Every organization manages people, purchases products and services, sells (or gives away) something and accounts for money. The way each activity is handled will vary, but every enterprise performs these basic functions. In most cases, it is more effective to handle these processes through an integrated software platform than through multiple applications never designed to work together. That’s where enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems come in.
While ERPs were originally designed for manufacturing companies, they have expanded to service industries, higher education, hospitality, health care, financial services, and government. Each of industry has its own peculiarities. For example, government ERP uses Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) rather than traditional purchasing and follows government accounting rules rather than GAAP. Banks have back-office settlement processes to reconcile checks, credit cards, debit cards, and other instruments.
