(11) List down some of the Business Process Modules in ERP System.

Answer: Business process may change per type of business. Hence different modules are possible in an integrated system. Following are some of the modules that may be part of ERP system:

(1)Financial Accounting Module:

• This module is the most significant module of entire ERP System. Every module is somehow connected with this module.
• This module tracks the flow of financial data across the organization in a controlled manner and integrates all the information for effective strategic decision making.
• This module facilitates Integration with Sales and Distribution and Materials Management.

(2)Controlling Module:

• This module helps in analyzing the actual figures with the planned data and in planning business strategies. 
•  Cost Elements and Revenue Elements are managed in Controlling. 
• Key features of this module are as under.

1. Cost Element Accounting 
2. Cost Center Accounting;
3. Activity-Based-Accounting
4. Internal Orders;
5. Product  Cost  Controlling  
6. Profitability Analysis 
7. Profit  Center  Accounting  

(3) Sales & Distribution Module:

• Sales and Distribution is one of the most important module. 
• Sales and Distribution can monitor number of activities that take place in an organization such as sales enquires, quotation , placing order, pricing, scheduling deliveries etc. 

• Following are some of the Key features of Sales and Distribution Module:

1. Updating Organization Structure ( creation of new company and other sales & distribution related components)
2. Assigning Organizational Units (Assignment of individual components like company code to company, sales organization to company code, distribution channel to sales organization, etc.
3. Updating  Pricing  Components   
4. Setting up sales document types, billing types, and tax-related components
5. Setting up Customer master data records and configuration
6. Pre - Sales Activities like identifying prospective customers, contacting them and fixing appointments, showing demo, submission of quotations, etc.
7. Sales order shall contain details of stock items, quantity, rate, date of delivery, place of delivery, etc.
8. Inventory management before delivery of goods to ensure that goods are ready and available for delivery.
9. Material Delivery – Material is delivered to the customer as per sales order. Stock balance shall be reduced on recording of this transaction.
10. Billing – This is a transaction of raising an invoice against the delivery of material to customer. 
11. Receipt from Customer – Transaction involving receipt of money from customers against sales invoice. This shall have a linking with sales invoice.

(4) Supply Chain Module: 

• This module provides functionality for logistics, manufacturing, planning, and analytics.
• Organisation can optimize their supply chain in advance and  streamline processes such as supply network, demand, and material requirement planning.
• This module helps to create complete scheduling; improve production integration, and maximize transportation scheduling.

(5) Production Planning Module: 

• Production Planning aids in planning and management of production. 
• This module contains master data, system configuration and transactions in order to achieve plan procedure for production.
• This module interacts with master data, sales planning, distribution planning, material planning, product cost planning and so on while working towards production management in enterprises. 

(6) Material Management Module:  

• This module manages materials required, processed and produced in enterprises.
• Some of the popular sub-components in this module are vendor master data, consumption data, purchase data , inventory data and so on. 
• Material Management module also interacts with other module such as logistics, Supply Chain and warehouse management for movement of materials.

(7) Quality Management Module:  

• Quality Management Module helps in management of quality in productions and other processes in an organization. 
• This module aids in improving business performance by adopting a structured and functional way of managing quality in different processes. 
• Quality Management module collaborates with other modules such as procurement and sales, inspection, control, audit management, production, planning and so on. 
• Quality Management Process includes the following:

1. First step is setting of master data and standards for quality management,
2.  Setting of quality targets,
3. Preparing quality management plan,
4. Define how quality targets will be measured,
5. Take the actions needed to measure quality;
6. Identify quality issues and improvements and changes to be made,
7. Measure overall level of quality achieved; and
8. Quality is checked at multiple points, e.g. procurement, during production, during dispatch etc.

(8) Plant Maintenance Module :

• This module handles maintaining of various equipment and helps in efficient planning of production and generation schedules. 
• Plant Maintenance module provides solution for all maintenance activities that are performed within a company. 
• It aids in cost-efficient maintenance methods like risk-based maintenance or preventive maintenance. 
• It also provides comprehensive outage planning and powerful work order management.

(9) Project Management Module :

• This is an integrated project management tool used for planning and managing projects. 
• It has several tools to support project management process such as cost and planning budget, scheduling, requisitioning of materials and services. 

(10) Human Resource Module :

• Single Module for all HR functions: This module takes care of various HR related task such as recruitment, performance evaluation, managing promotions, compensations, handling payroll and other related activities.
• Employee Database: This module maintains total employee database. The most important objective of master data administration in Human Resources is to enter employee-related data for processing payroll and attendance. 
• No integration with other modules: This module exchanges very few information with other modules.
• Updation of Masters: Every aspect of business transaction is taken care of by defining the shifts master, PF ESI (Employees’ State Insurance) master, leave, holiday, loans, employee master, operations and sub-operations masters etc. 
• Capturing Attendance: Important function of this module is to capture attendance of every employee. Usage of magnetic card or finger print recognition devices will help to improve the attendance system and discard proxy attendance. Moreover, if the attendance related information can be digitised then the major portion of monthly salary can be automated. 
• Holiday list: From Holiday master provided with the module the user could feed all possible holidays at the beginning of a year, so leave related information can be automated.
• Employee Advances: Financial entries like advance or loan to employees are also captured in this module. This module will generate monthly wage sheet from which the salary payment can be made and respective accounts will be updated. 
• Authorized Access: Details in the module will be password protected. Only authorized person will be eligible to access information from this module. 

(11) CRM Module :

• Objective of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is to improve relationship with existing customers, to find new prospective customers, and to win back former customers.
• CRM stores information about customers which includes determining the requirements of high-value customers. 
• The CRM module uses the existing ERP tables as the source of its data. This is primarily the Contact, Customer, and Sales tables. CRM does not exchange transactions with other modules as CRM does not have transactions. Generally a large ERP system have inbuilt CRM module.
• Implementing a CRM strategy is advantageous to both small-scale and large-scale business ventures.