ERP software system concepts and terms - education and training is essential for successful ERP implementation

ERP Software Concepts and Terms Starting with: C

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Understanding of the relevant ERP system terminology and concepts is important if an ERP software package is to be sucessfully implemented within a business and operated correctly such that it yields cost savings, better quality management information and the other efficiencies and benefits that you are hoping for. To aid with this understanding of ERP system terminology and concepts we are compiling a list of ERP terms and their associated definitions which is being made available to companies with an interest in ERP - if you want to add to this list of ERP concepts then please complete the form at the bottom of this page.

The table below lists the main ERP system concepts that start with letter C and their definitions - we hope you find them useful and wish you every success with your ERP software system implementation! To learn about other ERP system concepts, terminology and definitions click the relevant letter from the list below:

-A-B-C-D-E-F-G-H-I-J-K-L-M-N-O-P-Q-R-S-T-U-V-W-Y-Z-

ERP Software Concepts and Terms Starting with: C
ERP Concept	ERP Term Definition
Call-off	Confirmation of requirements from a supplier against a long term order.
Capacity	Aggregated volume of work load (required-, demonstrated-, maximum-, etc.)
Capacity balance	The process of balancing the required and available capacities by sub-contracting, overtime etc.
Capacity control report	Contains information used to control work centre capacity (work centre, planned week, hours of production)
Capacity planning	The process of determining the capacity required to produce in the future.
Capacity requirements planning	The process of determining how much labour / machine resources are required to accomplish production
Carrying charge	Cost of carrying inventory, usually defined as a percentage of the value of inventory per unit of time (generally one year).
Cash flow	The net flow of money into or out of a project.
Cell	A production area dedicated to the complete processing of one or more part families of products.
Cell loading	The process of loading individual product orders to be manufactured in the cell.
Cell scheduling	Activity of assigning dates to the important steps in the process of manufacturing products (part of planning and control not execution).
Cellular manufacturing	A manufacturing system that produces families of parts within a single line or cell of machines operated by operators who work only within the line or cell.
Changeover time	The time required for a specific machine, resource, work centre, or line to convert from the production of the last good piece of lot A to the first good piece of lot B.
Closed-loop manufacturing system	Manufacturing system in which feedback is provided by the manufacturing execution functions so that the planning can be kept valid at all times.
Company goals	Clear and concise objectives of the company
Completion date	The planned / estimated date by which an order will be finished.
Configuration number	A code number that is allocated to an item with a particular combination of components.
Co-products	Products that are usually manufactured together or sequentially because of product or process similarities.
Cost estimation	The process of attempting to determine the likely or expected costs associated with a certain product or process etc.
Counting tolerance	Error level thresholds within which records are regarded as being accurate (most parameters need to be greater than 95% accurate).
Critical network	Combination of the bottleneck and subsequent operations
Critical path method	A network planning technique for the analysis of a project's completion time, used for planning and controlling the activities in a project.
Critical ratio	The number of days until the job is required divided by the number of days required to complete the job. Rule often used for production scheduling and finite capacity planning.
Critical resources	Those resources that usually become overloaded when the schedule is increased (or run out of work when the schedule is reduced).
Cumulative gross requirements	The sum total of the gross requirements, over a period of time, for an item.
Cumulative lead time	The total planned length of time to carry out all the operations.
Cumulative net requirements	The excess of cumulative gross requirements over the cumulative gross available
Customer complaints	Grievances that customers air about an aspect / aspects of the goods / services they have been supplied. The number of complaints may be used to rate suppliers.
Customer order	A formal order from the customer which provides details of the amount and due date for a customer's requirement of products.
Customer service level	The percentage of occasions on which the order is delivered as promised.
Customisation	Alterations made to a standard product in accordance with a customer's specific requirements.
Cycle counting	Inventory is counted on a periodic schedule rather than once a year
Cycle time	The amount of time it takes to carry out one complete manufacturing cycle.

There are many factors that are deemed to be critical to the success of an ERP software implementation. Ensuring that you have gone through an effective ERP system selection process is one essential ingredient to success and other ingreients would be issues such as data accuracy (BOMs, inventory records, routings etc.) However, the 'softer' issues associated with ERP software implementation process are often ignored by companies attempting an ERP implementation often with disastrous consequences. Soft implementation issues include: the people in the organisation, their fears, motivation (or lack of it!), resistance to change and the prevailing culture within the organisation - all have their parts to play in the ERP implementation process.

Communication and overt committment to the ERP implementation project by senior management are crucial to ERP system implementation success. Similarly, adequate and timely education and training of key personnel helps to reduce fear, increase understanding and can be used to sway a critical mass of people to being behind the ERP implementation and working to make the implementation a success. The ERP system Concepts and Terms listed and defined on this page can be used for reference to help ensure that people in companies attempting an ERP package installation and implementation are conversant with the main ERP ideas and terminology associated with ERP software systems and their use.

If you would like to add an ERP concept and definition or you want to make a general comment about this page of ERP system concepts and terms or have any questions about ERP software selection or ERP system implementation then please complete the form below and we will do our best to help.

Note that after submitting the form this page about ERP software system terminology, concepts and definintions will reload.

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Please contact Austen Jones with any questions, comments or suggestions.

Last Updated: 27-Mar-2008