ERP Selection Steering Committee Charter Template
An ERP selection without a charter drifts: attendance falls, decisions get reopened and the loudest department wins. A short written charter fixes who decides what, how often the group meets and how disagreements escalate.
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ERP Selection Steering Committee Charter Template
ERP Replacement Program Steering Committee Charter
Company: Acme Precision Ltd Executive sponsor: Chief Operating Officer Chair: Chief Information Officer Effective from: 2026-11-02
1. Purpose
Select an ERP platform and implementation partner that supports our manufacturing, finance and compliance needs for the next ten years, within the approved budget.
2. Membership
CFO, VP Operations, Director of Quality, IT Director, Head of Supply Chain, ERP Project Lead (secretary)
Members are expected to attend or send a named delegate with authority to decide. Quorum: Chair plus four members.
3. Responsibilities
The committee approves the requirements baseline, the vendor shortlist, the evaluation criteria and weights, and the final recommendation. It resolves conflicts between departments, accepts or rejects scope changes during selection, and ensures that evaluators are free from undeclared conflicts of interest.
The committee does not evaluate vendors line by line. That work belongs to the evaluation team, which reports to the committee.
4. Decision rights
| Decision | Who decides | Who is consulted |
|---|---|---|
| Requirements baseline | Committee | Process owners |
| Vendor shortlist | Committee | Evaluation team |
| Evaluation weights | Committee, before RFP issue | Finance, IT, Operations |
| Preferred vendor | Committee recommends | Evaluation team, Legal |
| Contract signature | Chief Operating Officer and Board as required | Legal, Procurement, Finance |
5. Meetings
Cadence: Every two weeks. The project lead circulates the agenda and the status pack two working days in advance. Decisions and actions are recorded in minutes within two working days.
Financial authority: Selection phase costs up to the approved selection budget; contract signature needs board approval.
6. Escalation
Issues that the committee cannot resolve within two meetings go to the executive sponsor. Any vendor contact outside the agreed process must be reported to the project lead the same day.
7. Conflicts of interest and confidentiality
Members declare any personal or financial relationship with a bidding vendor or partner. Vendor pricing, scores and internal discussions are confidential to the committee and the evaluation team.
Approval
This is a general governance starting point, not legal advice. Adapt decision rights to your own delegation of authority policy and review with your legal and internal audit teams if your organisation requires formal approval of committee terms.
Governance review for your ERP program
Optional: ask for a review of your selection governance and decision criteria from a manufacturing ERP angle.
Optional. The tool and every export work without this. No spam.
How to use the template
Enter company, project, sponsor and chair, list the committee members by role, and set cadence and quorum. The document updates as you type. Export it to Word or PDF, circulate it for sign-off, and file it with the project records. Fill the decision rights table carefully, because most disputes later are about who had the right to decide, not about the decision itself.
- Name roles, not only people, so it survives staff changes
- Set a quorum and a delegate rule
- Fix evaluation weights before the RFP is issued
- Keep the committee at 5 to 8 members
What a good charter covers
The strongest charters are short. They state the purpose in one sentence, name the sponsor, list members and quorum, set out decisions that need committee approval, and describe escalation. They also cover conflicts of interest and confidentiality, since vendors will lobby individual members. For a manufacturer, include operations, quality and finance alongside IT, because ERP selection that is led only by IT usually underweights shop floor needs.
Decision rights table
The table separates who decides from who is consulted. The committee decides the requirements baseline, shortlist and weights. It recommends the preferred vendor, while contract signature stays with the executive authority in your delegation policy. Locking the weights before RFP responses are opened is the single best defence against later accusations that scoring was adjusted to favour a vendor.
Common mistakes
Committees fail when they are too large, when the sponsor never attends, or when the charter allows unlimited reopening of settled decisions. Add a rule that a decision can only be reopened with new evidence. Also avoid giving the committee implementation authority; once selection ends, create a separate project governance structure for the build phase.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many people should be on an ERP steering committee?
Between five and eight. Include the sponsor or chair, finance, operations, quality or compliance, IT and supply chain. Larger groups slow decisions, and smaller ones miss functional viewpoints that matter at go-live.
Is a steering committee the same as the evaluation team?
No. The evaluation team does the detailed scoring of RFP answers, demos and references. The steering committee sets direction, approves weights and shortlist, resolves conflicts and recommends the vendor to executives.
Does the charter continue into implementation?
Usually the selection charter ends with contract signature. Implementation needs its own governance with change control, budget tracking and risk review. You can reuse this template as a base and change the responsibilities.
Should vendors know who is on the committee?
Share only the communication contact. Naming every member invites lobbying. Vendors should send all questions through the project lead so every bidder gets the same information at the same time.
Need a neutral facilitator or technical reviewer for your ERP selection committee? Netray can sit in on the technical and AI readiness questions without taking part in the vendor decision.
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