When you are starting search potential vendors you may find abundance ERP vendors in market. I bet you won’t review all of them(unless there is only one vendor in your country) instead you will create short list vendors, typically not more than 5 vendors and then you arrange meeting with those vendor for evaluating the product and estimating cost-benefit.
Create shortlist potential vendors
I found a free demo version tool to develop short list potential vendors based on information supplied for answering the questionnaire. Click here to try the tool.
There are 15 questions you have to answer and 5 optional technical questions you may answer for narrowing potential vendor list.
For sample, the following is answer supplied to the questionnaire:
| Please select the knowledge base that best fits your organization’s requirements.
Process Manufacturing |
| Please select the range that most closely represents your organization’s total annual revenue.
$25 – $50 million |
| Which budget range would you like to apply as an estimate for implementing the solution you seek? Select an amount, in US dollars, after selecting the appropriate range for the total number of users (not per user); consider all the costs to install a functional system, including potential licensing costs.
1 to 25 users. Total Budget $100,000 – $150,000 |
| Based on your budget requirements, which services do you require a potential vendor or provider to include?
- Customization & integration as part of implementation - Training & Support |
| Please select the range that represents the total number of people employed by your company.
201 – 500 employees |
| Please indicate which one of the following enterprise size and organizational structures most accurately represents your organization.
National |
| Please indicate which one of the following site structures most accurately represents your organization.
Single Site Enterprise |
| Which categories best describe your business?
Manufacturer |
| Please indicate your requirements for the vendor’s level of presence and localization capabilities (e.g., tax & regulatory compliance) within the following regions (select all that apply).
Asia |
| In what languages do you need to use this solution? This refers to requirements such as a user interface language (select as many as are appropriate).
English |
| Please indicate which of the following manufacturing environments most apply to your business (select all that apply). - Batch Process- Make-to-Order - Make-to-Stock - Continue Process |
| Please indicate your organization’s functional requirements (select all that apply). - Advances Planning & Scheduling- Analytics - Business Intelligence - Financial & Accounting - Inventory Management - Process Manufacturing Management - Purchasing Management - Quality Management - Warehousing, logistics & distribution |
| Time Frame for Implementation 12 months and greater |
| Would you consider or be interested in outsourced and custom services?
We would like to outsource some of the project’s application development & maintenance |
| Why are you performing this research? - For internal requirements- For operational efficiency - For operational efficiency |
| Please indicate the server platforms you plan on using (select all that apply). - Linux - Windows Server |
| Please indicate the DBMS platforms you plan on using (select all that apply). - Microsoft SQL - Oracle |
| Please indicate the level of integration with legacy and 3rd -party systems that you require (select all that apply). - None |
| Please indicate which of the following technologies you will require (select all that apply). - HTTP - Microsoft .NET Platform - Web Service — SOAP |
| Customization, Thin-Client Access, and Standards - There is tight native integration between functional modules - There is flexibility between functional modules (i.e. modules can be implemented incrementally & can be interfaced to 3rd party modules) between each area - The vendor is amenable to work with 3rd party tool & software - There is total portal access to the system, which is role-based & customizable - There is “rich client” web browser access to the internet & use of selected area - There is a thin-client link to the internet & selected system area |
In this case I unchecked all “Disqualify vendors who fail to meet the requirements above” check boxes (if I check all I have no qualified vendors. No one vendor fulfill the criteria)
The result shows both Qualified and Disqualified Vendors.
I obtained 28 qualified vendors. Some of them are :
- Innovation Solutions
- SAP – mySAP popular for Manufacturing Software
- Oracle E-Business Suite
- Microsoft Dynamic NAV ( Navision Software )
- Microsoft Dynamic AX ( Axapta ERP )
While some of disqualified vendors are :
- Technology Group International
- TOTVS S/A – Microsiqa Protheus
Then you can click “Free 2-hour Trial” to compare some vendors (max. 3).
I choose Oracle E-Business, Suite Microsoft Dynamic Axapta and SAP-mySAP and then click “Compare Results”.
The result as follow :
| Vendor | BestMatch Factor |
| SAP ERP (SAP) | 96.00 |
| E-Business Suite (Oracle) | 95.45 |
| Dynamic AX (Microsoft) | 87.47 |
You may try some combination answers to get more accurate result which close to your company requirement and condition, such as increase / reduce Total Budget, change server platform and so on.
Another site you probably interest shows comparison chart of some ERP vendors. Click here.
But I have not known yet criteria they used as based calculation and do not know its validity.
You may extend your review for Midsize ERP System or Small ERP System.
See also :
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The advantages and disadvantages of open source ERP
ERP Market Share and Vendor Evaluation 2011
In ERP software comparison, SAP scores highest, but Tier 2 competitive
Important factors in selecting proper ERP vendors
List of free CRM software