What is an ERP system?

What ERP means

ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. The name is old and formal; the idea is simple. Instead of one program for invoices, a spreadsheet for stock, another tool for customers and a folder for payroll, the business works in one system where each record exists once: the customer you sell to is the same customer your accountant collects from.

What an ERP system usually covers

• Sales and customers: leads, quotations, orders, invoices and payments.
• Accounting: the chart of accounts, journal entries, banks, cheques, tax and financial reports.
• Purchasing and inventory: purchase orders, vendor bills, warehouses and stock movements.
• HR and payroll: employee records, attendance, leave and salaries.
• Projects: tasks, time and what a project costs and earns.

Not every business needs every part on the first day. A good ERP system lets you switch on what you need and add the rest later.

Signs a business needs one

• The same customer, item or invoice is typed into more than one place.
• Month-end closing waits for files from several people.
• Nobody can say what is in stock, who owes what, or which project makes money, without asking around.
• Rights are hard to control: everyone sees everything, or nobody sees enough.

What to check before choosing

• Does it work fully in Arabic and English, right to left, on every screen and every printed document?
• Does it do e-invoicing for your country?
• Can you control who sees what, per screen and per record?
• Can it hold more than one company if you have them?
• Who will set it up, move your data in and answer you afterwards?
• What does the price include, and what is charged as an extra?