Management consulting firm seeks an ERP system for a manufacturing company (light machinery and plant engineering)

I am looking for an ERP system for a northern German industrial company in the light machinery and plant engineering sector. Since the specific hardware and software requirements are open, the software may also be web-based. However, an on-premises installation is also a possibility.

The software should meet the following requirements:

Functions for order processing and sales

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Inquiry processing with inquiry storage / Link to our quote / Sales opportunity management with interface to Purchasing

1 - Price calculation / Interface to KoRe

1 - Contribution margin calculation at product and order level

2 - Profit analysis by order / department

1 - Storage of drawings, etc. – CAD files and PDFs

1 - Item price maintenance with various special features, e.g., customer, region, special agreements

2 - Pre-quote management (storage of the inquiry)

1 - Quote management/maintenance including validity period

1 - Delivery time calculation in the system with display indicating whether RW/FW is available in stock or RW has been ordered

1 - Supplier selection during the quoting process, e.g., for commercial products

1 - Storage of a supplier’s quotes and reuse of the quote

1 - Quote conversion (multiple conversions, item conversion)

1 - Weight calculation/packaging during quote creation

1 - Storage of payment terms and delivery terms (INCOTERMS 2010)

1 - Order entry

1 - Reminder function / resubmission / saving of activities

1 - Master orders / conversion of master orders into multiple orders

1 - Call-off orders / handling via the system

1 - Saving of purchase orders/order confirmations in the system

1 - Order review in the system, including internal notes on the order and a checklist

2 - Interface to Outlook / Saving as history in the ERP system

1 - Batch processing / Sending documents via email

1 - Assignment of packaging components to the order and ordering of special packaging from the order

1 - Saving an item description consisting of item-related information and item-customer-specific information

1 - Advanced search function, e.g., by customer-specific keywords such as the customer’s item number

3 - Storage of customer ratings

2 - When creating a work order, automatic printing of selected drawings

1 - If the ERP system does not offer a CRM module, corresponding interfaces to existing CRM systems should be possible, e.g., SwiftPage ACT

1 - Invoicing (electronic invoice dispatch)

1 - EDI interface

1 - Finished goods reservation upon order entry (from finished goods inventory/generation of a production order)

1 - Raw material reservation upon order entry

1 - Demand generation upon order entry

1 - Material inquiry (raw materials)

1 - Finished goods management

2 - The product master data must indicate which production facility can manufacture the item; for example, we have additional locations in the USA and the UK

1 - The country of origin should be displayed at the batch level for finished goods and raw materials

1 - Creation of shipping documents (pro forma invoice, invoice, delivery note, CMR) and export documents (certificate of origin)

2 - Note / link to the order when paying a pro forma invoice

1 - Creation of invoices/pro forma invoices/credit notes with or without reference to the order – with a link to corresponding data records

2 - Inclusion of new documents / legal requirements or customer requirements, e.g., confirmation of arrival

1 - INTRASTAT declaration via the system

1 - Interface to ATLAS

1 - Availability date, delivery date, desired delivery date at the line item level

2 - Separation of sales order and shipping order, e.g., for partial deliveries and consolidated shipments

2 - Order quantity change within the same order line item without modifying the existing production order, e.g., in case of an order increase

3 - Recording of the customer’s payment history, e.g., poor payer, etc. / Linked to the dunning process and payment receipt

2 - Storage of country-specific shipping requirements, e.g., specific packaging such as ISPM 15 at the customer and country level

1 - Order deadline monitoring

1 - Linking returns to the order - including automatic restocking

2 - Saving shipping methods, including transit times based on the destination/shipping address at the customer level

3 - Entering a service provider’s tracking number and automatically sending a shipping confirmation email to the customer / Interface with service providers

2 - Interactive overview of open orders/shipments/inquiries

1 - Prospect management / Customer management

2 - Order header and order items in a single editing window

1 - Consistent mapping of quantity changes from sales order to production order/purchase order

1 - Order and invoice processing for consignment stock

1 - Commission management and settlement

1 - Bonus management and settlement

Functions for Purchasing

1 = Must-have / 2 = Should-have / 3 = Nice-to-have

Weighting - Function

1 - Send a single inquiry (e.g., create once) to multiple suppliers

2 - Generate a supplier inquiry for finished products from a sales opportunity (customer inquiry/quote process) in Sales. This CRM system can be integrated into the ERP system. The sales opportunity is created in the CRM. See the “Pre-Quote Management” section under Order Processing, Sales

1 - Selecting a supplier from the sales quotation process, e.g., for retail products. Converting the supplier inquiry into a purchase order

1 - Storing multiple purchase prices from different suppliers

2 - Storing supplier ratings with a trend (quality, price, delivery time, complaints, goodwill)

2 - Storage of a long-term supplier declaration at the supplier and item level

1 - Storage of primary suppliers / secondary suppliers for purchased products

1 - Storage of the actual and system-calculated delivery times from the history at the item and supplier level

1 - Display of supplier prices, including tiered pricing and minimum order quantities, at the item and batch level

1 - Display of additional costs per supplier at the item level (freight/packaging/minimum quantity surcharges)

1 - Price management with history. For each item, it should be clear which price, including the supplier, was paid during which period.

1 - Storage of an item description consisting of item-related information and item-supplier-specific information

2 - EDI interface

1 - Management of alloy surcharges

2 - Management of potential suppliers / No need to create supplier records for one-time inquiries.

2 - Automated order suggestions, e.g., optimal order quantity/minimum order quantity, taking into account current consumption, lead time, and price - per supplier, possibly using a traffic light system

2 - Automatic notification when minimum stock levels are reached, reorder point

2 - Order processing for items without their own item number, including storage of web shop confirmations, etc.

1 - Ordering of standard items, e.g., raw materials, semi-finished goods, and commercial goods

1 - Delivery time tracking, delivery reminders – deadline monitoring for current orders

2 - Query during the ordering process as to whether the supplier should be stored in the item master data. With the current ERP system, we have to enter suppliers separately for each item, which is time-consuming and can easily be forgotten.

1 - Repeated conversion/use of a request into an order. Multiple orders should be possible based on the same request.

1 - The inquiry remains open until it is manually marked as completed.

1 - We would like to store suppliers’ quotes/price lists in the system and be able to generate orders from them repeatedly. This will reduce the time required by automatically transferring items and prices from the quotes.

1 - Display of the supplier’s contact details on the order, e.g., address, contact person, phone number

1 - Transaction-based recording of contact histories, e.g., as in the current CRM system ACT, which we are currently using. It has a well-functioning contact history.

2 - Editing of comments for suppliers and customers, including follow-up reminders and time logs

1 - Storage of purchase orders/order confirmations in the system (external documents). Display of open purchase orders without order confirmations

2 - Verification of order confirmations in the system, including internal notes on the order confirmation and a checklist

1 - Material requisition system for internal customers for existing and new items / Conversion of material requisitions into purchase orders, including the ability to edit the purchase order

1 - Interface to Outlook / Saving of emails / file attachments as history in the ERP system

2 - Batch processing, e.g., sending multiple orders via email / This email should be saved as a history entry in the ERP system.

2 - Storage of blanket orders, including delivery schedules, availability dates, and acceptance periods

1 - Creation of incoming invoices with automatic transfer to Financial Accounting

1 - Statistical reports, e.g., sales reports by item, supplier, product group, etc.

1 - Independently of BOMs, we should have the ability to trigger a material requisition from the item master data; e.g., the production manager determines that stock for an item needs to be replenished

Functions for Production and Work Planning

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - In the current ERP system, we have the ability to record materials, time, and external services. We have items that are manufactured across multiple production stages/manufacturing levels. For this, we need multi-level BOM management. BOMs are created with raw materials, semi-finished goods, and finished goods.

1 - It should be possible to trigger a material requisition from the production order’s bill of materials. Production materials can be allocated from various products/items with different units of measure (wire for eyelets = grams / wire for crossbars = kg)

1 - Triggering of shop floor orders/production orders from sales items—or from the bill of materials for in-house production. Machine allocation including resource management. It should be editable (short-notice machine change during ongoing production). Consideration of the production route

1 - Real-time view of machine status

1 - Is it possible to produce an order simultaneously on multiple production lines? For example, we want to split a 300-meter production order into 100 meters and 200 meters (variable) and produce them on different production lines

1 - Visibility during machine allocation: e.g., cut length, wire gauge, material, hours (various fields)

1 - Overall overview of production orders including assigned machines and details of production specifications as well as production status — by department

1 - Operational data analysis per employee/machine, etc.

1 - Measurement / reporting of actual material consumption, including scrap and required labor hours

1 - Order time tracking via logging in and out on the production order per work step

2 - The lead time for a production order should be adjusted automatically or manually when production resources change

2 - Resource planning, e.g., two employees per machine instead of one

2 - Opportunity cost planning / machine utilization or capacity

1 - Raw material consumption confirmation at the batch level, e.g., scanning a spool’s barcode for a work order, including a system check to verify that the wire is correct

1 - Completion confirmation for an order

1 - Warning message if material and time usage are not confirmed

1 - Status display and production progress of production orders

2 - System alerts when a production machine is overbooked with production orders / deadline monitoring / backward scheduling of production orders

1 - Linking the raw material batch to the purchase price We would like a standard product label or a custom label — e.g., including batch, customer reference number, and other custom parameters — to be printed directly from the production order

1 - Digitization of production orders/checklists, e.g., via tablet at each machine. Central assignment of orders to individual machines and at each machine based on employee role. Setup process handled separately with setup verification / QM and approval for subsequent production processes.

1 - Scanning the order at the machine or see digitization

1 - We currently create a bill of materials for each item to be produced. Data such as scrap rate, material cost, production time, etc., is stored in the bill of materials. Not everyone should be able to modify the bill of materials. We require individual access rights here. When changing multiple bills of materials, we would like to perform this change via batch processing.

2 - Define different production routes per item, e.g., an item not on a standard machine but on another machine that is, for example, slower

1 - Item withdrawal from ongoing production: customer-independent / external call-off stock, e.g., consignment stock with re-manufacturing and reference to the withdrawn batch

2 - Statuses for purchased parts and services (customer-supplied goods available, external processing (post-processing pickling), deadline for internal processes)

2 - Allocation of setup times from previous orders with the same parameters

2 - Traffic light system as a monitoring tool for scheduling

1 - Inventory, batch changes, and splitting with traceability, including a change log

1 - Account for customer-supplied items in the production process

Functions for costing

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Preliminary costing, e.g., for products we have never built before (one-time bill of materials)

1 - Post-calculation of finished products: comparison of target and actual costs (product profitability)

1 - Price calculation

1 - Contribution margin calculation

Functions for production data collection

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

2 - Reporting of material usage, machine usage, time spent, production route, scrap, off-cuts, etc.

1 - Production data collection per machine / working hours per employee and machine hours

1 - Item withdrawal from ongoing production (customer-independent) / external call-off stock (e.g., consignment stock with back-order and reference to withdrawn batch)

2 - Traffic light system as a monitoring tool for scheduling

3 - Packing time tracked by logging in and out of the production order

Functions for Accounting

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Legal requirements must be complied with. An audit report must be available.

1 - Internal accounting and cost accounting are handled in-house. Either ERP or DATEV

1 - The system must be compliant with Principles of Proper Accounting (old and current version) and audited

2 - Data transfer to the tax office / DATEV interface

2 - Budget/investment planning

2 - Liquidity planning should be available.

2 - Cash book with document storage

2 - Travel expense reporting

1 - Batch postings/direct postings

1 - Dunning process

1 - Accounts receivable/accounts payable

1 - Posting texts, storage of various tags and information

1 - Automated payment processing / online banking

2 - Import of bank statements with document recognition

2 - Payroll or interface to a third-party provider

2 - Vacation planning, time tracking, and access control or interface to Novatime

1 - Management reports, income statement, balance sheet

1 - Balance list, open item list

1 - Various reporting options (screen, print, Excel export) and flexibility to create customized reports

1 - PDF printing

2 - Document management including scanned documents

1 - Direct connection to purchasing and sales for document data posting

1 - Fixed asset accounting with label printing

1 - Inventory and stock valuation with various valuation bases

1 - Postings with full-text search

1 - Posting journal

1 - Elster interface

2 - Controlling

2 - Interface for data analysis tools, e.g., Power BI

1 - Advance sales tax return / incl. validation

1 - Summary report

1 - Timely updates to changed legal requirements

1 - Secure data transfer

Functions for cost accounting

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Integration into the financial accounting system

1 - Company code separation

1 - Cost allocation rates

1 - Overhead rates

3 - Cost of goods sold (COGS)

3 - Cost of goods produced

1 - Cost and activity recording

1 - Cost analysis

1 - Target/actual comparison of cost centers

1 - Cost element, cost center, and cost object accounting

1 - Cost types, cost centers, cost object groups

1 - Contribution margin accounting (multi-level)

2 - Profit analysis on a per-order basis

1 - Recording and allocation of calculated costs

1 - Additional costs

2 - Primary and secondary overhead cost calculation

1 - Planned cost accounting

1 - Target cost accounting (e.g., target price is specified by the customer)

2 - Activity-based Costing

1 - Determine machine hourly rates

3 - Profitability calculation

1 - Excel export

3 - Key performance indicator calculation, e.g., ROI

2 - Various reporting options

HR functions

1 = Must-have / 2 = Should-have / 3 = Nice-to-have

Weighting - Function

3 - Monthly statistics (sick leave, vacation)

2 - Integration with Novatime (attendance and access control)

2 - Integration with Lexware (payroll processing)

2 - Employee referral program

2 - Organize applicant management (structuring, status)

3 - Absence tracking (all current 12 months)

2 - Creation of electronic personnel files

Required functions in the new ERP:

Functions for packaging, shipping, and warehousing

1 = Must-have / 2 = Should-have / 3 = Nice-to-have

Weighting - Function

3 - Packing time recorded by logging in and out on the production order (as non-productive time / concept still needs to be developed / possibly on a cost-object basis)

1 - Finished goods storage, e.g., manufactured goods move from production to the warehouse

2 - Order picking with assignment of packages, including packaging material consumption.

1 - Order picking with batch selection

1 - Label printing, including batch, quantity, etc., for finished goods per package, e.g., 1 of 5, etc.

1 - Management of packaging materials (standard packaging and special packaging / Purchasing / Inventory management / Consumption), including integration with Purchasing

1 - Display of customer- and order-specific information (print/digital)

1 - Definition of storage locations. Assignment of storage locations to an item

1 - Ability to perform spot inventory checks

1 - Scanning of packages upon handover to the carrier, including signature and driver’s name

3 - Calculation of packaging based on item dimensions, including consideration of weight vs. size

2 - Labeling of incoming goods (barcode, QR code, EAN code) / Use of data in production also includes a factory test certificate

1 - Goods receipt posting, including consideration of partial deliveries, over-deliveries, and under-deliveries

2 - Expected goods receipts

1 - Inventory adjustment

1 - Goods receipt with quality assurance (status “Goods blocked” or “Goods inspected and released”)

1 - Returns management

1 - Goods issue and goods receipt: storage of photos, notes, and documents per delivery/shipment

 - Digital checklist for goods issue and goods receipt / Digital specifications provided by the purchaser

1 - Support for consignment warehouses

Functions for quality assurance

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

2 - Automatic supplier evaluation (please present)

2 - Quality assurance of finished products as part of a workflow

2 - Complaint management including status with assigned agent for error reporting (complaint processing)

2 - Interface to Financial Accounting for cost calculation

2 - Assignment of permissions

Functions for Reports

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Change log in the ERP system and in the CRM system

1 - Custom report generation and integration into the system, e.g., Crystal Reports

1 - It should be compatible with Power BI

1 - Reports should be exportable to Excel

Functions for General_Master Data, Miscellaneous

1 = Must have / 2 = Should have / 3 = Nice to have

Weighting - Function

1 - Storage of delivery times for finished products

1 - Storage of actual and system-calculated delivery times from the history at the item and supplier level

1 - Display of supplier prices, including tiered pricing and minimum order quantities at the item level

1 - Display of additional costs per supplier at the item level (freight/packaging/short-quantity surcharges)

1 - Storage of an item description consisting of item-related information and item-supplier-specific information

1 - Storage of an item description consisting of item-related information and item-customer-specific information

1 - Advanced search function, e.g., by customer-specific keywords such as the customer’s item number

2 - Flexibly configurable fields for supplier, customer, and item master data. How many freely definable fields are available?

2 - Calculation of supplier ratings with trends (quality, price, delivery time, complaints, goodwill)

2 - Storage of a long-term supplier declaration at the supplier and item level

1 - Storage of packaging information at the customer level/item level

1 - Creation of master data for special packaging (dimensions should be entered variably, e.g., for box packaging)

3 - Calculation of packaging based on item dimensions, including consideration of weight vs. size

1 - Storage of reorder point/minimum stock level per item

1 - Items definable as stock items or as order-based production/procurement

1 - Barcode system or other systems possible, e.g., QR code for internal communication

1 - EAN-128 barcode communication with the customer

1 - Ability to assign different roles/permissions for individual areas and functions

1 - Availability / redundancy / emergency plan in place?

1 - Test environment / We require a mirrored database or a copy of the database for testing specific processes.

1 - Support / response time

1 - Tablet integration via apps with offline data entry and data transmission when connected

1 - Change history across the different areas

1 - Updates regarding legal changes, e.g., compliance, movement records

1 - Create and attach forms/documents/templates in the ERP system

1 - Good documentation of the database structure (where is what stored) for report integrations

2 - Good documentation of the database structure (where is what stored) for report integrations

2 - Optional: Invoice center-based

1 - Multiple user languages (at least German and English)

1 - We would like to discuss with you how we can continue to process production orders despite a server outage at the ERP provider.

1 - Working in the ERP system from a home office

The ERP system must be accessible to 25 users, including 20 concurrent users. Work is performed on MS Windows systems.