Reviewing ERP Modules during an ERP selection process

Posted Sat, 07/23/2011 - 18:27 by erpselectionhelp

Evaluating key ERP Modules in your Selection

When buying an ERP software package for implementation in your business, you want to make sure you have the capability to perform all necessary functions but you also don’t want to pay extra for features you won’t need. There are a variety of ERP modules available for use.  Each module performs its own specific functions. Choosing the right ERP modules will help your business gain the maximum potential from implementation of the software.

What types of ERP modules are available?

Looking at ERP Modules to purchase can be confusing. There are several types of ERP modules available to meet your various business needs. There are ERP modules for every major function of a company. Generally, there are ERP modules available for finance, human resources, production, purchasing, inventory, and sales and marketing. The modules you choose should depend on the important functions you want to accomplish with your software. By having a clear set of goals in mind for your business, it will be easy to design a custom set of modules to help you accomplish those goals.

What are the functions of the main ERP modules?

  • Finance ERP modules are the core of many ERP systems. They gather financial information from various departments and generate financial reports from the compiled data. Reports generated include quarterly financial statements, general ledgers, and balance sheets.
  • Human resources ERP modules are widely used by many businesses. They keep a complete employee database including information about salaries, attendance, promotions, performance evaluations, and contact information.
  • Production ERP modules use historical production data and sales forecasting to optimize production facilities, parts, material resources, and other componenets.
  • Purchasing ERP modules automates many of the processes involving supply lines. Some of these processes include identifying suppliers, price negotiation, billing processes, and purchase orders.
  • Inventory ERP modules handle inventory control tasks such as monitoring item usage, keeping an inventory balance, identifying inventory needs, and reporting inventory status.
  • Sales and marketing ERP modules deal with many of the everyday tasks in this field including shipping, invoicing, and order placement and scheduling.

How to tell which ERP modules you need

The only way to truly know which ERP modules your company needs is to get a detailed, accurate picture of what your company does, what it needs to do, and in what ways you want your ERP software to help optimize your business tasks. Without a clear picture of your needs, it can be a very daunting task to choose the correct modules and can leave you with either a software package that doesn’t really help your business or a software package that includes many expensive features that you don’t really need. Putting together the best possible selection of modules is the best way to ensure that your time and capital investment in your ERP software yields you the best return on your investment. The root of accomplishing this is to spend an appropriate amount of time analyzing your business’ unique characteristics before you even consider shopping for ERP software.

Before you embark on your ERP software selection, you should Read and Download these ERP
Software Buyer’s Guides.

Recommended Reading