How to build an ERP system? A complete step-by-step guide

In the popular culture of business, there are 13 EPR modules:

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
CRM software solutions are one of the most important branches of ERP modules. Organizations use it to leverage sales tasks. The information of users or clients is stored in the database, which is further processed to transform it into intelligent data. After making relevant interpretations, clients are approached decisively.

2. Human Resource Management (HRM)
Human Resource Management (HRM) is often termed Human Capital Management (HCM). This software helps the HR department of the organization manage the data of their employees and assists the management in the smooth functioning of the internal day-to-day activities.

3. Workforce Management
Workforce is a narrowed Human Resource Management (HRM) software solution. It is designed to increase the efficiency of any organization by tracking real-time work progress. Through this software, the HR department can calculate the productivity of each employee’s work and allow the payroll to automate the salaries accordingly.

4. Finance
Manual bookkeeping and accounting were always prone to errors and manipulation. The cost of maintaining accuracy was extremely high and often short-lived, for there were always possibilities for the designated person to defraud without letting anyone know. Accounting ERPs have helped companies, to a great extent, manage the most important element of their company, which is finance.

5. Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Because it is a very lengthy process, managing the supply chain of a company is never an easy task. The cost of the supply chain determined the profit a company could make, as in the world of hyper-globalization, open market operations did not allow much room for monopoly or even oligopoly. Strategic managers, therefore, focus specifically on managing the organization’s supply chain and increasing the profit ratio.

6. Procurement
It is a sub-part of supply chain management, but optimized purchasing is the new necessity of any organization, therefore, it is provided with a separate ERP software solution. This module assists in keeping a list of all the approved vendors and keeps tracking the order after the purchase. Once the order is received, the inventory is automatically updated.

7. Manufacturing
ERP software is highly popular in the manufacturing segment of SCM. Manufacturing ERPs allow manufacturers to forecast the entire process of their work and accordingly compare the final output. The in-house goods can be tracked, and at the same time, the actual output can be analyzed. The final results and the gap, if any, can be an essential factor for the company to make informed decisions later.

8. Inventory management
The inventory management software helps the companies track their existing stock and manage their inventory costs by considering the total sales against procurement. This software is often integrated with procurement software solutions. The data is fetched from that module, and it helps to make sure the dead stocks are not there, and the inventory is managed in an optimized way.

9. Order management
This module of ERP is quite essential in the age of eCommerce rise. There are so many orders placed every moment, and making sure each customer is satisfied becomes a tough job if real-time data is not available. Hence, in this scenario, order management ERP works as a savior. The module tracks the whole journey of the order, from order placement to delivery.

10. Warehouse management
It is another part of Supply Chain Management. Companies owning a warehouse of their own can benefit from the warehouse management module. It can help them pick the right and efficient path for the warehouse, like batch picking, zone picking, or wave picking. This ERP system helps the overall management of the supply chain to boost speed and satisfy customers to their maximum.

11. eCommerce
As discussed above, the rise of the eCommerce market has shown an unprecedented surge. This creates a necessity for an ERP module, following the online market scenario. Consequently, that necessity gave birth to the invention of the eCommerce ERP module that assists companies, either business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-customer (B2C), to quickly design a user-friendly dashboard. It allows the vendor to add all the details related to the products. Also, this ERP makes it easier for both parties to obtain the bills and maintain the account.

12. Marketing automation
The automation landscape has evolved exponentially in the last couple of decades. In addition, the rise of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning has accelerated the entire mechanism of the technological world. The walls of traditional markets have long been devastated, and the new walls of automated markets have been erected. This new wall is the module of ERP that helps automate campaigns, analytics, targeting, social media, emails, etc.

13. Professional Services Automation
Companies use this module of ERP to plan and manage projects. It allows project tracking and resource management, based on which managers can design the nature of work and approve funds and human resources. It also provides data on whether team collaboration is needed and helps the management build relevant teams based on the requirements.