Enterprise resource planning (ERP)

The Gartner Group coined the acronym ERP to stand for manufacturing resource planning and material resource planning, which both refer to the integration of applications outside of manufacturing. An ERP system connects all departments—including HR, Finance, Manufacturing, Logistics, Sales and Marketing, IT, etc.—and makes it simple for data to flow between them. This enables departments to collaborate more effectively and make better decisions. ERP solves the issue of data duplication by consolidating data from so many sources into a single platform in real-time, establishing a single source of truth.