Title: 5 Minute Guide to ERP Word Count: 438 Summary: Information technology has transformed the way we live

and the way we do busines s. ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning, is one of most widely implemented busin ess software systems in a wide variety of industries and organizations. In this short article, we ll try to concisely explain the basic yet important concepts rel evant to ERP. Keywords: ERP Article Body: Information technology has transformed the way we live and the way we do busines s. ERP, or Enterprise Resource Planning, is one of most widely implemented busin ess software systems in a wide variety of industries and organizations. In this short article, we ll try to concisely explain the basic yet important concepts rel evant to ERP. What is ERP - ERP is the acronym of Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP definition refers to both ERP software and business strategies that implement ERP systems. ERP implementation utilizes various ERP software applications to improve the pe rformance of organizations for 1) resource planning, 2) management control and 3 ) operational control. ERP software consists of multiple software modules that i ntegrates activities across functional departments - from product planning, part s purchasing, inventory control, product distribution, to order tracking. Most E RP software systems include application modules to support common business activ ities - finance, accounting and human resources. ERP Systems - ERP is much more than a piece of computer software. A ERP System i ncludes ERP Software, Business Processes, Users and Hardware that run the ERP so ftware. An ERP system is more than the sum of its parts or components. Those com ponents interact together to achieve a common goal - streamline and improve orga nizations' business processes. History of ERP - Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is the evolution of Manufact uring Requirements Planning (MRP) II in 1980s, while MRP is the evolution of Inv entory Management & Control conceived in 1960s. ERP has expanded from coordinati on of manufacturing processes to the integration of enterprise-wide backend proc esses. In terms of technology, ERP has evolved from legacy implementation to mor e flexible tiered client-server architecture. Benefits of ERP - ERP software attempts to integrate business processes across d epartments onto a single enterprise-wide information system. The major benefits of ERP are improved coordination across functional departments and increased eff iciencies of doing business. The implementation of ERP systems help facilitate d ay-to-day management as well. ERP software systems is originally and ambitiously designed to support resource planning portion of strategic planning. In reality , resource planning has been the weakest link in ERP practice due to the complex ity of strategic planning and lack of adequate integration of ERP with Decision Support Systems (DSS). ERP Failures - We couldn t conclude our brief guide to ERP without mentioning ERP failures. The failure of multi-million dollar ERP projects are reported once in

a while even after 20 years of ERP implementation. We have identified the four c omponents of an ERP System - 1) ERP software, 2) Business Processes that ERP sof tware supports, 3) Users of ERP systems, and 4) Hardware and Operating Systems t hat run ERP applications. The failures in one or more of those four components c ould cause the failure of an ERP project. Copryright @2006, 4th-Media Corporation