Build your ERP

Wipro LX 700 is a 9 pin, 80-column dot-matrix printer for businesses generating invoices and banks printing transaction reports.

The highlight of this ERP package, IFS Applications 2001, is that it uses component-based technology to customize for any business. This is different in that, besides having regular modules, this one has further sub-modules. For instance, its financial module is made up of various components such as financial ledger, report generator, consolidated accounts, accounts receivable, fixed assets and general ledger. This gives a company the flexibility to choose the components they need for improving their own processes. For instance, a company can take some modules from Finance, some from Manufacturing and some from Maintenance to complete a process. There are over 60 components to choose from. 

The gamut of the package is divided into eight packages, which are Business, Financials, Front Office, Distribution, Manufacturing, Human Resources, Maintenance and Engineering. The package has a wide focus area catering to automative and process industries, professional services such as consultancy firms, the energy sector, telecom, and ARD (Aviation, Rail and Defense).

Being a highly customized package, the implementation time becomes much less. Once implemented, it can be accessed using its own client or a Web browser. It’s easy to use, as all options are available with a right click. 

A user can customize it to view only the information he needs at startup. All help is HTML-based and can be accessed by pressing F1. Another neat feature is its macro-level view of a process. It shows the flow of a process, so that a user can click on the right one to access the needed data. 

All data shown in tables can be exported to a variety of formats, including Excel, CSV and HTML so that it can be analyzed easily. It also has extensive reporting capability and about 400 different types of reports that

can be made. 

We looked at the HR process in the IFS applications to understand it better. Some of the components it can handle include payroll administration, expense reporting, time and attendance, project reporting, recruitment, employee development, skills and qualifications. It can capture everything from the organizational structure to the jobs and position handling within a company. An interesting aspect of the package is competency management, which is useful to analyze competency levels within an organization. You can use it to analyze the vacant positions and the matching applications for it. 

Price: Pricing includes a Based license (payable at one time) followed by the cost of various components and per user license. The components can cost as little as $ 3,125 to $ 25,000! The user license is $ 1,500 per user and provides access to all components that the company has implemented. The cost in rupees is a conversion based on the exchange rate. 

Anil Chopra in New Delhi