ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING EXECUTIVE GUIDE  

AN EXECUTIVE'S GUIDE TO ERP SOFTWARE SYSTEMS

ERP SOFTWARE HISTORY
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software applications were born as an incarnation from the manufacturing industry. Commercial Material Requirements Planning (MRP) software systems initially took root for their capabilities in calculating raw materials and inventory requirements needed for the production process. However, when the production requirements expanded to also include the sales forecasts, customer demand, supplier capabilities, cyclical behaviors and other organizational inputs, the concept of MRP was expanded to MRP2 (Manufacturing Resource Planning).

Finally, the recognition that organizational output was a function of all company resources, not just manufacturing and back-office resources, introduced Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems. ERP systems replaced multiple standalone or disparate systems in favor of a unified company business system.

While prior era business application systems sometimes demonstrated aspirations of governing the entire enterprise, ERP systems were the first to demand that one real-time information system act as the single system of record for the entire entity.

THEORY MEETS REALITY
The concept or theory of ERP software systems was first made visually evident by software publishers Oracle and SAP. In fact, the early releases of Oracle Financials and SAP R/3 software solutions were arguably the first to capitalize on the delivery of fully integrated enterprise-wide software applications. These deliveries in turn were extraordinarily well received by the market place and transformed these software companies into software titans.

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