For example, the sales unit should be aware of how many products are there in the inventory and the inventory department should be aware of how much products are in the middle of manufacturing and the manufacturing unit should be aware of the raw materials available for further manufacturing. If these data are properly communicated, then the productivity of the company can be increased to a huge level.

Synchronizing the information is of most important to manufacturing company because every part of their business units requires communication with the other part. In order to achieve this synchronicity usage of Enterprise resource planning software is necessary. Enterprise resource planning software is designed specifically to integrate all data available across the company and produce meaningful result from the data. Every data is collected and integrated into a unified system.

Though enterprise resource planning is an integrated system, it requires many software and hardware modules for its functionality. If the requirements posed by the vendors who provide enterprise resource planning software are successfully met the company, then the ERP system implementation should be successful. There are a very few challenges involved in the ERP implementation. If those hurdles are crossed and if the ERP system in is installed successfully, then it is definitely going to serve the company in raising the productivity to a high level.

Here are some of the benefits which the enterprise resource planning software gives to its clients specifically to the manufacturing companies:
1. Integrated service – ERP systems helps in integrating the data and providing synchronized service to its users.

2. ERP systems require feeding of data only once. When data is fed to one of the systems, then it gets automatically populated to every part of the software in no time.

3. The amount of paper work required is reduced to a huge amount. There is no need to keep loads of records in paper to keep track of the company’s performance. There are lots of applications and customizations available with the tool itself which could produce reports with a single click.

4. The inventory cycle time can be reduced to a huge level. The inventory cycle is the time taken for the product to get fully manufactured and delivered to the customer. Reduction in inventory cycle time means increase in the production. With this, the satisfaction level of the customer gets improved and also attracts more customers.

5. Labor costs are reduced to a considerable amount of time. With the availability of data in real time managing employees and managing real time production data can be in control.

6. Production time can be decreased with the usage of enterprise resource planning software. It helps in eliminating repetitive process and helps in breaking down the production time.

These benefits over takes some of the minor disadvantages of the ERP software and because of this reason many companies opt for enterprise resource planning rather than any other methods.

Every company is looking to increase its market value. For, this they are re-looking into the factors which affect the company’s productivity and management. Every company is looking to use their resources effectively so that their business is done more effectively and efficiently. Most of the companies decides to use software which could manage their whole enterprise and the information should be available with the enterprise.

With this need, enterprise resource planning came into picture. Enterprise resource planning is a software based system which helps in managing every functionality and operation of the company. It ensures that there is proper and reliable data communication between various parts of the business units. This helped many businesses to increase their productivity and cut costs on management related funds.

Usage of enterprise resource planning software have helped many companies in analyst and optimize their business process, enhancing the supply chain management, efficient control of inventory, enhanced decision making by providing precise reports, integrating various business units and developing transparency all over the business.

In a typical corporation which implemented ERP successfully , the customer sales department can get access to the purchase department, inventory department data can be viewed by the sales department and the top management can see the overall structure and the work flow of the company with a single click. This is what a comprehensive enterprise resource planning software is capable of.

The impact of the enterprise resource planning can be seen evident with the company even before 12 months of implementation. With proper planning and successful implementation ERP can provide a strong platform for better productivity. The implementation of ERP helped many companies in increasing the value chain in the market. It also created confidence among its customers. Share holders also bought shares of these companies with confidence.

In previous stage before ERP comes into practice, companies used separate software for each service. Separate tools were used for sales tracking, financial management and for human resource management. Lots of employees were employed for managing separate software. This resulted in redundant technology, service was poor and the staffs found it very difficult to integrate data from these services and create a report out of it.

Critical information could be extracted from such independent software. But, with the advent of enterprise resource planning software, managing all the resources under a single system was made much easier. Also, lots of manual work involved in resource management was cut down to a large amount.

Compared to the big industries, small and medium sized industries used the ERP efficiently. In general enterprise resource planning can be used to introduce standard industry process, implementing integration across various inter related business units within the company, real time access to the information and creating analytical report with a single click.

For the purposes of convenience we will describe the mode that essentially looks at the manufacturing model. This model will vary slightly with those within specific service industries but it gives a good example of the progression of the business performance management project.

It assumes that there are several major activities in the organization which include designing new products, creating models of the potential products, the actual manufacture of those products, and a review of the processes and finally optimizing the benefits of the product line.

At the design stage a concept will be created to resolve a problem. Performance management is there to ensure that that concept adequately meets the needs that have been expressed and is a viable proposition. This process will require quite extension consultation and managers should not be surprised if they have to go back to the drawing board over and over again. Logic suggests that it is better to take time planning than to have an inappropriate product.

The next stage is to translate that concept into a model. Performance management will have a role to play here in terms of ensuring that the prototypes accurately match the agreed conception so that any problems can be resolved at this stage. The model can then be tested against various stringent criteria to ascertain whether it can truly cope with any variables that are expected. Where the prototype is not accurate, the problems with the design will be lost in translation.

At the execution stage, the prototype will be turned into an actual product. Hopefully by this stage any problems will have been resolved and it will be an accurate reflection of the concept. If the work is done in batch stages, it is the role of performance management to check the final product against both the concept and the prototype. Any problems should then be dealt with either on a practical basis or through strategic management action.

The review stage is a continuous testing process against the agreed performance indicators. The product will be reviewed by clients and they will give feedback. Improvements can then be suggested to be implemented at a later stage. The role of performance management here is to check the product against all the standards that have been set and highlight any problems as well as suggesting ways of dealing with them.

The final stage is the optimization stage where feedback from both the users and technicians will be used to suggest and implement improvements. The optimization stage can continue throughout the life time of the product. The role of performance management is to ensure that the optimization actually occurs and that it occurs according to the agreed patterns at the design stage. Therefore business performance management is consequently active throughout the lifetime of the product.

The science of business performance management heavily relies on the ability to create a series of critical tests to assess whether the program is successful or not. These do not necessarily have to be on a strategic level. They can also be set on an individual or local basis.

The first stage is to set up a business data analysis program with the specific goals of trying to change the performance levels of the organization from the less desirable to the more desirable characteristics.

The desirable characteristics are crucial because they will contain a basis for ambition as well as a realistic target based on the knowledge of the industry as a whole. Once these goals are measurable, they then become key performance indicators (KPIs) that will form the basis of any assessment of the project either on a one off basis or on a continuous basis.

Key performance indicators are always supported by data and therefore it has to be a management priority to ensure that there are facilities for presenting accurate data in a timely fashion. Obviously performance management will mean different things to different people and there might be the scope for allocating different data sets or schedules depending on need. Sometimes there is an obsession with financial performance indicators whereas it is possible to measure the non-financial data which gives you an accurate picture of the organization.

There are a large variety of business performance metrics and indicators, and they cannot be exhaustively described within the constraints of this article. However I will briefly touch on some of the major ones; the most important metrics will measure customer satisfaction and their relationship with the company. This is the basis for any profitability and therefore they ought to be prioritized.

The accountant will naturally pay close attention to the financial metrics such as cash flows, debt, capital investments and the speedy conclusion of commitments. Without finance the company will fail so managers must never ignore the implications of finance in any business performance management activity that they undertake. However this should not be to the total exclusion of other criteria.

There are also non-traditional metrics that are slowly creeping into business practice. For example twenty years ago the environmental impact of business activities was largely ignored as a fad for the dopey rich kids or the political correct tree huggers. The pursuit of the bottom line was king and such concerns were not even subordinate. They were simply excluded altogether. However as the awareness of ecological issues has grown, it has been necessary to insist that this is included as part of the core metrics.

As always the key is to understand what is need to get your business to the place you want it to be. The metrics and key performance indicators are the tools for you to assess whether you have been successful in your business performance management program.

The first major challenge is to identify which project requires which indicators. The list of performance desirable will be virtually endless and the managers will have to make a decision to prioritize or deprioritize certain factors.

A weighting index can be applied and the decision making about the factors can be democratized so that everyone has a chance to contribute their own interests. However the business has to have its own standards that ensure that the strategic objectives are being carried out even at the lowest units.

The balanced scored gives opportunities for managers to include socially responsible measures within the performance management framework yet still retain the core issues such as sales figures. This can enhance the reputation of the company and mean that it does not fall foul of recent legislation covering the conduct of companies. Environmental issues are such one area that can be included in the score card.

The problem with including worthy causes is that they are very hard to measure and in fact could be working directly against the other traditional objectives of the firm. Take for example the need to control emissions versus the need for an oil refining company to make as much profit as possible. The balanced score card would put these diametrically opposed issues against one another.

Managers have tended to deal with this problem by concentrating on the bottom line. The issue of profits enables them to concentrate minds. The only problem with this approach is that it is now not only the government that is placing legislation against anti social business practice but also consumers. Boycotts are not uncommon if a particular company is found to be violating the moral standards of their customers.

A far better way is to think of the firm as an organism that requires different nutrients to thrive and grow. Some of those nutrients are more expensive than others but the bottom line is that the organism needs those nutrients and must therefore have a balanced diet. The purely traditional methods of assessing the business performance of a firm can be outdated and mind end up costing more.

A lot of effort should be put into identifying the areas which can easily be put onto the performance scorecard. A broad priority list can then be created to ensure that as many of the non popular causes as possible are included. The business performance management protocols can then decide when to add an element and when to subtract it.

After all the greatest ambition of performance management is to provide the decision makers with a situation where the organization as a whole is thriving and contributing to the business objectives of the owners. It is better to have too much information than no information at all.