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What does ERP mean in this context? Asking because it means something else that is making all this discussion of ERP projects and consultants sound quite funny.

candiodari 3y ago
At one point I contributed to "Odoo" (OpenERP). It essentially means having lots of Applications work against a single database so that everything about the whole company uses this single database. ERP vendors generally have a whole bunch of standard applications ready. Things like inventory, sending out stuff, payroll (for X number of countries), ...
- throwuwu 3y ago
  Thanks! Still does nothing to break the association with the other definition for me though so I’ll add ERP vendors to the list of things to giggle at
  - candiodari 3y ago
    A great deal of complex software "paradigms" aren't nearly as complex as they appear to be at first glance. Most of these are built on a gimmick, the same as in the Open Source world. Every database has "their thing". Mysql "is fast and simple". PostgreSQL supports everything you could possibly want. Oracle has their "fantastic" SQL compatibility and their fast clustering solutions. SAP has their "live indexes". Of course, both have implemented each other's features, and so has PostgreSQL at this point. So that apparently makes them great developers of timesheet software, right? Apparently to MBAs this makes sense. These companies are essentially consultancy software development companies that have an in-house "core" software (Oracle, SAP, ...) that they can work with really well (in theory), and have standard solutions for many problems on that core. But 3 ABAP developers aren't that different from 3 PHP developers: they all do things slightly differently. And, yes, I do think SAP ABAP is "kind of" PHP. You can even make it look pretty similar, though it uses their internal stuff, not HTML. These companies are selling "quick" and "standard" business software development. There are major differences too, though. SAP stores all it's code in the database itself, which prevents all development tools, from vim over git to CI/CD from working. Of course this would mean Wordpress is ERP software ... and it kind of is, with enough plugins.
- denton-scratch 3y ago
  > Things like inventory, sending out stuff, payroll (for X number of countries), Long before I ever heard of ERP, I worked on the Burroughs accounting systems. They had inventory management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, subcontractor accounting etc., all feeding into the general ledger. So is that really what ERP is? Is it what used to be called an accounting package?
  - jsty 3y ago
    With several orders of magnitude difference in workload / transaction size, and a lot more features in non-financial areas. Most accounting systems can do the bare essentials around inventory management, HR, etc. - but very few can run & form the system of record for, say, operations at the scale of an F500. Whether it makes sense nowadays to continue stuffing these all into one system centred around the general ledger is left as an exercise to the reader.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
alistairSH 3y ago
Enterprise Resource Planning. Basically, the totality of "back-office" operations software. At minimum, it's usually accounting+finance, often including HR, sometimes also CRM. And in niche spaces, other stuff too (an ERP for higher education/colleges would also include student enrollment management, etc).

candiodari 3y ago

At one point I contributed to "Odoo" (OpenERP). It essentially means having lots of Applications work against a single database so that everything about the whole company uses this single database. ERP vendors generally have a whole bunch of standard applications ready. Things like inventory, sending out stuff, payroll (for X number of countries), ...

throwuwu 3y ago
Thanks! Still does nothing to break the association with the other definition for me though so I’ll add ERP vendors to the list of things to giggle at
- candiodari 3y ago
  A great deal of complex software "paradigms" aren't nearly as complex as they appear to be at first glance. Most of these are built on a gimmick, the same as in the Open Source world. Every database has "their thing". Mysql "is fast and simple". PostgreSQL supports everything you could possibly want. Oracle has their "fantastic" SQL compatibility and their fast clustering solutions. SAP has their "live indexes". Of course, both have implemented each other's features, and so has PostgreSQL at this point. So that apparently makes them great developers of timesheet software, right? Apparently to MBAs this makes sense. These companies are essentially consultancy software development companies that have an in-house "core" software (Oracle, SAP, ...) that they can work with really well (in theory), and have standard solutions for many problems on that core. But 3 ABAP developers aren't that different from 3 PHP developers: they all do things slightly differently. And, yes, I do think SAP ABAP is "kind of" PHP. You can even make it look pretty similar, though it uses their internal stuff, not HTML. These companies are selling "quick" and "standard" business software development. There are major differences too, though. SAP stores all it's code in the database itself, which prevents all development tools, from vim over git to CI/CD from working. Of course this would mean Wordpress is ERP software ... and it kind of is, with enough plugins.
denton-scratch 3y ago
> Things like inventory, sending out stuff, payroll (for X number of countries), Long before I ever heard of ERP, I worked on the Burroughs accounting systems. They had inventory management, accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, subcontractor accounting etc., all feeding into the general ledger. So is that really what ERP is? Is it what used to be called an accounting package?
- jsty 3y ago
  With several orders of magnitude difference in workload / transaction size, and a lot more features in non-financial areas. Most accounting systems can do the bare essentials around inventory management, HR, etc. - but very few can run & form the system of record for, say, operations at the scale of an F500. Whether it makes sense nowadays to continue stuffing these all into one system centred around the general ledger is left as an exercise to the reader.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

alistairSH 3y ago

Enterprise Resource Planning. Basically, the totality of "back-office" operations software. At minimum, it's usually accounting+finance, often including HR, sometimes also CRM. And in niche spaces, other stuff too (an ERP for higher education/colleges would also include student enrollment management, etc).