Business eXpertise Consulting

Enterprise Resource Planning or shortly called as ERP, requires many software and hardware components for storing and managing information related to a company. With the increase in the scope of ERP software, there are lots of vendors who provide this service. ERP software offers complex services and the people who are assigned to work on ERP are well-trained in using this ERP.

ERP has a variety of applications and processes which are available throughout their all business units. Implementing an ERP system is too complex and it can be done only by experts who have in-house skill in this software. This is also the most cost efficient way. There are many consultants and technical advisers available who can assist and implement the software provided requirements are clearly stated.

There are basically three types of services associated with ERP. They are consulting, support and customization. The amount of time required to implement ERP varies for different companies. The factors which depend on the time of implementation are the size of the business, number of modules the business includes, customization required for ERP as demanded by the company, the possibility of the implementation of the demand posed by the company.

ERP systems are distributed applications. They can’t be implemented all at once. There are a number of phases and steps involved in implementing an ERP system. A typical ERP implementation system requires one year and it involves around 150 consultants. This is for big and medium sized companies. But, for small scale companies which have less than 100 employees, the amount of time required for implementation is less. For these companies, planning and implementation doesn’t require more than 3-4 months. With the increase in demand for customization of the software, the time to implement will also increase.

For a successful implementation of ERP, companies should hire third party consultants for a short time till their implementation is over. The companies which implements ERP should also employ some staffs who are dedicated to manage the ERP systems.

Some of the management services required are business analysis, program management and change management. Employing these staffs is also a prerequisite for implementation of ERP. A significant amount of time is required to plan for data migration. This is also the most important point in implementation.

Process preparation:
Most of the ERP vendors have a standard process for their clients. The companies are generally forced to implement the ERP software according to the standards. During this process, vendors make a clear understanding of the business operations of the company and gathers as much as information required from the company.

Configuration:
Before starting the installation of the software, a check is made on the systems to verify whether they could meet the requirements for the software and service to run without any problem. If the systems don’t meet the requirement, the company should upgrade their system configuration. Once the configurations are verified, installation procedure is started.

Services:
After the installation is done, vendors trains the staffs who are going to use the ERP. Trainings are given on using the ERP applications.