ERP Modules Explained: The Complete List
An ERP module is a functional area of the business the system covers. The core set is sales, procurement, inventory, production, costing, quality, HR and payroll, and financial accounting. Textile and garments manufacturers add process modules on top, plus bonded warehouse and VAT modules that are statutory in Bangladesh rather than optional.
What is an ERP module?
A module is one functional area of the business, holding its own data and screens, reading and writing to the same database as every other module. The distinction that matters is between a module and an interface. A module shares the database. An interface copies data between two systems that each keep their own.
That difference is invisible in a demo and decisive at month end. If production and accounts are modules of one system, a goods receipt updates stock and creates the accounting entry in the same transaction. If they are separate systems with an interface, the two records exist independently and somebody reconciles them.
Vendors use the word loosely, so ask directly: is this a module of your system, or an integration with another product? The answer changes what you are buying. Our plain definition of ERP software covers the shared-database principle this rests on.
What are the core ERP modules?
Eight, and nearly every ERP on the market has a version of each. What differs between products is depth, not presence.
| Module | Who uses it daily | What breaks without it |
|---|---|---|
| Sales and order management | Merchandising, commercial | No single answer to what has been promised and by when |
| Procurement and purchasing | Store, commercial | Orders placed twice, or late, with no record of terms |
| Inventory and stores | Store keepers, production | Stock on paper differs from stock on the floor, permanently |
| Production and planning | Production managers, planners | Output known only at end of shift, so bottlenecks surface a day late |
| Costing | Finance, merchandising | Quoted cost and actual cost never meet, so margin is an estimate |
| Quality | QC, lab | Defects recorded without a traceable cause, so claims are unarguable |
| HR, attendance and payroll | HR, compliance | Attendance and wage records disagree, and audits take a week |
| Financial accounting | Accounts, finance director | Close depends on reconciling other departments by hand |
Most of the value in an ERP is in this core set. Most of the difference between competing products is in the industry modules below it.
Which modules does a textile manufacturer add?
Process modules, one per operation, because each costs differently. A spinning module and a dyeing module are not variations on a single manufacturing screen. They model different conversions.
| Process module | What it must hold |
|---|---|
| Spinning | Mixing and lay-down, count-wise production, waste by category, yarn store by lot |
| Weaving | Beam allocation, loom planning, warping and sizing, greige lot traceability |
| Dyeing | Recipes with liquor ratio, lab dip version history, shade approval, batch costing with re-process |
| Printing | Screen or design reference, colourway, paste consumption, repeat rejection |
| Denim | Rope or slasher dyeing parameters, shade continuity across lots |
| Washing | Wash recipe costing, subcontract movement, shade and hand-feel approval |
| Fabric processing | Greige-to-finished reconciliation, GSM, width and shrinkage through finishing |
| R&D lab | Dip development, test results, approval against the buyer standard |
The test for any of these is whether the data is structured or free-text. A recipe stored as a note is not a recipe module. If a vendor cannot show the cost of a batch that was re-dyed once, the dyeing module is a production log.
Which modules does a garments manufacturer add?
Order-centred modules, plus the statutory ones that exist because of where you operate.
| Module | What it must hold |
|---|---|
| Style and order management | One style across colours and sizes as dimensions of one order, not separate products |
| Merchandising and TNA | Dated milestones from order confirmation to shipment, with slippage visible |
| Cutting and WIP | Cutting ratio against size breakdown, bundle-level work in progress |
| CM costing | Conversion cost per piece against actual consumption and marker efficiency |
| Commercial | Master LC, back-to-back LC, PI and invoice on the same order record |
| Subcontract | Wash, print or embroidery as a stage of the order, material staying on your bond |
| Accessories | Item-level BOM against the parent garment order |
| Bonded warehouse | Consumption and stock register reconciling imported input to exported output |
| VAT and Mushok | The forms prescribed by the NBR, including the 6.7 purchase and sales register, generated from transactions |
The last two are not conveniences. Under a bonded warehouse licence from the Customs Bond Commissionerate the register is the reason a consignment clears or sits, and the Mushok forms are prescribed under the Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act 2012. Our bonded warehouse management software page covers how the register is maintained as a live record rather than rebuilt monthly.
Which modules should you buy in year one?
The ones you will use within twelve months, and no more. Modules can be added later at a higher unit price. Unused licences are not refunded, and the most common overspend at the small end is buying a suite and switching on six screens.
A rough sequence that works: start with inventory and stores, order management, and HR with attendance to payroll, because those three produce clean data that everything downstream depends on. Add costing and financial accounting next, once the inputs are trustworthy. Add process and planning modules third, because planning on unreliable production data produces confident wrong answers.
Defer capacity simulation, forecasting and mobile approvals. Each is genuinely useful and each depends on a year of accurate history you do not have yet.
Frequently asked questions
What is ERP and its modules? ERP is a single system recording a company's operations in one shared database. A module is one functional area of it: sales, procurement, inventory, production, costing, quality, HR and payroll, and financial accounting. Industry modules such as spinning, dyeing or cutting sit on that core.
How many modules does an ERP have? There is no fixed number. Most products have eight to ten core modules and then as many industry modules as the sector needs. A textile and apparel ERP typically carries fifteen or more once process modules, bonded warehouse and VAT are included.
What is the difference between an ERP module and an integration? A module shares the system's database, so one transaction updates every affected area at once. An integration copies data between two separate products that each keep their own records, which means the two can diverge and somebody has to reconcile them. Ask vendors which one they mean.
What are textile ERP modules? Process modules matching each operation: spinning, weaving, dyeing, printing, denim, washing, fabric processing and the R&D lab. Each models a different conversion and costs differently, so they are separate modules rather than configurations of one generic production screen.
What are garments ERP modules? Style and order management, merchandising and TNA, cutting and work in progress, CM costing, commercial with master and back-to-back LC, subcontract, accessories, plus bonded warehouse and VAT modules that are statutory requirements for export-oriented factories in Bangladesh.
Which ERP modules should a small factory start with? Inventory and stores, order management, and HR with attendance to payroll. Those three produce the clean data that costing and accounts depend on. Add costing and financial accounting once the inputs are reliable, and leave planning and forecasting until you have accurate history.
Can ERP modules be added later? Yes, and they usually cost more per module than they would have in the original bundle. That is still cheaper than paying for modules you never switch on. Buy what you will use in year one and add deliberately.
Sources
- Gartner IT Glossary, definition of Enterprise Resource Planning. https://www.gartner.com/en/information-technology/glossary/enterprise-resource-planning-erp
- Association for Supply Chain Management (formerly APICS), Supply Chain Dictionary, on module and BOM terminology. https://www.ascm.org
- National Board of Revenue, Value Added Tax and Supplementary Duty Act 2012 and rules made under it, on prescribed Mushok forms. https://nbr.gov.bd
- Customs Bond Commissionerate, Dhaka, on bonded warehouse register requirements. http://www.dhakabond.gov.bd
- Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, on Utilisation Declaration issuance. https://www.bgmea.com.bd
Infocrat Solutions Ltd.
3 Industrial Plot, Mohammadpur
Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh
