Database and ERP

Question

I am trying to master a new ERP application. Basically I have good functional knowledge. And I was advised to learn SQL .I do not know where to start. I have two books .Below are the urls which has the TOC of each book. Which book should I read first? The idea is to get a good understanding of the relationship between ERP and database and to understand the databse concepts in the context of an ERP application

1.SQL for dummies
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/SQL-For-Dummies-6th-Edition.productCd-047004652X,navId-322451,descCd-tableOfContents.html

2.Database development for dummies
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/Database-Development-For-Dummies.productCd-0764507524,navId-322451,descCd-tableOfContents.html

Sorry guys I know that I was not able to express my requirements clearly. See if you can make some helpful suggestions.

Hi HLGEM and others I will be working in the roles of production support consultant and will be participating in an upgrade project. Prod support: We get issues from the client site and we use SQL to find the necessary information. Upgrade Project: We will be upgrading to the newest version.I think we will have to migrate the data and do some configuration. Can you help me in planning what to learn? My colleagues suggested that I need to understand the Tables,schemas,ERDs.Is that what I should be focusiin on? Please elaborate depending on your Time constraints.

Answer 1

Do you have a DBA for your ERP? I would start by talking to them. You will need to learn two things; SQL and your ERP's data structures.

1) SQL - if you are just starting out have a look at O'Reilly's books. I haven't read either but Learning SQL and Headfirst SQL would be a good start. The Headfirst ones are very good practical ways of learning a new topic.

2) Your ERP data structure. You'll need a data dictionary and whatever documentation you can get hold of. You need to remember that between you and the database there is usually a ton of business logic that you'll need to recreate with your SQL when trying to access data. I would start with an area you are very familiar and build your SQL around that to learn some of the conventions. Remember that your ERP has probably been built over decades with 100's of people working on it so there will be many oddities and inconsistencies in there.

Sometimes SQL is the fastest way to get data from your ERP.. but have you investigated whether your ERP exposes it's business objects for .Net or COM or even Java? This is usually the way you'll need to go if you wish to put data into your ERP, or be assured that the data you retrieve from your ERP is correct.

Answer 2

what happens in a database when a transaction is carried out by an end user for ex: how is inventory updated when you receive goods?

I don't know about the Oracle equivalent but in SQL Server databases we can run Profiler to see exactly what was sent to the databases when a particular part of the application is run. This is invaluable in trying to fugure out some of the types of questions you have. I'm sure Oracle has some equivalent way to do the same thing or there are other products inthe the marketplace that do that, but I don't know what they are. I just throw out the idea to give you a a type of tool to be looking for.

You need to understand SQL because all ERPS are data intensive and you cannot understand what is going on in the database without understanding SQL. Remember Oracle has it's own flavor of SQL which is very differnt from other databases. So in learning make sure you learn PL/SQL. If the ERP was designed for multiple database backends, it may have used ANSII standard SQL instead of the more robust PL/SQL. If you don't understand both SQL and the theory of relational database design, you really don't understand ERP at all as the database is the most critical part of an ERP system. ERP database queries are generally quite complicated. At a minumum you need to thoroughly understand relational design, all types of joins and far more than the basic level CRUD operations.

What types of tasks are you go ing to be supporting in your ERP? This might lead to more and better suggestions of what to learn. For instance if you need to create custom reporting or data warehouse applications from the ERPs data, that is very different than just keeping the system running as an admin. If you are going to do performance tuning, you need to advance very quickly beyond the basics. This is advanced stuff that requires years of expertise to do well. There are also whole books on performance tuning but if you are looking at the "For Dummies" books, then you are not yet ready to understand them.