In another thread on the ERP forum I'm on, this comment was made in response to a post about building a web based ERP system:

“~ at the end of the day an ERP is about data, control, and reporting - sometimes at the cost of not having the most beautiful user interface.

In my opinion, designing for the user is great, but you should design based on how people spend the bulk of their time.”

While it's true that where people spend the bulk of the their time is a great point of concern. It is rather one dimensional to place the importance of attention in design into an area given only time-spent as a quantifier. A much better idea is to understand where the biggest decreases in time-spent can be had most easily. Going for the biggest "bang for the buck" is the better design strategy. ERP afterall is NOT about data, control, and reporting. That is what current "ERP software" is about. ERP itself is about empowering people with tools to run a business more efficiently and easily. It is a classic mistake to make it about the software, and not about who it exists for and how it best helps them.

In addition the possibility that the users are spending the bulk of their time in a certain area being a result of the software they are using is also not acknowledged in this view. The effect of good design from the user standpoint reaches the most important and finicky part of any ERP system: the humans using it. Rather than viewing the "system" as the software, developers need to acknowledge that the "system" INCLUDES the users. There are plenty of excuses for having poor UI/UX design in software. Sometimes they are valid. There is no battle between function and design, good design helps function.