Evolution of ERP systems

This paper describes the development of ERP systems over time. It explores both the functionality and the technology of ERP-systems. It explains the increased importance of ERP systems in practice. The paper also addresses the difficulties encountered in implementing ERP systems in real life. Modern ERP systems are very flexible, and can be tuned to many different business environments. This flexibility leads to increased complexity. The paper explains the nature of the flexibility and the complexity. It discusses promising ways to master complexity such as enterprise modeling. Modern ERP systems are well suited for support of a multi-site enterprise. However, smooth cooperation of such systems in a supply chain of independent partners is still a long way to go