Planning an ERP Investment Around Business and Community Needs
In Brief
Turning Operational Complexity into Actionable Requirements
A nonprofit organization with commercial operations and community programs needed to replace its aging enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Before choosing a platform, leaders wanted an independent assessment of how their systems supported the organization and where improvements were needed.
Resource Data documented current processes, identified gaps, researched viable ERP options, and developed detailed requirements and a request for proposals (RFP) package. This work provided the client with a solid foundation for evaluating vendors, selecting a solution, and planning its implementation.
Key Takeaways
Clarity Before Committing to a New Platform
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An Independent View of Business Needs
Interviews and process analysis brought together needs across departments, validating existing concerns and revealing dependencies that a future ERP would need to address.
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Requirements Grounded in Actual Operations
The assessment captured specialized processes alongside core business functions, helping the client evaluate options beyond a generic checklist of ERP capabilities.
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More Meaningful Vendor Comparisons
A requirements matrix asked vendors to distinguish standard functionality from configuration and customization, making differences between offerings easier to assess.
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A Clearer Path to Vendor Selection
The client received process documentation, market analysis, and an RFP package to support vendor selection and implementation planning.
Meet Our Client
A Nonprofit Where Business Supports Community
The client is a nonprofit organization that uses revenue from commercial activities to support community development programs. Its operations include commercial fishing, seafood sales, business subsidiaries, and services supporting local communities.
Managing these different operations requires coordinating financial information across entities while supporting specialized production, inventory, and logistics processes. Community programs bring additional service and reporting requirements. A future ERP needed to address these distinct needs while connecting information across the organization.
The Challenge
One Replacement Decision, Many Different Business Needs
The client’s Microsoft Dynamics GP system supported core accounting, but many operations relied on additional applications, complex Excel workbooks, and manual data transfers. With support for the current ERP approaching its end, replacing the system became a priority. However, choosing a new platform meant addressing more than outdated software.
Information was spread across systems, making reporting and reconciliation more difficult. Some critical processes relied on spreadsheets maintained by staff with specialized knowledge, creating risks when information became inconsistent or difficult to manage. For example, teams managing perishable inventory had to coordinate production, sales, and shipping within tight timeframes. A replacement ERP needed to account for these time-sensitive processes without disrupting critical operations.
The Solution
An Assessment Built for informed ERP Selection
Resource Data helped the client define what its next ERP needed to support. Through staff interviews and process mapping, the team documented current operations, identified gaps, and developed requirements reflecting each department’s needs.
These findings guided research into potential software options and shaped a request for proposals (RFP). In the selection process, potential ERP vendors would be asked to explain how their products would meet each requirement, including what was built in and what would require additional setup or custom development. This provided a consistent way to compare options and ask more informed questions before choosing a system.
Because of the client’s unique and complex business needs, we knew a traditional checklist or simple yes-or-no responses would not tell the full story. Our team designed the RFP to distinguish between standard functionality, configurable options, and custom development, giving the client better visibility into potential effort and costs before making such an important investment.
- Richard Piwonka, Project Manager, Resource Data
Features
Bringing Processes and Priorities into the Evaluation
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Process Mapping for Shared Understanding
Documented processes and diagrams connected tasks, systems, and information flows, providing common reference points for discussing needs across departments.
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Gap Analysis for Clearer Priorities
The assessment identified duplicated data, manual work, and reliance on specialized knowledge, connecting those findings to requirements for a future environment.
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Market Analysisfor Relevant Options
Research considered core ERP platforms and specialized applications, helping the client explore options suited to both financial management and operational needs.
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Prioritized Requirements for Better Vendor Responses
The workbook recorded requirement priorities and distinguished standard, configured, and customized capabilities, supporting more specific conversations about fit and implementation effort.
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Early Migration Requirements for Informed Vendor Evaluation
Requirements identified data held across existing systems and workbooks, prompting vendors to address their proposed migration approach, sequencing, and tools during the selection process.
Results
Better Informed, Better Prepared
The client gained more than a list of potential ERP systems. Leaders could see which business needs a replacement had to address, where existing processes created risks, and which activities might require specialized software.
The independent review also validated concerns staff had raised about spreadsheet workarounds and disconnected information. Those concerns became concrete requirements the client could bring to vendors. With a clearer picture of its needs, the organization was better prepared to assess software fit and understand what each option would require before committing to an implementation.
What's Next
Putting the Assessment to Work
The RFP and requirements matrix provided a structured path for evaluating proposals, conducting vendor demonstrations, and selecting an ERP provider. The documented processes and requirements can then guide implementation planning, helping the selected team define scope, prepare data migration, and confirm that the new system supports the organization’s needs.
