Business Management ABCs

What is the role of an ERP manager? Part communicator, part organiser, an ERP (enterprise resource planning) manager must learn the art of being in multiple places at once while upholding the underlying goals of a much larger organisation: namely, keeping revenues high and losses low. It is not an easy occupation, but rather one that demands tremendous focus and dedication. Luckily, a person who has been tasked with managing an ERP system or ERP software has undoubtedly had to do everything by hand that the system does automatically. This somewhat relieves the burden and allows the manager to focus on exceptionally unusual communication problems.

As an example, a traditional ERP manager facilitates communication between numerous internal departments, such as human resources, finance, manufacturing and customer relations, as well as exterior parties such as investors. A functioning ERP system will allow these groups to communicate with each other in real-time, which provides each department with advance warning of changes, disruptions, or surpluses in any given sector of the company. This creates an atmosphere of flexibility and openness, allowing departments to work closely together and shift strategies as needed.

An ERP manager is assigned with monitoring the company and system operations as a whole, and making sure that all requests and other potential supply-chain problems are resolved in an orderly fashion. If a particularly poorly communicated or misunderstood problem spreads throughout the ERP system, the ERP manager is responsible for identifying the source of the miscommunication, stopping the spread of problematic orders or actions, and quickly instituting a new plan which will prevent a slowdown in production or efficiency. Timing, obviously, is crucial. An ERP manager cannot afford to be slack or inattentive. The speed at which large organisations make decisions requires a manager who can quickly identify a problem before it becomes catastrophic. In many instances, a problem may appear to be relatively unimportant to the untrained eye; however, a trained manager will immediately understand the potential ramifications, including their potential impact on overall revenue streams.

Because investors are frequently privy to the information on an ERP system, the ERP manager must also display exceptional sensitivity to exterior perception. Put another way, the manager must know what relatively harmless information might alarm outside investors, which would subsequently harm the organisation’s income. A manager must instruct department heads to honestly convey their problems on the system without using inflammatory language, or terms that could be misinterpreted by an individual unfamiliar with the particulars of the field. A manager must also maintain excellent relations with the outside parties above and beyond the seeming system requirements. If an employee or department head should transgress unwittingly against the outside investors, the manager will need to draw on pre-existing rapport.

Most importantly, an ERP manager must at all times take pains to maintain the morale of those individuals using the system. By offering constructive advice related to specific projects or incidents, an ERP manager can shape the flow, responsiveness, and direction of the system. While no manager should artificially bolster the spirits of a team, a consistently negative manager will inspire feelings of indifference among those using the system, which will ultimately erode the system’s effectiveness. A faulty system leads to poor performance, lagging production, and inefficiency, conditions which an ERP manager must always prevent.