(1) (
Energy-
Related
Product) A European Union designation for devices that use or save energy. Originally an "energy-using product" (EuP).
(2) (
Enterprise
Resource
Planning) An integrated information system that serves all departments within an enterprise. Evolving out of the manufacturing industry, ERP implies the use of packaged software rather than proprietary software written by or for one customer. ERP modules may be able to interface with an organization's own software with varying degrees of effort, and, depending on the software, ERP modules may be alterable via the vendor's proprietary tools as well as proprietary or standard programming languages.
An ERP system can include software for manufacturing, order entry, accounts receivable and payable, general ledger, purchasing, warehousing, transportation and human resources. The major ERP vendors are SAP, Oracle (PeopleSoft and J.D. Edwards), SSA Global (Baan) and Microsoft. Lawson Software specializes in back-end processing that integrates with another vendor's manufacturing system.
Small Business Advantages of ERP
According to Oracle's NETSUITE white paper, there are seven ways a small business benefits from ERP. The headlines describing the benefits are (1) enables remote workforce management and collaboration, (2) complies with regulatory requirements, (3) gives all departments a unified picture of the business, (4) drives quick reaction times, (5) reduces operational risk, (6) tracks unit economics, customer and project profitability, and (7) helps companies scale and adapt. See
CRM,
SAP,
PeopleSoft,
J.D. Edwards,
Baan,
Microsoft Dynamics,
sales force automation,
supply chain management and
NRP.