Introduction

Enterprise Resource Planning is Software for running a business. ERP was coined as an extension of the concept of manufacturing resource-planning (MRP) software, which automated the process of keeping a manufacturing line supplied with materials to meet incoming orders. ERP is a suite of applications including financials, manufacturing, human resources and other modules, that together automate the back-office business administration functions of an enterprise. Leading ERP vendors include SAP, Oracle, People soft and JD Edwards. Enterprise Resource Planning refers to the integration and extension of a business's operational IT systems, with the end goals of making information flow within (and beyond) a company more immediate and dynamic; increasing the usefulness and shelf life of information; eliminating redundancy and automating routine processes; and making information system components more flexible. Departmental boundaries generally become softer, accessibility of data is increased for partner companies and customers, and the company's ability to respond to the marketplace is generally enhanced.

Enterprise Resource Planning is the latest high-end solution information technology has lent to business application. The ERP solutions seek to streamline and integrate operation processes and information flows in the company to synergies the resources of an organization namely men, material, money and machine through information. Initially implementation of an ERP package was possible only for very large Multi National Companies and Infrastructure Companies due to high cost involved.

Today many companies in India have gone in for implementation of ERP and it is expected in the near future that 60% of the companies will be implementing one or the other ERP packages since this will become a must for gaining competitive advantage.

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The authors of this article are associated with Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore.