How to choose ERP software: scope, data, and deployment

Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, defines ERP as software that eases the flow of information across several functions of an enterprise and integrates that information; it notes that modules typically bring together planning, purchasing, marketing, sales, customer relationship, finance, and human resources. The definition is on Eurostat's e-business integration page.

Example scenario: picture a home textiles maker in Bursa that sells both through dealers and online. A dealer order arrives by email, a sales rep types it into a spreadsheet, the warehouse copies the same order into its own list, and accounting issues the invoice in a separate program. Once the firm wrote these steps down, what it expects from an ERP would also become clear: the order written once and reaching the warehouse and the invoice on its own.

When the list is drawn up, every department is asked the same questions:

• Which information do you take from another department and retype on your own screen?
• Which report is prepared every month from spreadsheets merged by hand?
• When customer or product details change, in how many places do you correct them?
• Which approval is given today by email or phone and never recorded?

Switching on every module on the same day looks tempting, but the team then has to learn every screen at once and the pull back to the old way grows. For the Bursa firm the first round would be customer and order records, stock, and invoicing; human resources or project tracking could wait for the second stage.

A staged roll-out has one condition: when the second-stage module arrives, it should not ask for the first-stage records all over again. If the staff list is already in the system when the human resources module opens, and the customer cards are ready when project tracking opens, the stages build on each other; otherwise each stage becomes a small re-installation.

The question to ask when choosing modules is whether they share the same database. With programs bought separately and connected afterwards, the customer lives in two places, and the repetition returns when the link breaks. What ERP is covers the basics of the concept, and stock tracking software and ERP covers needs that start with stock.

Should all the work sit in one system, or should each job get its own tool? The criteria for that decision have their own article: integrated business software or separate tools.

In the cloud, servers, updates, and backups are the provider's job; the company simply uses the system. On your own server the data stays in the company's server room or a data centre of its choice, the company sets the access and backup rules, and maintenance falls to it too. The questions to ask are the same for both: which country the data is in, where the backups are, and how the data comes back when the contract ends.

Tomorrow's needs also shape the decision. A company that starts in the cloud today but may want to move to its own server later should ask up front whether the provider allows that move and in what format the data would travel. A choice with no way across makes the next choice today.

You can see the details of the decision, and what changes for personal data, on the cloud or your own server page.

In many businesses the external accountant has worked with the same accounting program for years and does not want to change it. In that case the ERP issues the invoice and the accounting entry is completed in the accountant's program. If this split is not discussed up front, the same invoice shows up twice in two systems, or not at all.

Electronic invoicing and archiving obligations depend on the company's situation. When taking quotes, ask the provider line by line which document goes out from which system and by which route; if the answer is a general 'we support that', ask for the details in writing before setup.

The Bursa firm's online sales belong under this heading too. If the channel an order came from, the system the invoice was issued in, and the moment stock was reduced do not show in the same flow, accounting and the warehouse will give different figures for the same product at month end. Drawing the flow on paper before setup brings that gap to light from the start.

A demo on ready-made data always looks tidy. A demo on your own data raises the real questions: how two spellings of the same customer will be merged, how old product codes will be mapped, and from which date open orders will move into the new system. For the Bursa firm, the most instructive moment would be following one dealer's order from last month through the new system from start to finish.

When comparing quotes, ask for licence, user and module scope, hosting, data migration, training, and maintenance on separate lines. A quote that bundles everything into one figure makes it hard to compare two providers. Ask the same about support: who you reach, and through which channel, when something goes wrong after setup, and how training is given when a new user joins, should be written in the quote. The format in which your data is handed back when the contract ends belongs on the same list.

In Corex360 the modules use the same customer record. The customer sales creates is the same record accounting sees on the invoice, so customer details are not typed a second time. To ask which screens cover the order, stock, and warehouse steps in the Bursa example, bring one of your own orders to the demo. The difference between CRM and ERP explains where the two part ways.

The Accounting module has sales and purchase invoice screens and integration options for accounting software; which option fits your set-up is checked together before setup. The hosting choice, a company-specific space on Corex360 Cloud or your own server, is written into the contract.

No list price is published on the site; pricing comes in a written quote after a demo on your own data.