For the better understanding of our visitors we have divided our FAQs in four sections. Click on the desired question in the appropriate section to see the answer.

ERP

What is ERP?
Why ERP?
How did ERP evolve?
Can a packaged software fit business needs well? / How do we get best business practices through ERP?
How are ERP and BPR related?
What are the typical modules under an ERP package?
How does my cost of ownership reduce with ERP?
Are Enterprise Solutions meant only for large companies?
Is ERP too expensive for Indian companies?
Why do consultants recommend changing business practice to suit the ERP software rather than customising the software to every user needs?
What are the critical success factors for ERP?
How much does is cost to go in for ERP?

Reckoner

A quick summary of sales module?
A quick summary of core module?
A quick summary of finance module?
A quick summary of human resource module?
A quick summary or production module?
A quick summary of projects module?
A quick summary of materials module?
What are the hardware requirements/investments for Reckoner ERP business solution?
What are the operating systems and databases supported by Reckoner?

Implementation

What are the three dominant approaches to ERP implementation?
In Reckoner ERP system why is 'CORE' the first module to be implemented?

Go to top of Page

What is ERP?
ERP is an acronym for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is package software solution that tries to address the enterprise needs for an organisation by tightly integrating the various functions of an organisation using a process view of an organisation. ERP understands the needs of any organisation belonging to any industry because the processes implemented in an ERP software are core processes such as order processing, order fulfilment, shipping, invoicing, BOM processing, purchase order processing, preparation of Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss statement etc., that are common to all industry segments. ERP addresses the entire needs of an enterprise and cuts across all its functions such as finance, sales, production, human resource and others to meaningfully execute any of the core processes.
An integrated ERP ensures that the logic of a process that cuts across the function is captured genuinely, this in turn implies that data once entered in any of the functional modules (whichever of the module owns the data) is made available to every other module that needs this data. This leads to significant improvements by way of improved consistency and integrity of data. In short an ERP provides a much better insight into the organisational systems and procedures and also breaks the "kingdoms" that work at cross-purposes in many organisations.
Back to top

Why ERP?
Companies go in for ERP either to solve their existing problems or to explore new opportunities. Many organisations face the problem of islands of heterogeneous and incompatible information systems that were developed over the past several years running on diverse hardware and software platforms leading to nearly insurmountable problems of reconciling data locked up among these diverse systems.
ERP provides instant access to all the transactional information across the corporation. Such an information rich scenario permits organisation to reduce inventory across multiple units/ departments/ plants; reduce cycle times from weeks to hours; and improve customer satisfaction by orders of magnitude. Reduces costs, reduced cycle time, increased inventory turns are just some of the benefits which an ERP solution offers to an organisation.
Back to top

How did ERP evolve?

Evolution of ERP Accounting Inventory MRP I MRP II ERP

Automation was used for accounting to keep track of financial resources. Soon, organisations realised that the key to manufacturing efficiency was the management of inventory, and computers could be of enormous help in that area. This was followed by a more complete Material Requirement Planning Sysem (MRP1), but then came the need for integrating the manufacturing process itself with MRP - thus was born Manufacturing Resources Planning, or MRPII. These systems later evolved to ERP solution which integrated the en
tire enterprise for better productivity, reduced costs and as a tool for Planning.
Back to top

Can a packaged software fit business needs well? / How do we get best business practices through ERP?
Core processes of an organisation such as raising a purchase order, or a request for quotation, or letter of credit etc. across all industries are the same. Companies developing ERP software have spent huge amounts of money in understanding the business processes used by thousands of corporations world-wide. All these business practices have then been successfully mapped onto ERP software packages and thus bring in world-class practices to any company that implements the ERP software.
Back to top

How are ERP and BPR related?
BPR stands for Business Process Reengineering. A BPR exercise preceding the ERP implementation can help the organisation significantly. It may also increase a combined time of implementing BPR and ERP significantly. There is also a risk that a particular ERP software selected later may not be able to implement the reengineered processes. A simultaneous BPR and ERP exercise saves time and also minimises the risk of sequential implementation of BPR followed by ERP. One rarely comes across the instance where BPR is followed by ERP. As such the ordering of ERP & BPR must be based on the needs of a specific organisation.
Back to top

What are the typical modules under an ERP package?
Typical Modules of ERP include sales (sales forecasting, customer prospecting, database marketing), order processing (inquiry handling, order taking) shipping, transportation, invoicing, finance (G/L, AR, AP), asset management, cost accounting, financial accounting, manufacturing, plant & machinery management, payroll, human resource management, and materials management.
Back to top

How does my cost of ownership reduce with ERP?
An ERP ensures reduced Inventory, efficient utilisation of plant and machinery by better planning, improved sales by responding to customers requirements quickly, better cash and fund management along with reduced staff requirements for doing non productive functions. With so much of savings for an organisation a company can break even within a couple of years.
Back to top

Are Enterprise Solutions meant only for large companies?
No, it has been noticed world-wide that even SMEs(Small and Medium Enterprise) have gained tremendous advantage with an ERP solution for their own organisation. Enterprise solutions packages offer the benefits of information integration, based on industry best practices. It offers a solution to help operate seamlessly, within their own organisation and also with key external parties such as customers, suppliers, financial institutions, and the government. In today's world business demands the use of information technology as basics for any organisation, and penalises those who stay out of the game. This is one of the quickest ways to jump start itself to world class standards, thus avoiding the time and the cost needed to reinvent the wheel.
Back to top

Is ERP too expensive for Indian companies?
The cost of ERP software should not be viewed as an expense. It is an investment towards an ability that provides better profitability, increased market share or better customer service. Most software pieces used by the corporations for commercial applications never had price tags of millions of rupees which ERP software carry. ERP decision is a "high-risk high reward" decision and to view ERP as an expensive only looks at the risk but not the rewards.
Back to top

Why do consultants recommend changing business practice to suit the ERP software rather than customising the software to every user needs?
An ERP business solutions is bundled with business processes that have evolved over the past two decades of ERP implementation in some of the most well-managed corporations around the world. By adapting to those processes that have proved successful in some of the finest corporations around the world, an organisation implementing ERP would get the advantage of these "best of the breed" practices. That is the reason behind the consultant recommendations.
Back to top

What are the critical success factors for ERP?
Critical success factors for ERP include top management commitment, clear focus about the goals of ERP project, readiness to invest in high risk, high reward project, management of change and faith in ERP software.
Back to top

How much does is cost to go in for ERP?
The cost for implementing an ERP package varies significantly from one instance to another. The actual cost depends on the nature of the industry, the size of the firm, the geographical distribution of the organisational units such as offices, plants, warehouses and distribution points, the number of user licenses and the extent of ERP implementation (the number of functional modules implemented). The cost includes ERP software licenses, server cost, communication network cost and the cost of consultants who would do the implementation. A major component of ERP project is the cost of implementation consultant (both internal and external), ERP software nearly costs around 25% of the overall cost.
Back to top

Go to top of Page

A quick summary of sales module?
Reckoner Sales and Distribution module covers functionality like customer database management, their ratings, replying their inquiries as well as tenders, pricing of products, product catalogue maintenance, quotations management, receiving orders, post order processing, delivery scheduling, goods delivery, invoicing etc. It covers all the processes of Sales department for an organisation.
Back to top

A quick summary of core module?
Core is an abstract module, which gives its functionality to all other modules in the package. Core has a very powerful system administration function which not only drives the Reckoner ERP system, but which is also used in configuring the process definitions of the enterprise.
Back to top

A quick summary of finance module?
Reckoner's finance module keeps track of every financial transaction of every voucher posted, of every debtor and creditor, of multiple currencies and even information on specific cost centres. This module gives you the flexibility of operating in multiple currencies, having multiple balance sheets and allows the user to define any type of voucher to the user including future vouchers.
Back to top

A quick summary of human resource module?
Reckoner's Human Resource Management module provides a comprehensive solution to make an organisation's human resource process much more information intensive and flexibility to adapt to future needs. It takes care of all the processes right from recruitment to retirement of an employee.
Back to top

A quick summary or production module?
Reckoner production covers the entire gamut of production planning, shop floor management, machine allotment and maintenance and human resource allocation to give your enterprise with an optimal production schedule according to a pre-determined plan so that WIP and lead times are reduced and productivity is enhanced.
Back to top

A quick summary of projects module?
Projects are tasks with special characteristics. Projects are non- repetitive, engineer-to-order strategy, span a large time frame, are performed in phases and include both services & materials. Reckoner projects module mainly targeted at constructions industries takes care of activities right from tendering and estimation to planning and monitoring of projects. This modules is integrated with Microsoft Project.
Back to top

A quick summary of materials module?
The materials application in Reckoner is an extensive one designed to provide you with instant information on each and every aspect of your materials planning and execution - including information of each and every material in each and every godown in every geographical location. It covers all the functional areas right from inventory management, to vendor management, to purchase management and others.
Back to top

What are the hardware requirements/investments for Reckoner ERP business solution?
Being a high end mission critical application, it is demanding in terms of hardware requirements. However the requirements for Reckoner are probably among the lowest in the industry. A PIV based server with 512 MB- 1 GB of RAM for the server. Harddisk capacity for the server should be around 18-36 gb SCSI. Client machines should be Pentium III with 64-128KB of RAM. If eReckoner is being implemented, a separate server should be setup for the web server and a internet leased line with a Fixed IP address would be required.
Back to top

What are the operating systems and databases supported by Reckoner?
Reckoner operates on Windows 2000 server and uses SQL Server 2000/Oracle 9i as the database. For eReckoner IIS 5.0 is required
Back to top

Go to top of Page

What are the three dominant approaches to ERP implementation?
The three dominant approaches to ERP implementation are "big bang", location-wise and module-wise implementation. In the big bang approach the organisation decides to implement all relevant modules, for example - Financials, Logistics & HR- all at the same time. This has the advantage of getting the full benefit of the integrated software across all functions of the organisation. However there is a risk of the implementation getting out of control. In "Location-wise" implementation, the organisation chooses a specific location, say, the head office, one of the new plants etc. The choice could be based on better infrastructure, better IT culture, more co-operative set of users, higher level of automation etc. In "module-wise" implementation individual modules are taken up for implementation in a phased manner depending on the criticality of applications. Once again a module taken up for implementation can be implemented across all locations or just one location. Later they can be rolled out to other locations.
Back to top

In Reckoner ERP system why is 'CORE' the first module to be implemented?
Core module under Reckoner ERP system defines all the process definitions of an enterprise. It is an abstract module, which gives its functionality to all other modules in the package. It has a very powerful system administration function drives the Reckoner ERP system.
Back to top

Go to top of Page