ERP/CRM

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a company-wide computer software system used to manage and coordinate all the resources, information, and functions of a business from shared data stores. ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:

• Manufacturing- Engineering, bills of material, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, cost management, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow.

• Supply chain management - Order to cash, inventory, order entry, purchasing, product configuration, supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, inspection of goods, claim processing, commission calculation.

• Financials - General ledger, cash management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed assets

• Project management- Costing, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management

• Human resources- Human Resources, Payroll, training, time and attendance, rostering, benefits

• Customer relationship management (CRM) - Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact and call center support.

• Data warehouse and various self-service interfaces for customers, suppliers, and employees

• Access control - user privilege as per authority levels for process execution

• Customization - to meet the extension, addition, change in process flow

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) consists of the processes a company uses to track and organize its contacts with its current and prospective customers. CRM software is used to support these processes; information about customers and customer interactions can be entered, stored and accessed by employees in different company departments. Typical CRM goals are to improve services provided to customers, and to use customer contact information for targeted marketing.

CRM includes many aspects which relate directly to one another:

• Front office operations — Direct interaction with customers, e.g. face to face meetings, phone calls, e-mail, online services etc.

• Back office operations — Operations that ultimately affect the activities of the front office (e.g., billing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance, manufacturing, etc.)

• Business relationships — Interaction with other companies and partners, such as suppliers/vendors and retail outlets/distributors, industry networks (lobbying groups, trade associations). This external network supports front and back office activities.

• Analysis — Key CRM data can be analyzed in order to plan target-marketing campaigns, conceive business strategies, and judge the success of CRM activities (e.g., market share, number and types of customers, revenue, profitability).

For more details refer to -

• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

• Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

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