Understand first.
Then choose the right ERP.
The guide for managing directors, decision-makers and project owners in SMEs who want to get their ERP selection right. 80 questions across 11 chapters. With a 5-process walkthrough and Excel scoring matrix as a bonus.
Three tools for your ERP selection.
Everything you need to put together a sound requirements brief in the coming weeks. No generic feature catalog. No buzzwords. Ready to use immediately.
The PDF with 80 questions
11 chapters across 35 to 45 pages. Six to eight requirements questions per chapter, each with an explanation, an observation from real projects and a self-check. Downloadable immediately after sign-up.
The 5-process walkthrough
Templates for the five most important business processes. Classic functional description or agile user story format. Both ready to use in your team. Included in the PDF.
Excel scoring matrix
All 80 questions prepared for structured vendor scoring. With weighting (must/should/could), automatic score, TCO table. Sent by email after you answer two short questions about your industry and size.
Three things no other ERP requirements guide offers.
Most ERP requirements templates come from vendors. They're colored by what each vendor's system happens to do well. This guide comes from a consultant who implements several systems and openly discloses the commission model.
Vendor-neutral
This guide doesn't recommend a specific ERP system. onboos is an implementation partner for several vendors. When we recommend, we earn on the license. That's exactly why this requirements brief is vendor-neutral. If your best fit isn't in our portfolio, we'll tell you.
Process before features
You don't answer 80 questions from a generic catalog. You start with your five most important business processes through a structured walkthrough. The questions come afterwards. This is the methodology used by FIR at RWTH Aachen. It works in practice.
2026 compliance built in
E-invoicing with the 2025, 2027 and 2028 phase-in plan. GoBD update from July 14, 2025. GDPR and Swiss FADP. In this guide it's a dedicated chapter, not an appendix. With concrete questions that vendor sales calls often skip.
The 11 chapters at a glance.
Every chapter follows the same structure: an observation from practice, hard numbers from studies, six to eight requirements questions with explanations, a reflection question and a quick check for self-assessment.
Company & strategy
What does your system need to do in three years that it doesn't today?
Current state & pain points
Where does it hurt, and what does the honest process landscape look like?
Sales & CRM
Multichannel, quotes, commissions, self-service.
Procurement & suppliers
Planning, approvals, EDI, framework contracts.
Warehouse & logistics
Multi-warehouse, batches, shipping, returns.
Production or service
Bills of materials, shop-floor data, project billing, time tracking.
Finance & accounting
Local accounting standards, VAT, dunning, liquidity.
Compliance & law
E-invoicing, GoBD 2025, GDPR, Swiss FADP.
Integration & tech
APIs, cloud/on-premise, data migration, disaster recovery.
Users, training & change
Roles, languages, change management, adoption.
Project, budget & risk
Timeline, TCO, deal-breakers, exit strategy.
Plus foreword, honest numbers with study sources, the five most expensive mistakes, the DACH standard explained, three paths to defining requirements and the 5-process walkthrough.
I'm David. I guide SMEs through ERP projects.
I'm the founder of onboos and an implementation partner for several ERP systems: weclapp, tricoma, reybex, exact and JTL. Over the past few years I've seen more ERP requirements documents than I'd care to admit. Most had one thing in common: they were wish lists, not requirements briefs.
This guide is my attempt to change that.
onboos is a Swiss consultancy with DACH-wide reach. We don't start with the software, we start with the business. We recommend the system that actually fits, even if we don't end up being the implementation partner.
Full transparency: when I implement one of my partner systems for you, I earn on the license. That's exactly why this requirements brief is vendor-neutral.
30 to 45 minutes. Free. You'll take something away from it either way.
What you might still want to know.
Answers to the questions we get most often before someone downloads a guide.
Why is this guide free?
What happens after the download?
Will I end up on a spam list after downloading?
Will I get sales calls afterwards?
How current are the data and sources?
What's the difference between the guide and the Excel matrix?
Does this work for companies with fewer than 15 employees?
Don't lose more weeks to the wrong software selection.
Over 67 percent of ERP projects exceed their budget. Over 80 percent of those, because processes weren't clear before selection. This guide changes that. In the next two hours.