Enterprise Resource Planning Peer Review

The topic I chose was our most recent module, L10 — Enterprise applications & enterprise systems integration, or more specifically Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). I have found this topic to be very interesting and I find myself reading more and more about it in other classes or just when browsing the web. I've taken several courses that were built around this topic, and one even included a semester-long project that was essentially an ERP implementation. 

My interest in this topic stems from the concept of these archaic 'silos' becoming integrated into one system, which I find fascinating. Instead of information being limited to a single department (this is essentially the limitation of silos and why they are slowing being phased out), it is accessible from others, improving the efficiency of the overall business process. This topic is relevant to IST because the process for implementing an ERP system isn't exactly a simple one and requires a large amount of research to be done and also requires many technical skills that one can learn through studying IST. Also, I find it relevant for me because it is likely that there will be a time in the future where knowing about ERP will benefit me. 

For the reading, I went through the slides provided to us, and they included several images, charts, and definitions that give the reader a greater understanding of ERP. This includes things such as the levels of customization that people perform when implementing an ERP system into their business, pros and cons, and just general information that I had originally not been aware of prior to looking into this, such as how some ERP implementations will even include CRM, SCM, and PLM. 

While the provided content provides a large amount of content, it seems to be tailored toward people who already possess some knowledge in this field. One great resource I've found was Oracle https://www.oracle.com/erp/what-is-erp/ (Links to an external site.) and it provides a lot of information and it is very easy to understand. Another good resource is SAP, but it can be kind of hard to find general information, which is why I would often just use google to find things on SAP's website. 

Complete the assignment below after reading topic regarding ERP above

1. Do you agree or disagree with the write up above regarding ERP? Why?
2. What are the things in the write-up that you didn’t know / were surprised to know about ERP?
3. What more do you know that this topic that the write up doesn’t talk about ERP?
4. What do you think of the overall quality of the writeup regarding ERP?

Be creative and constructive!