You can sum up the value of ERP software by its centralization of a wide range of front and back-office processes. There are many different ERP modules available that can further customize the solution for your business. For example, suppose you find a vendor that aligns with your business needs but doesn’t have CRM functionality included in its base package.

In this case, you may choose to integrate an accessory to implement those capabilities for your system. ERP’s high modularity makes it an attractive and personalizable tool that suits various workflows.

Compare Top ERP Software Leaders

In this case, you may choose to integrate an accessory to implement those capabilities for your system. ERP’s high modularity makes it an attractive and personalizable tool that suits various workflows. In this article, we break down what modules of ERP are, pricing considerations, the top five must-have ERP system modules, runner-ups and FAQs.

Table of Contents

• What Is an ERP Module?
• Module Pricing Considerations
  • Widespread or Industry-specific Tools?
  • How Big Is Your Company?
  • Cloud or On-Premise?
  • A Brand-new System or Add-ons?
• List of Important Modules
  • Accounting/Financial Management
  • Inventory Management
  • Marketing Automation (MA)
  • CRM
  • Human Resources (HR)
• Runner-Ups
• How To Choose the Right Software
• FAQs
  • What are ERP modules?
  • Are there mandatory modules?
  • What other modules exist?
• Final Remarks

What Is an ERP Module?

An ERP module is a separate tool in an ERP system that caters to other business departments with specific features. For example, a customer relationship management (CRM) module offers CRM tools that other modules or functionalities can’t perform.

ERP system modules come as add-ons to a base application, meaning they typically come with an additional cost. However, it is relatively simple to add applications to your out-of-the-box software through ERP implementation due to these systems’ high customization and configuration abilities.

ERP appliances focus on a variety of crucial business processes. Each trait has unique tools, so enterprises don’t add a solution with redundant functionality. For example, if you have an ERP system or are considering adopting one, it’s crucial to know what modules of ERP are available and which ones can best benefit your organization.

It’s also essential to review base ERP software functionality, so you only integrate the necessary appliances. Before reviewing our top modules list, let’s discuss purchasing considerations.

Module Pricing Considerations

There are several considerations to mull over when browsing the numerous modules of ERP, such as industry, business size and deployment.

Widespread or Industry-specific Tools?

Are you looking for general capabilities or tools that adhere to specific industries? For example, your business focuses on technology consultation. In this case, you could look for customer relationship management (CRM), business intelligence (BI) and business analytics (BA) tools to gauge client data, profitability and other KPIs.

Oppositely, you may own manufacturing plants, and you only need manufacturing tools like material requirements planning (MRP), mobility, BOM and quality management.

How Big Is Your Company?

Do you have a Fortune 500 enterprise or corner store? Scalable programs grow as your company expands. If you’re a small or startup business, you should purchase a small system that caters to accounting. Maybe CRM or BI tools can help too.

But if you’re a midsize or large company with several departments, you’d want modules that meet several requirements.

Cloud or On-premise?

Are you looking for a cloud or on-premise system? Cloud, aka SaaS, systems run via the internet on a vendor’s third-party server. No updates or installations are required, and you may access software on any mobile device, from phones and tablets to laptops.

If you travel to different facilities or keep an eye on several diverse supply chains, the cloud can relay real-time information to ensure you’re always in the loop.

On-premise enables you to host the software and information on your company computers. This option is your best choice if you have a primary business location.

New System or Add-ons?

Would you buy a new car or specific parts? It depends. If you only need to replace car seats, a steering wheel or a sound system, you’d likely invest in replacements for them. But if your engine dies, buying a new car may be more cost-efficient. Enterprise software works the same way.

If you have great BI and accounting tools but bland product lifecycle management (PLM) accessories, you’ll likely look for new PLM add-ons.

Compare Top ERP Software Leaders

Important Modules

ERP consists of a number of modules, but following are the top 5 ERP modules:

1. Accounting/Financial Management

Financial management components are highly requested and, debatably, one of the most helpful tools to implement in your ERP program. Because finances are the backbone of your business, an effective financial management tool will work with every department in your company. For example, your financial management module could use sales data to calculate real-time revenue.

ERP, at its core, is about workflow and information centralization, so bookkeeping tools will help you aggregate and manage how money moves throughout your company. You should be able to view the entirety of your business’s finances in the program, from your HR department to your marketing department.

This apparatus typically includes features such as a general ledger, accounts receivable and accounts payable, reporting and payroll at the most basic level.

Reports are crucial to managing your finances and can significantly improve actionable insights through advanced data analysis. Additionally, financial statements can help you develop budgets while keeping your executives aware of your company’s financial status. Examples include profit and loss, tax, sales, cash flow statements and balance sheets.

Security features, a multi-currency system for global transactions and notifications for when finances fall below a certain threshold are other standard accounting features you may want to consider when selecting. Base ERP systems typically have financial management tools. They are also available as standalone accounting software.

2. Inventory Management

Inventory management ERP works very closely with supply chain management (SCM), sometimes acting as a slimmed-down set of tools if you choose to omit an SCM application. For instance, if you don’t deal with manufacturing or the logistics chain, you still need to know how much stock you have for order fulfillment and how much space you have left for incoming inventory.

These enterprise resource planning modules are fundamental because they interact with multiple entities across your business. They are involved from acquisition to final shipping notification and work to achieve maximum productivity through invoicing, shipping and sales order management. Increases in profit margins, boost in efficiency and more satisfied customers are some of the universal benefits of this tool.

Because of how far-reaching inventory management solutions are, you can gauge an ERP package’s strength based on the amount of inventory control functionality. Some features to look for in this apparatus include stock level tracking, inventory receipt processing and multi-location functionality. These features are complex and exist in the best inventory management attribute.

Many businesses find that the benefits gained from these features give them a sizable advantage over their competition that outweighs the initial cost of implementation.

Get our ERP Software Requirements Template

3. Marketing Automation (MA)

This ERP module swiftly automates the marketing process with various accessories such as ROI generation, lead nurturing, demo email campaigns and enhanced customer retention, garnering new patrons and preserving existing ones. Think of your customers as different toppings and your company as a pizza; each client is unique and gives different flavors to your organization.

Uniquely treating each client will display that you genuinely respect and cater to all customers, whether they’re a small corner store or a large warehousing company. Creating personalized marketing emails shows that you care and don’t offer cookie-cutter practices, which boosts preservation.

Marketing automation software may also contain a social media marketing tool. Social media is the future and will not die any time soon. Why not leverage it to your needs, like promoting products or services? It can help you reach out to your current clientele, journalists, bloggers, potential clients and the general public while creating new leads.

4. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Customers keep the lights on, which is why practical CRM software is critical to a successful ERP solution. These solutions can help you manage customers, leads and sales processes. Some basic CRM features in these modules include contact lists, interaction histories and basic analytics.

These features are core components of CRM that can ensure you are providing the most relevant product promotions for your customers based on elements such as their purchase history.

If you’re looking for a more robust CRM package, there are a few advanced features to examine. For starters, a good contact manager can do wonders for a business, such as keeping an accurate record of your customers, leads and prospects. This component is a massive benefit because this information is handy and actionable for your sales and marketing operations.

Robust CRM suites in ERP systems might have a contact manager that collects more than just names and email addresses. This trait might contain the ability to record and track the interaction histories of your customers, leads and prospects, which gives your team context as to what you’ve already discussed or sent to each potential customer.

These documented conversations reduce repeat communication and optimize the sales process by using historical information to target leads better.

Segmentation features also help you do more with your customer data. Instead of merely viewing your customers’ location, you may also be able to target them by region. Segmentation functionality identifies which customers need region-specific marketing collateral. Specialized advertising is more likely to convert than your generic, all-encompassing materials.

CRM applications can also help you identify your top customers and target them for potential cross-selling opportunities. You can discover additional sales opportunities where you previously may have thought they didn’t exist.

Dashboards and reports round out your more advanced CRM features. Similar to financial management applications, you can use dashboards for at-a-glance analysis to assess how your marketing and sales efforts are performing. Reporting features help you find trends and go more in-depth on your data so you can make necessary changes to improve your marketing and sales processes.

Compare Top ERP Software Leaders

5. Human Resources (HR)

HR is another accessory that deals with every department because it involves all of your employees. Because it contains such valuable information and processes, it’s one of the most commonly implemented modules of ERP.

Because HR software collects information on every employee, it’s continuously collecting data from every department. This ERP module, in other words, gathers data from multiple locations simultaneously, whether it be your employees’ vacation days or their in/out times.

Because there is such a massive amount of data associated with HR, it can be easy for duplicate or inaccurate data to enter your system. This software type can help eliminate this inaccuracy by sorting and analyzing information to ensure it’s correct.

One of the most significant advantages of ERP system applications is the easy collaboration across internal workflows. When systems are kept separate, data has to be shared manually. Therefore, if you don’t have an integrated HR apparatus, you might need to conduct reformatting to share information prone to human error.

For example, if your sales reps get bonuses based on the number of leads they convert, your HR system would need CRM data to know whether or not to administer those bonuses. Sure, you could manually count every rep’s leads, but who has time for that? Instead, when you add an HR application to your ERP, you can automatically share your CRM data, which could automatically administer those earned bonuses.

Your management, executives and other higher-ups can also use this application to get a high-level overview of employees. This tool can make necessary policy changes, whether loosening regulations or making them more strict. For example, look at how much overtime each department reports and work with outliers to reduce the need for this extra time, which could ultimately save your company money.

Runner-ups

Additional ERP system modules and functionalities can streamline your company’s productivity.

• SCM: Supply chain management has complications because it has numerous moving pieces. Integrating this apparatus with the rest of your system is beneficial. Some of its typical features are warehousing management, transportation management, analytics, collaboration and vendor support.
• Manufacturing: Production management, order management, manufacturing accounting and compliance are essential tools that meet your production criteria and ensure you promptly craft and allocate goods to vendors and clients.
• Professional Services Automation (PSA): PSA software ensures your service reaches its full potential with proper resource allocation, client billing and project management, amongst other accessories. This ERP suite also permits you to initiate appropriate appointment scheduling.
• Distribution: Leverage this ERP module to monitor your complete supply chain from inputting a sales order to delivering the product to the client with shipping and logistics, analytics, inventory forecasting, business communications and more.
• Product Lifecycle Management (PLM): Obtain a clear snapshot of a product’s entire lifecycle from the preliminary design phase to sending it off to vendors with proper PLM solutions. BOM management, computer-aided design (CAD) tools, reporting and product regulations are unique capabilities.
• Business Intelligence (BI): Implement BI to gain a better understanding of your company’s performance thanks to requirements like data analysis, data querying, reporting, embedded analytics and vendor qualifications.
• Business Analytics (BA): Think of BA and BI as cake and ice cream; sure, they both serve as analytical sources for your company, but they have different qualities. BI examines past and current information to streamline existing operations. BA, on the other hand, analyzes past and present data to prepare businesses for future operations.
  Some of its distinguished attributes are reporting and information management, online analytical processing (OLAP) and data visualization.
• Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): EDI, in a nutshell, helps organizations share and obtain files and other information electronically. Sharing information with external business partners and stakeholders guarantees valid partnerships. Its top accessories are transformation and translation, testing, transaction lifecycle management and document management.
• Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS): Overseeing your company’s maintenance operations and tasks is just one of many benefits a CMMS contains. It can also detect tools, parts and supplies within the business, plan work orders and superintend various assets.
  Its primary requirements include vendor management, time and attendance, document administration, key and lock management and more.

Get our ERP Software Requirements Template

Choosing the Right Modules and Software

It’s no walk in the park looking for the ideal ERP solution and modules. If you don’t have an effective process, you’re blindly talking to vendors and browsing different software. SelectHub’s Lean Selection nine-step methodology sheds light and gives you practical tips on internal and vendor discussions. Here’s a quick review of our process.

1. Establish

• Determine why you need a new solution.
• Are you struggling with KPI management, scalability, bookkeeping or maintaining customer relationships?

2. Collaborate

• Form an internal software selection committee to determine ideal features and requirements.
• Include department leaders, internal and external stakeholders, end-users, colleagues and more.

3. Define

• Hold several meetings with your committee to compile a practical requirements list.

4. Distribute

• Utilize your requirements list to compare with vendors.
• Shortlist potential vendors.

5. Justify

• Sit down with your selection team and mull over three questions:
  • Do we need a new solution?
  • Do we need add-on modules for a current system?
  • Should we end our software selection journey here?

6. Prove

• Review your software provider shortlist and whether you need new software or add-on functionality.
• Ask potential suppliers if they have demos, use cases or proofs-of-concept (POCs) to showcase how their solution performs specific functions.
• POCs offer a simulated view of how the software worked with a current or previous user. It’s pricier than use cases and demos. We recommend you only ask for POCs with one or two potential vendors.
• Score software demos and use cases accordingly.

7. Rank

• Rank solutions according to their demo scores and total cost of ownership (TCO).
• You should have at least two to three potential software providers on your list that can work for your company.

8. Negotiate

• Sit down with your highest-ranked provider to discuss and bargain terms.
• Obtain a lawyer or legal team for additional contract reviews if necessary.
• If unsatisfied with this vendor, repeat this step with the next supplier on your list.

9. Sign

• Once you’ve reached common ground with your vendor, sign the contract and establish an implementation plan.

Select the Right Software with the Free Lean Selection Book

FAQs

What are ERP modules?

An ERP module is a separate tool in an ERP system that serves other company departments with specific features.

Think of an ERP system as a cake and the modules as individual slices because they’re interconnected. Modules offer specific department features. A CRM module, for example, includes sales analytics, performance management and testing environments. Distribution will likely possess shipping and logistics, analytics and other accessories.

Are there mandatory modules?

Looking for a one-size-fits-all solution or set of modules isn’t your best route because you’ll either have tools you don’t need or not enough to meet your objectives. A few modules that almost all businesses can benefit from, however, include:

• Accounting
• CRM
• BI or BA

What other modules exist?

As aforementioned, there are numerous modules to add to your solution. Some examples include:

• PSA
• Distribution
• PLM
• Manufacturing
• EDI
• CMMS
• SCM
• And more!

Compare Top ERP Software Leaders

Final Remarks

There are dozens of ERP solutions available on the market today. This list is a starting point for your quest for the ERP accessories that best align with your business. Remember to list your functionality requirements by browsing several ERP vendors and available programs.

This wishlist can help you avoid redundant implementation components and guarantee you don’t overspend on solutions that won’t do much to boost your business.

The ERP market incessantly adds new programs to its gamut. You probably won’t need every available tool, but it’s almost certain that you’ll find potential solutions that could positively impact your business. The right combination of ERP modules could be what sets your company over the top in its quest to gain market share and revenue.

Which ERP attributes do you think are most impactful and why? How have these or other ERP software modules streamlined your business practices? Let us know in the comments below!