Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) for Altium Company: A Case Study

This case study examines the potential implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software for Altium Company, an American-Australian software firm. The report begins with an introduction to ERP systems, their core functions, advantages (such as focused IT costs, improved repor...Read More

Case
study: 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1.Enterprise Resource Planning. it Advantages and disadvantages ...........................................1
2.Up Gradation of Altium company with ERP...........................................................................3
Company can up grade with the ERP system because of the following reasons. ......................3
3. Top 10 brands which offers ERP solutions to SMEs ..............................................................4
4. A Comparative Analysis among all the companies ................................................................4
5. The brand which is more feasible among other brands ..........................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Enterprise Resource Planning is a software which is designed to integrate the crucial
functions areas of a company's business process into a collaborative or unified system
(Nwankpa, 2015). it involves the core software components known as Modules that basically
focuses on the essential business areas. Present report lay emphasis on the Altium Limited
which is an American Australian software company. it can motivate to provide software known
as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) which is used to integrated Various Business process
with its advantages as well as disadvantages. It also highlights the various reason to company
upgraded with ERP. It also list the top ten companies which offer ERP and also focus on the
comparison among the companies that which is best feasible brand for the company in terms of
cost benefits.
1.Enterprise Resource Planning. it Advantages and disadvantages
Enterprise Resource Planning is known as a Business Process used by the companies to
manage as well as integrate all the important parts which are linked to their businesses. It is also
used to automate various back office functions which are related to services,Technology as well
as Human Resources (Kilic, Zaim .and Delen, 2015).
ERP software typically combines all features of operation such as product planning,
manufacturing, development ,sales as well as marketing in a single application,database as well
as user interface.
Thus the business is very huge or small there are various benefits of ERP software that will
benefits to the company. It is a customizable application that allows business to combine or
integrate and also mangers the most vital processes . Thus there are various advantages as well as
disadvantages of ESR system which is given below (Rajan.and Baral,2015).
Advantages of ERP
Focused IT costs
ERP needs a large investment but at the same time it can unify its costs as well as
improve efficiency. Rather than spending resources on various system which required dedicated
staff members,support teams ,infrastructure and licenses. All these cost focus into one ERP.
Additionally, if company spend more on desperate systems that it needed a centralised ERP
system which might save overall IT cost .while using single system it may minimizes training
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requirements. it needed one system rather than using various individual applications (Shen, Chen
.and Wang, 2016).
Improved Reporting and Planning
Implementing ERP Gives the ability to analyses as well as compare function all over
departments. With having a single source of an ERP system it can generate report as well as
analysis at same time. Here the most popular report includes the finances. it includes the standard
finances reports for example income as well as cash flow statements, also the custom reports can
generate without the use of IT intervention (Alcivar .and Abad,, 2016).
Improved Efficiency
ERP reduces the I.T as well as training cost along with this it can also minimizes the
time as well as efforts to do daily activities. With the proper implementation of ERP system it
can greatly reduce the repetitive of manual process and also freeing their team members so that
they can focus on the tasks which are revenue affecting.
Customer services
Clients of company also receive benefits of the ERP system even they are not aware
about it. As clients information is centralised as well as streamlined the sales team of the
company can focus on the building as well as maintaining the relationship with the customers
rather than maintaining Spreadsheets. Here most of the ERP system supports the eCommerce
integration(Jagoda .and Samaranayake,2017).
Data Security as well as Quality
one of the major advantage of the ERP system is data security .here the sharing of data
across functional silo such as sales,business development,customers services increase the
collaboration within a company while its other side is controlling the widespread data access
about who can see as well as edit the information (Tenhiälä . and Helkiö, 2015). As ERP system
provides the high level of data security that can provide through a single input system. Integrate
information from various system create the conflicts among the sources ,but this software has
single responsive system which can improves the accuracy ,security as well as consistency of the
company's data.
The database system of ERP such as cloud base system offers the firm a high level of
security .it also gives centralised backups of the critical as well as sensitive data .it provide an
extra layer. Hence the data of the company is managed by the cloud which ensures their servers
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are protected. as it make more complex fir the hackers to thief the data (Miranda .and et.al,
2016).
Disadvantages of ERP system
Cost is more
The cost of implementation as well as maintenance is very high. This software alone can
be a major investment as the process of implementation process focuses on a huge investment. It
is nearly about for times. For this a company need to hire additional it staff ,software training
specialists. More than that company needs to invest on a new Hardware system so that it can
readily support the ERP for example servers as well as compatible mobile services (Shatat,
2015).
Complexity
Through the ERP system company can get various capabilities but the software of the
ERP can be more complex as well as difficult to use. Company can find more difficult as they
find it tool large as well as complicated process.
2.Up Gradation of Altium company with ERP
Company can up grade with the ERP system because of the following reasons.
 Customer service with the help of ERP system Altium company should proactively
understand the issues of customer ,as they provide optimal solutions. it also helps the
company to track that hoe customer service is performing (Tenhiälä . and Helkiö, 2015) .
 It also provides the self service opportunity such as online shopping. Now the customers
are more demanding than earlier so this can help to full fill the needs of the demanding
customers. For example shipping information,production times as well as its
specification.
 Production Team of Altium company can easily analysed that the products as well as
quantities required to be manufactured (Alcivar .and Abad,, 2016).
 As it allows the Team Members to create MRP and also the schedule the jobs. Employees
of Altium Company would take an order through logging onto centralised system of the
company.
 Everyone in the Altium Company can watch the order which is tracked through its
shipping as well as delivery stage as ERP provides its full traceability.
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 With the help of the ERP system Altium company's managers can see what slowing
down in their company and also implement the processes that can improve the
efficiencies within the department (Rajan.and Baral,2015).. such as it maximising the
warehouse spaces,managers material delivery time which can be accomplished through
ERP data as because of their it makes a huge differences to the outcome of the company.
3. Top 10 brands which offers ERP solutions to SMEs
The companies which supports the ERP Software are given below
1. NetSuite ERP
2. Sage Intact
3. SYSPRO
4. Odoo
5. Oracle ERP Cloud
6. SAP ERP
7. Epicor ERP
8. Brightpearl
9. Sage 100 ERP (Tenhiälä . and Helkiö, 2015)
10. Microsoft Dynamics GP.
4. A Comparative Analysis among all the companies
Basis Odoo Sage Intact NetSuite
Starting price $ 20.00 per month user $30.00 per
month
$ 25.00 per
month
Best for It is an open source
software which can
help all the people who
need to blog to the big
companies that can
require a full ERP. As
this software is flexible
and can be adapted by
the SMEs or also large
corporations
(Miranda .and et.al,
2016).
It is well
appropriate for
senior financial
roles in the mid
sized companies
It is best for fast
growing
business all
over the
industries
Feature of product  It support
CRM.
 It does
not
support
 IT also
support
CRM.
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 It can support
HR
management.
 it has ware
house
management.
 It also support
supply chain
Management.
 It supports
reporting as
well as
analytics
(Shatat, 2015).
 It also support
reporting as
well as
analytics
 it have
distribution
management
system
CRM
 IT does
not
support
HR
managem
ent.
 It
supports
reporting
and
analytics.
 it does not
support
supply
chain
managem
ent.
 it does not
support
ware
house
managem
ent.
 Does not
support
distributio
n
managem
ent
system
 It does
not
support
HR
manage
ment.
 It does
not
support
distributi
on
manage
ment.
 It
support
ware
house
manage
ment
 it can
support
supply
chain
manage
ment.

It supports the
reporting or
analytics
 support It does not have 24/7
( live rep)
it must support online
feature (Miranda .and
et.al, 2016).
It can support
24/7 (live rep)
it can support
online feature
It can also
support
24/7( live Rep).
It can support
online feature
training It provides training
with the help of
persons
through online process
webinars and also
through documentation
It provides
training through
online
process ,webinars
,documentation.
It also give the
training through
online
process,webinar
s,documentation
.
countries 120+ countries 100+ countries 160 countries
(Alcivar .and
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Abad,, 2016).
5. The brand which is more feasible among other brands
The brand which id feasible as compare to other brand is Odoo company as it is the most
suitable brand. Odoo is a software company which includes CRM system. It is a company which
has starting price is $20.00 which is less as compare to other companies. it can support
warehouse,project management ,accounting as well as manufacturing. it also uses the software
ERP which is a flexible software (Shen, Chen .and Wang, 2016). The main benefits of Odoo
company is that it has extensible architecture. it has a huge number of freelancers as well as
organisation to develop the Odoo Apps as it placed them in the Market for the sale or to make it
download for free. It supports reporting as well as analytics and It also support reporting as well
as analytic and have distribution management system. As most of the Odoo modules are
available at the market place where the people can buy or download free modules from there,
also the most modules are served with the active versions of 10.0,11.0 as well as 12.0. it also
provide training from the online process,webinars and also through documentation rather than
other companies. It must support online feature but it does not have 24/7 process which is a
disadvantage of this company (Miranda .and et.al, 2016).
CONCLUSION
From the above report it is summarised that the Enterprise Resource Planning Software
is needed for the organisation in order to integrate various parts of a business such as planning of
product ,manufacturing with its various benefits such as improved efficiency of a Altium
company, reduce the IT cost. it also highlights the various disadvantage of ERP system such as
implementation cost of this software is very high and also it is very complex to understand as it
neds special IT people to understand this. Report also highlighted the upgradation of the
company with the help of ERP system such as it helps in the customer services to track the
shipping of product and various other details which is satisfactory for customers ,also company
can focused on the quality as well manufacture required fort the product. It laid emphasis on the
various companies implement ESR solutions.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Nwankpa, J.K., 2015. ERP system usage and benefit: A model of antecedents and
outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior. 45. pp.335-344.
RAI Revista de Administração e Inovação. 13(1).pp.48-57.
Rajan, C.A. and Baral, R., 2015. Adoption of ERP system: An empirical study of factors
influencing the usage of ERP and its impact on end user. IIMB Management Review.27(2).
pp.105-117
.Shen, Y.C., Chen, P.S. and Wang, C.H., 2016. A study of enterprise resource planning (ERP)
system performance measurement using the quantitative balanced scorecard
approach. Computers in Industry. 75. pp.127-139.
Alcivar, I. and Abad, A.G., 2016. Design and evaluation of a gamified system for ERP
training. Computers in Human Behavior.58.pp.109-118
Huang, Y.Y. and Handfield, R.B., 2015. Measuring the benefits of ERP on supply management
maturity model: a “big data” method. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management.35(1). pp.2-25.
Jagoda, K. and Samaranayake, P., 2017. An integrated framework for ERP system
Implementation. International Journal of Accounting & Information
Management.25(1).pp.91-109
Kilic, H.S., Zaim, S. and Delen, D., 2015. Selecting “The Best” ERP system for SMEs using a
combination of ANP and PROMETHEE methods. Expert Systems with Applications. 42(5)
pp.2343-2352.
Miranda, M.Q. And et.al, 2016. Technology adoption in diffusion of innovations perspective:
introduction of an ERP system in a non-profit organization
Nwankpa, J.K., 2015. ERP system usage and benefit: A model of antecedents and
outcomes. Computers in Human Behavior. 45.pp.335-344
Shatat, A.S., 2015. Critical success factors in enterprise resource planning (ERP) system
implementation: An exploratory study in Oman. Electronic Journal of Information
Systems Evaluation.18(1).p.36.
Tenhiälä, A. and Helkiö, P., 2015. Performance effects of using an ERP system for
manufacturing planning and control under dynamic market requirements. Journal of
Operations Management.36. pp.147-164.
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