ERP Reference Call Question Template
Reference calls are the cheapest way to learn what an ERP implementation is really like, and the easiest to waste. This template gives you a structured interview with probing questions for fit, implementation, go-live, support and cost, and a rating sheet that feeds your vendor scoring.
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ERP Reference Call Question Template
ERP Reference Call Record
Vendor: Vendor A, Cloud Manufacturing Edition Reference company: Midwest Fabrication Corp Contact: Priya Nair, Director of IT Profile: Discrete manufacturer, 600 employees, 2 plants, live 22 months Modules live: Finance, purchasing, inventory, MRP, shop floor, quality Implementation partner: Regional integrator (named by reference) Interviewer: Sam Patel Call date: 2027-01-21
Opening: thank the contact, state that the call is about their experience and not a sales exercise, ask for 30 minutes, and confirm that notes are for our internal selection only.
Priority to probe: Reliability of shop floor reporting, true implementation cost versus quote, and how upgrades affect customizations.
A. Fit and scope
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| Why did you choose this product, and what alternatives did you reject? | |
| Which processes run in standard functionality and which needed extensions? | |
| What did the vendor promise in the demo that you found harder in practice? | |
| How similar is your business to ours (mix, volumes, regulation)? |
B. Implementation
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| What was the planned versus actual timeline and cost, and why did they differ? | |
| How was the implementation partner, and would you hire them again? | |
| How many of your own people were needed, and for how long? | |
| What was the data migration experience and which data was hardest? | |
| What did you wish you had done differently at the start? |
C. Go-live and stabilization
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| How did go-live go and how long until operations were stable? | |
| Were there disruptions to shipping, invoicing or production? | |
| How did users react, and how effective was training? | |
| What defects or gaps remain today? |
D. Operation, support and upgrades
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| How responsive is vendor support for production-down issues? | |
| How do updates and upgrades work, and what breaks in your customizations? | |
| How much internal administration effort does the system need? | |
| How is performance at your peak periods? |
E. Commercials and relationship
| Question | Notes |
|---|---|
| Have prices changed since signing, including renewal increases? | |
| What costs were not in the original quote? | |
| How does the vendor behave when things go wrong? | |
| Would you buy this product again today, and why? |
F. Interviewer rating
| Area | Rating 1-5 | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Fit to our needs | ||
| Implementation quality | ||
| Support and upgrades | ||
| Commercial honesty | ||
| Would recommend |
Sign-off
Vendors choose their own references, so expect positive answers. Ask for at least one reference you pick yourself, for example a customer who left or a reference that went live in the last 12 months, and speak to the partner's project manager as well as the customer's IT lead.
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How to run the call
Fill in the header fields and your priority concern before the call, then use the question tables as a guide, not a script. Take notes live in the second column. Ask open questions and follow up on any hedging language such as it was okay or mostly. Two people on the call, one asking and one writing, produce the best notes. After the call, complete the rating table within an hour while the details are fresh and export the record.
- Schedule 30 minutes and confirm notes are internal
- Ask two people per reference where possible
- Probe planned versus actual cost and timeline
- Rate immediately after the call
What to listen for
The most valuable answers come from the questions about regret, workarounds and surprises. If the reference cannot name anything they would do differently, they are either guarded or have not looked closely. Notice how they describe the partner and the vendor under pressure; a good relationship in calm times says little. Compare their description of planned versus actual cost with the vendor's quoted figures, and test whether their business is truly similar to yours in mix, volume and regulation.
Getting beyond the curated reference
Vendors hand over happy customers. To balance that, ask for references of a certain profile, such as a customer in your industry that went live in the past year, and ask for one that moved from your current system. Find a customer yourself through user groups or professional networks. Ask the implementation partner for the project manager who led the reference project, because they know where the delivery problems were.
Common mistakes
Do not use the call to confirm what you already believe. Do not ask yes or no questions, which invite polite yes answers. Avoid treating a single enthusiastic reference as proof, and avoid calling only IT: finance and operations users experience the system differently. Finally, do not forget to record the answers in a consistent form, so that the rating on each vendor can be compared in your scoring matrix.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many reference calls should I do per vendor?
At least three per shortlisted vendor, ideally including one that you source yourself and one with a similar profile to yours. Also speak to the implementation partner's project lead. Fewer than three gives you anecdotes rather than patterns.
What are the best questions to ask an ERP reference?
Ask what they would do differently, how actual cost and timeline compared to plan, what surprised them after go-live, and whether they would buy again. These open questions reveal more than asking whether the system meets their needs.
How do I deal with overly positive references?
Ask for specifics: dates, costs, defect counts and examples. Vague praise often disappears when you ask for numbers. Compare answers with an independent source such as a user group, analyst contact or a customer the vendor did not select.
Should I share my questions in advance?
Share the topics, not the full list, so the reference can find the right colleague to join. Prepared candid answers on cost and regrets are more useful than improvised cautious ones. Confirm the call is internal and not recorded unless they agree.
If you want to review how a candidate system performs on your own data before you commit, we can discuss a read-only evaluation setup that runs in your environment.
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