ERP evolved from Manufacturing Requirement Planning II and its development started in late 80s. It expanded from the coordination of various manufacturing processes to an enterprise wide system which has a centralized database and it can be accessed from any part of the world.
Functionally, it developed from financials - stock maintenance to designing business intelligence and future trends - in almost four to five decades.
Technologically it evolved from single one tier legacy system to N-Tier architecture.
60s
The initial automated systems introduced in 1960 were basically inventory control systems where the records were maintained through technological provisions, and the system required maintaining the needed level of stock in warehouse. The activities included identifying the requirements, defining targets, managing the balance and designing reports.
70s
In 70s, the software applications evolved to get the new Material Requirement Planning in which the scheduling of production plan, purchase based on the availability of raw material and finished goods, the production design and inventories levels were designed. SAP was developed in 70s by a group of five engineers who designed a software which was based on business needs. The ERP giants Oracle and Baan were also developed in this decade.
80s
In 80s, the Manufacturing Requirement Planning was designed which coordinated the process of manufacturing, production, purchase, inventory and distribution. There were many benefits of the new system but the benefits were limited to business areas and sectors. Therefore the development of ERP started which as aimed to provide automation to HR, Finance, Marketing SCM, Inventory, Production, Project Management etc.
In 80s many famous companies were investing in the development of automated packages and the software such as PeopleSoft was launched during this period. PeopleSoft was aimed to provide automated system for human resource management, and Baan provided financial and management related packages. Oracle introduced the relational database system for commercial ventures.
Baan was working on Operating System UNIX and JD Edwards used the IBM Systems.
90s
In 90s the features such as multi module ERP was designed which was aimed to improve the performance of an Enterprise and for providing the solution. The modules integrated the business activities across various departments of the organizations. In the 90s - One-Tier and Two-Tier system were designed.
Later the three tier architecture was developed in which the business layer was designed as middle layer, and the client side or the presentation layer had the user interface and server held the database. With the development of 3-Tier architecture, N-tier designs were also made and in the last five years of 90s decade online development of applications started.
By the end of 90s decade, the concept of Software as a solution was developed and ERP providers developed applications which could provide solution through internet on monthly subscription basis.
2000 to Present
The ERP companies aimed to give ERP for small and midsized companies and the new systems can be integrated to any application and provide ecommerce service. The mobile and wireless technologies were developed. The concept of ERP II was established which provides web friendly tools and applications.
