framework's development team when the need arises. This kind of support is unavailable with one of those expensive "configurable" ERP systems.

ERP software should assist you in managing your enterprise without that same software bogging you down in the details of its configuration in the first place. Getting a custom-tailored system up-and-running inside of a couple months, with support for another year, with your own people involved in its development and management ... this will allow you to focus more on the business of running your business.

That's really where your focus needs to be.

GPS and Manufacturing Software

I'm currently working on an application for Windows Mobile 6.1 which will allow drivers to login to a company's custom-tailored software package while logging the driver's location and the time he or she was at that location. One question I was asked about this was, "Isn't this a bit intrusive?"

I don't believe so. What's really the difference between this and that same driver getting a signature from someone at a given location, along with a time-stamp on a piece of paper? There's not much difference whatsoever, except that the other individual isn't giving away a signature that could subsequently be used in an identity theft.

Asian automaker love bells, whistles, indicator lights, and charts and graphs. But early on, they drew the line at allowing electronic signatures on electronic documents as they felt they simply weren't good enough. A real signature, even one with a wax sealm was considerably better for them. They've given in to electronic signatures recently. However, a GPS tracker with a time-stamp would actually be a better concept for their personal and manufacturing cultures.

Different cultures, both manufacturing and personal, require different software needs. This is why custom-tailored software is such a much better fit for manufacturers today.