Technology Transformation through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) towards Small and Medium Enterprises (SME), Tamilnadu.

: To improve productivity and overall business performance, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is one among the solutions for the Small and Medium Enterprises (Software companies) in order to face the global challenges. Though ERP systems, which evolved from Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II) systems, have many advantages, there are some failure stories also. The Indian firms and particularly Small and Medium Enterprises. The objective of this research is to determine to implement and design the functionality based on business process, to create a configuration and programming and to provide the valuable suggestion for improvement. For better controlling and management of data latest Technologies have been supplied within ERP software package. The descriptive research adopted in the study has been Simple Random Sampling method which is used with the sample of 86 respondents in which both primary and secondary data is used all over the Tamilnadu. The foremost purpose of descriptive analysis is description of the state of affairs because it exists at the present. The statistical tools have been used such as Chi-Square, Correlation, and Anova. Questioner method is used as a research instrument for collecting the data. The main characteristic of this methodology is that the investigator has no management over the variables; he will solely report what is going on or what’s happening. This research concludes by saying it enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of organisational is improved and implemented by ERP system and they need to adopt a proactive business solution rather than a mere IT solution.


Introduction
Big sized organizations all over the world used to have access to good talents in IT which can carry out an ERP implementation in a planned and managed way.SMBs stand different in this scenario.The question, whether ERP is essential for small size organization needs to be answered first.Most of the mini size firms within the world do not need an ERP.They have Business Automation systems until they grow to an explicit size.Enterprise Resource coming up with is commonly thought of in concert of the solution for his or her survival.Up to the mid-1990s, the Software companies sector in India had operated under a much protected economic regime characterized by limited competition and a highly regulated business environment.However, following the economic liberalization and opening up of the economy to foreign Multinational Companies (MNCs), SME have been forced to adopt modern business practices and method successively will offer a leading edge over its competitors.In this report, we have presented the issues and challenges in front of SMEs and about the benefits perceived and barriers observed in implementation of ERP in Chennai, one of the industrially advanced cities of India.Ideally, ERP system, a computer code package should offer and perform of a minimum of 2 systems.As an example, a computer code package that has each pay role associate in nursing and accounting functions may technically be thought of an ERP computer code package.ERP delivers one information that contains all information for the computer code modules, which might include: 1. Manufacturing 2. Supply chain management 3. Financials 4. Project management 5. Human resources 6. Customer relationship management 7. Data warehouse 8. Access control 9. Customization ERP systems generally handle the producing, logistics, and distribution, inventory, and shipping, invoicing, and accounting for an organisation.ERP code will aid within the management of the many business activities, together with sales, marketing, delivery, billing, production, inventory management, quality management and human resource management.ERP has distended from coordination of producing processes to the mixing of enterprise-wide backend processes and it has evolved from inheritance implementation to a lot of versatile layer client-server architecture.This table shows the following the evolution of ERP from 1960s to 1990s.MRP generates schedules for the operations and stuff purchases supported the assembly necessities of finished product, the structure of the assembly system, these inventories levels and therefore the heap size procedure for every operation.Though they are more useful the cost of the ERP product is comparatively much higher than other software products.Therefore it is imperative to know the industrialist's response and expectations about these products.The present study is restricted to Small and Medium Enterprises in Chennai.

1.
To understand the present ERP modules being adapted in the company.2.
To measure the level of awareness among employees towards the new system implementation.

3.
To analyse the ERP implementation effects in the overall functioning of the organization.4.
To determine the expectations and awareness about ERP among employees.5.
To provide the valuable suggestions for improvement.

1.3.
Expected deliverables Mid-sized firms are facing troubles in maintaining their systems effectively due to various reasons.ERP is a boon to them.SAP is used by the majority of firms.This study can be considered as a sample for the whole SMB sector.Although there are several issues to be resolved, although the ERP market is growing and ERP vendors have shifted their focus to the SME segment Firstly, the companies need to be made 'ERP aware'.They need to implement micro verticals in ERP to better meet the requirements of their vendors.Since the financial resources of the company are limited, the cost of ERP system needs to be further reduced.The companies on their part need to carefully evaluate their current IT systems and shortcomings while creating a wish list of things they want to achieve.While these are a number of the problems to be considered there are certainly more which the authors hope to seek out in their further study the conceptual model of ERP implementation in SME 1. There's an significant research gap which exist within the AHP application within the areas like managing stocks and forecasting layout of facilities,2.To identify the alternative areas the framework development is completed.

Research methodology 3.1.
Type of research Descriptive research includes surveys and fact-finding enquires of various kinds.The major purpose of descriptive research is description of the state of affairs because it exists at the present.The main characteristic of this method is that the researcher has no control over the variables; he can only report what went on or what's happening.This project involves descriptive research for data collection.

Target Respondents
The respondents were employees of SME Industries.The research questions set are to be asked to them.

Sampling techniques
Sampling design-Simple random sampling method is used to collect data through questionnaires.Sample Size: Sample size decided for this project is 100, but the turnaround respondents were only 86.The report thus ended up with 86 respondents.Due to the present Covid 19 pandemic outburst, it was not possible to meet the respondents directly and collect the samples.

Data Processing
The type of data collected comprises primary data and secondary data.Primary Data -The information which is collected as fresh for the primary time and thus happens to be original in character is named primary data.The primary data was collected from the customers of software products through a direct structured questionnaire.Respondent has filled the questionnaire Secondary Data -Secondary data for the study has been compiled from the internet sources, magazines and newspapers which have been helpful in getting an insight of the present scenario.

Research instruments
A questionnaire maybe a research instrument method that consists of a group of questions or other sorts of prompts that aims to gather information from a respondent.Interpretation: 42% respondents strongly agree that increase the visibility in supply chain is that the need for an integrated ERP, 37% of them accept as true with this, 10% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this Interpretation: 43% respondents strongly agree that compliance to standards is that the need for an integrated ERP, 31% of them accept as true with this, 15% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and the rest 3% of them strongly afflict this.Interpretation: 37% respondents strongly agree that cost effectiveness is that the need for an integrated ERP, 31% of them accept as true with this, 20% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly afflict this.Interpretation: 40% respondents strongly agree that reduction of pilferage and damages is that the need for an integrated ERP, 29% of them accept as true with this, 19% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 5% of them strongly afflict this.

Chi-Square Test
Chi-Square between age of the respondents and their opinion no or poorly done needs analysis as a barrier in effective evolution of ERP Interpretation: This is often the table that shows the output of the ANOVA analysis and that we haven't any statistically significant difference between our group means.We will see that the importance level is 0.181 (p = .181),which is quiet 0.05, therefore, there's no statistically significant relationship between education of the respondents and therefore the utilization of resources as a challenge in present ERP process

Cronbach Alpha
Cronbach coefficient was employed to determine the reliability for this research.The results been presented as below:-

N of Items
.

.963 25
Interpretation: Reliability test was administered using SPSS software and therefore the reliability of the item was measured.The result is as follows: The closer the reliability coefficient gets to the value of 1.0, the better the reliability of the measures is [Cronbach, 1951].It can be seen that Cronbach's Alpha value of this study is 0.977 and the Cronbach's Alpha Based on Standardized Items with n as 25 is 0.971.So, the collected data is reliable.This scale can be considered to be excellent.The reliability test was used for the perception set of variables

Independent T Test
It is an inferential statistical test that determines whether there's a statistically significant difference between the means in two unrelated groups.Interpretation: The information showed a violation of normality, linearity or homoscedasticity.
There was a indirect correlation between experience of the respondents and their opinion on compliance to standards as a advantage of integrated ERP, which wasn't statistically significant (r = -0.051,n = 86, p = 1).The Pearson coefficient of correlation, r, is -0.051 which isn't statistically significant.97% respondents are male and rest 3% of the respondents is female 3.

Findings, Suggestions
2% respondents are non-graduates, 29% of them are diploma holders, 59% of them are graduates, and 9% of the respondents are post graduates 4.
52% respondents have less than 5 years of work experience, 23% of them have 6-10 years of experience, 17% of them have 11-15 years of experience, 7% respondents have more than 15 years of experience 5.
29% respondents are earning less than Rs.2 Lakhs per annum, 44% are earning 2-3 lakhs per year, and 23% respondents' income per year is 3-4 Lakhs, 3% of them are earning more than 4 Lakhs per annum

Challenges in ERP
1.
43% respondents strongly agree that holding excess stock is the challenge in ERP, 35% of them agree with this, 12% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this 2.
40% respondents strongly agree that wastage of process is the challenge in ERP, 35% of them agree with this, 15% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this 3.
40% respondents strongly agree that utilization of resources is the challenge in ERP, 36% of them agree with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this 4.
42% respondents strongly agree that lack of proper MIS to monitor the process is the challenge in ERP, 37% of them agree with this, 10% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this 5.
42% respondents strongly agree that packaging issues is the challenge in ERP, 36% of them agree with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this

Barriers in effective evolution of ERP 1.
43% respondents strongly agree that technology implementation is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 34% of them accept as true with this, 12% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 9% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 2.
45% respondents strongly agree that lack of management commitment is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 33% of them agree with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 3.

4.
43% respondents strongly agree that no or poorly done needs analysis is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 37% of them agree with this, 12% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 6% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 5.
42% respondents strongly agree that lack of communication is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 34% of them agree with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 9% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 5.4.Need for integrated ERP 1.
42% respondents strongly agree that increase the visibility in supply chain is the need for an integrated ERP, 37% of them agree with this, 10% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this 2.
42% respondents strongly agree that correct valuation of Stock is the need for an integrated ERP, 33% of them agree with this, 12% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 10% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this 3.
44% respondents strongly agree that effective tracking is the need for an integrated ERP, 30% of them agree with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 9% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this 4.
42% respondents strongly agree that 24 x 7 support is the need for an integrated ERP, 29% of them agree with this, 19% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this. 5.
42% respondents strongly agree that time saving is the need for an integrated ERP, 33% of them agree with this, 15% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this.

Benefits of integrated ERP 1.
37% respondents strongly agree that gaining competitive advantage is the benefit of integrated ERP, 29% of them agree with this, 22% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 5% of them strongly disagree with this. 2.
43% respondents strongly agree that compliance to standards is the benefit of integrated ERP, 31% of them agree with this, 15% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this.

3.
37% respondents strongly agree that cost effectiveness is the benefit of integrated ERP, 31% of them agree with this, 20% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly disagree with this. 4.
40% respondents strongly agree that reduction of pilferage and damages is the benefit of integrated ERP, 29% of them agree with this, 19% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 5% of them strongly disagree with this. 5.
36% respondents strongly agree that effective transportation control is the benefit of integrated ERP, 33% of them agree with this, 21% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly disagree with this.

Suggestions & Recommendations 1.
Work with an account consultant to finalize the Chart of Accounts first.Chart of accounts must ensure accordance with laws of the land.If this is often not finalized then any changes leads to having to vary data which is error prone.

2.
Start next on Fixed Assets of the corporate.Get all existing FAs entered within the system using the proper depreciation schedule permitted by law?Provide customers with a few of reports that give them information they have to understand that the knowledge got entered properly.

3.
Once accounts are found out, start purchasing module implementation.Sub divides the implementation into multiple flows (e.g.Import, Local purchase etc...).Trying to implement an entire purchasing cycle is treacherous thanks to the quantity of activity that must be done.You would like to pick certain flows, get those delivered and then move to subsequent flows.

4.
After purchasing, next should be inventory.Once material management is addressed, major pain areas for many of the companies in SME are going to be addressed.There are only a few SME that struggle with managing sales that's an honest problem those they skills to handle.Inventory execution will include QA at the time of receipt, material rejection etc. 5.
Manufacturing should be handled last.This is often for the straightforward reason that within the SME sector, there are only a few companies who optimize Manufacturing while implementing ERP.In other words, there are not any major gains to be had when one implements ERP for the primary time.ERP in manufacturing starts showing results once the organization is employed to ERP and data residing in ERP. 6.
It is my belief that ERP implementations in SME will benefit greatly by using the fundamentals of agile methodology.7.
Demonstrate the merchandise.

Conclusion
ERP systems provide better visibility to the working of the organization and disciplined way of working.SME are the backbone of the Indian economy and are today faced with global competition.Therefore it becomes much imperative for them to look upon that means of responding to the dynamic markets.Nowadays, ERP systems have become the most followed IT strategy for most large companies.SME too are moving towards ERP systems.Definitely they must need to adopt a proactive approach towards ERP by considering as a business solution rather than a mere IT solution.Though the ERP market is evolving and ERP vendors have to adopt and shift their focus to the SME segment, thus many issues will be resolved.Firstly, SME need to be made 'ERP aware'.Vendors need to micro verticals the ERP solution to better meet the requirements of SME.Since the financial resources of SME are limited, the cost of ERP system needs to be further reduced.SME on their part need to carefully evaluate their current IT systems and document its shortcomings while creating a wish list of what they want to achieve.While these are some of the common issues that to be considered but there are certainly many more which the authors hope to find in their further research.The conceptual model of ERP implementation in SME.

Fig. 1 :
Fig.1: Concept of ERP Systems wise supported all variables within the procedure.

5 . 1 .
Findings of the Study 1.1% respondents are having less than 20 years old, 55% of them 21-30 years old, 30% of them are 31-40 years old, and 14% of the respondents are above 40 years old 2.
Enterprise Resource Planning software is nowadays playing a major role in business operations.Since the introduction of this software it is gaining more and more importance in industry sector.Many software companies are developing the ERP package for different kinds of industries.Major players of ERP software package are SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, Navison, Ramco, 3i InfoTech and Edwards etc.

Table 1 . Educational Qualification of the Respondents
2% respondents are non-graduates, 29% of them are diploma holders, 59% of them are graduates, and 9% of the respondents are post graduates.40% respondents strongly agree that wastage of process is that the challenge in ERP, 35% of them accept as true with this, 15% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 40% respondents strongly agree that utilization of resources is that the challenge in ERP, 36% of them accept as true with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 3% of them strongly afflict this

Table 6 . Lack of Proper Mis to Monitor the Process
42% respondents strongly agree that lack of proper MIS to monitor the process is that the challenge in ERP, 37% of them accept as true with this, 10% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 42% respondents strongly agree that packaging issues is that the challenge in ERP, 36% of them accept as true with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 43% respondents strongly agree that technology implementation is the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 34% of them accept as true with this, 12% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 9% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this

Table 9 . Lack of Management Commitment
45% respondents strongly agree that lack of management commitment is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 33% of them accept as true with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this 42% respondents strongly agree that lack of communication is that the barrier in effective evolution of ERP, 34% of them accept as true with this, 13% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 9% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this

Table 12
42% respondents strongly agree that 24 x 7 support is that the need for an integrated ERP, 29% of them accept as true with this, 19% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 8% respondents disagree and rest 2% of them strongly afflict this.
Interpretation: 37% respondents strongly agree that gaining competitive advantage is that the need for an integrated ERP, 29% of them accept as true with this, 22% of the respondents are neutral towards this, 7% respondents disagree and rest 5% of them strongly afflict this.

Table 17 . Reduction of Pilferage and Damages
Chi square value of χ (12) 13.832.Significance 0.312 at 5% level of significance, table value 13.832 is > 0.312 and therefore the accepted Null Hypothesis.Hence there's no significant relationship between age of the respondents and their opinion no or poorly done needs analysis as a barrier in effective evolution of ERP Interpretation:

.6. Correlation Coefficient
From the above table it's clear that the importance (0.026) is lesser than 0.05.a worth but .05means that the variability within the two conditions is different.That the scores in one condition vary an excessive amount of quiet the scores within second condition.Put scientifically, it means that the variability within the two conditions is statistically significant.4A Pearson product-moment correlation was run to work out the connection between experience of the respondents and their opinion on compliance to standards as a advantage of integrated ERP Correlations