ERP has been used in the private sector to increase an enterprise's efficiency and effectiveness, as well as collect better data to improve planning and strategic decision making. It is executed at three levels: strategic, process, and technical. The strategic plan describes the mission, operational goals, and strategies of the organization. The process layer describes how the work will be done so that the mission and goals can be accomplished. The technical layer describes the individual projects that will support execution of the processes. There are certain principles of ERP that provide the foundation for best practices, regardless of the type of organization. These principles include a process orientation, a common data model, standards for system development, and simple architecture. Two important prerequisites for ERP already exist in public safety and in the operations of the criminal justice process: interdependent or semi-integrated processes and a shared data dictionary (common data elements with common definitions). The need for cooperation and collaboration between agencies is an obvious requirement for successful community policing or integrated justice. Less apparent, however, is the fundamental necessity for redesigned processes that span all involved agencies and that are based on collecting, exchanging, and responding to information. The benefits of ERP in the management of public safety and justice enterprises are data quality, increased efficiency, the sharing of information, improved access, cost reduction, faster justice, and Internet services.