ERP and Time Management: A Recommender System

Introduction

As the performance of business computer hardware evolves, software offers more services to users. The software tool most used in business, management software, also evolves over time. Thus companies, as part of their digital transition, require their employees to use an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) in order to centralize management and data. The modern ERP implementation methodology encourages and supports a phased approach to business management (Lutovac and al., 2012). In all sectors, the manager is faced with the difficulty of planning the tasks of the team as well as possible. Management software frequently helps the manager to follow the activity of the company but this does not guarantee that each member of the team takes care of the most suitable task according to the criteria imposed by the management.

Standard management software may be ideal for a company that only needs basic functionalities such as sales management, inventory management or customer management (Bronner and al., 2020). On the other hand, when a company wishes to manage and monitor all the information and operational services that make up its activity, it uses an ERP. The objectives of this tool, which is part of the digital transition of companies, are multiple:

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  Ensure centralization, security and rapid access to information

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  Automate repetitive and time-consuming tasks (low value-added hunting)

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  Improve organization between employees and communication between departments

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  Plan tasks and coordinate stakeholders

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  Analyze performance and profitability in real time

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  Have all the useful information on its staff, customers, products, suppliers and subcontractors

In addition, ERPs are also used for time and activity management (TAM). Thus, department heads, whose mission is to organize the activity and guarantee the productivity of their department through the operational planning of their teams, are assisted by the software which allows them to discharge a certain number of control and input operations to focus on more strategic tasks. TAM creates a climate of trust and transparency by making the monitoring of staff working time more reliable, both in terms of consultation and organization. Indeed, the precision of the input information guarantees infallible output processing.

The major challenge of setting up a TAM is optimal operational management, i.e. scheduling the right person, at the right time, for the right activity, while controlling the associated costs.

Thus, in the commercial sector, it is difficult to know if a user is making the right choice when making a quote for customer A while customer B is also waiting, or vice versa. The time spent for each client is an important factor, as it can be seen as the profitability of the project or it could improve customer satisfaction, but neither the employees nor the manager can control all these parameters. The volume of data stored by an ERP is so large that a user can in no way take into account its entirety. The reality is such that even software struggles to be able to process them effectively, hence the birth of the term big data.

Business Intelligence (BI) tools and techniques used to come on top of the ERP systems in order to help decision makers making quality decisions (Elragal, 2014). Indeed, BI can go deeper to find hidden patterns and unknown facts when using data mining techniques. It is therefore obvious that a system allowing the user of an ERP to suggest an action by matching user’s preferences and the analysis of the company's activity is essential.

A recommender system, in which criteria would thus be defined, could ensure the choice of the most appropriate alternative under the constraint of these criteria. One alternative is a task to be done in priority. This recommender system could guide the staff in the next to be done.