A successful ERP selection starts with a clear understanding of business processes, requirements and future needs — not with a vendor shortlist. We translate your business objectives into a structured requirements specification, then evaluate suitable ERP vendors objectively — including RFP support and the validation of vendor claims.
From our experience, the wrong-fit risk is not created in the demo. It is created earlier, when requirements are written in vendor language rather than in the language of your own processes. A structured selection also lays the groundwork for the implementation that follows — the documents it produces outlast the project.
A quick read before you spend a meeting on it. If most of this matches your situation, an independent specification is worth scoping — if it doesn't, we will say so.
You are about to choose an ERP system — replacement or first-time
You need a vendor-neutral evaluation, free of referral interests
Requirements are not yet structured across the business units
Management wants a decision that can be defended later
Access to the process owners who know how each area actually runs
Your requirements — or the time to structure them with us — as the basis for scoring
A decision-maker with authority over the criteria weighting and the final call
Strategic guidelines: growth plans, channels and the constraints the system must fit
The five stages involve your people from the first phase, test the shortlisted systems on your own master data in a Proof of Concept, and document every decision along the way. That is what shortens the implementation that follows — and removes the acceptance problems that stall ERP projects after go-live.
A step-ladder model refined across 1,200+ projects: each stage produces a document the next depends on, so the decision is traceable at every point.
Current and future processes captured, a GAP analysis against best practice, and the first selection criteria.
Weeks 1–4Business requirements documented in a tender-ready ERP specification — the basis for a fair comparison.
Months 1–3Longlist and shortlist drawn from a database of almost every ERP system on the market, with documented exclusion reasons.
Months 2–4Structured Proof of Concept on your master data and processes — every step scored and documented.
Months 3–6Licences, running costs and service levels reviewed line by line, then support to acceptance.
Months 5–9Tender-ready requirements specification built on current and future requirements — usable as a contract annex.
Longlist and scored shortlist with documented exclusion reasons — not a gut-feel vendor set.
Every vendor answer traceable to a requirement: standard, configuration, customisation, or not available.
Tested against your own master data and processes, with pass/fail criteria agreed in writing before the PoC starts.
Licences, running costs and service levels read line by line — expressly not legal advice, but everything a lawyer will thank you for.
Global apparel retailer · Retail & Distribution
ProblemA grown ERP landscape at the end of its lifecycle and a selection with high stakes across purchasing, logistics and finance — where vendor claims could not be taken at face value.
EngagementA structured quality gate before the shortlist: requirements weighted with the business units, vendor claims validated against them, and a Proof of Concept on the retailer’s own master data — every step scored and documented.
1
process model — today’s and tomorrow’s business in one document
0
fees from software vendors — no referral, no commission
1,200+
projects of pattern recognition behind the method · since 1992
I thoroughly enjoyed working with you. It was extremely refreshing to be accompanied by your expertise and high level of professionalism during the initial stages of the project.”
Honest answers about independence, PoCs, timelines and deployment choice — the questions that come up in nearly every first conversation about an ERP selection.
Answers by
Dr. Harald Dreher
Founder · Dreher Consulting
Since 1992 he has guided Mittelstand companies through replacing in-house-built ERP systems. He advises vendor-neutrally, taking no commission from any software vendor.
LinkedIn · Last updated: 21 July 2026
Around 500 ERP systems are on the market, and there is no true “standard”. We narrow them from a database in which almost every system is recorded: first against fundamental parameters such as technology base and deployment model, then against your weighted requirements. The result is a longlist, then a scored shortlist with documented exclusion reasons — not a gut-feel vendor set.
Because a vendor demo is a sales instrument: run by the vendor, on the vendor’s data, showing the strengths it chooses to show. We take no software revenue and no referral fees, so the evaluation runs on your processes and your master data — and the recommendation is pegged to your outcome, not a vendor’s roadmap.
A Proof of Concept has each shortlisted system demonstrate your processes on your own master data, against pass/fail criteria agreed in writing before it starts. On the vendor’s demo data every system looks capable; on your data, the gaps in variants, interfaces and master-data structures surface before the contract is signed — not in the implementation.
From our experience, three to nine months for a Mittelstand selection, depending on company size, process complexity and the number of business units involved. We commit to phase-by-phase timelines after the situation analysis — and each stage ends in a documented decision, so the project stays traceable rather than trading speed for defensibility.
Not by trend, but by requirements. Data sovereignty, the integration landscape, internal IT capacity, running costs and industry-specific regulation weigh differently in every company. We weigh these parameters with you in the solution-identification stage and document the trade-offs — the deployment model is a consequence of your requirements, not a starting point.
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