How important is a Pre-Processing tool for ERP system?

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An ERP tool is a centralized platform for storing and accessing all company data which eliminates standalone data systems and enables departments to share information seamlessly. Many ERP tools include built-in features to help organizations meet industry-specific regulations and standards, however, this needs special training to understand how to navigate the system, utilize its features, and ensure that processes are executed correctly.

While it is possible to upload engineering data directly to an ERP system, it often presents various challenges, such as data compatibility, validation, integration, and complexity. Below are some key challenges involved in direct data uploads to an ERP system.

  • Unstructured Data: Engineering data might not always be in a structured format. Unstructured data is often not compatible with ERP system fields. Engineering data is often stored in formats like spreadsheets, databases, or specialized engineering tools that are not directly compatible with ERP systems. ERP systems typically require data to be in specific formats (e.g., CSV, XML, or API-based integration).
  • Field Mappings: The engineering data fields might not align with ERP data structures. For example, part numbers, material specifications, or units of measurement may not always match the way the ERP system expects them to be formatted.
  • Risk of Errors: Uploading engineering data directly increases the risk of errors such as incorrect data formats, incomplete records, or invalid values which may cause the upload process to fail or lead to errors later. Manual data entry can introduce mistakes, especially when dealing with complex engineering data. The larger and more detailed the data, the greater the risk of inaccuracies.
  • Data Duplication: Duplicate entries may (will!) occur if there’s no mechanism to identify and remove redundant data before the upload, leading to issues like incorrect inventory tracking or erroneous cost calculations.
  • Time-Consuming: Direct uploads require significant manual intervention to clean, validate, and map the data correctly, which can be labor-intensive, time-consuming, costly and prone to human error which again adds more time, resources and cost to correct it.
  • Compliance Requirements: Certain industries (e.g., aerospace, automotive) may have regulatory requirements for data management. Ensuring that directly uploaded engineering data complies with these standards can add another layer of complexity.

 

Often, organizations use a pre-processing tool to convert unstructured engineering data to structured ERP-compliant format before uploading them into the ERP environment. Though this might seem like an extra step that adds cost, this additional step makes sure that the upload process is finished without error and more importantly reduces cost by avoiding future errors after uploading.

Major reasons why preprocessing tools can be crucial in this step are:

  • Data Validation and Cleaning: Engineering data is vast and complex, and often contains inconsistencies, duplicates, or errors. Preprocessing tools help validate data against predefined rules (e.g., format checks, missing values), remove redundancies or irrelevant information & correct errors before they are fed into the ERP system to avoid downstream issues.
  • Data Transformation: Different systems often store and manage data in varying formats. Preprocessing tools help by converting the data into a format compatible with the ERP system, structuring unorganized data or adapting it to match ERP data models (e.g., renaming fields, formatting dates).
  • Data Governance: Preprocessing tools help control how data is handled, converting data from one format to another to ensure consistency across different systems, standardizing values, such as ensuring that “NY” and “New York” are treated the same. They can enrich data with metadata (e.g., timestamps, ownership, data source) to meet governance requirements. This helps maintain an audit trail, which is crucial for regulatory compliance.
  • Data Mapping: Many ERP systems require data to be mapped from the source system to specific fields or tables in the ERP database. Preprocessing tools assist by automating the mapping process ensuring that the correct data is loaded into the appropriate sections of the ERP system, reducing manual intervention.
  • Reducing Load Failures: Without proper preprocessing, data upload attempts can result in failures or incomplete uploads. Preprocessing minimizes the chances of this by identifying potential issues before they occur reducing the need for manual troubleshooting after failed uploads.
  • Improving Data Quality: ERP systems rely heavily on high-quality, accurate data for reporting, decision-making, and daily operations. Preprocessing ensures that data quality is maintained, and that the engineering data uploaded is reliable and usable for analytics, inventory management, procurement, etc.
  • Compliance and Standardization: Many industries have regulatory requirements for how engineering data should be managed. Preprocessing tools can ensure that data adheres to industry standards and compliance regulations so that there is uniformity across all datasets being fed into the ERP system.

Conclusion

The benefits in having a preprocessing tool in terms of data quality, consistency, and reliability make it a highly recommended practice. Without proper preprocessing, errors, inconsistencies, and data failures could lead to inefficiencies in the ERP system, potentially affecting key business processes. As an engineer who has faced these challenges firsthand in the past, I would always put in some time and work into a preprocessing tool before uploading the engineering data into an ERP system.

 

Check out our revolutionary AI-powered pre-processing tool here.

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