E R P Functional Areas

An ERP system covers the following common functional areas. In many ERP systems these are called and grouped together as ERP modules:

Financial accounting

General ledger, fixed asset, payables, receivables, cash management, financial consolidation

Management accounting

Budgeting, costing, cost management, activity based costing

Human resources

Recruiting, training, payroll, benefits, 401K, diversity management, retirement, separation

Manufacturing

Engineering, bill of materials, work orders, scheduling, capacity, workflow management, quality control, manufacturing process, manufacturing projects, manufacturing flow, product life cycle management

Supply chain management

Supply chain planning, supplier scheduling, order to cash, purchasing, inventory, product configurator, claim processing

Project management

Project planning, resource planning, project costing, work break down structure, billing, time and expense, performance units, activity management

Customer relationship management

Sales and marketing, commissions, service, customer contact, call center support - CRM systems are not always considered part of ERP systems but rather Business Support systems (BSS). Specifically in telecom scenario

Data services 

Various "self–service" interfaces for customers, suppliers and/or employees