Critical Appraisal for implementation of ERP in manufacturing industry

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a packaged business software system that enables a company to manage the efficient and effective use of resources (materials, human resources, finance, etc.) by providing a total, integrated solution for the organization's informationprocessing needs. It supports a process-oriented view of the business as well as business processes standardized across the enterprise. Among the most important attributes of ERP are its abilities to: automate and integrate an organization's business processes; share common data and practices across the entire enterprise; and produce and access information in a realtime environment. ERP is an enterprise-wide resources, information, and activities needed to complete business processes such as order fulfillment or billing. ERP systems can cover a wide range of functions and integrate them into one unified database. ERP predicts and balances demand and supply. It is an enterprise-wide set of forecasting, planning, and scheduling tools. Successful ERP implementation (initial stage of ERP) does not necessarily lead to the success of ERP post-implementation.