How to Choose an ERP: Scorecard, RFP & Demo Script

Choosing an ERP is a five to ten year decision made, too often, in two hours of demos. Vendors show their best screens, with clean sample data, and the person with the best presentation wins. Six months later the company discovers that the system handles everything except the way it works.

A structured selection fixes this. It does not need to be heavy, even for a small business. This guide gives you a weighted scorecard with a worked example, a short RFP outline, a demo script that makes vendors prove it on your data, a method for reference checks, a way to compare five-year cost, and the contract points that matter. It is vendor-neutral: use it on ERPNext, Odoo, SAP Business One, Business Central or anything else.

Do the requirements work first: a prioritised list of what the business must do, with an owner and an acceptance test for each item, is the input for every step below. If you want a quick overview of options in India or the GCC, see best ERP for small business in India and in the UAE and GCC.

Step 1: Set up the evaluation team and rules

• A small team of 4 to 6: sponsor, finance, operations or sales, IT or system owner, and one real daily user.
• One scorer per criterion where possible, to avoid everyone scoring everything.
• A fixed timeline, for example two to four weeks from shortlist to decision, so the process does not drift.
• A conflict rule: anyone with a personal relationship with a vendor says so, and does not score that vendor.

Step 2: Build a shortlist of three

Start wide, then cut. Eliminate options on knockout criteria, which are yes or no: does it support statutory compliance in your country? Does it cover your core industry process? Is there a local partner who can support you in your language and time zone? Is the deployment model acceptable, whether cloud, self-hosted or both? Three finalists are enough. More than that, and you will not have time to test properly.

Compare product categories as well as products. Our posts on open-source vs proprietary ERP and cloud vs on-premise ERP help you decide the category first.

Step 3: Build the weighted scorecard

Choose six to eight criteria, assign weights that total 100, and score each vendor from 1 to 5 with notes. Agree the weights before demos. The table below is a worked example with hypothetical numbers, not a statement about any real product.

Criterion	Weight	Vendor A	Vendor B	Vendor C
Functional fit to your must-have requirements	25	4	5	3
Compliance (GST, VAT, e-invoicing, WPS) and local support	15	5	4	3
Implementation approach, team and references	15	3	4	4
Total cost of ownership over 5 years	15	3	4	5
Usability and adoption by your staff	10	4	3	4
Integration, data and exit (APIs, export, ownership)	10	3	4	5
Support, SLA and upgrade policy	10	4	3	3
Weighted score out of 100	100	75	81	75

The weighted score is the sum of weight times score, divided by 5 to give a number out of 100. In this example Vendor B leads with 81, on the strength of functional fit and implementation approach. Vendors A and C tie at 75 with very different profiles: A is strongest on compliance, while C is the cheapest and the easiest to leave but the weakest on fit and compliance. A tie, or a lead of a few points, is the signal to examine the profile and the evidence rather than to trust the total.

Two rules make the scorecard honest. First, every score has an evidence note, such as "demo scenario 3 passed" or "reference said go-live slipped two months". Second, run a sensitivity check: change the top two weights by five points and see if the winner changes. If it does, the decision is not clear yet.

Step 4: Write a short RFP (request for proposal)

You do not need a hundred-page document. Two to six pages works for small and mid-sized businesses. Send the same document to every vendor so answers are comparable.

Section	Content
1. About us	Industry, size, countries, branches, number of users, current systems
2. Objectives	Three to five business outcomes, such as month-end close in five days, branch-wise margin, GST and e-invoicing compliance
3. Scope	Modules and processes in scope for phase one, and what is out of scope
4. Requirements	Your prioritised list (Must, Should, Could) with a column for the vendor to answer: standard, configuration, customisation, third party, not available
5. Compliance	Specific statutory needs by country: GST, e-way bill, TDS, VAT, WPS, e-invoicing
6. Technical	Hosting options, data location, integration needs, security, backup and recovery
7. Implementation	Methodology, team, timeline, data migration, training, post-go-live support
8. Commercials	A price breakdown in a fixed template: licence or subscription, implementation, customisation, hosting, training, support, upgrades. Rates for change requests
9. References	Three customers in a similar industry and size, with contact details
10. Process	Deadlines, demo dates, contact person, evaluation criteria summary

Ask vendors to answer requirements in a locked format. Free-text answers such as "fully supported" are impossible to compare. Ask for the mechanism: which screen, which setting, which report?

Step 5: Script the demo

Give each finalist the same scripted scenarios a week before, with your sample data: items, customers, a messy invoice, a tax case. Then evaluate how they run it. A good script includes:

1. Order to cash: quotation with a customer-specific price, sales order, partial delivery, invoice with tax, part payment, credit note for a return.
2. Procure to pay: purchase request, order, receipt with a short quantity, supplier invoice that differs from the order, payment.
3. Stock: batch or serial item, inter-warehouse transfer, stock count adjustment, stock ageing report.
4. Finance: bank reconciliation, month-end journal, trial balance, balance sheet by cost center or branch.
5. Compliance: your country's tax return data, e-invoice or e-way bill, and the exports your accountant needs.
6. Control: an approval above a limit, a role that cannot see cost prices, an audit trail of an edit.
7. Exception: something awkward from your real business. This is the scenario that separates products.
8. Reporting: build one new report or dashboard live, without a developer.

Let a daily user, not the manager, click through the system. If they cannot work out the screen in a few minutes, adoption will be slow. Our guide to how to evaluate an ERPNext demo and free trial adds specifics for a hands-on trial.

Step 6: Check the implementer and the references

An ERP project succeeds through people. Evaluate:

• Who will actually work on your project, and for how long? Ask to meet them, not just the sales manager.
• Experience in your industry and country, including compliance.
• Methodology: requirements, configuration, testing, training, go-live and support, in writing.
• Reference calls: ask what went wrong, how it was solved, how long the project took compared with the plan, and what support is like a year later.

Good reference questions: "What would you do differently?", "Which part of the system do your staff dislike?", "Did the price change during the project?", "How quickly did support respond last month?" Our guides on choosing an ERPNext partner in Kerala and partner vs freelancer vs in-house cover the people side in depth.

Step 7: Compare five-year total cost

Put every vendor into the same template, and include the lines that quotes hide:

Cost line	Year 1	Years 2 to 5	Ask the vendor
Licence or subscription	Yes	Yes	Per user, per module, per company? What triggers an increase?
Implementation and configuration	Yes	Some	Fixed price or time and material? What is excluded?
Customisation and integrations	Yes	Some	Who owns the code? Who maintains it through upgrades?
Data migration	Yes	No	How many cycles of migration are included?
Hosting and infrastructure	Yes	Yes	Where is data stored? Who handles backups?
Training	Yes	Some	Per user or per session? In which language?
Support and AMC	Often	Yes	Hours, response times, escalation. See support and AMC plans
Upgrades	No	Yes	Included? Who tests custom code?
Your internal time	Yes	Yes	Often the largest unpriced cost

See our guides on ERP implementation cost and building an ERP business case for how to turn these numbers into a board decision.

Step 8: Review the contract and the exit

• Data ownership and export: you own your data, and you can export it in a usable format at any time, including after termination.
• Scope and acceptance: the signed requirements and the acceptance tests that trigger milestone payments.
• Payment milestones tied to deliverables, not only to dates.
• Change control: rates and process for changes.
• Support terms: SLA, hours, language, escalation and what happens when the key person leaves.
• Price protection: caps on annual increases for subscriptions and support.
• Source code and custom work: who owns it, and can another partner maintain it?
• Security and privacy: data location, backups, breach notification.

Have your lawyer review the contract. We are not giving legal advice here.

Red flags during selection

• The vendor will not demo your scenarios on your data.
• Every answer is "yes", with no explanation of how.
• No references in your industry or country, or references that are unreachable.
• Pressure to sign this week for a discount.
• A fixed price without a written scope.
• Pricing that only becomes clear after you pick modules.
• The team you meet is not the team that will deliver.

Make the decision

Review the scorecard with the team, discuss differences of more than one point between scorers, and run the sensitivity check. Then decide, record why, and tell the losing vendors politely. Write down your selection reasons, since they become the success criteria for the project. Leave room for a negotiated final round on price and terms between the top two.

How Nexeves helps

We help companies build requirements, run a fair evaluation and prepare demos. We will tell you honestly if another system fits better. Learn more about our implementation services or write to us via the contact page.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose the right ERP for my business?

Document your requirements, shortlist up to three vendors using knockout criteria, score them on a weighted scorecard, make them demo your own scenarios, check the implementer and references, compare five-year total cost and review the contract and exit terms.

What criteria should an ERP scorecard include?

Functional fit, compliance and local support, implementation approach and references, total cost of ownership, usability, integration and data exit, and support and upgrade policy. Weight them before demos, and attach evidence to each score.

Do I need an RFP to select an ERP?

Not always a long one. A two to six page RFP with your objectives, prioritised requirements, compliance needs and a fixed pricing template makes vendor answers comparable and saves time.

How many ERP vendors should I evaluate?

Shortlist three for detailed evaluation. Use knockout criteria to remove the rest early, so your team can test the finalists properly.

What should I ask in ERP reference calls?

Ask what went wrong and how it was resolved, how the real timeline compared with the plan, whether the price changed, how staff adopted the system and how support performs a year after go-live.

How long should ERP selection take?

Plan weeks, not months, for a small or mid-sized business, with a fixed timeline set at the start. Larger multi-country selections take longer. The right time depends on how ready your requirements are.