Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a term usually used in conjunction with ERP software or an ERP system which is intended to manage all the information and functions of a business or company from shared data stores.^[1] It is a commercial software package that promotes seamless integration of all the information flowing through a company.

An ERP system typically has modular hardware and software units and "services" that communicate on a local area network. The modular design allows a business to add or reconfigure modules (perhaps from different vendors) while preserving data integrity in one shared database that may be centralized or distributed.^{[citation needed]}

The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) is the UK Government's recommended method system for measuring the energy rating of residential dwellings.^[1] The first version was published in 1995, to be replaced by newer versions in 1998, 2001 and 2005. It calculates the typical annual energy costs for space and water heating, and, from 2005, lighting. The CO₂ emissions are also calculated.

SAP 2005 has been used as the basis for checking new dwellings for compliance with building regulations in the United Kingdom requiring the conservation of fuel and power since 6 April 2006 (England & Wales: L1 Approved Document), 1 November 2006 (Northern Ireland Technical Booklet F1) and 1 May 2007 (Scotland Technical Handbook 6, Domestic).

A simplified version of SAP 2005, RDSAP, will be used to produce the energy report and Energy Performance Certificate in Home Information Packs (HIPs). A new document was published by the UK Government in 2007, looking towards SAP and energy standards in the future.^[2]

Oracle Applications comprise the applications software or business software of Oracle Corporation. The term refers to the non-database (non-technology) parts of Oracle Corporation's software portfolio.

Oracle Corporation sells many functional modules which use the Oracle RDBMS as a back-end, notably Oracle Financials, Oracle HRMS, Oracle Projects, Oracle CRM, Oracle PO, etc. (Oracle Corporation also offers many additional application-oriented products, including Oracle Office, Oracle Media Server, and (grouped with databases) Oracle ConText.)

Oracle Corporation initially launched its application suite with financials software in the late 1980s. The offering as of 2009^[update] extends to supply-chain management, human-resource management, warehouse-management, customer-relationship management, call-center services, product-lifecycle management, and many other areas. Both in-house expansion and the acquisition of other companies have vastly expanded Oracle Corporation's application-software repertoire.

Oracle Corporation released Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (R12) — a bundling of several Oracle Applications applications — in February 2007. The release date coincided with new releases of other Oracle-owned products: JD Edwards EnterpriseOne, OneWorld, Siebel and PeopleSoft. As of 2009^[update] Oracle Corporation supports Release 11.5.10.X and Release 12.0.X of the Oracle E-Business Suite.