# ERP Selection Scorecard: Is Your Evaluation Process Rigorous Enough? > Source: https://netray.co/tools/erp-selection-scorecard > Publisher: Netray (netray.co), AI and integration engineering for ERP and manufacturing systems. > Section: Free Tools ## Short answer Score the rigor of your ERP selection process in 10 questions and find the gaps vendors exploit before you sign a contract you cannot easily exit. ## Category erp-migration ## Tool **Kind:** assessment **Questions:** #### How well are your requirements documented? **Options:** ##### No formal requirements; we will know it when we see it **Score:** 0 ##### A feature wish-list without priorities **Score:** 1 ##### Documented requirements with must-have vs nice-to-have **Score:** 2 ##### Prioritized requirements tied to measurable business outcomes **Score:** 3 #### Do your criteria cover manufacturing-specific fit in depth? **Help:** Generic ERP checklists miss the areas where manufacturing ERPs actually differ: BOM depth, MRP behavior, scheduling, costing methods, and lot/serial traceability. **Options:** ##### No; we are using a generic ERP feature checklist **Score:** 0 ##### Some manufacturing items, but shallow **Score:** 1 ##### Detailed criteria for BOM, MRP, and scheduling **Score:** 2 ##### Detailed criteria plus mode-specific needs like ETO, configure-to-order, or repair **Score:** 3 #### How are vendor demos structured? **Options:** ##### Vendors run their standard pitch demo **Score:** 0 ##### We give topics but vendors control the flow **Score:** 1 ##### Scripted demos following our scenarios **Score:** 2 ##### Scripted demos using our actual parts, BOMs, and orders, scored by users **Score:** 3 #### How thorough are your reference checks? **Options:** ##### We have not planned reference checks **Score:** 0 ##### We will call the references the vendor provides **Score:** 1 ##### Vendor references plus our own network contacts **Score:** 2 ##### Independent references at manufacturers of similar size, mode, and industry **Score:** 3 #### Have you built a total cost of ownership model beyond license price? **Options:** ##### No; we are comparing license quotes **Score:** 0 ##### License plus vendor services estimate only **Score:** 1 ##### Multi-year model including integrations and infrastructure **Score:** 2 ##### Full 5-year TCO including internal staffing, integrations, and contingency **Score:** 3 #### Have you evaluated vendor viability and product roadmap? **Options:** ##### No; we assume the vendor will be fine **Score:** 0 ##### Informal impression from sales conversations **Score:** 1 ##### Reviewed roadmap materials and analyst coverage **Score:** 2 ##### Assessed roadmap, install-base trends, and end-of-support history in writing **Score:** 3 #### Are you evaluating the implementation partner separately from the software? **Help:** The same product succeeds or fails based on who implements it. Partner evaluation deserves its own criteria and references. **Options:** ##### No; the software vendor will handle implementation **Score:** 0 ##### We will use whoever the vendor recommends **Score:** 1 ##### Comparing partners informally **Score:** 2 ##### Formal partner evaluation with team CVs, industry references, and methodology review **Score:** 3 #### How involved are end users in the evaluation? **Options:** ##### Selection is being made by executives or IT alone **Score:** 0 ##### Users were surveyed once for requirements **Score:** 1 ##### Key users attend demos and give feedback **Score:** 2 ##### Cross-functional user team scores demos with weighted criteria **Score:** 3 #### Are regulatory and compliance requirements explicitly mapped? **Help:** For aerospace and defense: ITAR data handling, DFARS/CMMC hosting constraints, AS9100 traceability, and government cost accounting. **Options:** ##### Not considered in selection criteria **Score:** 0 ##### Mentioned but not turned into testable criteria **Score:** 1 ##### Documented compliance requirements per vendor **Score:** 2 ##### Compliance requirements validated in demos and reference checks **Score:** 3 #### Have contract terms and exit provisions been reviewed? **Options:** ##### We will review the contract when we pick a vendor **Score:** 0 ##### Standard legal review of vendor paper **Score:** 1 ##### Negotiating price, SLAs, and renewal caps **Score:** 2 ##### Negotiating data ownership, exit assistance, renewal caps, and SLA remedies **Score:** 3 **Bands:** #### Vendor-Led Selection: High Regret Risk **Min:** 0 **Max:** 39 **Verdict:** Your process is currently structured so vendors control the narrative, which is how manufacturers end up with software that demos well and fits poorly. Selections in this band frequently produce buyer's remorse within 18 months. Pause active vendor conversations until you have your own requirements, scripts, and TCO model. **Recommendations:** - Stop vendor demos until you have prioritized, manufacturing-specific requirements - Build demo scripts around your five hardest real-world scenarios with your own data - Construct a 5-year TCO model before comparing any pricing - Form a cross-functional user scoring team with weighted criteria - Engage an independent advisor who does not resell any of the candidates #### Partially Rigorous: Close the Gaps Vendors Exploit **Min:** 40 **Max:** 69 **Verdict:** You have real structure in place, but the gaps that remain, typically references, partner evaluation, and contract terms, are exactly where sophisticated vendors recover margin lost in price negotiation. Two to four weeks of additional rigor now protects a seven-figure, decade-long commitment. **Recommendations:** - Find independent references through industry groups rather than vendor-supplied lists - Run a formal implementation partner evaluation with named-team commitments in the contract - Validate compliance requirements live in demos rather than accepting written yes answers - Negotiate renewal caps and exit assistance before announcing a winner, while leverage exists - Score every remaining demo with the same weighted user panel for comparability #### Rigorous Process: Maintain Discipline Through Contracting **Min:** 70 **Max:** 100 **Verdict:** Your selection process is more disciplined than most, which dramatically improves your odds of choosing software that fits and negotiating terms that hold up. The remaining risk is late-stage erosion: deadline pressure and vendor incentives tend to soften rigor exactly when the biggest decisions get made. **Recommendations:** - Keep user scoring panels engaged through final demos and sandbox evaluations - Get named implementation team members written into the contract with substitution rights - Insist on a proof-of-concept or conference room pilot for your riskiest requirements - Document why the runner-up lost; it becomes leverage in final negotiation - Have exit provisions and data ownership terms reviewed by counsel experienced in ERP disputes ## Content **Intro:** This scorecard measures the rigor of your ERP selection process, built for discrete manufacturers evaluating platforms such as Infor SyteLine, Infor LN, Epicor, or SAP. Most ERP disappointment is traceable not to bad software but to a weak selection process: vendor-controlled demos, generic checklists, references hand-picked by sales, and contracts signed under deadline pressure. Ten questions covering requirements, demos, references, TCO, compliance, and contracting take five minutes to answer and reveal exactly where your process is exposed, with concrete steps to close each gap before you commit. **Sections:** #### Why selection process quality predicts ERP success **Body:** Studies of ERP outcomes repeatedly show that satisfaction correlates more strongly with how the system was chosen than with which system was chosen. A rigorous process forces fit questions into the open early: whether the MRP engine handles your planning calendar, whether costing supports your mix of standard and actual, whether lot and serial traceability satisfies your auditors. A weak process defers those discoveries to implementation, where every gap becomes a change order, a customization, or a workaround that users resent for a decade. The scorecard questions are sequenced along the actual selection journey, from requirements through contracting, because rigor at each stage compounds and gaps at early stages silently corrupt everything downstream. #### Where manufacturers most often lose the selection **Body:** Across the selections we have advised and the rescues we have staffed afterward, the same four process failures appear again and again, and they share a common mechanism: each one hands control of the evaluation to the party with the least incentive to surface problems. Vendors are not being dishonest when they steer demos toward strengths or supply their happiest references; they are doing their jobs, and a selection process that does not counteract that steering is not neutral, it is vendor-led. Check your own process against this list before your next vendor interaction, because each item is cheap to fix during selection and brutally expensive to fix after signature. **Bullets:** - Letting vendors run standard demos instead of scripted scenarios with your own parts and orders - Evaluating software thoroughly while barely evaluating the implementation partner who determines the outcome - Comparing license quotes instead of 5-year TCO including integrations and internal staffing - Negotiating price hard while ignoring renewal caps, data ownership, and exit assistance #### How to use your score **Body:** Your band tells you whether to proceed, patch, or pause. In the lowest band, the honest move is to suspend vendor conversations for a few weeks and build your own apparatus first; vendors will wait, and the power balance shifts permanently in your favor when you return with scripts and a TCO model. In the middle band, target your specific zero and one-point answers as a punch list before final demos. In the top band, your challenge is preserving discipline through the contracting endgame, when fatigue and fiscal-quarter vendor incentives conspire to rush the finish. Whatever your band, re-score after each major selection milestone; process rigor degrades quietly under deadline pressure. #### How Netray supports ERP selection **Body:** Netray advises manufacturers through ERP selection with a bias you should know about: we implement Infor SyteLine and LN, so when those platforms are a bad fit we say so early, because failed implementations are bad business for everyone. We bring manufacturing-specific requirement libraries, demo scripts refined across dozens of evaluations, independent reference networks in aerospace, defense, and electronics, and TCO models calibrated with real project actuals. We also review contracts for the terms that matter in year three, not just the price on page one. Share your scorecard result and a selection specialist will show you exactly which gaps to close before your next vendor meeting. **Cta:** Get a specialist review of your selection process and close the gaps before your next vendor demo. **Faq:** #### How long should an ERP selection take for a mid-market manufacturer? **Answer:** Plan for four to six months from requirements kickoff to signed contract for a typical mid-market discrete manufacturer. Compressing below three months almost always means skipping scripted demos, independent references, or contract negotiation, which are precisely the steps that prevent expensive mistakes. Stretching past nine months usually signals missing executive sponsorship or unclear requirements rather than healthy diligence, and vendor pricing and attention both degrade with drift. #### Should we use a selection consultant or run it ourselves? **Answer:** Run it yourself if you have someone who has selected and implemented ERP before, dedicated time to manage the process, and access to independent references. Bring in outside help if this is your first selection in a decade, because the vendor side runs this play weekly and you do not. Whoever you use, verify their independence: many selection consultants earn referral fees from vendors, which quietly shapes shortlists. Ask directly about compensation. #### What belongs in a demo script? **Answer:** Your hardest, most representative scenarios, not a feature tour. Good scripts include a top-selling product with its real multi-level BOM, an engineering change mid-order, a rush order that disrupts the schedule, a lot-traced recall simulation, month-end costing for your actual costing method, and your ugliest pricing agreement. Provide the data in advance, require vendors to follow the sequence, and have users score each scenario immediately. Vendors who resist scripted demos are telling you something. ## Search terms erp selection scorecard, erp selection criteria manufacturing, how to choose an erp system, erp vendor evaluation, erp selection process, manufacturing erp comparison, erp demo script --- Talk to an engineer: https://netray.co/contact?intent=erp_ai | Machine catalog: https://netray.co/agent/catalog.json