ERP Systems buying guidance

At a glance: ERP is an integrated software system for managing and connecting enterprise records and workflows such as finance, procurement, inventory, manufacturing, and supply chain operations. Product scope, deployment, and industry depth vary; ERP is not synonymous with every specialist supply-chain application. What is ERP?; ERP for manufacturing: Now more than ever

Common workflows

• Procure to pay and financial control: Connect requisitions, supplier records, purchase orders, receipts, invoices, approvals, and ledger posting; verify company, tax, matching, and exception rules in the intended deployment. What is ERP?
• Manufacturing and material planning: Link bills of material, demand, inventory, production orders, scheduling, quality, and costing; test the actual discrete, process, mixed-mode, or configured production model. ERP for manufacturing: Now more than ever
• Order, inventory, and fulfillment records: Coordinate customer orders, available inventory, warehouse and logistics handoffs, shipment status, invoicing, and financial reconciliation across modules or connected systems. What is ERP?; ERP for manufacturing: Now more than ever

Questions to ask providers

• Which modules are included in the quoted edition and which require separate licenses or integrations?
• Can the vendor demonstrate our legal entities, plants, production method, chart of accounts, and procure-to-pay exceptions?
• Which system owns item, supplier, customer, inventory, and order master data?
• How are upgrades, customizations, integrations, data migration, testing, training, and partner work priced?
• What audit trail, access controls, data export, retention, and recovery options are included?
• What functionality is available in our region, deployment, and contract rather than a roadmap or demo environment?

Frequently asked questions