ABSTRACT
Enterprise systems (ES) are an information system that integrates business processes with the aim of creating value and reducing costs. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is comprised of multimodule application software packages that serve and support multiple business functions. These large, automated cross-functional systems were designed to bring about improved operational efficiency and effectiveness through integrating, streamlining, and improving fundamental back-office business processes. ES have evolved from simple materials requirement planning (MRP) to ERP, extended enterprise systems, and beyond. A very important capability that evolved in MRP systems was the ability to close the loop. The main focus of ERP has been to integrate and synchronize the isolated functions into streamlined business processes. ERP has engendered the earlier imagined-only possibility of a real-time enterprise. ERP enhances team-based operations in the organization, but, often, these teams remain confined to the traditional functional silos in that they do not cross the boundaries of the functional departments.
