Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is to combine business activities and information technology. In other words, ERP internal resources integrate such as planning, manufacture, inventory, accounting, distribution, transportation, human resources in order to achieve the most efficient management.
In this report, we will discuss about the applications of ERP system in a company and the benefit which the ERP system brings to the company. In particular, the company that our group studied is Brilliant Furniture Company. Brilliant Furniture Company is the manufacturer of commercial furniture which locates in Guangdong, China. The factory has capability to produce 800-1000 chairs per day.
Sharon was interviewed for the purpose of this report and she is the marketing manager in Australia branch office with Brilliant Furniture Company.
1. Case Study
1.1 Current Company operation system
The current system that Brilliant Furniture Company (BFC) uses is SAP which is mainly used in all the oversea branch office. It helps the office to manage the inventory and it is easier to produce a financial statement at the end of financial year.
1.2 Practical ERP system functionality for the company
The inventory management can be checked at any time by using the sub-system of SAP and the inventories is clearly monitoring at the same time. The management also need the financial statement tool to change the strategies timely. In addition to, it is convenient for the company to do the marketing distribution analyzing. These are the main functions used by the company.
1.3 Advantages/Disadvantages of the current ERP system
Advantages
It is easy for the management to check the inventory status including the incoming and outgoing inventories
The data is available for all the employees registered in the system and only available for them. It is convenient for the employees to access the database and also to insure all the data are in secure situation
It is easy to implement into the company
Disadvantages
There may be some indirect cost during implementing ERP system such as new IT infrastructure and Internet upgrade.
Usually the ERP deployments are highly time-consuming. Projects might spend 1-3 year to get completely functional
1.4 ERP systems related to organizational strategy of this company
The data from the different branches such as sales, manufacturing, marketing, manufacturing, and others is interrelated. The advantage of the system is that the various data could be obtained by different departments. The branch of manufacturing is using the sales information for example which product is popular to adjust the number of goods output. The branch of HR is able to use the trend of many data to decide the number of staff in different departments. The dashboard is where the important information to be found.
Cost is currently incurred in several sectors such as distribution and accounting. This cost will increase proportionally along with the business size. We probably intend to estimate a variety of components using company's annual report and what the management guide us.
1.5 Evaluation of achievement via practicability of key performance indicators
The data such as financial statement and marketing distribution from the dashboard reflects existing circumstances of the company. The key performance indicators such as increased throughput of goods and services, increased speed of reporting, and savings in accounting, reporting and distribution per unit can be used to make the next step strategy. They can evaluate success of the company.
2. Group Processes
2.1 Group objectives and achievements
Our group objectives are as follows:
To attend all group meetings
To be able to finish the task that has been assigned
To be enthusiasm and creativity
To plan the interview and contribute to the interview
To analysis the information from the interview
To complete the assignment
With the carefully designed plan and group