ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

Back ground information………………………………………………………………………4

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………….5

ERP Systems…………………………………………………………………..……………..5

Microsoft GP10…………………………………………………………………..………..6

Human Resources……………………………………………………………………….……….7

SAP Human resources……………………………………………………….…………7

Microsoft Human Resources……………………………………………………….8

Comparisons between Microsoft and SAP……………………………..………….9

Factors to consider when selecting the best systems……………….………..9

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….………..11

References…………………………………………….…………………………………………13k

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF ENTERPRISE SYSTEMS

Abstract

In the field of study of Enterprise Systems purchases, the following categories are studied: Request for quotation, quotations, purchasing requisitions, supplier evaluation and selection, material requirements for planning methods, orders, Invoicing and receipts, business intelligence analysis and e-commerce processes. The deficiencies that are observed include: First, processes that are not used appropriately due to inadequate company maturity, Secondly, are the advanced processes that aren’t used to their maximum or not being used at all. The main causes of the these deficiencies lack of knowledge to use them as well as enough manpower in relation to the company’s sizes.

This study proposes systems of assessing the success of the implementation, the challenges of implementation and also the success of utilization of these Enterprise Systems. A comparative analysis of using SAP Enterprise System and Microsoft GP10 Enterprise system will reveal that both are similar In terms of functioning except that there are differences in the general processes of creating various items.

One thing that we need to note is that each of these systems has its own strengths and also weaknesses in their function. For example the SAP is a more difficult to navigate in and therefore needs to be treated more as a command based program me than just to point and click like the Microsoft Dynamics. However, in SAP, once the user is trained about the system, and understands properly how to use it, it is amore powerful program.

Background information

According to Shang and Seddon,(2007). there are inappropriate process changes during Enterprise Systems implementation that bring about deficiencies such as: complicated model process, demanding excess work for entering data and processing it, bureaucratic process which has excess crosschecking that do not have flexibility in handling cases like checkpoints and missing data and problems of errors when worked by the employees.

A business process is a flexible structure that allows for the organization of activities and information which are under a value of generation goal. (Beretta, 2002). He also argues that measuring process-based performance may lead to improvement of integrating activities, knowledge of participants and awareness of their contribution. This would in turn allow for proper exploitation of the advanced potential of Enterprise Systems.

Wieder et al, (2006), investigated the impact of ERP system on business performance especially on the supply chain and firm performance as will be evident in the following section.

Introduction

Application and integration of IT tools in today’s firms in unavoidable. The Enterprise systems that use various hardware and software modules are the ones that are used to integrate processes and data in the organizations. Enterprise systems can be said to be customized, integrated, and packaged modular-based systems which include compatible hardware and software which handles various system requirements in various functional areas of the firms. Some of these areas include finance, accounting, marketing, human resources, manufacturing etc. We therefore note that almost in every organization there has at least various Enterprise System Modules such as accounting software package, manufacturing software package, a marketing software package, a human resources software package, etc.

Enterprise Systems provide various very promising functions such as automation and the integration of business processes, sharing of data across the organization, promoting of common practices in the organization, and also it provides access to the information(Shari and Seddon, 2007;Fox, 2003; and Nah and Lau, 2001).

There is no doubt whatsoever the ultimate value that the Enterprise systems actually provide to any organization be it small, medium, or large. However not all organizations can be able to successfully implement and properly make good of the Enterprise systems to be able to increase their production. In this paper we discuss two main systems and see how they can be used in a certain field of an organization in this case Human Resources so that the managers can be able to make a decision of using at least one of the systems, and see the effect in a company.

ERP SYSTEMS

The SAP ERP system is part of a software designed to assist companies perform their business functions (SAP, 2011A). It consists of four main modules which are human capital management, financials, corporate services and operations.

Human capital management involves the payroll, human resources, recruitment training and promotions and analysis of workforce functions. (SAP, 2011B).

Financials offers financial processes and accounting that enables the company to track revenues, profits and expenses accurately.

Operations involve functions of development and research, purchasing, manufacturing and also the sales and services of the firm.

Corporate services aid with the management of the business assets such as projects, real estates, travel management functions, and health and safety (SAP,2011B).

Microsoft GP10

This is the Microsoft ERP system released in 2010.It has four dynamic offerings i.e. SL, GP, AX and NAV.

Dynamic SL handles accounting and general project management in a business. It is targeted mainly by distribution firms, construction corporations and government contractors.

Dynamics GP is used to provide basic business intelligence reporting. It also provides human resources, supply chain, project management, sales and marketing, manufacturing products etc (Microsoft, 2011)

Dynamics AX is made for larger corporations such as manufacturing firms. It offers functions of GP as well as business intelligence reporting and information about environmental sustainability (Microsoft, 2011).

Dynamics NAV targets middle sized companies. It is cost effective for such companies (Microsoft, 2011).

Human resources.

The selected business area for comparison is the human resources of each of the package. This department involves the employee part. It involves hiring, recruiting new employees, promotions and terminations and payroll administration. It also handles administration of benefits i.e. retirement plans. Tuition reimbursement and life and health insurance (Winning, 2009).

HR department has really changed and focuses on employee relations and also performance management and training all that focus on employees benefiting the company (Heathfield, 2011).

The analysis done in this paper focus on divisions, creation of departments, positions and creation of employee opportunities.

SAP Human resources

This focuses on putting together strategic objectives of the business with the actions of the workers to achieve efficiency. It provides the capabilities in three areas (SAP, 2011C).

Talent management-This provides different options for recruiting and developing company’s workmanship. The company can recruit its employees, it can monitor employee performance and enter the reviews of performance in the system. This enables the firm to keep track of high performing employees.

The core Human resources and payroll-Provides basics of Human resources department. It contains modules like benefits management, payroll, legal reporting and time and attendance reports.

Workforce analytics-These are functions where the Human resources department can do planning of future workmanship needs. It would also enable the firm to create benchmarking and compare with other companies. It also enables the business ensure that their activities are in line with their objectives by keeping check with the workers.

Microsoft Human Resources

This focus on potential of workers by ensuring that all things are running effectively. It has three areas (Microsoft, 2011B).

Enhanced Human resources tools- It smoothens the hiring and recruiting process without wasting time in data entry. This enables identifying of applicants for the required positions. It also enables the company to be fair and consistent in hiring employees.

Advanced health and wellness functions- This makes the firm to be vigilant on health of its employees by telling them to seek medical advice .This makes employees healthy all the time hence increase production.

Information accessibility- Human resources departments get access to workforce faster because all the data is centralized. This enables the work of supervisors easy by evaluating skills and building strong teams. Employees also get access to enrollment and hence makes changes for their own benefits.

Comparisons between Microsoft and SAP.

The table below shows a summary of comparisons of the two systems. In terms of functioning, they are generally the same except that there are differences in the general processes of creating various items.

	SAP	Microsoft GP10
Interface	More training is necessary to understand what one is supposed to do	No training is required as the set up is easy. Menus pull up when one clicks on a function
Creation of functions	The system takes the user through a series of steps in creation of various departments i.e. companies.	Windows do not necessarily require the user to click on the buttons to get on options.
Reports	Uses report such as excel to export various types of files.	Exports reports direct to MS office without any intermediaries.
Ease of the HR use	It has ‘Manager’s desktop’ that allows managers to easily get reports and information about their employees.	It has standard set ups that allow managers to easily move through the windows.

Factors to consider when selecting the best systems in a business environment

While both systems are generally good, there are factors to consider when selecting the best system to use in an Enterprise Resource Planning System.

Nature of the Business.

The nature of the firm is very important when deciding on implementing Enterprise Resource Planning systems. The ways in which a firm performs its activities of business affects the implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning system. Firms also need to asses how much customization the system will need so as to obtain the one that will allow the firm to maintain its best practices. If a firm does not consider the nature of business, it may risk certain catastrophes during the implementation period.

Costs

There are two types of costs i.e. short term and long term costs. Before implementing any system, the firm should consider the cost of having it. These costs include licensing fee, training, implementation cost, and maintenance cost that are long term.

The implementation process is time consuming and therefore very costly in terms of manpower required and costs incurred by the programmers and consultants. There are also licensing charges by the software firms such as the SAP and Microsoft.

Costs of training the manpower in the use of the system and time spent in making the necessary changes to push the use in the system to push for the application of Enterprise Resource Planning System for storage of information.

There are also long term maintenance costs to be put in consideration. These can be up to 25% of the total cost of the software package. Managers must therefore consider whether the ERP system will add value to their firm or not as it is very expensive.

Interconnectivity

It is important for the firm to consider how easily the system can communicate, be modified or be added other programs. This is because the Enterprise Resource Planning systems would need to be modified to be able to feed and pull information from these systems. However, this customization is not supported by the software manufacturers as they are an after market.

Conclusion

One thing that we need to note is that each of these systems has its own strengths and also weaknesses in their function. For example the SAP is a bit more difficult to navigate and therefore should be treated more as a command based program me than just to point and click like the Microsoft dynamics. However, in SAP, once the user is trained about the system, and understands properly how to use it, it is amore powerful program. This is because it has been producing the Enterprise Resource Planning systems for about forty years now whereas Microsoft was founded in 1975 (Microsoft, 2011A).

When it comes to the scope of the comparative analysis, both systems are similar in the creation of departments, divisions, employees and jobs. The differences are seen on the detailed information on how each item is entered and the ability to be able to create many units at one time as seen in SAP while in Microsoft, one can place all the necessary information in the system at once.

Managers must therefore consider various factors before they choose the best Enterprise Resource Planning system such as cost, nature of business, and others. From there the managers could choose either of the systems based on the one they prefer as their functioning is very similar.

References

8^th International conference (2011), on Enterprise Systems, Accounting and Logistics Thassos Island, Greece Retrieved on 29^th Nov 2012 from

http://www.icesal.org/2011%20PROCEEDINGS/docs/P8.pdf

Heathfield, S.M. (2011) What does a HR Manager, Generalist or Director Do? Retrived on 29^th NOV 2012

from

http://humanresources.about.com/od/jobdescriptions/f/hr_job_mgr.htm

Fensel and Abramowiez W.(2008) A Comparative study of enterprise system implementation in large North American Corporations. Berlin Hiedelberg Springer-Verlag Publications

Beretta, S. (2002), “Unleashing the integration potential of ERP systems; The role of

process-based performance measurement systems”, Business Process Management

Journal, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp.254-277.

Microsoft (2011A) Facts about Microsoft. Retrieved on 29^TH Nov 2012 from

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/inside_ms.mspx

SAP (2011A). SAP Business Suite. Retrieved on 29^th Nov 2012 from

http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite/index.epx.

SAP (2011B). ERP Software from SAP. Retrieved on 29^TH Nov 2012 from

http://www.sap.com/solutions/business-suite/erp/index.epx.

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