Production Planning for IT-Service Providers: an ERP-based concept

Due to the pressure of rising costs and an increase in customer orientation, IT-service providers are forced to professionalize their operations (IT-Production). Using Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems common in real goods production allows to take advantage of planning functions and integrated data management. Since the production planning of IT-Production cannot be addressed by standard ERP functions, an extended concept for an MRP II based production planning and control approach for IT-service providers is developed. For this purpose, the production of a Swiss service provider is analysed and requirements are derived.