What this resource helps you evaluate
owners and operations teams at small manufacturers planning the rollout of a selected Small Manufacturing ERP platform.
Implementation quality usually depends more on ownership, data and process decisions than on the software installation itself. This checklist keeps order-to-production planning, purchasing, inventory and job costing tied to measurable acceptance criteria.
What to compare first
- Executive owner, process owner and system administrator responsibilities
- Data cleansing, migration and reconciliation
- Configuration, integration and role design
- User acceptance, training and cutover readiness
- Hypercare, support ownership and post-go-live KPI review
Step-by-step process
- 01
Freeze scope and define measurable go-live acceptance criteria.
- 02
Clean and map master data before migration rehearsals.
- 03
Configure core workflows before optional automation or customization.
- 04
Run end-to-end tests including exceptions, permissions and recovery scenarios.
- 05
Cut over with named support owners, rollback criteria and a post-go-live improvement backlog.
Common mistakes and risk checks
- over-customizing the system before core production data is stable.
- Comparing headline license price without implementation, integration, migration and support cost.
- Scoring demos instead of validating the highest-risk workflows with real data and users.
Documents and evidence to collect
- Current process map and pain-point log
- Requirements and integration inventory
- Representative data samples and master-data definitions
- Security, access and retention requirements
- Implementation assumptions, timeline and commercial quote
- Test scripts, cutover plan and acceptance sign-off
Questions to ask vendors
- Can the vendor demonstrate order-to-production planning, purchasing, inventory and job costing with our representative data?
- Which capabilities require paid modules, services or third-party products?
- What data can we export in a documented format if we leave?
- What implementation work is performed by the vendor versus the customer or partner?
- How are support response, releases, backups and security responsibilities defined?
Primary and official references
Use current official sources to validate requirements that affect your project, industry or jurisdiction.