Successful ERP project management keeps scope, timelines, costs and quality under control across the whole ERP lifecycle. Dreher Consulting runs it independently — safeguarding your objectives, validating vendor deliverables and holding implementers to the agreed requirements — so the project lands on plan, on budget and in the quality your business signed for.
Effective ERP project management requires clear governance, transparent decision-making and active control of scope, risks and dependencies — from the first project structure to the last vendor deliverable.
In our projects we establish the project structures, monitor milestones, validate vendor deliverables and manage risks — preventing the scope creep, budget overruns and quality issues that derail ERP programmes. And the management is independent: it belongs to the same chain as ERP implementation and independent ERP consulting, and it answers to no vendor.
A quick read before you spend a meeting on it. If most of this matches your situation, independent project management is worth scoping — if it doesn't, we will say so.
We have observed across more than 30 years of ERP projects: the programmes that land are the ones where someone without a software stake holds the plan. Our project managers deliver to internationally recognised standards — traditional, agile or hybrid — and answer to exactly one party: you.
Four stages that keep scope, time, cost and quality under control — with governance your organisation can carry after handover.
Project structures, roles and decision paths established, stakeholders aligned — so every decision has an owner before the first milestone.
Structures & rolesScope, milestones, time and budget planned against internationally recognised project-management standards and norms.
PM standardsWaterfall or V-model, Scrum or Kanban, or a hybrid framework — the method matched to your project, not the other way round.
Method matchedProactive risk management, project controlling and vendor-deliverable validation — through to organisational readiness at go-live.
ControllingSeasoned project managers as your direct contacts throughout the programme.
Reachable when the project needs it — escalations don’t keep office hours.
Your position held towards the implementer and the software house.
A project-management framework matched to your project — not the other way round.
Proven standards for a targeted, successful project — applied from day one.
Current tooling for planning, tracking and reporting across all parties.
Risks identified early, owned and actively managed — not archived.
Milestones, budget and quality transparently controlled — visible to management.
Deuter · Consumer Goods
ProblemA brand with seasonal collections, wholesale and retail channels and a vendor-led implementation ahead — and no internal capacity to control scope, milestones and vendor deliverables at programme level.
EngagementIndependent project management on Dreher standards: governance and decision structures established, milestones and budget controlled, vendor deliverables validated — traditional and agile elements combined.
15
years of continued collaboration on process optimisation
0
fees from software vendors — no referral, no commission
For 15 years we have been working with Dreher Consulting on various tasks in the context of process optimisation. We have achieved all our goals and will work with Dreher Consulting again.
Honest answers about governance, delivery methods and vendor accountability — the questions that come up in nearly every first conversation about ERP project management.
ERP project management keeps scope, timelines, costs and quality under control across the ERP lifecycle — from project setup and vendor selection through implementation to go-live. It covers governance and decision structures, milestone and budget control, risk management and the validation of vendor deliverables. Done well, it is the difference between a system that lands on plan and a programme that drifts.
Because the vendor's project manager delivers the vendor's plan. An independent project manager represents your interests towards the implementer and the software house: scope changes are surfaced and priced honestly, deliverables are validated before acceptance, and the project is graded against your objectives. Dreher Consulting takes no software revenue and no referral fees.
In our projects: establish governance and decision structures, plan scope, milestones, time and budget, run the delivery method, manage risks proactively, control progress and costs, validate vendor deliverables and prepare the organisation for go-live. The visible output is control: a plan that holds, a risk register that is worked, and decisions taken at the right level at the right time.
It depends on the project, not on fashion. Stable scope and hard regulatory gates favour traditional waterfall or V-model structures; evolving requirements favour agile elements such as Scrum or Kanban. Most Mittelstand ERP programmes land best with a hybrid — a traditional milestone frame with agile delivery inside it. We match the method to the project, against internationally recognised standards.
By making risk visible early and giving it an owner. Scope creep is surfaced instead of absorbed, budget deviations appear in the controlling instead of at the end, and quality issues are caught when vendor deliverables are validated instead of at go-live. From our experience, the expensive ERP failures are rarely technical — they are unmanaged.
You are — which is exactly why the project should not be run solely by the vendor. The vendor is accountable for its deliverables; the business is accountable for the outcome. Independent project management closes that gap: it holds the vendor to the agreed requirements and the programme to your objectives, so accountability and control sit on the same side of the table.
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