The digital transformation process is not simply the application of technology, but also requires connectivity, synchronization and transparency in operations. Along with that, the term ERP is increasingly popular, so what is ERP?
This article will provide an overview of ERP, core ERP software features and benefit of ERP, and provides important notes during implementation.
What is ERP? Characteristics of Enterprise Resource Planning System
Currently, many businesses are facing a series of major challenges such as complex inventory management, fragmented internal processes, difficulties in decision making, etc. Therefore, taking advantage of ERP software features is a comprehensive solution and revolutionizes the way businesses operate, helping to solve difficult problems of centralized management and resource optimization.
What is the definition of ERP?
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. This is an integrated software that helps businesses manage and coordinate all core business activities on a single platform.
Simply put, ERP is like a control center of a large factory, where all information about production, sales, finance, human resources, etc. are centralized and connected together.
History of formation and development of ERP
Terminology ERP appeared in the 1990s, integrating all functional subsystems into a single system, initially often deployed on-premise.
ERP originated from MRP (Material Requirements Planning) in the 1960s to manage raw materials then upgraded to MRP II (Manufacturing Resource Planning) in the 1970s-1980s, adding finance, human resources, and supply chain functions.
In the 21st century, the development of Cloud-based ERP makes ERP more widely accessible, especially for small and medium-sized businesses, with the advantages of cost savings and flexible access over the internet.
What are the main features of ERP software?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software is a system that helps businesses integrate, manage and optimize core business processes in the same platform. Here are the main features of ERP software:
- Unified management system: All members, stages, and departments are strung together into an orderly production and business process.
- Support system: ERP is support software, not an automated production line that replaces human labor.
- Manage according to clear rules and plans: Staff with specific tasks and consistent, strict regulations; production and business plans are established periodically.
- Department links: Departments work together, exchange and collaborate with each other instead of operating separately.
- Centralized database: All data of subsystems is centrally managed and organized in a database management system style, ensuring accuracy and consistency.
- Modular design: Functions are deployed separately according to business needs.
- High flexibility and security: ERP offers the ability to customize business processes and integrates powerful security features.
- Friendly interface: ERP systems are designed to be easy to use and accessible to employees.
What are the features of ERP software?
ERP implementation is not just a software application, but a strategic turning point, creating a solid foundation for the business. ERP software (Enterprise Resource Planning) is an integrated system that helps comprehensively manage business activities. Below are the common core functions of an ERP system:
Finance – Accounting:
Includes features for managing income/expenditure, accounts receivable, fixed assets, general ledger, management reporting, and tax reporting. Some modern software also supports profit management, budgeting, and cash flow control.
Sales and Distribution Management
Support management of the entire business process from quotation, order creation to warehouse tracking; synchronize sales data with inventory, accounting and customer management; track customer information and purchase history.
Purchase Control
Integrates process management features from request submission, purchasing planning, to approval and supplier management, helping to effectively manage purchasing costs and control inventory.
Stock Control
Plays an important role in synchronously managing the quantity of imported and exported goods from sellers, buyers and manufacturers, helping businesses grasp the quantity of goods and inventory fluctuations.
Production Planning and Control
Support efficient production planning and management, from creating bills of materials (BOM), material planning (MRP) to tracking production progress and calculating costs.
Human Resource Management
Includes functions such as employee profile management, timekeeping, leave tracking, payroll and benefits calculation; tax and benefit deduction automation.
Support creating business requests; integrating ticket booking platform, comparing ticket prices; automatically recording ticket booking into business expenses; attaching expenses to each business trip; warning when exceeding budget.
Project Management:
ERP software helps businesses plan - monitor - coordinate - control the budget of each project in real time, supporting effective project management.
Service Management:
Provides features to meet the needs of repair, maintenance, spare parts, and field service management.
| Feature | Describe |
| Create Service Request Ticket | Record requests for repairs, warranties, complaints, etc. |
| Manage service appointments | Automatically schedule maintenance on a regular basis or as required by the customer. |
| Track the progress of the process | Assign technicians, record processing results and remaining status. |
| Service history by customer/product | Store all service information of each customer/product code. |
| Integrated inventory/spare parts and service costs | Connect to warehouse (export components) and accounting (record revenue/services generated). |
| Technician Productivity Report | Analyze performance over time, number of cases processed, customer satisfaction. |
Management Reporting:
Provide comprehensive management reports, from production, purchasing, inventory to financial accounting, helping management make quick decisions. Based on strategic information With this, the leadership will make decisions quickly - accurately - at the right time.
Some basic features include: Overview dashboard, financial management reports, sales reports by channel...
Other extended ERP software features:
- Integrated E-commerce, multi-channel sales management
- POS Integration, loyalty
- Manage project, budget, fixed assets
- Integration EDI, API, IoT, connect with third-party software (SAP, Salesforce, ZaloPay, ...)
What are the outstanding benefits of ERP software?
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software is the optimal solution to help businesses overcome the above barriers. With the ability to integrate all business processes onto a single platform, ERP helps:
- Centralized and transparent data management: ERP solutions help centrally manage all data and operating processes on a single system, limiting dispersion and errors, ensuring high consistency and accuracy. Data only needs to be entered once and is stored intact.
- Improve work efficiency: ERP standardizes and automates workflows, especially approval processes, helping to shorten the work processing distance between departments, speeding up workflow.
- Strategic decision support: Provide comprehensive and real-time management reports, helping management make quick and accurate decisions.
- Ensuring data security and transparency, internal control: Designed with a multi-layered security system, allowing access control by role, position, clear authorization, and Audit track feature to check the origin of transactions and related employees.
- Improve collaboration and communication: Integrate internal communication features and make communication between departments easier, reducing conflicts of interest.
- Optimize costs and increase revenue: Reduce waste, increase operational efficiency, and help employees focus on more creative work.
Which businesses should apply ERP software?
ERP software features can benefit almost any type of business, but not all businesses should implement them right away. Here is an overview of the appropriate businesses, along with an analysis of why and when to invest in ERP:
- Medium sized business and large or with many branches: With a large number of transactions and many departments, ERP helps manage and connect all activities effectively, synchronizing data between branches.
- Businesses that want to grow and optimize: Businesses want to scale, optimize costs, increase productivity, and improve service quality.
- Businesses have difficulty in data management: When data is scattered, stored separately, or businesses are using many separate software, it makes it difficult to connect, search and synchronize data.
- Businesses looking to restructure or start digital transformation: When the management system is cumbersome, the process is complicated, or you want to apply modern technology.
- Suitable for many industries: Manufacturing, trade, retail and e-commerce, service provision, logistics and transportation.
What are the important notes when implementing and optimizing ERP systems?
ERP implementation is a large and strategic project that directly affects the operation and growth of the business. However, many ERP projects fail or do not achieve their full effectiveness due to lack of preparation, hasty implementation or no optimal strategy after go-live.
Below are the most important notes when deploying and optimizing ERP software features to help you avoid mistakes and maximize value from the system:
Plan carefully for costs, resources and time
ERP implementation costs are huge, ranging from $150,000 to $750,000 for mid-sized businesses, depending on size, solution type, and additional resources.
ERP implementation takes a long time, about 2-5 years, due to the need for testing, improvements, network infrastructure and employee adaptation time.
Note that it is not always necessary for a business to use all subsystems, and it is important to calculate the initial and ongoing human resource costs.
Beware of potential risks
Just one problem arising in any step can cause the entire process behind it to stagnate.
If a business puts an unstandardized process into the overall system and operates it for a long time, it can cause great losses. A small error in the process, when put into ERP, can turn into a widespread error because the subsystems use the same data stream.
Prepare plans for future ERP changes and upgrades
Changing or upgrading ERP after it has been put into use should be limited as much as possible because it is time-consuming and costly, equal to the cost of a new system, can cause conflicts or paralysis of the entire system, and disrupt the workflow.
Combining ERP software and support software is a safer and more time- and cost-saving option when the current ERP does not meet the needs or the business has new changes.
Among the software applied on the market today, Bizzi be considered a perfect add-on button to help businesses manage operations more comprehensively and effectively, especially with highly customizable processes where the original ERP structure is almost fixed.
So how does the Bizzi solution complement ERP software?
Deploying ERP software helps businesses centrally manage and synchronize many core functions. However, due to their design characteristics, ERP systems often focus on standardizing internal processes, making them difficult to be flexible when businesses need to change or add specific processes, especially in financial management - accounting, cost management and payment control.
Bizzi is an accounting automation and payment control platform, designed to Direct integration with ERP software features through application programming interfaces (APIs). Bizzi's solution acts as a support tool, helping businesses extend the operational capabilities of their existing ERP systems without having to modify the core structure.
Automate invoice and financial document processing connected to ERP
Bizzi helps businesses automatically extract, process and reconcile invoices with purchase orders (POs), warehouse receipts and payment data on the ERP system. Thanks to that:
- Reduce invoice processing time, eliminate manual data entry.
- Accurately compare information between invoices, POs, warehouse receipts and push data through ERP.
- Ensure data consistency between accounting, purchasing and internal controls.
Manage payment process effectively, data connection with ERP
When integrated with ERP, Bizzi helps automate the entire payment process, from approval, budget control, limit tracking to document storage. Information is synchronized in two directions, ensuring data is updated and consistent with the financial and accounting subsystems on ERP.
- Support payment control according to established approval process.
- Minimize errors and risks when handling accounts payable.
- Meet audit and internal control requirements for transaction transparency.
Flexible expansion without disrupting existing ERP
Bizzi operates as an add-on solution, integrated via open API, suitable for many popular ERP systems on the market such as SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, Odoo, Bravo... This integration helps businesses:
- Get the most out of ERP's administrative capabilities without modifying the original software.
- Easy to deploy and expand without affecting the operating system.
- Flexible adjustment to specific business needs that standard ERP cannot meet.
Reduce operating costs, increase financial control efficiency
By automating invoice processing, document reconciliation and payment management, Bizzi helps businesses reduce personnel costs, limit manual errors and optimize internal audit costs. This is a powerful support solution for businesses that want to increase financial operational efficiency without having to invest more in upgrading or editing ERP.
In short, Bizzi Helps solve sub-problems from the core problem and future problems, allowing businesses to cover all their problems.
Conclude
ERP Is one powerful system and is always the first choice for business problems. Therefore, understanding the nature of ERP software as well as its core features will help businesses find and apply the right solution.
However, like any other system, ERP software features also have imperfections, requiring businesses to have solutions to overcome them promptly and effectively. The selection and implementation of ERP needs to be carefully considered, and at the same time, consider the method of combining with supporting software such as Bizzi to optimize the operation process, fully and flexibly meet arising needs, bringing the highest efficiency to the business.
For free consultation and product trial, register below:
- Link to register for a trial of Bizzi products: https://bizzi.vn/dang-ky-dung-thu/
- Schedule a demo: https://bizzi.vn/dat-lich-demo/
