External Cost Estimation System for ERP Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Businesses face challenges in accurately estimating costs for new products or services without disrupting their ongoing operations, as existing ERP systems require significant time and expense to develop and maintain cost templates, and cannot model items not yet included in the system.
Innovation Solution
A cost estimation system external to the ERP system allows users to model and evaluate cost objects by selecting templates and metadata, determining which functions require evaluation, and requesting cost data from the ERP system to calculate estimates, enabling the inclusion of items not previously modeled.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If businesses use ERP systems to estimate costs for new products, then cost estimation accuracy is improved, but system complexity and disruption to ongoing operations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system separates cost estimation functionality from the core ERP system by creating an external cost estimation system that connects to ERP data through defined interfaces. This segmentation allows accurate cost estimation using ERP templates without requiring modifications to the ERP system itself, thus maintaining operational simplicity while achieving measurement precision.
Solution Approach 2:
An external cost estimation system acts as an intermediary between the business needs for cost estimation and the ERP system. This mediator can access ERP templates and cost data through standardized connections, perform cost calculations for new products, and return results without disrupting the ERP system's internal operations or requiring direct modifications.
2Measurement precision
If businesses develop custom cost templates in ERP systems, then cost estimation accuracy is improved, but time and expense investment increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system allows businesses to pre-develop and store cost templates in the external cost estimation system rather than in the ERP system. These templates are created once and can be reused for multiple cost estimation scenarios, eliminating the need to repeatedly develop templates in the ERP system and reducing both time and expense investment while maintaining accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The external cost estimation system can copy or reference ERP system templates without requiring full duplication or modification within the ERP system. This copying approach allows the system to leverage existing accurate templates for cost estimation while avoiding the time-consuming process of recreating or maintaining templates within the ERP environment.
3Adaptability or versatility
If businesses access ERP templates externally for cost estimation, then adaptability to new products is improved, but data security and system integrity risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The external cost estimation system serves as a controlled intermediary that connects to the ERP system through defined interfaces with appropriate security measures. This mediator can access necessary template data for cost estimation of new products while implementing security protocols to protect data integrity and prevent unauthorized modifications to the ERP system.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of directly modifying or accessing ERP templates in place, the external system creates copies or references to the template data. This copying approach allows adaptability to new products by using the same proven templates while isolating the ERP system from potential security risks or data integrity issues that could arise from direct external access.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods are disclosed for generating cost estimates. In one implementation, a cost estimation system includes cost object metadata describing a mapping between functions at a cost estimation system and corresponding functions at a cost evaluation system. Based on the metadata, the cost estimation system determines whether a cost object requires evaluation in the cost evaluation system and, based on that determination, provides an evaluation request for the cost object to the cost evaluation system. In response to the evaluation request, the cost estimation system receives cost data determined by the cost evaluation system and calculates the cost estimate.