Redundancy Reductions
A company without a good Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system are going to waste a lot of resources. It’s as simple as that. The larger you grow, the more resources you have and the more redundant activities will occur. ERP software evaluation allows you to find a system that will reduce redundancies that your specific company is having.
For example, you may find that you are regularly having multiple employees entering the same data into your computers because they need it in different ways. Rather than combining databases, you are wasting resources to enter it twice.

ERP software that allows you to access and use data in multiple formats will reduce this waste of time and money and make your business more efficient. There are dozens of such examples you should look for when performing your ERP software evaluation.
How It Will Affect Your Company
Integrating a new system into your business is a major undertaking. You need train your staff, restructure some departments and change nearly every process you perform on a daily basis. So, during ERP software evaluation, you should ask what changes are necessary, how much they will require from your team and how effective they will be in altering the overall efficiency of your business. If it’s not going to do all that much (as is the case for small businesses), get a less incursive system.
Matching Needs to Your Departments
Finally, when completing your ERP software evaluation, make sure you know exactly what your departments need and that the software will work within those boundaries. If you need to manage distribution, design, and quality control more efficiently, you need an ERP solution that will work as well in the factory as it does in the office. Toss in inventory control and information services and you are stretching to multiple offices and large data sets. ERP software evaluation should include a complete list of what you will need it for. You are going to need to appoint a few individuals to oversee implementation if your ERP system looks to affect more than just one or two departments (which it should).
In the end, ERP software evaluation will ensure that you take the time necessary to review the various ERP solutions on the market, matching the one that will best serve your company up with what you’re going to use it for. If you can manage this, you’ll save time, money, and ultimately, a whole lot of stress in the process.

 
Derbyshire based Contract Electronics Manufacturer Kingfield Electronics has turned to Epicor Business Solutions for its new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Having increased turnover by 25% during the last year, its existing ERP software system was beginning to show signs of strain given the Companies expanding throughput, and ever changing requirements of its customers. This quickly became a major consideration for the Company, and after reviewing a number of ERP vendors, Epicor was chosen as the ideal partner to provide, implement, and support the new solution.
Nick Taylor, Managing Director takes up the story?
Our position has always been in the low to medium volume, high quality, high reliability sector of the electronics manufacturing marketplace, however unlike many other CEM’s who primarily provide just PCB assembly services, we have always maintained the stance of providing completed, turnkey solutions to our customers inclusive of all associated supporting activities.
Given the growth of the business over the last few years, and the shift from “make to order” manufacturing, to “mix mode” and “configure to order” manufacturing, the existing ERP solution had begun to show signs of strain, was inflexible, and was beginning to hinder business development. As our existing internally developed system had been designed around a make to order business activity, the change in business need drove the requirement to seriously consider an alternative ERP solution. This decision had been made more difficult as we had always developed our own software internally, and whilst this had played a considerable part in the early success of the Company, evolving technology and changing business need had resulted in this approach becoming unwieldy, costly, and difficult to maintain.
Given the strategic partnerships that we have in place with our customers, and the strength of the existing system, we are already delivering increased performance with year on year cost reductions, and in many cases customers have zero touch time on their products as they are configured and dispatched directly from ourselves. The web portals offered by Vantage can only offer further integration between ourselves and our customers, hopefully resulting in us becoming a totally seamless partner in their own business models. The long term aim is that day to day transactions are all handled electronically, with customers always having access to live information such as current production state etc. This helps remove further cost from the relationship and improves the lines of communication between customer and manufacturing partner.

ERP is playing a big role in managing various types of businesses. Different organizations are using different forms of ERP business solutions. These business solutions are a combination of both ERP hardware and ERP software solutions.

Here is a look at the different forms of ERP business solutions. All of the following solutions are related to the different aspects of a business. These solutions today are an enduring part of all businesses today.

The Manufacturing solutions

The ERP business solutions for manufacturing help through the various engineering solutions. They also help in maintaining the schedules and managing the workflow. The solutions also help in controlling the quality, managing the costs and maintaining the overall flow of manufacturing.

Supply chain solutions

The ERP software solutions for supply chain management involve tracking the cash orders, managing the inventory, tracking the purchases and in the configuration of the products. These solutions also help in inspecting the goods, processing the various claims as well as the calculation of the various commissions

Financial Solutions

The financial solutions include the management of the ledger, the cash and the fixed assets. It also includes management solutions for both payable as well as receivable accounts.

Human resources solutions

These solutions include the management of the organization’s human resources, its payroll and its training session. It also includes keeping a track of the attendance, the roster and the benefits to be given to the organization’s staff.

All the above mentioned ERP business solutions help to simplify the various business processes and make them even simpler.

According to Rebecca Gill, vice-president of Technology Group International, “Few ERP product lines provide an easy to use financial reporter designed to help organizations effortlessly produce financial data direct from the ERP system.”

Financial reporters should be able to:

• Automatically export all selected ERP financial information into Microsoft Excel templates.

• Give users the ability to quickly improve the presentation of financial data and take advantage of all the rich functional capabilities offered within Microsoft Excel.

• Easily filter financial reports by any business segment, such as department, cost center, division, or company.

• Simplify financial consolidation review and comparisons.

• Provide significant flexibility by allowing users to produce financial reports that span any time period such as a prior reporting period, quarter, or year.

• Allow users to easily sort individual report cells to display period, year to date (YTD), or budget information to compare and contrast actual vs. budgeted financial data.

• Allow users to easily sort individual report cells by any General Ledger account number or by a specific range of general ledger accounts.

• Allow users to quickly manipulate large amounts of general ledger data within Microsoft Excel pivot tables.

There are many types of financial entries required, yet not all ERP systems are effective in providing these types of transactions. Manual entries, for example, must generate either regular or accrual entries (accrual entries represent entries that are preset for reversal in future periods). There must be automatic correcting entry and manual correcting entry capability as well as standard recurring entries, skeleton recurring entries, formula for cost allocation, and auto offset capabilities. Some ERP systems do not offer automatic reversing entry and manual reversing entry capability. Perhaps of greatest importance is the capacity for an unlimited number of budgets. Budgets must be created from actuals, from other budgets, or by applying multipliers to a group of accounts. A number of curve smoothing methodologies should be applicable.

According to Cutler, “The demands for an integrated midrange accounting ERP system are as rigorous as those for Fortune 500 companies; finding ERP solutions that provide the same functionality and a viable price point is not a simple solution. Using the features detailed above creates a checklist of sorts which can be a good starting point to determine the efficacy of any potential new ERP system.”

The article can be read at http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=8361.

Founded in 1990 and headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, Technology Group International is a proven technology leader delivering Tier 1 application software functionality at a price performance level that can be readily accepted by organizations of all sizes. Specializing in software systems for small and mid-market manufacturing and distribution companies, TGI’s integrated Enterprise Series software suite is a complete business process management solution. The product offering includes Enterprise Resources Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP), Supply Chain Management (SCM), Warehouse Management System (WMS), Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS), Decision Support System (DSS), Business Intelligence, Manufacturing Execution System (MES), and eCommerce. TGI implements, maintains, enhances, and supports its packaged distribution and manufacturing software solutions directly and via its channel partners.

Business CRM software helps in keeping the database of all the customers of the company and makes the data available when ever needed. It is very much helpful for enhancing the sales of the company and making most of the work automatic.

For small business ventures CRM software is equally important and is a good way by which they can keep records of all types of services being provided to their customers. It not only deals with customer services but also helps in keeping track of the sales of the company and ways by which the quality of the services can be improved. Small business owners can not afford to make wrong decisions. If they do so they have to pay hefty amounts for it. This is the reason why small business owners are advised to choose the best small business CRM for their company. The business CRM software packages are present in abundance in the software market. But you should not take any decision hastily. Analyze each and every aspect of the business CRM software and then only buy it. The major points which one should keep in mind while choosing the business CRM software are as follows:

Also those who do not want to buy small business CRM software can access them online. These kinds of software packages can be used by many people concurrently.

There are many types of financial entries required, yet not all ERP systems are effective in providing these types of transactions. Manual entries, for example, must generate either regular or accrual entries (accrual entries represent entries that are preset for reversal in future periods). There must be automatic correcting entry and manual correcting entry capability as well as standard recurring entries, skeleton recurring entries, formula for cost allocation, and auto offset capabilities. Some ERP systems do not offer automatic reversing entry and manual reversing entry capability. Perhaps of greatest importance is the capacity for an unlimited number of budgets. Budgets must be created from actuals, from other budgets, or by applying multipliers to a group of accounts. A number of curve smoothing methodologies should be applicable.

According to leading manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler in the current issue of Accounting Software 411, “Few ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems offer a product which is simple enough for small companies, yet complex enough to manage multinational corporations with numerous companies and divisions. The accounting modules must offer a complete financial package which is fully integrated with the other enterprise modules.”

According to Rebecca Gill, vice-president of Technology Group International, “Few ERP product lines provide an easy to use financial reporter designed to help organizations effortlessly produce financial data direct from the ERP system.”

Financial reporters should be able to:

• Automatically export all selected ERP financial information into Microsoft Excel templates.

• Give users the ability to quickly improve the presentation of financial data and take advantage of all the rich functional capabilities offered within Microsoft Excel.

• Easily filter financial reports by any business segment, such as department, cost center, division, or company.

• Simplify financial consolidation review and comparisons.

• Provide significant flexibility by allowing users to produce financial reports that span any time period such as a prior reporting period, quarter, or year.

• Allow users to easily sort individual report cells to display period, year to date (YTD), or budget information to compare and contrast actual vs. budgeted financial data.

• Allow users to easily sort individual report cells by any General Ledger account number or by a specific range of general ledger accounts.

• Allow users to quickly manipulate large amounts of general ledger data within Microsoft Excel pivot tables.

According to Cutler, “The demands for an integrated midrange accounting ERP system are as rigorous as those for Fortune 500 companies; finding ERP solutions that provide the same functionality and a viable price point is not a simple solution. Using the features detailed above creates a checklist of sorts which can be a good starting point to determine the efficacy of any potential new ERP system.”

The article can be read at http://www.accountingsoftware411.com/Press/PressDocView.aspx?docid=8361.

Most of these initiatives are at early stages, as companies evaluate how sustainability can become a more integral part of their business strategy, reputation and brand. Companies are focusing on their biggest cost areas and on areas that have the most significant impact on the environment. Sustainability programs leading the way for manufacturers and distributors include facility energy reduction, facility emissions reduction, and reduction of fuel consumption and emissions from their fleet and related product logistics.

Companies have also begun information technology (IT) initiatives to support their sustainability programs. However, these initiatives are far from mature. In most instances, sustainability is evolving largely as a disconnected set of activities, where individuals or departments use spreadsheets or home-grown software applications to track their efforts and report results. There is a definite need for integration and automation.

Business ERP software promises to be an important tool for companies to better manage sustainability programs across their supply chain. By using business software, companies can easily manage the sustainability programs across their entire organization in one place, gain greater visibility into their existing sustainability programs, and produce better results.

The Strategic Role of Business ERP Software in the Sustainable Supply Chain

We can break down business software’s role in sustainability programs into three elements: enterprise resource planning (ERP) software as the foundation; internal controls for governance, risk management and compliance; and enterprise performance management. Each of these levels is important to the effective execution, management and measurement of a manufacturer or distributor’s sustainability program.

The Foundation: ERP

Because ERP systems are often integrated and enterprise-wide, they can sensibly form the foundation for managing sustainability programs. One approach to the problem is to align ERP applications with the sustainability programs a company is implementing, and then incorporate internal control and enterprise performance management solutions to create a complete solution.

The reason why ERP systems can work so well as a foundation for sustainability program is that they help manage the transactions that flow through the enterprise and establish “one version of the truth.” For instance, the ERP system can show that a supplier is on the company’s preferred supplier list, which may mean the supplier meets company standards related to child labor or organic sourcing. Often, these metrics correspond to specific measurement metrics within the Global Reporting Initiative Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

Governance, Risk Management and Compliance

Almost all sustainability programs contain elements of governance, risk management, and compliance. At this level, an internal control system allows companies to more effectively and efficiently manage these requirements ? whether government mandated or established by the company ? by providing an automated solution to manage control activities.

An internal control system can centralize the information manufacturers and distributors need to manage sustainability activities within any functional area (e.g., supply chain management) and across the enterprise. The approach focuses on four areas:

1.Documentation. Provide a central repository for all governance, risk management, and compliance-related documents that is accessible to auditors and managers, and where documents are updated as close to real time as possible.

2.Testing. Track testing activities, including what was tested, when, by whom, results, and remedial actions when testing failed.

3.User interface. Communicate all key information to the appropriate audiences through an intuitive, secure, role-based, user-defined portal.

4.Monitoring. Enable companies to manage key events and transactions within their ERP and other business applications to easily present any significant or material events to the appropriate audience.

As a result, the reporting layer can include the documentation or history of on-site audits of business practices for all the preferred suppliers listed in the ERP system.

Enterprise Performance Management

Enterprise performance management systems deliver business intelligence via dashboards, scorecards, reports and alerts that allow knowledge workers to thoroughly analyze complex problems and then take action. They are what let us know that sustainability objectives are being met or whether action needs to be taken to get the effort back on track. Role-based dashboards work as the heart of the solution and act as a gateway for sustainability activity management. Workers can quickly navigate from alerts to detailed reports to the actual transactional data.

Enterprise performance management also includes a workflow layer. The workflow layer is mandatory for managing the complex interactions of individuals engaged in sustainability activities, such as monitoring carbon dioxide emissions or energy usage. System-based controls, paperless activities, and electronic approvals promote repeatable and sustainable actions and allow manufacturers and distributors to easily monitor key events, while enabling simpler audit trails and reducing risk.