SAP R/3 and the ERP Era

R/3 made enterprise resource planning a standard tool for large companies, and ERP is still the system of record that warehouses, 3PLs and order systems must connect to. Its three-tier design separated the database, application servers and desktop clients, so companies could run it on networked servers instead of mainframes. Adoption surged in the late 1990s as companies replaced old systems ahead of the year 2000 date problem. Today an ERP holds purchase orders, item masters, inventory valuation and financials while a warehouse management system runs the floor, and much of 3PL onboarding work is integrating the two through EDI or APIs.

• Enterprise Resource PlanningERPCore business software and system of record
• Warehouse Management SystemWMSSoftware that runs warehouse operations
• Purchase OrderPOA buyer's order document to a supplier

1. SAP R/3 (Wikipedia) en.wikipedia.org