Comparison between EAM and ERP system

EAM and ERP are sophisticated resource management systems. As the business world is highly dynamic and requires active monitoring of the business processes to survive and expand. The monitoring is assisted by sophisticated software. The software like EAM and ERP are equipped with a higher set of business intelligence that leads to instant reports availability and comprehensive financial insights in just a few clicks.

In other words, management of business aspects is a tough job and requires the use of supportive software that can help us improve the operations of an organization with greater integration and business intelligence.

In this article, we’ll discuss Enterprise Asset management – EAM, and the ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning systems that can improve business operations’ efficiency.  Let’s have a look at the features and uses of both software.

Enterprise Asset Management (EAM software)

EAM is a combination of systems, software, and services utilized to maintain and control the operational equipment and assets of an entity. This software is mostly used in those industries that mainly rely on physical assets such as plants, equipment, heavy machines, and vehicles.

EAM manages the lifecycle of these assets. The main aim of using such a system is to enhance the quality, reduce operating costs, and optimize an organization’s assets. EAM involves planning, scheduling, supply chain management, forecasting, asset maintenance, and work management.

It’s important to note that EAM software is not limited to only management of manufacturing-related assets but the assets in the use of administrative work like vehicles, equipment/machinery that is constantly moving. Implementation of EAM software leads to not only adequate management of assets but more significant optimization for use.

 Here are some of the essential features of EAM software:

Maintenance schedules

EAM allows the system users to schedule the preventive maintenance of assets. Technicians are interested in using this system as it offers to create a maintenance schedule. The system users can set reminders for asset maintenance and manage detailed maintenance records in the asset profile for ease.

That’s an excellent feature when the company’s production is decentralized, and it’s difficult for the management to monitor maintenance aspects of the assets. With the implementation of EAP, the management can assess if their maintenance of the assets is as per schedule.

Monitoring of assets

EAM system can monitor the condition of the assets.  Real-time monitoring of assets is beneficial as it alerts users regarding pending machine part failures and allows them to execute predictive maintenance.

You can monitor different assets and facilities in exciting new ways by using the EAM system. Like you can control the temperature using innovative HVAC units, and intelligent security can empower the safety of an asset. These features have exclusive value when the business makes use of expensive and sophisticated assets.

Management

EAM software is an effective tool by which a business can efficiently manage its wide range of tasks such as raw materials, inventories, supply chain, and procurement, etc. The monitoring of inventory levels in real-time assists in reducing costs.  In addition to the above functions, procurement departments can use this system to send purchasing requests via the EAM interface. So, operational aspects of supply chain management are connected. Hence, it speeds up working capital management.

So, EAM helps to bring innovation in inventory management. Although, the management of inventory may be limited to the purchase and production if all the features of EAM are not enabled.

Forecasting

The wide range of functions of an EAM system help in forecasting. It can be used to predict which stock level you should have to place an order to avoid the stock out or holding costs. Further, monitoring an asset’s useful life and performance over time helps you predict how long they can be utilized and what productivity level they will achieve in the future. Similarly, by looking at the maintenance records, you can suggest how much you will bear to replace that asset.

It means financial planning is aided as the use of EAM enables the business to forecast the purchase of assets in the future.

Also, read – What is ERP

Enterprise Resource planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning is a sophisticated and enhanced business management software that dramatically integrates and manages the critical activities of businesses. The ERP applications are vital for a company as they assist in implementing resource planning by integrating processes required to run a business within a single system.

This system is used to handle the day-to-day business operation of an entity. ERP is sometimes referred to as jack-of-all due to its enhanced features. You can manage various tasks using the ERP system, such as planning, purchasing inventory items, finance, marketing, sales, human resource, and many other functions. This software is used to manage an overall organization and is not limited to the class of assets, as in Enterprise Asset Management.

Accounting

ERP software can perform many accounting tasks such as payroll, accounts receivables, payables, invoices, etc. It also offers services like cash flow management that can help to make budgets and forecast expenditures.

The entry of data by system users can be reduced by using ERP. You can also integrate this system with other software to import essential data (e.g., sales, employee hours, tax regulations, etc.)

An accounting module of ERP is connected with different modules, and central access to the software can be restricted to the relevant users. For instance, the area of sales is restricted to the sales department.

Another essential feature of the Accounting module is the connectivity of the operational activity with the accounting transaction. For instance, when you send an invoice to the customer through ERP, it’s automatically parked in the accounting module. Although account

ng software like Quickbooks and Wave do provide such integration. However, the integration of accounting software is limited.

Human resource module

ERP is used for managing human resource functions. It is useful in handling taxation, payroll, employee management, and onboarding tasks. It also eases human management by offering productive monitoring and hiring tools. This system aids in the export of employees’ data to accounting modules for the calculation of payroll.

An important point to note is that massive integration is possible from a swipe of employee card to the generation of salary slip by considering all aspects of salary calculation like holidays, sick leaves, later arrival, and other HR-related aspects.

Sales

ERP software is used to manage sales, i.e, from the initial receiving of a sales order to automate transactions, tracking of expenses, and ordering management. You can go for profit calculations and financial forecasts by using this system. The tasks of customer service actions can also be performed by using ERP software.

Improved Business intelligence

ERP systems also offer analytical capabilities that are useful for the understanding of underlying data. Business intelligence takes proprietary data and performs actionable insights by using it that assists entities in making data-driven decisions. Further, the ERP system is expected to have more sophisticated BI algorithms like data mining, descriptive analysis, benchmarking, statistical analysis, data visualization, data preparation, data querying, etc.

A business with more logically predictive information about the future is expected to make better financial decisions.

Value of using an ERP

The impact of ERP systems in today’s business world cannot be ignored. It helps in the alignment of the enterprise data that results in the improvement of workflows.  The use of an ERP system can reduce operating costs and the improved controls over data integrity and financials can help reduce the risk of an error and fraud in the financial statement.

Overall, the use of an ERP leads to financial and operational improvement in the company’s operations management.

EAM VS ERP – Differences

These are the main differences between EAM and ERP:

EAM softwareERP Software
EAM software is limited to asset management aspects of the business, and it offers great help in the optimization of the business assets.ERP system’s focus is on activities, tasks, and operations of a business, and it’s mainly about the integration of different business processes.
The EAM system is useful for streamlining work orders, repairing assets, recording information, and maintaining assets in a way that increases their efficiency.
It’s especially useful for a business that has a massive asset base.
Enterprise resource planning software is generally developed to manage different business modules like sales, human resources, payroll, customer resource management, finance, production, operations, and different aspects of business management. That’s why it’s called the master of business management.
EAM software doesn’t offer operations like administration, and accounting.ERP has all these operational and administrative features.
The life span of assets increases with the implementation of the EAM due to better optimization and implementation of preventative controlsBusiness management improves with the use of ERP software.
EAM systems can perform scheduled preventive maintenanceIt’s not a prime feature of ERP.
EAM and ERP difference

Some of the basic functions of the EAM system are also offered by the ERP system. But still, the best and efficient way of managing assets can only be performed by using the EAM system. So, EAM is about assets management, and ERP is about business management.

SAP ERP

SAP is a German company that specializes in the development of ERP solutions. It’s one of the most well-known software generating companies in the world with remarkable products. The company believes in continuous updates and meeting the business needs of ERP implementation. The company has a motive to ensure continuous updates, cut the cost and gain enhanced efficiencies. It provides,

  • Advanced analytics with enhanced digitalization.
  • Well maintained and secure cloud systems.
  • Highly flexible, maintenance-free, and scalable platform.
  • Easy to use and fast deployment.

Cloud security management is an excellent feature of the SAP that leads to a higher speed of the work and enhancement of the work efficiencies.

Oracle ERP

Oracles is a US-based company that provides ERP software. The financial management area of Oracle is considered to be better than SAP; however, SAP is thought to provide higher integration that leads to efficient business processes. Most of the features offered by Oracle are the same as in the case of SAP.

Conclusion

Suppose the organization currently uses different systems like HR, CRM, or SCM. In that case, the best way is to replace them with a single ERP system to consolidate the functions of various systems. However, if your business needs software to manage just assets, the appropriate software is EAM.

In this article, detailed information about both systems is provided. The use of these systems can be valuable for the business. These systems have their specialties in their respective fields. EAM is a perfect choice if your business mainly relies on assets. ERP system is a single system that offers characteristics of many individual software programs.

To be conclusive, the system of ERP is about the overall management of the business, and EAM is about the management of the business assets to make optimum use of them.