Doing an ERP selection is vital to ensuring that you make an informed selection decision and avoid problems later in the implementation.

There are often two selections you need to make:

1. The ERP solution itself
2. The delivery partner (if you are not dealing directly with the vendor)

The solution selection involves:

• setting up the project (people, processes and policies)
• defining the as-is and to-be (current and future state)
• identifying your key differentiators (either functional or process)
• defining your demo scenarios (for vendors to demonstrate solution 'fit' against)
• creating a vendor longlist and sending them a Request for Information (RFI)
• narrowing to a vendor shortlist and sending them a Request for Proposal (RFP)
• narrowing to 2-3 vendors and sending them your demo scenarios
• narrowing to 2 vendors and having head-to-head demo sessions
• selecting the lead vendor and working to close your knowledge gaps about their solution
• understanding the solution provider's implementation methodology
• preparing a decision justification for the steering team
• talking to customer references
• making the selection decision

The partner selection involves:

• identifying potential partners
• evaluating their service offerings
• experiencing their service offerings (e.g. free training)
• talking to customer references
• understanding their implementation methodology

Partner selection is complicated by the fact that a selection may be done with a specific partner doing all the legwork, so they do not expect to be subject to a further 'selection' once the solution decision has been made.

This means that changing partner needs to be anticipated early in the implementation cycle to ensure that you get the right partner before you have expended too much time and money with the wrong one.

Selection 2