Reflection On History Of ERP Software

ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software has not a very long history, but in the short period of history of ERP software there have been lots of reforms. Here, in this article, we will make a reflection on this software i.e. reflection on history of ERP software.

If we will make a reflection on the history of ERP software, we will find that ERP is a reformed form of MRP (Material Requirement Planning) and MRP II (Manufacturing Resources Planning). MRP was evolved from the 1960's to manage requirement and ordering. MRP did not seem at timing, only consider requirement, so in the 1970's MRP II was developed to bring both requirement and time phasing of the requirement into the planning process. Simultaneously, Accounting Management software were also gaining strength. In the 1990's ERP, developed from MRPII systems, were also integrated with financial management applications to offer a complete solution to an organization for managing their inventory, cash as well as human resources.

Let's make a complete reflection on history of ERP software. In the early 1960s, MRP (Material Requirements Planning) come as an initial effort for planning and scheduling materials requirement for multifarious manufactured products. Initial MRP software was big, awkward and expensive. They needed a huge technical staff to maintain the mainframe computers on which they run.

In 1972, five engineers in Mannheim, Germany began the company, SAP with the purpose of producing and marketing standard software for integrated business solutions. In 1975, Bill Lawson, Richard Lawson and John Cerullo started Lawson Software. In 1976, MRP became the primary concept used for production management and control in the manufacturing industry. In 1977, Jack Thompson, Dan Gregory, and Ed McVaney formed JD Edwards. Each founder took a part of their name to create the moniker of the company. At the same time, Larry Ellison started Oracle Corporation. In 1978, Jan Baan founded the Baan Corporation to offer administrative and financial consulting services. In 1979, Oracle offered the first commercial SQL relational database management software. Then, MRP evolved into MRP-II (Manufacturing Resources Planning) as a more easy to get to extension to shop floor and distribution management functions.

In 1981, Baan began to use UNIX as their chief operating system and delivered its first software product. J.D. Edwards focused on the IBM System/38. In 1983, Oracle offered both a database written entirely in C and a VAX mode database. In 1984, Baan shifted the focus of their growth to manufacturing industry. In 1985, J.D. Edwards was recognized as an industry-leading vendor of applications software for the highly successful IBM AS/400 computers, a straight successor of the IBM System/38. In 1987, Dave Duffield and Ken Morris founded PeopleSoft and developed Human Resource Management System (HRMS).

In the early 1990, the term ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) is invented when MRP-II is extended to cover fields such as human resources, finance, engineering, and project management. In 1991, PeopleSoft settled offices in Canada. In 1999, JD Edwards had over 4,700 customers in more than 100 countries. Oracle had 41,000 customers world-wide. PeopleSoft software was trusted by over 50% of the human resources market. SAP employed more than 20,500 people in over 50 countries.

In 2001, 9/11 occurred creating a fall in demand for new ERP software. In 2002, the majority ERP software were enhancing their products to become internet enabled, so that customers can have direct access to the supplier's ERP software. After that several mergers has been occurred such as

1. Microsoft: Great Plains, Axapta, Navision, and Solomon.
2. Infor: Mapics, Baan, and a slew of other products.
3. Oracle: PeopleSoft, JD Edwards, E-Business Suite, and Seibel.
4. Sage: Best Software is obtained.

Today's key players in the market of ERP software are Infor, SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft. Lots of other ERP software vendors are also present there and continuing to build out their products. Further, a new entry into ERP History has been made as vendors move to cloud computing. There is a trend of growth in ERP software.

Read about SAP ERP Software Review. Also know Oracle ERP Software Review. Read about Tally ERP Software Review.

Raibeart santo is a passionate writer who has written numerous articles on topics concerning ayurvedic remedies for men health and women health. He writes informative articles on health-related issues and the use of natural health supplements.