Microsoft-hosted ERP coming, Ballmer says at Convergence

Microsoft-hosted enterprise resource planning (ERP) is in the company's plans, CEO Steve Ballmer said during this morning's Convergence 2008 keynote address.

Microsoft will release Dynamics CRM Live, its vendor-hosted customer relationship management (CRM) software, by the end of June. It will be the first of several Microsoft-hosted Dynamics enterprise applications products, Ballmer said.

"You should expect to see more from us in ERP and other areas as we move into the future," he said.

Ballmer's statements contradicted those of corporate vice president Michael Park, who denied any Microsoft-hosted ERP plans last week. Park told TechTarget that "the architecture we're making the [hosting] bet on is CRM. With ERP, we've got a good number of partners who are hosting it for us."

Dynamics CRM Live has some Microsoft partners worried about competition with their own hosted CRM services. The prospect of Microsoft-hosted ERP isn't causing the same concern -- at least not yet -- according to Scott Millwood, CEO of Customer Effective, a Microsoft partner.

"There's not as much demand for hosted ERP as there is on the CRM side," he said.

Microsoft execs have said in the past that public numbers of hosted ERP vendors like NetSuite indicate a lot of "churn" as customers come on board, but exit just as quickly.

Microsoft-hosted ERP has been rumoured for more than a year now, so Ballmer's comments did not come as a total surprise to Microsoft partners at Convergence.

"Microsoft probably, deep in their think tank, does have a Software as a Service strategy that goes beyond their current hosting strategy," said Jon Buchan, a vice president at Blue Fox, another partner.

Meanwhile, Microsoft today announced Dynamic AX 2009, the latest version of its ERP software that partners can host or deploy on premise. The new release will allow for integration among multiple customer locations. Microsoft partners said that will be a big selling point to help Microsoft compete against the ERP market leaders.

"It's not there, but it's getting there," said Eric Wagner, a partner with Agility Business Solutions, yet another Microsoft partner. "We'll be able to enhance it, and we'll be able to offer it to multiple customer sets."

Buchan agreed.

"They really made multi-company very strong, and that was probably the one area where we didn't match up well with SAP," he said.

Ballmer this morning also stressed Microsoft's commitment to enterprise applications. He said more people ask him about Microsoft's devotion to that market than any other topic.

"We have a long-term view for every one of these products," he said.

Wagner said Microsoft needs to sell more into the ERP space, and he's confident the company will do so -- eventually.

"They've got the commitment, but they don't have the experience or the people yet," he said. "It doesn't happen overnight."

Source : www.searchcio.com.au

Aria Systems offers complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) & Supply Chain Management (SCM) software solutions

Aria Systems offers complete Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) & Supply Chain Management (SCM) software solutions for apparel manufacturers and importers.

Aria’s apparel software applications facilitate supply chain integration, enhance product development and product lifecycle management, and incorporate accounting, warehousing, distribution and sales to offer a completely integrated end-to-end apparel manufacturing solution.

This is the basis for the ground-breaking Aria 4XP™ Product Suite, which is comprised of seamlessly integrated modules that cover the entire supply chain. Each of these product sets streamlines and automates distinct business processes and serves as a functional building block, allowing our customers to pick and choose based on their distinct business requirements.

Aria’s ERP apparel software solutions include:

- Aria EDI™, a full-blown apparel EDI Product Suite with support for all common EDI transactions and over 200 Trading Partners and Factors.

- Aria CRM™, our Customer Relationship Management solution for apparel.

- Aria SCM™, the Supply Chain Management (SCM) complement to our ERP suite.

- Aria PDM™, our Product/Style Data Management solution.

- Aria BI™, our powerful Business Intelligence suite solution.

Contact Aria Systems Inc:

501 Fifth Avenue,
3rd Floor,
New York, NY 10017,
Tel: 212-714-1334
Fax: 646-367-4901
Email: info@ariany.com

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software Solution

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems attempt to integrate all data and processes of an organization into a unified system. A typical ERP system will use multiple components of computer software and hardware to achieve the integration. A key ingredient of most ERP systems is the use of a unified database to store data for the various system modules.

The initials ERP originated as an extension of MRP (material requirements planning then manufacturing resource planning). ERP systems now attempt to cover all basic functions of an enterprise, regardless of the organization's business or charter. Non-manufacturing businesses, non-profit organizations and governments now all utilize ERP systems.

MRP vs. ERP — Manufacturing management systems have evolved in stages over the past 30 years from a simple means of calculating materials requirements to the automation of an entire enterprise. Around 1980, over-frequent changes in sales forecasts, entailing continual readjustments in production, as well as the unsuitability of the parameters fixed by the system, led MRP (Material Requirement Planning) to evolve into a new concept : Manufacturing Resource Planning (or MRP2) and finally the generic concept Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP).

To be considered an ERP system, a software package must provide the function of at least two systems. For example, a software package that provides both payroll and accounting functions could technically be considered an ERP software package.

However, the term is typically reserved for larger, more broadly based applications. The introduction of an ERP system to replace two or more independent applications eliminates the need for external interfaces previously required between systems, and provides additional benefits that range from standardization and lower maintenance (one system instead of two or more) to easier and/or greater reporting capabilities (as all data is typically kept in one database).

Examples of modules in an ERP which formerly would have been stand-alone applications include: Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Financials, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Human Resources, Warehouse Management and Decision Support System.

Some organizations — typically those with sufficient in-house IT skills to integrate multiple software products — choose to implement only portions of an ERP system and develop an external interface to other ERP or stand-alone systems for their other application needs. For example, one may choose to use human resource management system from one vendor, and the financial systems from another, and perform the integration between the systems themselves.

This is very common in the retail sector[citation needed], where even a mid-sized retailer will have a discrete Point-of-Sale (POS) product and financials application, then a series of specialized applications to handle business requirements such as warehouse management, staff rostering, merchandising and logistics.

Ideally, ERP delivers a single database that contains all data for the software modules, which would include:

Manufacturing
Engineering, Bills of Material, Scheduling, Capacity, Workflow Management, Quality Control, Cost Management, Manufacturing Process, Manufacturing Projects, Manufacturing Flow

Supply Chain Management
Inventory, Order Entry, Purchasing, Product Configurator, Supply Chain Planning, Supplier Scheduling, Inspection of goods, Claim Processing, Commission Calculation

Financials
General Ledger, Cash Management, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Fixed Assets

Projects
Costing, Billing, Time and Expense, Activity Management

Human Resources
Human Resources, Payroll, Training, Time & Attendance, Rostering, Benefits

Customer Relationship Management
Sales and Marketing, Commissions, Service, Customer Contact and Call Center support

Data Warehouse
and various Self-Service interfaces for Customers, Suppliers, and Employees

Enterprise Resource Planning is a term originally derived from manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) that followed material requirements planning (MRP). MRP evolved into ERP when "routings" became a major part of the software architecture and a company's capacity planning activity also became a part of the standard software activity.[citation needed] ERP systems typically handle the manufacturing, logistics, distribution, inventory, shipping, invoicing, and accounting for a company. Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP software can aid in the control of many business activities, like sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management, and human resource management.

ERP systems saw a large boost in sales in the 1990s as companies faced the Y2K problem in their legacy systems. Many companies took this opportunity to replace their legacy information systems with ERP systems. This rapid growth in sales was followed by a slump in 1999, at which time most companies had already implemented their Y2K solution.

ERPs are often incorrectly called back office systems indicating that customers and the general public are not directly involved. This is contrasted with front office systems like customer relationship management (CRM) systems that deal directly with the customers, or the eBusiness systems such as eCommerce, eGovernment, eTelecom, and eFinance, or supplier relationship management (SRM) systems.

ERPs are cross-functional and enterprise wide. All functional departments that are involved in operations or production are integrated in one system. In addition to manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and information technology, this would include accounting, human resources, marketing, and strategic management.

ERP II means open ERP architecture of components. The older, monolithic ERP systems became component oriented.

EAS — Enterprise Application Suite is a new name for formerly developed ERP systems which include (almost) all segments of business, using ordinary Internet browsers as thin clients.

Before

Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization (for example, the human resources (HR)) department, the payroll department, and the financial department) would have their own computer systems. The HR computer system (often called HRMS or HRIS) would typically contain information on the department, reporting structure, and personal details of employees. The payroll department would typically calculate and store paycheck information. The financial department would typically store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary information to the payroll system, an employee number would need to be assigned and remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The financial system was not interested in the employee-level data, but only in the payouts made by the payroll systems, such as the tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee benefits to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person could not be paid in the payroll system without an employee number.

After

ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly separate applications. This made the worry of keeping numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappear. It standardized and reduced the number of software specialties required within larger organizations.

Implementation

Because of their wide scope of application within a business, ERP software systems are typically complex and usually impose significant changes on staff work practices.[citation needed] Implementing ERP software is typically not an "in-house" skill, so even smaller projects are more cost effective if specialist ERP implementation consultants are employed.[citation needed] The length of time to implement an ERP system depends on the size of the business, the scope of the change and willingness of the customer to take ownership for the project.[citation needed] A small project (e.g., a company of less than 100 staff) may be planned and delivered within 3-9 months; however, a large, multi-site or multi-country implementation may take years.

To implement ERP systems, companies often seek the help of an ERP vendor or of third-party consulting companies. These firms typically provide three areas of professional services: consulting, customization and support.

Source : Wikipedia

Apparel Data System's "System 9001" is a flexible, parameter driven, modular software package

Apparel Data Systems providing Apparel, clothing and fashion industry ERP Software solution.

Apparel Data Systems company Profile :

Apparel Data Systems is a major resource of industry specific software solutions to address your "Mission Critical" requirements as well as your every day business needs for the apparel, home furnishings, and accessory industries.

Apparel Data System's "System 9001" is a flexible, parameter driven, modular software package that fits the needs of ladies, men?s and children?s apparel & accessory manufacturers and importers. The system is standardized so that upgrades are universal providing stability and reliability while enhancing functionality annually through low or no cost upgrades.

Product :

Apparel Data System's "System 9001" is a flexible, parameter driven, modular software package that fits the needs of ladies, men?s and children?s apparel & accessory manufacturers and importers. The system is standardized so that upgrades are universal providing stability and reliability while enhancing functionality annually through low or no cost upgrades.

modules include:

- Base System
- Warehouse Lot Locater
- EDI Solutions
- Returns Authorization
- Production Control & Raw Materials
- RFID Module
- Import Tracking
- E-commerce Module

If your have any inquiry contact this company direct.

Apparel Data Systems, Inc.

240 Madison Avenue, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Phone 212-922-9001
Fax 212-922-9002

Email: sales@appareldata.com