What is an ERP system? What does it do? ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is a way to integrate the data and processes of an organization into one single system. Usually ERP systems will have many components including hardware and software, in order to achieve integration, most ERP systems use a unified database to store data for various functions found throughout the organization. Integration is an extremely important part to ERP's. ERP's main goal is to integrate data and processes from all areas of an organization and unify it for easy access and work flow. ERP's usually accomplish integration by creating one single database that employs multiple software modules providing different areas of an organization with various business functions. An ERP system spans multiple departments in a corporation, and in some cases an ERP will also transcend the corporate boundary to incorporate systems of partners and suppliers as well, to bring in additional functions like supply chain management. Because it is so vast and all-encompassing, the ERP system goes far beyond being just a simple piece of software. Each implementation is unique and is designed to correspond to the implementer's various business processes. An ERP implementation can cost millions of dollars to create, and may take several years to complete. At the beginning, Pete Solvik, the CIO’s inclination was to avoid an ERP solution. He planned to let each functional area make its own decision regarding the application and timing of its move. Without someone taking a lead, this approach did not work. It will be hard for anybody to step up bearing the success of the project without the cooperation from every department and the support from board and top management. The whole project was too much to justify involving millions of investment and large amount of time; and no one was going to throw out the legacies and do something big. Cisco was highly successful with its ERP effort. What...