The Solution of Current ERP Programs

The Solution of Current ERP Programs
The architecture of most ERP systems may be termed the “total package approach”. All customer-specific functionality must be included in the “main” single-layer package. A “customizer” is provided to “tailor” the package to the customer’s needs out of the massive “main” package. However, the “customizer” is limited in the scope and type of modifications that can be offered. Any functionality that requires “add-ons” of tables, columns and -- more importantly -- logic, has to be incorporated by the vendor’s development team into the “main” package.
Obviously, meshing the specific needs of thousands of customers into a single coherent package is a nightmare even for the most talented system analyst. That scarce resource of system analysts who can do the job becomes a real bottleneck for customer requests. Implementation processes could drag on for months and years as customers “wait their turn” for their own modifications to “clear” the vendor’s development team.
Complexity also prevails during the implementation process at a customer site. It takes a top quality expert to sift through a mature “main” package incorporating a massive volume of functionality so as to “tailor” processes as required by the customer. Although some vendors have invested heavily in trying to simplify that process, it still takes a large amount of time and effort to do the job.