ERP and MES systems for discrete manufacturing must support complex industrial processes and requirements while integrating data and applications. Companies therefore need IT solutions with considerable functional and technological depth that employees can use easily and reliably.
The latest Trovarit study, ERP in Practice 2026/2027. highlights this challenge. For this edition, 1,538 ERP installations in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland were evaluated in terms of user satisfaction, benefits, and future prospects. Among other findings, the study shows that as software landscapes become increasingly decentralized, integration, data quality, architecture, and modernizability are gaining importance. At the same time, 60.8 percent of respondents identified simplifying and accelerating processes as the most important perceived benefit of ERP.
Companies are therefore facing an apparent contradiction: they must meet growing functional and technological requirements without passing the resulting complexity on to their users. This is precisely where simplification comes in.
What does "simplification" mean in ERP and MES?
For a long time, simplification in enterprise software was associated primarily with usability and intuitive user interfaces. Today, the concept extends much further, encompassing workflows, decision support, and technical architecture.
Discrete manufacturing, in particular, involves different production methods, resources, priorities, and customer requirements, placing high demands on processes and the systems that support them. Simplification must therefore not come at the expense of functionality. Instead, it aims to structure the necessary business and technical complexity so that companies can use, customize, and further develop ERP and MES solutions more easily.
How does PSI-Click-Design reduce complexity for users?
The user interface remains a key factor in simplification. Role- and context-based interfaces focus on the information and functions users need for their specific tasks while keeping additional details out of the way. This makes operation faster and easier, helps prevent incorrect entries, and enables users to complete their tasks more efficiently and reliably.
In PSIpenta/ERP, Click Design supports this approach by allowing interfaces and views to be flexibly adapted to different usage scenarios - without requiring IT or programming knowledge.
How does PSIpenta/QA2 simplify access to information?
As the functional depth of ERP and MES solutions increases, so does the volume of available information and accompanying documentation. Finding the right knowledge quickly and efficiently in a given situation can therefore become increasingly challenging. The Trovarit study reflects this need: alongside process simplification, respondents identified rapid access to information and access to useful, fact-based information as key perceived benefits of ERP.
PSI's simplification approach therefore also focuses on making information easier to access. AI enables a new form of interaction by making existing knowledge available through dialogue. To achieve this, an information retrieval function based on Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is used.
Instead of manually searching process documentation, DokuWikis, or manuals, users can ask specific questions and receive structured, reliable answers. This makes existing knowledge more accessible and reduces the time spent searching for information.
How does AI support complex decisions?
Decision-making in planning and control has become increasingly challenging for many companies. It often requires numerous parameters, interdependencies, and competing objectives to be considered simultaneously.
AI and optimization techniques can simplify this process by analyzing complex relationships, comparing scenarios, and identifying possible courses of action. In production planning, for example, machine-learning algorithms can draw on historical planning patterns, suggest alternative sequences, and identify bottlenecks at an early stage.
In this way, the system brings together a multitude of influencing factors to provide a reliable basis for decision-making - helping users make informed decisions without taking the decision-making process out of their hands.
How does PSIpenta/Workflow Developer simplify process and rule customization?
Simplification applies not only to user interaction but also to the way business logic is represented within the system. Companies and their business departments must regularly adapt this logic to changing requirements. When such changes require custom programming, companies have to rely on their own - often limited - IT resources or seek external support. Both approaches can involve considerable technical effort and lead to delays.
Simplification therefore also means separating business logic from program code. With the PSIpenta/ERP Workflow Developer, processes can be modeled graphically and in business-oriented terms using BPMN 2.0. This enables companies to implement changes flexibly and quickly without modifying the program code.
Learn more about the PSIpenta/ERP Workflow Developer (GER only)
How can system architecture make things simpler in the future?
As system landscapes become increasingly interconnected, the technical complexity behind the scenes continues to grow. Data must flow between applications, functions must work together, and new components must be integrated with as few far-reaching dependencies as possible.
From a simplification perspective, system architecture is therefore becoming increasingly important. For PSI, it is a key area of further development. The goal is to expand technological depth and integration capabilities consistently, including through modularization, while making the systems easier for businesses to use and further develop.
Simplification as a benchmark for further development
Companies need powerful, interconnected ERP and MES solutions that are also as easy as possible to use and further develop. The Trovarit study highlights this dual requirement: integration, architecture, and modernizability are gaining importance, while simplifying and accelerating processes remains the most important perceived benefit of ERP.
Simplification is therefore a central design principle in the further development of PSIpenta/ERP and MES. The aim is to combine functional and technological depth with greater ease of use, more accessible information, more straightforward decision-making, and flexible customization.
