What does the Manufacturing ERP Requirements Template include?

Accelerate your manufacturing ERP selection process, request for information (RFI) or request for proposal (RFP) by downloading our free ERP requirements list Excel template.

Our ERP requirements Excel template provides you a structure and a list of functionality to build your own RFI or RFP requirements list to distribute to manufacturing ERP vendors. The manufacturing ERP requirements RFP Excel template from ERP Research covers:

  • Financial Management
  • Procurement
  • Inventory Management
  • Discrete & Process Manufacturing
  • Supply Chain 
  • Asset Management
  • Human Capital Management
  • Reporting & Analytics
  • Information Security and Cloud Hosting

The free download comes in Microsoft Excel format and it can be changed to create your own customised manufacturing ERP requirements template suiting your specific business needs and used as an ERP RFP template.  Suitable for process or discrete manufacturing.

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What is the Manufacturing ERP Requirements Template?

 Our prebuilt manufacturing ERP requirements checklist speeds up your ERP evaluation and selection process by giving you a prebuilt list of common ERP functionalities and requirements.

An ERP requirements list, ERP RFI & RFP template or ERP selection template (as it is widely known) is a document which catalogues the requirements for an ERP project. The ERP template is used during request for information (RFI) and request for proposal (RFP) interactions between organisations and ERP suppliers.

The document outlines ERP vendor selection criterias and specifies the features and functions that a company needs it's enterprise resource planning solution to cover. It also acts as an ERP evaluation template and includes information on other topics that are important for an ERP evaluation, including data security, integration and user experience. The ERP requirements specification document should also provide an area for potential solution providers to give feedback on the functionality their solution provides including functionality, implementation, license and services costs.

We recommend that your ERP business requirements template provides as much detail as possible to potential ERP suppliers and vendors, so that they can accurately respond. It's also important that you have internal agreement amongst your ERP project team on what the ERP requirements template is asking for.

Common Manufacturing ERP Requirements

The specific ERP requirements for a manufacturing company may differ based on the size of the business, the products it manufactures, the complexity of its supply chain, and other unique factors. However, here are some common ERP requirements often considered essential for manufacturing operations:

  1. Manufacturing Module:

    • Production Planning: Ability to schedule and monitor production activities in real-time.
    • Shop Floor Control: Real-time visibility into shop floor operations, employee productivity, and machine utilization.
    • Quality Management: Capability to manage quality control and assurance, including conformance to regulatory and industry standards.
    • Bill of Materials (BOM): Detailed tracking of parts, components, and raw materials used in the manufacturing process.
    • Product Lifecycle Management: Capability to manage a product from design and manufacturing to retirement, including version control.

  2. Supply Chain Management Module:

    • Inventory Management: Real-time inventory tracking and automated reordering to prevent stockouts and overstocks.
    • Procurement: Efficient purchasing process, from vendor selection to invoice reconciliation.
    • Sales Order Management: End-to-end sales order processing, from quotation to delivery.
    • Demand and Supply Planning: Predictive analytics for forecasting demand and managing supply chain accordingly.
    • Warehouse Management: Tools for optimizing warehouse operations including pick, pack, and ship activities.

  3. Financial Management Module:

    • Cost Accounting: Detailed tracking of manufacturing costs, ability to allocate costs to specific products, projects, or departments.
    • Accounts Payable/Receivable: Automation of vendor and customer transactions.
    • Budgeting & Forecasting: Ability to create and manage budgets, with forecasting tools for future financial planning.
    • Multi-currency and multi-company transactions support: Essential for manufacturers with international operations.

  4. Project Management Module:

    • Project Planning: Tools for planning and monitoring manufacturing projects.
    • Resource Management: Ability to allocate resources (people, equipment, materials) to different projects efficiently.
    • Time and Expense Tracking: Features for recording time spent and costs incurred on various tasks.

  5. Human Resources (HR) Module:

    • Workforce Management: Tools for scheduling shifts, managing overtime, and other aspects of labor management.
    • Training Management: Capabilities for tracking and managing employee training, particularly important for maintaining safety and quality standards.

  6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Module:

    • Customer Service: Tools for managing customer complaints, warranty issues, returns, and other post-sale services.

  7. Analytics and Reporting Module:

    • Dashboard and Visualization: Real-time dashboards and reports on key performance indicators (KPIs).
    • Advanced Analytics: Predictive analytics for forecasting demand, optimizing production schedules, managing inventory, etc.

  8. Maintenance Management Module:

    • Preventive Maintenance: Tools for scheduling routine maintenance tasks to minimize unplanned downtime.
    • Equipment History: Recording and tracking of machine maintenance history.
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