Before you select an ERP

A working document of the decisions that determine what an ERP programme will cost, all of which are business decisions and none of which a demonstration will answer for you.

Why these come first.

Selection processes tend to compare products against a requirements list, and requirements lists tend to be assembled from what the current system does. That produces a shortlist of systems capable of reproducing the present, and it postpones every decision that actually drives effort until configuration has started, when changing an answer is expensive.

What the document covers.

Process ownership and who is empowered to settle a disagreement between functions. The approval structure, by value and by type. Entity and ledger design, and what you want to be able to ask in three years. Master data: what exists, where, and who will own each domain. The standard-versus-exception test, and how to make an exception argue for itself. Data history and how much to bring. Integration boundaries. And the resourcing question that programmes consistently underestimate, which is business time for testing.

How to use it.

It is written as questions with the consequences of each answer attached, so it can be worked through in a workshop rather than read. Most organisations find between five and ten questions they cannot yet answer, and that list is more useful than the ones they can.