ERP Evaluation Checklist

Streamline your ERP evaluation process.

 

Download our free ERP Evaluation Checklist to receive the tips, resources and tools to determine which vendor has the best capabilities for your business where it matters most.

 

This checklist will help guide your project team to answer the hard-hitting questions that ensure you have the smoothest ERP selection possible. Some of these considerations include:

 

  • Map out unique business needs and processes
  • Understand ways to reduce risk during your project
  • Use best practices during implementation and after go-live date
  • Increase transparency and communication
  • Consider integration plan current systems
  • Gain project management practices for your team
 

ERP Evaluation Checklist FAQ

Are There Any Steps To Take Before Building Your Checklist?

ERP evaluation, selection, and implementation takes team buy-in to be successful. The biggest step to take before kicking off the evaluation process is to make sure you have leadership team commitment to finding the right ERP solution.
 
 
Who Should Help Building Your Checklist?
We recommend designating a checklist owner in the organization, but you’ll need to work with all departments to identify ERP needs.
 
 
Are You Ready For An ERP? 
If you think you’ve Outgrown Quickbooks , but you’re not sure if you’re ready for an ERP, chances are good you’re ready for an ERP. If using your current system is painful, there are better options.
 
 
How Shouldn’t You Build Your Checklist?
Ideally, you don’t want to just wing your checklist. It’s best to put in effort up front and approach it intentionally, so you can use your checklist to evaluate each ERP with a standard process.
 
 
What Can Slow Down Working Through Checklist?
The biggest hindrance to working through a checklist is a changing checklist. If you re-work your checklist after you’ve already completed the checklist for one or more ERP, you’ll need to circle back to complete the additional checklist items that were added afterward.
 
 
What Can Go Wrong With An ERP Checklist?
 Using a generic checklist or having checklist items that don’t 100% align with business priorities often leads to lack of commitment on ERP selection.
 
 
What Are Practical Ways The Checklist Should Help In An ERP Evaluation?
A good ERP evaluation checklist should reduce time in many areas including eliminating ERPs that aren’t even in the right ballpark right away. A checklist will also eliminate evaluating parts of an ERP that aren’t relevant to your criteria.
 
 
How Is An ERP Evaluation Checklist Different Than An Ordinary Checklist?
An ERP evaluation checklist should represent your ERP evaluation process, not just be a template to fully complete. If you have critical checklist items that are a “no” for an ERP, your ERP selection process for that ERP is complete.
 
 
Should You Pay Someone To Build Out An ERP Evaluation Checklist For You?
It’s common to see an ERP Selection Consultant work  along-side a client throughout their selection process, including building out the checklist. Because the criteria are customized to your business needs, you should still plan for a significant amount of involvement in building out the checklist though.
 
 
How Long Will It Take To Build The ERP Evaluation Checklist Template?
Theoretically if you had resources from each department in the same room, it would be easy enough to build out the checklist in a day. The more common approach is that the checklist champion gathers requirements from each department over time, which can take a week or two to complete. 
 
 
How Long Will It Take To Complete The ERP Evaluation Process With A Checklist?
 Your ERP evaluation checklist can help to narrow ERPs immediately, often with minimal effort involved. To wrap up the full ERP evaluation process, it usually takes multiple months.
 
 
How Many ERPs Should Be Evaluated With The Checklist?

While there’s no limit to the number of ERPs you could evaluate with your checklist template, you can probably save a lot of time by working the full checklist with only a shortlist. While we’ve seen organizations initially including 10 ERPs in a selection, key requirements usually take that list to 3-5 real possibilities.

 
How Do I Get Started? 
Download our ERP Evaluation Checklist guide to walk you through the process of getting your template created.

What If An ERP Evaluation Checklist Isn’t Enough?

If you’re feeling in over your head with the checklist build-out, our ERP Evaluation experts provide a guided ERP evaluation at no cost to you.

 

ERP Evaluation Checklist
ERP Evaluation Checklist

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