Assessment of Enterprise Resource Planning System

Question: Discuss about the Report for Assessment of Enterprise Resource Planning System. Answer: Introduction: In the contemporary corporate world, the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is one of the most profitable software systems. It immensely assists the organizations to make crucial decision regarding the business organization. It is highly effective for saving money, improved collaboration, better analytics, happier customers, simplified regulatory compliance, improved inventory as well as production management. In addition to that, the ERP system is also effective all level of operations ranged from senior management to ground level activities. It has been identified that Reliance crucially depends on ERP system to conduct their operating system with a greater efficiency. This particular article effectively evaluates the functionalities as well as application of the ERP system in terms of Reliances line of business. At the same time, the article identifies the benefits of the ERP system along with the challenges faced by the company. The article also includes a SWOT analysis of the for the Reliance company. Figure 1: Logo of Reliance (Source: Reliance 2016) Concept of Enterprise Resource Planning System: Enterprise Resource Planning System refers to business management software that conducts the data collecting, data storing, data managing as well as data analyzing the business activities (Tsai et al. 2012). In this context, the ERP system software is highly effective for finance activities, shipping process, payment procedures as well as inventory management. In addition to that, the ERP system plays a very significant role in marketing, sales, manufacturing as well as product planning purchase. In addition to that, it has been observed that ERP system can be used for visualizing the processes of core business operation using a common database. It also tracks the business resources such as capacity, production, raw materials as well as case in order to indicate the business commitment status (Hoch and Dulebohn 2013). Generally, Reliance uses the ERP system in several major areas of business operation. These areas are described below Financial Accounting: The entire financial operation of Reliance Company is depended on the ERP system. It has been identified that the major financial fields, where the ERP system is used, are financial consolidation, cash management, receivable cash collection, receivable cash application, matching and payment, vouchering, fixed asset as well as general ledger (Monk and Wagner 2012). Management Accounting: The senior management emphasizes on the ERP system as it successfully provide a clear picture one the business processes. In other words the ERP system provides a distinct advantage in the decision making system of the organization. The major management accounting areas, where the ERP system is used in Reliance are activity based costing, cost management, costing as well as budgeting (Kwak et al. 2012). Figure 2: Functionalities of ERP system in Reliance (Source: Reliance 2016) Human Resources: The ERP system is also proved as essential part of human resource management in Reliance. ERP system immensely assists several human resource operations such as training, recruiting, payroll, roster development, retirement, benefits, retirement separation, diversity management as well as pension plan (Shao et al. 2012). Manufacturing: Reliance uses the ERP system in the manufacturing operation just like numerous popular companies in the contemporary business world. These manufacturing operations are product life cycle management, manufacturing flow, manufacturing projects, manufacturing process, quality control, workflow management, capacity, scheduling, work orders, bill of materials as well as engineering (Bhawarkar et al. 2013). Order Processing: Another major application of ERP system is order processing. Reliance uses this system in several important order processing activities, which are sales commissioning, sales reporting and sales analysis, shipping, inventory, promise availability, pricing, credit checking, order entry as well as order to cash. Supply Chain Management: Supply chain management of Reliance is one of the major part for the success of the organization. In this context, the company immensely concentrates on ERP system in order to achieve a better efficiency (Olson and Staley 2012). These activities are warehousing, claim processing, inventory, order to cash, product configuration, supplier-scheduling as well as supply chain planning. Project Management: ERP system is also very significant part of the project management operation of Reliance. These operational activities are recognized as activity management, performance units, time and expense, billing, work breakdown structure, project costing, resource planning as well as project planning (Sykes et al. 2014). Customer Relationship Management: Reliance also emphasizes on the customer relationship management activities such as call center support, customer contact, service, commissions as well as sales and marketing. Data Services: There are also several crucial data services operations in Reliance which are assisted by the ERP systems. These operations are numerous customer interface services, supplier interface service along with employee interface services. Benefits of the Enterprise Resource Planning System: There are several distinct benefits of ERP system, which are immensely entertained by Reliance. These benefits are described below Improvement of quality and efficiency: Reliance has been highly benefitted by ERP systems in the form of improved efficiency as well as quality of the business. The ERP system effectively operates the entire business operation in a smooth fashion. Moreover, it leads towards better output in manufacturing as well as customer service operations (Altamony et al. 2016). Support for senior management: Another major benefit that is entertained by Reliance due to the ERP system is effective support to the senior management. The ERP system can significantly provide a clear visual of the operational processes so that senior management can make an nformed decision regarding any business activity. Figure 3: Benefits of ERP system entertained by Reliance (Source: Reliance 2016) Development of flexibility: The ERP system has effectively made the business operation of Reliance more agile. This way the business activities of Reliance have been transformed into a flexible operation. It makes the business operation less rigid, cohesive as well as able to perform internally as well as externally (Tsai et al. 2012). Improved data security: The ERP system has effectively secured the Reliances data management. The common control feature of the system enabled the company to ensure that the data cannot be compromised. Increased collaborative opportunities: ERP system has provided the opportunity to reliance with respect to collaboration of the business operation more smoothly. The major feature of the ERP system is that it can take many forms of information such as emails, video, audio, forms, files as well as documents, which has helped the business operation more significantly (Hoch and Dulebohn 2013). Challenges for the company: The major challenges that have been faced by Reliance are described below: ERP system is highly expensive in comparison with the less integrated solutions. The major challenge in the ERP system is customization issues. Reliance specifically faces the challenge in maintaining the focus and competitiveness at the time of revamping the business processes. Reliance has to extensively focus on maintaining management attention at the time of sharing sensitive information The company has to initiate training activities regularly in order to execute the ERP systems properly. The ERP system is highly effective for integrating the independent division of the company. In this situation, the departments often transform into overly dependent entities. Developing a smooth and cohesive ERP operation is considered a gigantic task. This is huge challenge for Reliance as it takes lots of money, planning and time. The negotiating cost associated with the ERP switching cost is considerably expensive. It increases Reliances expenses of upgrading, maintenance and support as well. SWOT analysis of the Enterprise Resource Planning System: The SWOT analysis of the Enterprise Resource Planning System for Reliance is depicted below: Figure 4: SWOT analysis of ERP system for Reliance (Source: Reliance 2016) Conclusion: The above-described article effectively described the concept of Enterprise Resource Planning System and its impact on the organizational performance. In this context, the functionalities as well as applications have been properly explained in this paper. Moreover, the article has been able to identify the benefits of ERP system in terms of Reliances line of business. The identified benefits are improvement of quality and efficiency, support for senior management, development of flexibility, improved data security as well as increased collaborative opportunities. In addition to that, the article has been able to identify the major challenges that have been faced by Reliance. The article has been able to analysis the ERP system of Reliance a SWOT matrix. The article has been able to conclude that despite several challenges the organization is heavily dependent on ERP systems with respect to its operational activities. Reference List Altamony, H., Al-Salti, Z., Gharaibeh, A. and Elyas, T., 2016. The relationship between Change Management Strategy and Successful Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Implementations: A Theoretical Perspective.International Journal of Business Management and Economic Research,7(4), pp.690-703. Bhawarkar, R., Dhamande, L., Jain, G., Noorani, N., Badole, V., Ankush, A.M., Kasat, N.N., Sawari, S.S.M., Raju, N.M., Jadhav, V.K. and Rao, B.M., 2013. A Framework For The Implementation Of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) To Improve The Performance of Business.international journal of research in Advent Technology. Hoch, J.E. and Dulebohn, J.H., 2013. Shared leadership in enterprise resource planning and human resource management system implementation.Human Resource Management Review,23(1), pp.114-125. Kwak, Y.H., Park, J., Chung, B.Y. and Ghosh, S., 2012. Understanding end-users acceptance of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in project-based sectors.IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management,59(2), pp.266-277. Leon, A., 2014.Enterprise resource planning. McGraw-Hill Education. Monk, E. and Wagner, B., 2012.Concepts in enterprise resource planning. Cengage Learning. Olson, D.L. and Staley, J., 2012. Case study of open-source enterprise resource planning implementation in a small business.Enterprise Information Systems,6(1), pp.79-94. Reliance. 2016.Reliance. [online] Available at: https://www.relianceada.com/ada/index.html [Accessed 18 Sep. 2016]. Shao, Z., Feng, Y. and Liu, L., 2012. The mediating effect of organizational culture and knowledge sharing on transformational leadership and Enterprise Resource Planning systems success: An empirical study in China.Computers in Human Behavior,28(6), pp.2400-2413. Sykes, T.A., Venkatesh, V. and Johnson, J.L., 2014. Enterprise System Implementation and Employee Job Performance: Understanding the Role of Advice Networks.Mis Quarterly,38(1), pp.51-72. Tsai, W.H., Lee, P.L., Shen, Y.S. and Lin, H.L., 2012. A comprehensive study of the relationship between enterprise resource planning selection criteria and enterprise resource planning system success.Information Management,49(1), pp.36-46.