A Cooperative Multi-Agent Approach-Based Clustering in Enterprise Resource Planning

2.1. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

In the first, The ERP is a software package incorporating the main functions needed to manage the flows and procedures of the company (accounting and finance, logistics, payroll and human resources....etc) Benchikh & Renard (2004).

Moreover, the definition proposed by Willis-Brown seems to be the most complete, “ERP is an integrated system that allows the company to standardize its information system to link and automate its core processes. It provides employees with the information needed to direct and control the core activities of the company from the supply chain, to the product delivery to the customer. Employees enter the information just once, which is then made available to all systems of the company Chaabouniimp (2006).

In addition, one of the important characteristics of ERP is the use of what is called a WorkFlow engine which, when data is stored in the Information system, the spread in modules that have utility, according to a predefined programming Blain (2006) (see Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Organization of an ERP (Mesbahi & Kazar, 2014)

Lequeux J-L. (1998) Summarizes all the characteristics of an ERP as follows:

• 1.

  Effective management of several domains of the company with integrated modules;

• 2.

  Existence of a single data reference;

• 3.

  Rapid adaptation to the rules (professional, legal or outcome of the internal organization of the company);

• 4.

  Uniqueness of directors of the application subsystem (applications);

• 5.

  Standardization of man-machine interfaces (same screens, same buttons, etc.);

• 6.

  Existence of development or customization tools of additional applications.