E
e-Business: The generic name given to any type of business conducted using the Internet from online trading to self-service.
engineer-to-order (ETO): Products whose customer specifications require unique engineering design, significant customization, or new purchased materials. Each customer order results in a unique set of part numbers, bills of material, and routings.
enterprise application integration (EAI): The unrestricted sharing of data and business processes throughout the networked applications or data sources in an organization, since early software programs in areas such as inventory control, human resources, sales automation and database management were designed to run independently, with no interaction between the systems. There are four major categories of EAI:
1) database linking: databases share information and duplicate information as needed;
2) application linking: the enterprise shares business processes and data between two or more applications;
3) data warehousing: data is extracted from a variety of data sources and channeled into a specific database for analysis; and
4) common virtual system: the pinnacle of EAI; all aspects of enterprise computing are tied together so that they appear as a unified application.
enterprise asset management (EAM): A term used by maintenance management software vendors to connote the wide-ranging functionality that their systems include, for example inventory management and financials. A company’s total assets might include labor, tools, equipment, materials, and information. The goal of asset management is to optimize asset use and manage all maintenance efforts involved in making assets as reliable, accurate, and efficient as possible. A further crucial element in enterprise wide asset management is integration with financial, human resources, and purchasing functions, as well as production, material requirements planning, and enterprise resources planning systems.
enterprise resources planning (ERP) system:
1) An accounting-oriented information system for identifying and planning the enterprise-wide resources needed to take, make, ship, and account for customer orders. An ERP system differs from the typical MRP II system in technical requirements such as graphical user interface, relational database, use of fourth-generation language, and computer-assisted software engineering tools in development, client/server architecture, and open-system portability.
2) More generally, a method for the effective planning and control of all resources needed to take, make, ship, and account for customer orders in a manufacturing, distribution, or service company.