BOOK REVIEW

Enterprise Resource Planning

Text and Cases
Rajesh Ray, Tata Mc Graw Hill Education Pvt Ltd New Delhi 2011
Reviewed by Dr Sharukh N Tara
Professor in finance and ethics BVIMSR and consultant and trainer for
Microsoft dynamics NAV

Every organization has a dream of having a fool proof MIS system, which
seamlessly integrates information from all functional areas of business providing
the necessary inputs for strategic decision making and management control.. This
dream MIS system also provides a repository of past data which may be analysed
for planning future action. Enterprise Resource Planning is one such MIS system
which is seen close to fulfilling this dream.
In today's cutting-edge business world, enterprise resource planning (ERP)
software plays a critical role. By bringing a company's many different functions
together into one large integrated system, it creates an abundance of opportunities
for growth and increased productivity.
However, mastery of ERP is central to success and Concepts in Enterprise
Resource Planning are difficult and complex to understand leading to the
information dream in many cases turning into a nightmare and it is for this reason
that this book becomes an invaluable tool to learn and understand ERP.
This book provides information on the Vital Factors involved in ERP and provides
deep insights into the nuances of ERP implementation. The objective of this book
is to create awareness about errors that ought not to have been made during the
implementation cycle and critical factors for its success. The proper
Implementation of ERP is an integral part in deciding the success and failure of
ERP and this has been very lucidly brought out in the book. This book has been
written in a simple manner that can be easily understood. This book covers all the
functional aspects of ERP. This book also includes many live examples in the form
of case studies which give a practical dimension to theory.
The book is divided into six sections

Section one Introduction to ERP and Enterprise Applications gives a basic

overview and introduction of the subject along with a brief history and emerging
trends.
Section two takes the reader to the important part of implementation and support
covering all major aspects including sections on business process engineering and
training
Section three covers all the ERP Functional Modules important ones being
Finance, HR, Supply chain management, Production, Inventory, Warehousing ,
CRM and Logistics.

Section Four deals with the Technology Areas of ERP and Enterprise Applications
which also includes data warehousing , business intelligence and analytics which is
very important these days as it enables business to analyse past data to determine
future strategy .
Section five moves on to the verticals, which are specific applications of ERP for
different industries.
Section six concludes the book by giving Case Studies of five different companies.
This book is a must read for anyone who intends to implement ERP, for
consultants this is a very good reference book , for students of management this
book can serve as text and reference book for system students who have ERP or
Enterprise applications systems as part of their syllabus.
I highly recommend this book to managers, consultants, students of B schools and
anyone who is involved with ERP and does not know where to begin.