Software landscape Enterprise software landscape: ERP, CRM, PPM, PSA, ITSM, MES, APS, CMMS, who steers what?

A map of enterprise software starts with a simple question: what is each family for? The acronyms cross in tenders, and one suite often covers several. This page says the question each one answers, from project management to the MES, where they overlap, and where pylotik fits: linking the work done to the commitment made to the client, on both sides of the contract.

In one sentence

Each family answers its own question.

Project ticketing traces requests and problems. ITSM organizes the production of an IT service and its service levels. The project management tool organizes the work. The PPM arbitrates the portfolio. The PSA follows operations and the profitability of services. The CRM follows the commercial relationship up to the signature. The ERP manages the company's transactional processes. The MES steers manufacturing execution, the APS plans it under constraints, the CMMS maintains the equipment. pylotik organizes the work of the project and links it to the commitment made to the client, with operational and contractual governance held on history-tracked data, which the client and the supplier each read according to their rights.

These boundaries are not watertight. An ERP can follow projects, an ITSM can carry a client portal, a PSA can compute a margin: the useful question is not a product's label, but what it puts at the center and which modules are actually deployed. The descriptions below hold for families, not for a specific vendor, and are checked product by product.

Family by family

What each family steers, and the question it asks.

For each one: the question it answers, what it generally covers, a few vendors that claim it, and what it shares with pylotik.

Project management and execution tools

“Who does what, by when, and where does the work stand?” Projects, tasks, assignments, due dates, dependencies, Kanban boards, Gantt charts, comments and notifications. For example Asana, monday.com, ClickUp, Wrike or Trello.

With pylotik: to steer projects, it replaces these tools. It carries their execution, work packages, tasks, milestones and dependencies included, and adds the contract, the committees and the client. See managing the work or steering the delivery (in French).

PPM and SPM, the portfolio

“Are we doing the right projects, in the right order, with the resources available?” Collecting and prioritizing demand, scenarios, capacity, budgets, expected benefits, reporting to the PMO or to management. For example Planisware, Planview or ServiceNow SPM.

With pylotik: it covers the steering and arbitration of the portfolio in progress, workload, priorities, milestones, committees and decisions. Selecting investments and a Stage-Gate pipeline remain the ground of a PPM, and the two coexist. See the comparison of PPM software (in French).

PSA, the operations of service companies

“Are our engagements staffed, billable and profitable?” Resources and skills, utilization, billable time, budgets, margin, forecasts, link with invoicing. For example Kantata, Certinia or Deltek.

With pylotik: this is the strongest overlap. It also follows staffing, workload, time and margin; it puts at the center the commitment to the client, its milestones, its decisions and what the client validates. It does not issue invoices. See PSA or PPM (in French).

Project ticketing, requests

“Which request or problem is open, who is handling it, is it resolved?” Ticket queue, statuses, priorities, owners, history, notifications, escalation rules. For example Jira, Redmine or GitHub Issues.

With pylotik: it does not do project ticketing. It connects to project ticketing tools such as Jira, through a connector built to your needs, and follows what the flow of requests changes for milestones, risks and the client. See pylotik and Jira.

ITSM, IT service management

“How do we deliver, maintain and improve an IT service at the agreed level?” Incidents, service requests, problems, changes, service catalog, service levels, knowledge base, often IT assets. For example ServiceNow, Jira Service Management, EasyVista or GLPI.

IT ticketing is one of its functions; ITSM is a process model, often built on ITIL. With pylotik: neither incident tickets nor service levels, but the projects and maintenance contracts that surround the service. See project ticketing or ITSM (in French).

ERP, integrated management

“What was ordered, produced, invoiced, paid and booked?” Connected modules: accounting, finance, purchasing, sales, inventory, production, invoicing, sometimes projects, human resources or maintenance. For example SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Sage, Cegid or Odoo; for services, Akuiteo, Everwin, Boond or Stafiz.

With pylotik: the ERP remains the transactional and accounting reference. pylotik does not issue invoices: it sends the ERP the billing orders, through a connector built to your needs. See ERP or steering software (in French).

CRM, the commercial relationship

“Who are our prospects and clients, and which sales can we close?” Accounts and contacts, opportunity pipeline, interaction history, sales forecasts, campaigns, sometimes customer service. For example Salesforce, HubSpot or Sellsy.

With pylotik: it manages neither prospecting nor the sales pipeline. Its pre-sales steering module, planned for December 2026 (in French), will carry the responses to tenders: coordination, the go/no-go decision, handover to the delivery teams.

MES and GPAO, manufacturing

“Where does real manufacturing stand, and how was it carried out?” The MES follows the shop floor as closely as possible: orders and operations, work in progress, data collection, batch traceability, quality in production. The GPAO (production management system) organizes production: bills of materials, routings, manufacturing orders, workloads, often as an ERP module.

With pylotik: it is neither an MES nor a GPAO. It steps in when a production gap threatens a milestone promised to a client, and a decision has to be made with them. See MES or ERP (in French).

APS, planning under constraints

“What can we make, in which order, when, and with which resources?” Finite-capacity planning, scheduling, sequencing, constraint simulation and replanning, in dedicated software or as a module of an ERP or MES suite.

With pylotik: it does not do production scheduling. The APS says which plan is feasible; pylotik says what that plan changes for the date promised to the client, and who has to decide.

CMMS, equipment maintenance

“Which equipment to maintain, when to intervene, with which parts and which people?” Asset base, requests and work orders, preventive maintenance, breakdown history, spare parts, availability. For example IBM Maximo, CARL Source or Mobility Work.

With pylotik: it steers the maintenance contract with the client, not the asset base. It is not a CMMS. See CMMS and the maintenance contract (in French).

pylotik, operational commitment management

“Are we keeping what we promised the client, with which teams and which margin?” Projects, work packages, tasks, milestones and dependencies; risks, meetings and committees, minutes, decisions and actions; time, workload and staffing; financial tracking, fixed-price or time-and-materials; maintenance contracts and, as a complement, interventions; a history that no one rewrites, and free client access where the client follows and validates. The interface exists in French and English, at the choice of each user. The detail is on the product page, the definition on operational commitment management.

Boundaries and overlaps

One need, several families that answer it.

Overlap is not an anomaly: the question is whether a function is deep enough for the real need. This table says, need by need, the family whose core it is, those that also cover it depending on the vendor, and what pylotik does.

NeedCore of the familyAlso, depending on the vendorpylotik
Tasks, due dates, ownersProject managementPSA, project ticketing, CMMS for its work ordersYes Work packages, tasks, milestones, dependencies
Arbitrate the portfolio in progressPPMPSA, ERPYes Workload, priorities, milestones, committees, decisions
Select investments, scenarios, Stage-GatePPMAPS for production scenariosNo The PPM's ground
Staffing, workload plan, time entryPSAServices ERP, PPM, project managementYes Forecast workload plan, alerts, weekly time entry
Margin per project or per contractPSAERPYes Ordered, invoiced, paid, balance due, margin at completion
Invoices, accounting, purchasingERPPSANo Billing orders sent to the ERP, through a connector built to your needs
Prospects, opportunities, pipelineCRMERP, PSANo Pre-sales steering planned for December 2026
Requests and problems of a projectProject ticketingProject management, ITSMNo Connection to project ticketing tools, according to your needs
IT incidents, changes, service levelsITSMProject ticketing, in partNo
Manufacturing execution, traceabilityMESERP, GPAONo
Scheduling under capacity constraintsAPSGPAO, ERP, MESNo
Equipment fleet, preventive maintenance, partsCMMSERPNo
Maintenance contract held with the clientVaries by vendorCMMS, ERP, ITSM, PSA, on the contract or invoicing sideYes Period, volume, catalog, committee, indicators read by the client
Committees, validated minutes, decisions and actions with historyVaries by vendorProject management, PSA, PPM, often through modules or neighboring toolsYes This is its center
Client access and validations in the same reference baseVariesPortals of ITSM, CRM, and of some project and PSA toolsYes Free client access, minutes, interventions and amendments validated or refused

“Also, depending on the vendor” means the function exists in some products of the family, at varying depths: to be checked in the documentation of the product concerned. “No” in the pylotik column means it is not its purpose, and that the tool of the family concerned stays in place.

Diagram 1

The information system of a service company.

IT services company, integrator, software vendor, consultancy, agency or service center: the supplier keeps its management tools, the client keeps its own, and the commitment that binds them is steered between the two.

The supplier

  • CRMprospects, opportunities, commercial relationship
  • ERP or accounting softwareorders, invoices, accounting
  • PSA, if there is oneutilization, billable work, margin
  • Project ticketing or ITSMrequests, incidents, service levels
  • HRISpayroll, administrative records

Between the two

  • The commitmentcontracts, projects and maintenance, milestones, deliverables
  • The steeringrisks, committees, minutes, decisions, actions
  • The means, seen by the supplier aloneworkload, time, staffing, margin

History-tracked data, read by each party according to their rights.

The client

  • Its own information systemERP, purchasing, business tools, depending on its organization
  • What it followsprogress, milestones, shared risks, indicators of its contracts
  • What it validates or refusesminutes, interventions, amendments
Diagram 1. The supplier and the client each keep their tools; pylotik stands at their border and carries what binds them to each other.

What the diagram says

Each tool keeps its role as reference: the invoice in the ERP, the request in project ticketing, the employee's file in the HRIS. pylotik carries the commitment and its steering, and takes over part of the execution: tasks, milestones, workload, time and financial tracking. A PSA or a project management tool is therefore not mandatory alongside it.

What it does not say

It is not an architecture to reproduce: many organizations have neither a PSA nor an ITSM, others keep everything in a services ERP. And nothing flows automatically from one frame to the other: between pylotik and an ERP or project ticketing, data exchange goes through an optional connector, built to your needs.

Diagram 2

The information system of an industrial company.

The model used by the ISA-95 standard sorts systems by level, from enterprise management to process control. The commitment to an industrial client, for its part, fits in no level.

The manufacturer

Level 4Enterprise management

  • ERPorders, inventory, invoicing
  • CRMclients, opportunities
  • PLMproduct data, design

Between levels 4 and 3Production planning

  • APSplanning and scheduling under constraints
  • GPAObills of materials, routings, manufacturing orders

Level 3Manufacturing operations

  • MESexecution, work in progress, traceability
  • CMMSequipment, preventive maintenance
  • QMS and WMSquality, warehouse

Levels 0 to 2Process control

  • SCADAsupervision
  • PLCs, sensors, IoTcontrol and measurement of machines

Alongside all the levels

The commitment to the client fits in no level: a gap born on the shop floor, like a modified order, becomes there a threatened milestone and a decision to make together.

  • The relationshipwith the client or the principal, and with the subcontractors
  • The commitmentdelivery milestones, risks, decisions, committees, actions
  • The meansworkload of the project teams, contract, margin

Nothing flows up from the MES or the ERP without a connector defined for the use case.

The client

  • Its own information systemERP, purchasing, quality, depending on its organization
  • What it followsdelivery milestones, shared risks, progress of its orders
  • What it decides or validatesoptions facing a gap, minutes, amendments
Diagram 2. The levels of the industrial system, after the ISA-95 model, the client opposite, and operational commitment management between the two, where a gap becomes a decision to make with the client.

The ISA-95 standard describes the integration between enterprise management systems and production control systems. It distinguishes level 4, that of enterprise planning and logistics, where the ERP typically lives, from level 3, that of manufacturing operations management, where the MES lives and, for maintenance, the CMMS. Levels 0 to 2 are those of the process, sensors, PLCs and supervision, at the scale of a second or less.

pylotik is not an industrial control layer and fits in none of these levels. Its ground is the relationship: when a shop-floor delay threatens the date promised to a client, you must document the effect on the milestone, lay out the options, name who decides and who acts, and keep a common record of what was settled. That is the subject of the MES or ERP guide (in French), and of project management in industry.

The tipping point

The client-supplier relationship crosses organizations.

The two diagrams stack tools. What distinguishes operational commitment management is not one more layer in the stack, it is a relationship that crosses the border of two organizations, and often of several.

The supplier keeps its tools

Its production, its HR data, its workload and its margins stay with it. In pylotik, they remain invisible to the client.

The client keeps its information system

And its obligations: following, validating or refusing, carrying out the actions that fall to it. Its access is free.

One reference data set for what binds the parties

Deliverables, milestones, shared risks, minutes, decisions, actions and tracking statuses: only what is meant for joint steering, with history, without rewriting.

Each tool remains the reference for its own trade

When an integration is needed, it is defined for the use case: which systems, which data, which rights. Nothing flows up from all the tools as a matter of principle.

Coexisting

Who holds the reference for which data.

Making pylotik coexist with an ERP, a PSA or project ticketing starts with a simple rule: a piece of data has a single system of reference. The rest reads a copy of it, or receives it through a connector.

DataSystem of referenceWhat pylotik does with it
Prospect, opportunityCRMNothing today. The pre-sales steering module, planned for December 2026, will carry the response and its handover, not the pipeline
Order, invoice, accounting entryERPThe project's contract says what is ordered, invoiced, paid and due; billing orders go to the ERP, through a connector built to your needs
Request, problem, incidentProject ticketing or ITSMThe ticket stays in its tool; pylotik follows what it changes for milestones, risks and the client
Payroll, the employee's administrative fileHRISNothing: pylotik holds workload, time and leave as seen from the project and the team
Time spent, workload planpylotik or the PSA, depending on the organizationWeekly entry, forecast workload plan: one of the two is the reference, not both
Equipment, breakdown historyCMMSNothing: pylotik holds the maintenance contract and the interventions counted against it
Manufacturing order, traceabilityMESNothing: it carries the client milestone that a delay threatens, and the decision that follows
Contractual milestone, risk, decision, validated minutes, actionpylotikThis is its data: with history, read by the client according to their rights

Any integration depends on the architecture in place, the interfaces the systems expose and the data each party agrees to share. The connectors of pylotik are optional, built to the needs of clients, from the Business tier; it has no public API today. The detail of the tiers is on the pricing page.

Candidly

What the product does, and what it does not.

Available today

  • Commitments: project and maintenance Tasks, milestones, schedule, portfolio view, maintenance contracts; several work packages, linked projects and dependencies with the Extended Project module.
  • Steering Risks, meetings and committees, minutes, decisions, actions.
  • Management The steering of management and teams: time, workload plan, staffing, weekly review, time review.
  • Finance Fixed-price or time and materials, ordered, invoiced, paid, margin at completion.
  • Client Free access, validation of minutes and amendments.
  • Interventions As a module: scheduling of interventions, validated or refused by the client.
  • Languages Interface in French and English, at the choice of each user.

Outside its purpose

  • Invoicing and accounting They stay in the ERP.
  • Prospecting It stays in the CRM.
  • Tickets and service levels They stay in project ticketing or the ITSM.
  • Shop floor and scheduling They stay in the MES, the APS or the GPAO.
  • Asset base and parts They stay in the CMMS.

On the roadmap

  • Pre-sales steering Planned for December 2026: coordination of responses, go/no-go decision, handover.
  • Connectors Optional, built as clients' needs arise, with no standard schedule.

The dates are on the roadmap (in French).

Around the core

Five other families, to place without confusing them.

They sometimes supply elements useful to steering a commitment; none is an alternative to a steering software, nor the reverse.

HRIS

Personnel administration, payroll, absences, skills, reviews. The employee's reference, not the reference of the client commitment.

WMS

Warehouse operations: receiving, locations, picking, inventory, shipping.

QMS

Quality management: inspections, non-conformities, audits, quality action plans.

SCADA, PLCs, IoT

Supervision and control of processes and machines, often at the scale of a second or faster.

PLM

Product lifecycle: design, engineering bills of materials, engineering changes.

And office tools

Spreadsheets, presentations, email: this is often where steering is rebuilt by hand, before every committee.

Frequently asked questions

What we are asked about these software families.

What is the difference between an ERP and a CRM?

The CRM manages the commercial relationship before and around the sale: prospects, opportunities, interactions. The ERP manages the company once the sale is made: orders, purchasing, inventory, invoicing, accounting. Many vendors offer both, as separate modules of the same suite.

Are project ticketing and ITSM the same thing?

No. A ticket system is a function: recording a request and following it to closure. ITSM is a discipline for managing IT services, often built on ITIL, which also covers problems, changes, the catalog and service levels. An ITSM contains a ticket system; project ticketing such as Jira is not an ITSM. The detail is in the guide project ticketing or ITSM (in French).

What is the difference between a PSA and a PPM?

A PSA helps a service company stay profitable on its engagements: staffing, time, billable work, margin. A PPM helps an organization choose and fund the right projects across a portfolio. The first looks at margin, the second at investment. See PSA or PPM (in French).

Can an ERP replace an MES?

For simple production, an ERP production module or a GPAO (production management system) can be enough. When you need to follow the shop floor closely, collect machine data and trace each batch, that is the MES's ground. The ISA-95 standard describes precisely this boundary between the enterprise level and the level of manufacturing operations.

Does a CMMS manage maintenance contracts?

Some CMMS manage contracts, often on the side of the company's own suppliers or on invoicing. Their center remains the equipment: asset base, preventive maintenance, work orders, parts. Holding a maintenance contract with your own client, with its volume, its committee and what the client validates, is another subject, covered in CMMS and the maintenance contract (in French).

Does pylotik replace the ERP, the PSA or the PPM?

It does not replace the ERP: it does not issue invoices and does not keep the books. It covers a large part of the PSA's ground, staffing, time, contracts and margin, and the steering of the portfolio in progress; it replaces project task tools. A PSA or a PPM remains preferable in specific cases: invoices issued without an ERP, multi-entity accounting, Stage-Gate, a suite already deployed group-wide.

Do you need all this software in one company?

No. A service SME can live with accounting software, a light CRM and a steering tool; a factory will have an ERP, an MES or a GPAO, and a CMMS. The landscape is there to recognize the questions, not to fill every box. The right starting point is the decision that is badly made today, and the tool where it should be made.

Does pylotik connect to these tools?

Through optional connectors, built to the needs of clients, from the Business tier: to the ERP for billing orders, to a project ticketing tool such as Jira, or to another system depending on the use case. There is no published standard connector and no public API today.

Sources

The reference definitions.

The families are described from definitions published by reference bodies and vendors. The vendor examples illustrate each family, without ranking or any claim to be exhaustive: each one's scope is checked in its own documentation.

Page updated on . Sources consulted on that date; vendors' scopes evolve, and are checked product by product. What pylotik does is described from the product in service on the same date.

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