To initiate the project, we will;

• Understand your vision and primary objectives for the project.

• Agree the timeline and high-level plan for the selection process. This plan will set out the key milestones for each phase of the selection.

• Agree the appropriate team with representation from all key stakeholders.

• Agree the selection criteria that will be used to compare the candidate solutions.

• Understand your budget constraints.

For scope we will consider:

• Which parts of the organisation should be included?

• How the solution will form part of the overall system landscape that currently exists?

• What functional areas should be covered by ERP?

• What benefits will the ERP project be expected to deliver?

• Whether there are business process changes to be considered?

• Key integrations with other systems

• Any constraints as to how the system should be deployed?

High-level requirements are required for inclusion in the RFP to ensure we can measure the different vendor offerings against a clear set of requirements. This also allows due diligence and transparency. We will run workshops with your SMEs to document the requirements.

Our objective will to be to get sufficient detail of requirements to enable your business to select the most suitable software to meet the main business requirements. These are not intended to be design workshops.

Selecting an ERP solution means selecting both the technology and the implementation partner.

At the start of any selection process, it is important to gather a list of suitable candidate solutions. 

• We will review software and vendors in the market that meet the overall scope and criteria for the business requirements.

• We will recommend a shortlist of vendors who should be considered for the RFP.

• We will work with you to review this list and the justification for inclusion/exclusion. The business will confirm the list of vendors that should be included in the RFP.

• We will work with you to open discussions with the vendors to inform them of an RFP process and the high-level timeline (RFP issue date, response date, vendor presentations, selection timelines, etc).

• This allows vendors to prepare for the RFP and to ensure we understand which vendors will/will not be submitting a proposal.

We have the ERP market experience to help to identify the best shortlist.

We can prepare an RFP on your behalf or support your team. Once drafted, the business will then review the RFP and approve the final version.

The RFP can then be issued. We will support questions & answers vendors may have on the RFP. We will assist you with the evaluation of written proposals submitted by vendors. We will provide our opinion on the best (approx. top 3) proposals that should be invited for presentations and further discussion. We will agree with the you how much you want us to be directly involved in selecting the final vendors for the next phase, but it will be your decision to approve the final list. We will support the definition of the RFP evaluation criteria and scorecard.

We have benchmarks and a library of similar evaluations to allow us to measure proposals for

reasonableness.

Once the written proposals are shortlisted, these vendors are typically invited to present their solution. We attend vendor presentations, support discussions and evaluation of the preferred vendors.

• We will support the scoring of vendors to ensure a balanced and fair scorecard. Your team will attend presentations and finalise the scoring.

• This process will be led by your team, supported by us.

• We can provide advice during negotiations and contracting, but don’t normally take a direct role in this phase

• We will, however, give input based on our previous experience in this area (e.g. things to consider and cover).

• We can read the contract, but don’t normally provide any legal advice or recommended changes to legal terms

• At the end of the process, you will have selected your software and System Integrator. We can further assist in the implementation by providing Business-side support (e.g. Change Management, Project Management, training and testing)