Independent ERP readiness assessment
Find out whether your business is ready for ERP before a vendor tells you it is.
A four to six week readiness assessment for mid-market manufacturers and distributors. We document how the business actually runs, find the process and data gaps that sink implementations, and give you a straight answer: keep, fix, or replace. Before you spend a dollar on software.
Canada and the United States · Fixed fee · 4 to 6 weeks · You own every document
Why readiness, not software
Most ERP projects do not fail because of the software. They fail because of what did not happen before implementation.
Undocumented processes, data nobody trusts, and decisions that live in three people's heads all become change orders once the clock is running. A readiness assessment finds them while they are still cheap to fix.
Sound familiar?
The signs a readiness step is overdue.
- –Your inventory numbers in the system and on the shelf regularly disagree
- –Month-end means reconciling data from three or four places by hand
- –One or two people carry the whole operation in their heads
- –Someone has said "we'll clean the data later" or "the vendor will help us with the process"
- –You are being asked to sign for a system and cannot say exactly what it needs to do
How the assessment works
Make it visible. Judge it honestly. Decide with evidence.
01
Map how the business actually runs
We sit with the people who do the work and write down every core process, workaround, and exception in plain language. The friction that surfaces is the finding: it shows you where the business has never actually agreed on how it works.
02
Test the systems and the data against it
We check whether your current software supports the way you run or fights it, and how much of your master data can be trusted. You learn which problems are process, which are data, and which are genuinely the system.
03
Keep, fix, or replace
A scored readiness picture across process clarity, data integrity, system debt, financial realism, leadership alignment, and ownership, with a plain-language plan for what to do next. Sometimes the answer is that you do not need a new system yet.
What you walk away with
A documented picture of your business, and a plan you can act on.
- ✓Your core processes written down, with who owns what
- ✓A gap analysis between how you run and what your systems support
- ✓A readiness scorecard across the six dimensions that decide ERP outcomes
- ✓A straight recommendation: keep, fix, or replace, and what to do first
The step everyone skips
Panorama Consulting's research has found for years that the projects which analyzed their needs before implementation were far more likely to meet expectations. Most mid-market companies still start with demos.
Value on its own
Documented processes cut key-person risk the day they are written. Clean data improves reporting now, not at go-live. The assessment pays back whether or not a system project ever follows.
No stake in the answer
We do not sell software or implementation hours, so "you are not ready" and "you do not need a new system" are answers we can actually give.
Questions we hear on the first call
Is this the same as the free readiness assessment a vendor offered?
No. A vendor's assessment is the first step of their sales process and will find that you are ready for their product. Ours is a fixed-fee engagement with no predetermined outcome. We are paid the same whether you buy a system, fix the one you have, or do nothing.
What if we find out we are not ready?
That is a good outcome, and a common one. You get a prioritized plan for the process, data, and ownership gaps to close first, and you go to market later with requirements a vendor has to bid against instead of a wish list.
How much of my team's time does it take?
Less than an implementation, and all of it front-loaded. Expect a kickoff with leadership, two to three hours with each process owner, and a readout. We do the writing.
What does the assessment cost?
A fixed fee scoped to the size and complexity of your operation, discussed on the first call. It is a small fraction of a single mid-market ERP change order.
Read before you decide
MDCS Blog
What Is Phase 0 and Why It Exists
Most companies hand an ERP project to an implementation partner and wait for the transformation to begin. That handoff is where things start to go wrong, usually quietly, and usually before anyone notices.
MDCS Blog
5 Signs Your Operations Aren't Scalable
If a 30 to 50 percent jump in volume would force you to hire fast or firefight daily, your operations are not built to scale. Five warning signs, with examples from manufacturing, field service, and distribution.
MDCS Blog
Pre-ERP Readiness Plan: The Step Most Businesses Skip
Most companies start their ERP journey by calling vendors. Successful ones start by checking whether the business is ready. What a two-week readiness plan covers, and why it protects your budget before you spend a dollar on software.
MDCS Blog
Pre-Implementation Readiness Program: The Key to ERP Success
Most ERP projects do not fail because of the software. They fail because of what did not happen before implementation started. What a readiness program covers, what it produces, and who it is for.
Start here
Tell us what is making you ask the question.
A 45-minute working conversation, not a sales call. You will leave knowing whether a readiness assessment is the right next step, or whether the fifteen-minute checklist already told you what you need to know.
Prefer to book directly? Use the calendar. Or email al_naeb@metadatacs.ca.