The ERP
What makes an enterprise resource planning system: a single database, modules by function, one entry whose effect spreads, a standard supplied by a vendor. Its strengths and limits against siloed applications, custom development and linked specialist software, hosted in-house or rented online.
- 24 cards
- 5 topics
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The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
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A few cards from the deck
Enterprise resource planning (ERP): what is it?
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A set of standard modules from a vendor, covering an organisation's management functions and sharing one database.
'Integrated' means one entry updates every module concerned with no re-keying; the software is packaged, so it is adapted by configuration rather than by programming.
A customer changes address in the sales module of an ERP. What happens to the address used by invoicing?
- It is already up to date: both modules read the same customer record
- It stays the old one until accounting re-keys it by hand
- It is copied into invoicing by an export run every evening
- It is only up to date if both modules were bought at the same time
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It is already up to date: both modules read the same customer record
The single database is what makes the integration: there are not two copies to keep in step. A nightly export or re-keying describes siloed software joined together as best it can be.
In an ERP, a piece of data is entered only …, because every module reads and writes the same ….
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In an ERP, a piece of data is entered only once, because every module reads and writes the same database.
Confirming a delivery updates sales, stock and accounting in one go. That is what removes re-keying and gaps between departments.
ERP module: what is it?
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The part of an ERP that handles one function (sales, purchasing, stock, production, accounting, payroll) and is switched on as needed.
Modules go live separately, but they are not independent: all of them read and write the same database.
A trading SME re-keys each order into three programs and its stock figures never come out right. What are the likely cause and the fix?
- Careless entries by the teams: remind them to enter data carefully and check every evening
- Programs too slow for the load: have a custom program built to replace them all
- Siloed programs with no common database: move to an ERP with shared modules
- Under-sized servers: buy more powerful hardware for each of the three programs
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Siloed programs with no common database: move to an ERP with shared modules
Three entries of the same order produce three versions that drift apart. A custom program would repeat the work at a cost of writing and upkeep that a vendor's standard shares between its customers.