طراحی مجدد بر اساس برنامه ریزی منابع سازمانی
Processes, Packages, and Best Practices
A Closer Look at SAP
Implementing an ERP-Driven Design
Case Study: Nestlé USA Installs SAP
Using BPMS to Improve ERP Installations
Enterprise Resource Planning and Business Process Management Suite
Notes and References
In the 1990s many companies installed off-the-shelf applications from a variety of companies, including SAP, PeopleSoft, Baan, J.D. Edwards, and Oracle. Initially, these vendors stressed that they sold applications that performed certain common tasks that companies faced, like those in accounting, inventory, and HR. Later, in response to widespread interest in business process improvement these same companies began to reposition themselves. They developed templates or blueprints that showed how groups of their modules could be linked together to create business processes. In line with this transition people began to refer to these groups of applications as enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications, and recently some have added customer relationship management (CRM) applications and manufacturing applications. In essence, the vendors introduced a layer of enterprise application integration software or workflow that allowed companies to specify or modify the flow of control from one ERP module to another. One leading advocate of this approach is Thomas Davenport, one of the consultants who had kicked off the business process reengineering movement in the early 1990s. In 2000 Davenport wrote Mission Critical: Realizing the Promise of Enterprise Systems. He argued that a packaged application approach allowed companies to integrate and improve their software systems. He was careful to qualify his argument and say that the use of software worked only within a broader business process architecture, but when implemented in such a context Davenport believed that packaged applications could help a company to rapidly integrate diverse processes. In the course of the last decade or so J.D. Edwards was acquired by PeopleSoft, which was in turn acquired by Oracle. Meanwhile, Microsoft entered the market and began developing packaged software for smaller companies. In 2004 all the ERP vendors combined made around $50 billion. In 2018 SAP, the largest ERP vendor, earned a little over $26.4 billion. Obviously, the ERP market is much larger than the early business process management suite (BPMS) market. At the same time, however, many companies are unhappy with the installation problems and maintenance costs of their ERP software. One of the major drivers of BPMS development has been the hope that it will make it easier to manage ERP. Thus, although BPMS is just beginning to gain momentum, it seems likely that in a few years ERP and BPMS vendors will find themselves merging or competing to offer companies more flexible business process solutions.