Why an ERP?
Summary
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An ERP integrates the automation of all business functions via one database so that any business function can see any other company business funtion information if that is appropriate. This way any business function has all the needed information to make a decision in an instant. Else, if there are separate applications for certain business functions, it will be very difficult to get an universal picture of these separated business function applications quickly. For example if the payroll application is not part of the ERP but, is a separate application, employee information, time cards and hourly rates will have to be imported into the ERP database. Such an import maybe fast but, employee data, time cards and hourly rates will be duplicated (once in the separate payroll application, and once in the ERP database). In many companies, certain business functions have separated applications, and end up using Excel sheets to add new fields/data/columns for new attributes. The best solution is to have an ERP that automates all business functions.
Details
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Business functions need information from many other business functions to operate efficiently. For instance, for the sales business function to create a sales order, the sales person needs to know if there is enough stock of an item before he/she can create a sales order. If that item needs to be manufactured, he/she needs to consult with the production business function on the production schedule for that item. The ERP data architecture diagram illustrates the interdependency among business functions.
Below is a list of ERP database tables that are needed to integrate all the data of the different business functions in a company. If you take away the HR database table, you can see above that HR data will be missed in Project Management, Sales Orders, and in Production Management.
