ERP Requirements & RFP Templates

What Is an ERP RFP Template?
Why Do You Need an RFP for ERP Project?
     What's the Advantage of an RFP?
     What's the Downside of an RFP?
Role of RFP Document in Software Selection Process
3 Types of ERP RFP Templates
     Gathering Your ERP Requirements
     Planning Phase
     Request for Information (RFI) Phase
     Evaluation Phase
     Selection Phase
How to Make Your ERP RFP Stand Out From the Competition?
Research-Based Recommendations on How to Improve RFP for ERP Procurement
Benefits of TEC ERP RFP Templates for Software Selection
What’s Included in TEC’s ERP RFP Templates
Examples of TEC’s ERP RFP Templates
     ERP RFP Templates for All Business Types
Tips for Writing an Effective RFP Request for Proposal Template
The Benefits of Using a Consultant to Help with your ERP RFP
Where Do We Go From Here . . .
Basic Concepts and Definitions
     The Software Acquisition Process
     Document/Contract Terms
  

An enterprise resource planning (ERP) software acquisition is considered one of the riskiest ventures a company could make. If the purchase fails, the software can adversely affect the company across operational and business areas and reportedly jeopardize its very existence. 

Buying and implementing ERP software is an expensive endeavor, which is precisely why the procurement process is tedious and lengthy and conducted with great care. Despite these precautions, about 55% to 75% of ERP implementation projects fail to meet their objectives for reasons that include wrong fit, according to Gartner.

Download ERP Features list

One common method to increase your chances for a successful ERP implementation is the request for proposal (RFP) process. TEC offers data-based ERP RFP templates in various areas such as different segments of manufacturing, distribution business, services organizations, and other types of businesses to facilitate, expedite, and improve the RFP process.

What Is an ERP Requirements List and RFP Template?

The RFP is the request for proposal document you send to shortlisted vendors and system integrators describing the kind of ERP product you're looking for as well as the outcome you expect. Since an effective RFP can take days or even weeks to create—tasks include gathering feedback from end users and sectioning it into relevant topics—TEC has prepared its own ERP RFP templates. These are data-based documents formulated on TEC’s nearly 30 years of consulting experience with small, midsize, and large companies as well as with software vendors on software reviews and other types of reports. They're also based on hundreds of successful ERP selection and implementation projects TEC has conducted with client organizations across 24 industries.

In short, ERP RFP templates are effective shortcuts to designing your own RFPs for ERP software procurement. These ERP RFP templates can also serve as guides to help you create demos scripted to your business processes that vendors need to follow and show how their ERP software products meet your requirements.

Why Do You Need an RFP for ERP Project?

If you choose, you could conduct your own research, gather recommendations, review provider websites, and compare pricing structures, just as you would with any other purchase. Instead, an RFP takes a large degree of the bias, guesswork, and subjectivity out of the process, which is why most organizations rely on this method. The RFP process is also the most efficient least time-consuming method for surveying all your shortlisted vendors at the same time within a given time span and deciding which to select. You simply send your shortlisted vendors the same set of questions, give them a set time to submit their responses, and then use a scoring method to determine which to choose.

Conducted effectively, the RFP process can yield your best-fit software that advances your company’s goals.

What's the Advantage of an RFP?

While most large companies would never consider buying an ERP without the RFP, for certain small to midsize businesses (SMBs), using an RFP makes sense too. That’s particularly true if your business processes are complex, you want to mitigate your risks of project failure, and you're unsure which of the myriad ERP solutions on the market best meets your business needs.

The benefits of the RFP process include:
 

• The RFP is a convenient and methodical process in that it surveys all your vendors simultaneously in one defined time period.
• This single RFP template with its clearly defined ERP requirements serves as an ideal consensus builder in that it ensures that your team members are aligned on the most important ERP features and functionalities.
• The RFP helps you to withstand software sales talk by helping you define your requirements and eliminate providers that can’t meet them.
• The RFP’s holistic form helps you identify and contrast the capabilities of different vendors side by side. This feature also helps you negotiate better terms with providers.
• The RFP helps you uncover and interview a wider selection of vendors than would otherwise be possible. These include vendors that you may not be aware of or have not even considered with potential best-fit products.

What's the Downside of an RFP?

Despite its benefits, the RFP process can be overly complex and time-consuming, as well as resource draining for business procurement teams. Producing a quality RFP for a best-fit ERP solution involves gathering your requirements, drafting the document, distributing that proposal to shortlisted vendors, assessing responses, communicating with shortlisted vendors, and negotiating contracts. In total, expect to spend 3 to 6 months in this process.

Other disadvantages include:

• Vendors have to submit yes/no responses, which can prevent them from discussing the merits of certain software features. These functionalities may be just what you're looking for to move your business forward.
• Descriptions of your requirements may be unclear or incomplete, resulting in irrelevant propositions from vendors.

In 2015, one management consultant found that in Canada alone organizations waste more than $5 billion on ineffective RFPs.

Companies can use expert consultants, such as TEC, with expertise in developing ERP RFPs and conducting the RFP process to mitigate these cons and ensure a successful ERP selection process.

Role of RFP Document in Software Selection Process

Before we discuss how to write an ERP RFP template and use it in your software selection, let’s briefly discuss the types of ERP RFP templates that exist.

3 Types of ERP RFP Templates

• Technical—This type of RFP focuses on soliciting proposals for a specific ERP product or service that is technology based.
• Functional—A functional RFP asks proposers to submit a plan outlining how they would meet the needs and goals of the requesting organization, regardless of the proposed ERP solution’s technical specifications.
• IT managed services—This type of RFP is generally used by organizations seeking to outsource all or some of their IT infrastructure and operations.

While RFPs are strictly categorized into those three distinct types, ERP RFPs can contain not only technical but also functional requirements from the provider and its partners.

Below we provide details on how you can write an ERP RFP template and use it throughout the different phases of the software selection process:

• ERP requirements gathering
• Planning
• RFI generation
• Evaluation
• Selection

Gathering Your ERP Requirements

Gathering your requirements from the ERP software entails a systematic process. Successful data gathering involves relying on internal operational experts from all facets of the business that will be using the ERP as well as the opinion of external and impartial consultants. The company should concentrate on identifying its critical business needs, with the goal of improving the business rather than implementing the software. The first step in gathering your ERP requirements is to identify the drivers that propel your business forward.

Identifying Key Business Drivers

ERP systems come with basic modules for these areas:
 

• financial management and accounting
• human resources management
• sales and distribution
• project management and professional services automation
• stock and inventory management
• manufacturing and production
• analytics and business intelligence (BI).

More sophisticated ERP products come with more modules and features such as robotic process automation (RPA) and artificial intelligence (AI). Best-of-breed ERP products have features specifically designed to cater to your industry or business type. Additionally, most vendors allow you to customize your ERP products with add-on modules to best suit your business needs.

Your first step then in your requirements-gathering process is to figure out your key business drivers. Why do you want an ERP? For most companies, it’s because their legacy systems are cumbersome and/or old, resulting in fragmented systems and disorganized business data. Oftentimes, a company’s legacy systems can no longer be technology supported because of age, involve too much cost to improve, produce inaccurate results, and impact the company’s competitiveness. Other times, it’s the need to move into expanded markets, protect high-risk data, keep up with strict data sovereignty laws, and/or government regulations.

Other drivers include your need to:
 

• Increase sales
• Drive down costs
• Achieve order management and/or on-time delivery improvements
• Standardize your business processes
• Enhance customer experience and responsiveness

Regardless of which of these drivers propels your business to look for an ERP, once you decide you do need an ERP, you’ll need to decide whether you want a cloud-based or on-premise ERP solution.

Planning Phase

This is the phase where you’ll want an exhaustive software wish list of ERP outcomes, regardless how important or not some of these seem to be. (You can filter your list later.) You’ll need to know what you want your new ERP system to achieve as well as what you don't want it to achieve. Anticipate the changes your business is likely to experience during the ERP implementation stage.

Questions you should ask yourself include:
 

• What are your business strategies and plans for the next 3 to 5 years?
• What are your information needs at the operational and managerial levels?
• How is the new ERP system going to integrate with your existing infrastructure?
• What’s the ERP implementation schedule—and how can we drive business around that?

A feasibility analysis helps. Elements to consider are:

1. Operational feasibility, such as: Will the new system place extra demands on users or require operating changes? Will the new system displace certain workers? If so, how are we going to deal with those situations?
2. Technical feasibility with questions that include: Are the necessary hardware, software, and network resources available? If not, can those resources be easily acquired? Does the proposed solution have sufficient capacity for the future? If not, is expansion possible?
3. Economic feasibility with items such as total cost of ownership (TCO) as well as tangible and intangible benefits.
4. Schedule feasibility that plots a timetable for implementation and considers whether  a fast-track schedule is sustainable.

 

Feasibility analysis for ERP product consideration (Source: Bristow & Dunaway/ Process for Selecting an ERP System - Chapter 3)

Request for Information (RFI) Phase

The Request for Information (RFI) phase is where you’ll collect answers to the questions gathered in your planning phase. Some companies combine the RFI/RFP process by asking questions on the product, along with outlining their requirements in one document. The proposal is distributed to various ERP providers that typically include value-added resellers (VARs), best of breed, and niche market for diverse solutions.

Names of selected ERP providers are culled by internal and external resources. Internal resources include individual users, team members, consultants, and contractors. External resources are trade shows, trade journals, publications, conferences, and the internet. They’re also qualified and impartial consultants like TEC that are used to obtain information about a company for strategic decision-making.

Watch out for the following common mistakes:
 

• Choosing an ERP product, with minimal targeted research—or to the opposite extreme, conducting too much research.
• Selecting too few ERP vendors for the RFI/RFP.
• Contacting ERP vendors before you’ve drafted your software requirements.

If you’ve split your RFI and RFP into two separate phases, use the responses garnered by your RFI to reduce your list of vendors, and then send those shortlisted vendors your RFP, explaining how you’re going to analyze their responses and specifying your deadline for submission.

Structuring Your ERP RFP Process for the Best Response

Your RFI/RFP requirements are accompanied by a summary of your business background, expected product outcomes, and business objectives. You’ll also describe how you plan to evaluate vendor bids, along with a deadline for responses. Finally, you’ll  request a product demonstration (with a scripted demo outline) that identifies how the suggested product meets your stated business goals. 

TIP: When you review the demo, pay close attention to whether—and to which extent—you’ll need to customize the ERP product to achieve your outcomes.

In our experience, companies with successful ERP implementation projects always:
 

• Elicited support for the project from the executive level before proceeding, otherwise the time spent on their RFPs would be wasted.
• Followed a schedule, with a realistic timeline for system selection and implementation.
• Adhered to their timelines, refusing to delay key activities and decisions.
• Ranked their must-have, nice-to-have, and nonessential requirements and created a scripted demo that addressed their organizations’ needs that ERP vendors (and their partners) had to speak to.

Finally, their objectives for the ERP project were thoroughly and clearly presented and their required software functionalities were described with sufficient—but not too much detail—so RFP recipients knew what they needed.

Some organizations include a request for a discovery session, which helps approached vendors go deep to understand the company’s unique business structure, process, and culture, and the character of their employees before they offer their software demos.

Evaluation Phase

This is the critical phase where most companies use scorecards, score sheets, or check-off lists to help them select their best-fit ERP system.

At this stage, companies should investigate the following:
 

1. The functionality of the product,
2. Its integration with other applications,
3. Its ease of implementation,
4. Vendor strength and/or reputation, and
5. The total cost of the ERP system

Your criteria weights, which use points or percentage values, reflect how much you value one variable above the other. For example, 4.5—or 90%—are top marks.

Companies may run their evaluations twice: First to reduce their list to a shortlist of vendors, and then to make their final decisions.

Considerations include:

• Whether vendors will be around for the long term and invest in their product growth.
• Whether the provider offers any of the following: training programs, 24-hour help lines, online documentation, bug patches and fixes, user group meetings, and implementation support through themselves or reputable third-party organizations.
• The approximate cost of the vendor’s software and approximate total costs, which include software, databases, hardware, and implementation assistance.
• Specific modules and functions included in the current release of the vendor’s package.

Selection Phase

Your ERP vendor can provide references (for site visits or online checks) where you can see how clients with business similar to yours use the product. Price is discussed, usually followed with several more meetings and discussions before you arrive at the final negotiation stage.

In extreme cases, you can reverse your decision or renegotiate the contract.

TIP: Focus on your must-have functionalities rather than the cost factor and be prepared for trade-offs.  For example, a customized ERP may be more important than a commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) product; system scalability may make the product more expensive, and so forth. Experienced companies blend internal teams with external consultants for final decisions. Their internal staff are familiar with the company while external consultants—such as TEC—provide impartial expertise and best-practices advice.
 
 

Flow chart of a preliminary ERP selection process (Source: Bristow & Dunaway/ Process for Selecting an ERP System - Chapter 3)

ERP Selection Process Steps

Each company selects its ERP software systems differently, depending on variables that include software urgency, company size, business, industry, and budget.

The ERP selection team usually consists of department leaders, key personnel representing users of the software across different departments, subject matter experts, and/or a project manager. These individuals conduct a general assessment of personnel, technology, workflow, and performance measurements to identify whether changes need to be made in their particular sectors for company growth. All of this is done within the framework of evaluating:
 

• The core competencies of the business
• The general limitations or problems with the business and
• Implementation requirements for the ERP software provider

Once selection team members have identified their requirements, they can map out their best-fit ERP functionality requirements.

Items to consider include:
 

• Are solutions configurable for current needs and business processes, as well as for your future business trajectory?
• Is the solution compatible across IT platforms?
• Does the product have all the functions and features you need now, with add-ons for possible future needs?

When it comes to the actual selection, it’s a return on investment (ROI) process where you want to maximize benefits while minimizing costs.

Guidelines include evaluating:
 

• Background of vendors
• Their stability and experience, especially their sales records for the past year
• The quality and duration of their ERP support offered during and after implementation

On the ERP product, check out:
 

• Third-party integration of products with the ERP and
• Potential system upgrades 

 

How to Make Your ERP RFP Stand Out From the Competition?

Too often, it’s your procurement team—intelligent and dedicated as they are, know nothing or little about ERPs—that draft the RFP document. Other times, companies rush to produce their RFPs resulting in a costly selection of an ERP that does not meet their needs.

How can you improve your ERP RFP success rate and find a best-fit solution with undue delay and cost?

1. Take the time to gather information, collect requirements, and uncover your drivers. While shortcuts sound enticing, consider the cost to the company from a poorly informed decision.
2. An effective RFP process takes time. Design a system to help you and your team share your impressions, questions, feedback points, and ideas as you go.
3. Allow vendors to elaborate on the positives of their products. The RFP’s yes/no constraints limit communication with prospective vendors during the selection process, which could make you miss promising products.
4. If you’re using an ERP RFP Template, such as that from TEC, adjust it to reflect your current business situation. Reassess your needs and objectives to reflect your current ERP acquisition. Provide vendors with enough business background on why you need this particular product.
5. When drafting the RFP, focus on the product’s functionalities—your desired ERP outcomes. Technical specialists, such as expert software advisory consultants from TEC—or vendors—can point you to those products with the features or tools that accomplish those outcomes.
6. Add external consultants to your team for their impartial and seasoned perspective.

Research-Based Recommendations on How to Improve RFP for ERP Procurement

The percentage of ERP products that fail (i.e., the ERP remains unused) hovers around 30%, according to a 2021 article in the International Journal of Procurement Management. Another  46% of purchased ERP products are only scarcely used. Buyers mostly regret their software purchase because ERP implementation runs over budget or the product under-delivers. The study tracked much of that disappointment to RFP documents that failed to do the following:
 

• Include a capped project budget to deter overspending.
• Outline a rough implementation timeline to prevent project overreach.
• Provide vendors with an accurate snapshot of their business to enable matching of ERP features to business objectives.
• Publish contract terms to help vendors submit their best bids.
• Include scoring methodologies so vendors could know which functionalities were more important than others.

A couple of years earlier, researchers Al Askari, Pinedo-Cuenca, and Ahmad published an article in the journal Procedia Manufacturing reporting that companies that succeeded with their RFPs seemed to almost always concentrate on what they called a Define, Evaluate, and Select strategy. Namely these organizations:

• Prioritized functionalities on a M-D-N scale, namely must-haves (M), Nice-to-have (N) and desired-but-not-at-present (D) items. Those companies captured and clearly defined their top–must have needs, identifying how and why those features would improve their business.
• Evaluated potential ERP systems exclusively based on these must-have requirements.
• Selected the ERP technology that most closely fitted their must-have requirements. They recognized that ERP selection was a trade-off process that involved exchanging one desirable feature for another. Their top must-have needs took precedence over everything else, including cost.

Benefits of TEC ERP RFP Templates for Software Selection

Most ERP RFPs run into difficulties for reasons that include that your procurement team knows little on ERP technology, is confused by ERP vendor sales rhetoric, or is uncertain about what your ERP should accomplish.

In response to this need, TEC developed 14 ERP RFP templates that are based on hundreds of successful ERP selection and implementation projects and dozens of ERP software reviews.

These ERP RFP templates are:

• Comprehensive, containing all matched terms of ERP products across nearly 30 industries and companies of any business size.
• Data-driven, layered with thousands of keywords specific to that ERP software category.
• Based on nearly 30 years of extensive and intensive experiences in ERP evaluation and implementation projects and on other initiatives that include generating and updating ERP RFIs.
• Based on the collective intelligence of vendors, analysts, consumers, and consultants.

In short, TECs ERP RFP templates take a large degree of the guesswork, bias, and subjectivity out of the vendor selection process, helping you avoid disreputable or mismatched providers and to fast-track your RFP process.

Using TEC’s ERP RFP templates is simple. Basically:
 

1. Select and download the ERP RFP software template that matches your business size, industry, and needs.
2. Share that ERP RFP template among your selection team members for their input, where you and they check off the software features most important to your business needs and fill out the other sections.
3. Distribute that ERP RFP template to your listed ERP providers.

The TEC ERP RFP template can and should be customized to reflect your particular business situation and ERP requirements. You can use these ERP RFP templates to create demo scripts for your business that vendors need to speak to, showing you how their products match your specific business objectives.

What’s Included in TEC’s ERP RFP Templates

The templates provide the side-by-side comparison that helps you with your final choice. Some vendors may have out-of-the-box solutions that align with your needs while other providers may point you to ERP products with add-ons that you customize to meet your ERP objectives.

All TEC ERP RFP templates include the following:

• Background Details with an overview of your organization and its operations, your target users, objectives of the new ERP users, satellite offices, expected growth, and main competitors.
• Project Scope that details your approximate project timeline from RFP send-out to go-live and a breakdown of your project budget. Also establish the specific duties to be performed by the provider and/or third-party entities and the expected outcomes.
• Requirements List with clearly defined ERP functional requirements and technical specifications broken down into discrete business units, with space for vendors to explain how their systems meet your requirements.
• Vendor Qualifications. Their background, experience, history, and client references. You may want to contact some of these customers. Ensure vendors meet your security and compliance standards to mitigate risk. This is also a good opportunity to check whether vendors provide system integration, support, and training, along with other resources and whether they’ll make a good mid- to long-term partner.
• Budget and Pricing. Have each vendor give a cost breakdown for at least 3-6 years into the future. Costings should be broken down into software only and supplemental costs. All costings should include a validity period, with approximate beginning and end dates.
• Contractual terms and Conditions: Ask vendors for their standard terms and conditions (T&Cs) plus T&Cs specific to your project.
• Evaluation. Describe your scoring methodology and inform vendors when their proposal is due.
• Contacts. Refer vendors to internal and/or external parties, whom they can contact for more details and answers to their questions, if needed.

Examples of TEC’s ERP RFP Templates

TEC has produced 69 RFP templates, among which there are 14 ERP RFP templates catering to different types of businesses.

ERP RFP Templates for All Business Types

All our ERP RFP templates are formatted on our driving mission, which is to save your business time and money in selecting and implementing quality software. Each RFP template includes thousands of selection criteria that cover vital features and functionalities for different categories of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software solutions. They’ve also been divided into functionality sets or modules to make it easier for you to check your business requirements.

All ERP RFP templates have been designed by TEC’s seasoned experts based on our nearly three decades of experience helping some of the world’s leading companies select and implement their ERP systems as well as on ERP software reviews and other initiatives. Let’s take a high-level view at some of these ERP RFP templates.

Discrete Enterprise Resource Planning (Discrete ERP) RFP Template

Discrete ERP refers to ERP software specifically designed for manufacturing companies that deliver distinct (i.e., discrete) products in large quantities. Examples of such products are computers and electronics, fashion and apparel items, or furniture and appliances. TEC’s ERP for discrete manufacturing RFP template has 3,539 features that exist across all the discrete ERP solutions on the market.

The RFP template has been created by analysts with hands-on experience with discrete manufacturing ERP software projects and is divided into functionality modules to make it easier for you to check your ERP requirements.
 

Download our RFP Template for Discrete Manufacturing ERP Systems Today!

ERP for Process Manufacturing RFP Template

Finding an ERP product for process manufacturing can be challenging, since you need full visibility and control across all areas of your manufacturing business. TEC’s RFP template for process manufacturing ERP lists 3,375 software features found in process manufacturing ERPs across the market.

The RFP template can be used to select just the right ERP system that provides advanced functionality for manufacturing-specific needs to ensure high-quality products that meet traceability and compliance and regulatory requirements in extensively regulated industries such as food and beverage production.
 

Download our RFP Templates for Process Manufacturing ERP Systems Today!

ERP for Mixed-mode Manufacturing RFP Template

Mixed-mode ERP software is used by manufacturing companies to manage both discrete and process type of manufacturing requirements. TEC’s RFP template for mixed-mode manufacturing ERP comes with 3,716 features found across solutions on the market, making it more likely that you’ll find an ERP tailored to fit your specific business needs.
 

Download our RFP Template for Mixed-Mode Manufacturing ERP Systems Today!

ERP for Small Manufacturing Business (SMB) Template

Small manufacturing businesses must stretch their budgets to find that best-fit modern manufacturing ERP software that gives them total control over operations, inventory, and sales. TEC’s RFP template covers 2,594 features that exist in all types of small manufacturing business ERPs across the market.
 

Download our ERP RFP Template form Small Manufacturing Businesses (SMBs) Today!

ERP for Distribution RFP Template

Wholesale distributors operate within a highly competitive business environment with low profitability margins. Given the fragmented supply chains brought on by the pandemic and the high likelihood for bottlenecks or delays at any node in the supply chain, it is incumbent upon businesses to look to technological solutions to streamline their supply chain and distribution processes and mitigate costs. Our RFP template for ERP distribution selection covers nearly 3,401 features that all distributors require from enterprise software.


Download our RFP Template for Wholesale Distribution ERP Systems Today!

ERP for Professional Services RFP Template

The right software can automate tedious tasks, help you structure project deadlines, and mine insight from your data for enterprise improvement. When it comes time to find the right ERP for your service business, our RFP template covers more than 1,000 features found across available solutions on the market. As with the other templates, these ERP RFP templates for Professional Services are organized into functionality modules that reflect your services operations, making it easier for you to check off your requirements.


Download our RFP Template for ERP for Professional Services Systems Today!

ERP for Construction RFP Template

Managing a construction project is a complex endeavor comprising many resources and tasks that need to be completed within a specified timeframe for the entire project to proceed as scheduled and to confirm to the timeline and budgetary considerations. TEC’s ERP for construction template lists more than 4,700 individual features for construction businesses to better manage their core processes, helping them to oversee and successfully complete their construction projects.

Download our RFP Template for ERP for Construction Today!

Tips for Writing an Effective RFP Request for Proposal Template

Even top companies struggle with producing effective requests for proposals for their ERP projects. For best practices, we suggest the following:

1. Give your bidders an insider perspective of your company. Provide them with a thorough but succinct overview of where you are and what you expect your new ERP to accomplish.
2. Help providers know why you want to transfer your data to an ERP system. What are your drivers? What kind of ERP product are you looking for? Why are you dissatisfied with your current system?
3. Know your approximate costs. Over one-third of ERP implementations exceed their budgets since ERP RFP preparers have been vague and/or uninformed. Aside from the specific software, there’s also your implementation and ongoing maintenance costs to consider, which is why it’s helpful to enlist an independent ERP consultant to help you understand ERP terms and negotiate a good deal.
4. Question prospective providers for technical and cultural fit. You want an “A” team that will be there for you over the long term, that understands and is a perfect fit for your own people, and that has the experience and know-how to provide technical insight into how your software will accommodate your needs long after the actual ERP implementation.

The Benefits of Using a Consultant to Help with your ERP RFP

In our experience, most organizations find the ERP selection and implementation process intimidating, largely because there are many hurdles to jump through until you find just the right vendor with the right product and cost that meets your expectations. ERP projects also threaten business-as-normal with lost sales and working time, could cause employee turnover, and run up to 6 months to implement. More than anything else, they’re prohibitively expensive—which amplifies the significance of the risk.

How can ERP consultants, such as TEC’s Advisory Services team, help you?

Expert and impartial consultants provide:
 

• Faster and simpler implementation, which cuts your implementation costs and shortens setup times
•  Useful industry insights and best practices on how to capitalize from your ERP investment.
• Ongoing ERP training and support long after the solution has been installed.

Most importantly, ERP consultants ensure you’ve landed an ERP product that matches your stated requirements and that helps you automate and manage your core business processes for optimal success.

Determining the ERP solution that best suits your company’s needs is an important decision that will impact your business for many years to come. With a core focus on software evaluation and selection, TEC has helped many organizations across myriad industries, such as manufacturing and distribution, select the best-fit ERP system to increase operational efficiency and enhance supply chain visibility.

We’ve helped client organizations throughout the entire software selection process, from helping companies to identify gaps in processes and define their business requirements from the ERP system, to collect vendor RFP responses and score product demonstration sessions, to select the right system and provide oversight during the implementation processes to ensure the system does what it was purchased to do.

Glance at some our clients’ ERP software success stories and see how we’ve guided them with best-practice guidelines as well as expertise and technical support to select the right ERP system to unify their operations and processes.

Where Do We Go From Here . . .

At the end of the day, our TEC ERP RFP templates give you a data-driven single document to find the best software for your business, so you won't lose money and time on what could end up being a costly venture.

A good consensus-driven decision is far easier to achieve when dealing with facts and numbers rather than with impressions. That's what our ERP RFP templates help you achieve. They’re data and experience driven, making it more likely that you’ll find your best-fit ERP software faster and cheaper than most people who draft their RFPs from scratch do.

Ready to learn what a good software solution should be capable of? Or even to start your requirements-gathering process? Have a look at our templates on this page and if you have further questions or need some guidance feel free to contact us and we’ll have a consultant ready to help.

Basic Concepts and Definitions

The following terms are most often used in the ERP software acquisition process:
 

• ERP modules are tools within the ERP system with features that cater to a single particular business department or area. For example, a customer relationship management (CRM) module provides the CRM tools for the sales and customer service department.
• Full-Suite ERPs (or all-in-one ERPs) are software products where all (or most) modules are created by the same company.
• The more sophisticated best-of-breed (BOB) ERPs are made up of disparate ERP modules from different vendors that don’t necessarily integrate.
• In contrast, equally sophisticated best-of-suite ERP products collect their modules from different vendors and integrate them into one-of-a-kind solution.
• A niche (or industry-specific) ERP is closely aligned to your industry. Its advantages over the generalized ERP is that it could be cheaper, faster to set up, and possibly easier to replace. On the other hand, some niche-focused ERPs use older technology, so you’ll want to check their updates and support.
• Value-added resellers (VARs) are vendors that add features or services to an existing ERP, then resell it as an integrated product or "turn-key" solution.

The Software Acquisition Process

The following terms are common across industries and standard to any procurement process:
 

• Request for Information (RFI) is a document for gathering information from potential suppliers about their ERP software products.
• Request for Proposal (RFP) is a document for outlining your ERP requirements and ask contractors to submit bids.
• Request for Quote (RFQ) or Invitation For Bid (IFB) is a document for asking ERP providers to cite their price quotations and invite them to bid.
• Proof of concept is in this case accomplished through a product demo where vendors have to demonstrate that their ERP product meets your needs.

Document/Contract Terms

Terms often used to negotiate the software contract include:
 

• Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) refers to the cost of buying the ERP software and the cost of implementing and operating it over the course of its life.
• Conference Room Pilot (CRP) or boardroom pilot introduces end users to the software—in this case the ERP product—and validates it by showing end users what it helps them accomplish.
• Service Level Agreement (SLA) is the contract between a service provider and its customers that defines the level of services provided by the vendor.
• Software Maintenance Agreement (SMA) is the provider’s contract that defines the level of ERP/software maintenance provided after implementation.