Wayferry’s ERP Decision and
Selection Process

Connect your business goals to the software you choose

Our eight-stage process connects your strategic objectives and business goals to an informed software purchase decision. It begins with the replacement assessment and concludes with procurement support and the handoff of your requirements, evaluation findings, and decision records.

Throughout the process, your team retains decision authority. Wayferry provides the structure, analysis, and guidance, supported by our proprietary Wayferry Navigator.

Independent advice. Structured evaluation. Decisions grounded in your business needs.

Every Wayferry ERP selection project begins with our ERP Replacement Decision Assessment, whether you are still considering replacement or have already decided to proceed.

We examine your strategic objectives, business goals, current ERP constraints, and the potential five-year value of addressing them. Building on any existing business case, we assess whether and when replacement is justified and establish the outcomes, priorities, initial scope, and success measures that should guide the work ahead.

The recommendation follows the evidence: keep the current ERP, replace later, prepare before replacing, or proceed now.

What you receive: An ERP Replacement Decision Brief documenting the business rationale, assumptions, recommendation, and practical next steps.

This is a standalone, fixed-fee engagement. It also lets you experience how Wayferry works before committing to a larger engagement. There is no obligation to proceed with an ERP selection project.

Stages 2 through 8 begin after you decide to proceed, address any prerequisites needed before selection, and authorize a separate engagement. The assessment findings carry forward into that work.

Continue when you are ready…

We work with process owners and key users to identify the business processes your software must support, including their required inputs, outputs, handoffs, controls, and exceptions.

We focus exclusively on what each process must accomplish. We deliberately avoid documenting how the work is performed today so existing methods and old workarounds don't become specifications for the replacement software. Instead, we capture the business needs those workarounds address.

We distinguish processes that give your business a competitive advantage from those suitable for standardization. We also identify future needs arising from your strategic objectives and business goals.

What you receive: A business process inventory identifying required outcomes, key inputs and outputs, and the people responsible for each process.

We translate the process findings into specific requirements using our extensive reusable library. Typically, about 95% of the requirements your business needs are already in the library, saving substantial development time and shortening selection projects by months. We develop additional requirements where needed.

About 85% of our library requirements also have baseline priorities, which substantially reduces your team’s prioritization effort. Your team reviews and adjusts these priorities to reflect your business, with client-approved priorities governing the evaluation.

Together, we select the key capabilities vendors must demonstrate and define exactly what they must show. Many library requirements already include demonstration instructions, saving preparation time. We tailor those instructions to your needs and develop others where necessary. The demonstration script and focused vendor questionnaire cover the same selected requirements.

What you receive: Approved, prioritized requirements, a demonstration script, and a focused vendor questionnaire called the Demo RFP.

We research potentially suitable ERP products and screen them against your requirements, industry, size, business goals, and constraints.

We also identify implementation partners with relevant product and industry experience. Organizational fit matters: your company should be an appropriately sized and important client for the partner you choose.

What you receive: An approved shortlist of ERP products and associated implementation partners for formal evaluation.

Vendors explain how their proposed solutions meet your selected requirements by responding to the Demo RFP. We analyze their responses to assess both functional fit and how each capability would be delivered.

This reveals where meeting your requirements depends on configuration, optional modules, third-party products, or customization.

An optional, independent AI assessment can identify discrepancies between its findings and vendor responses. We investigate material differences with supporting evidence and vendor clarification, and document unresolved questions for further evaluation.

What you receive: Comparative findings, identified gaps, and a recommendation of finalists for demonstration supported by the evaluation evidence.

Finalists follow your approved demonstration script using relevant business scenarios and examples.

Wayferry keeps demonstrations focused on your priorities, probes important capabilities, and captures unanswered questions and commitments. Each vendor demonstrates against the same requirements, making comparisons more meaningful.

Your employees attend the sessions relevant to their roles and provide structured feedback.

What you receive: Demonstration evidence, user feedback, unresolved questions, and comparative findings supporting a provisional selection.

Once a preferred product and implementation partner emerge, we investigate reasons the proposed choice could fall short.

Due diligence examines material gaps, unsupported claims, partner capabilities, references, dependencies, and unresolved risks. An optional AI Full Requirements Fit Assessment investigates the provisionally selected ERP against the full set of approved requirements.

We revisit the business case using the evaluated fit, indicative costs, risks, and timing. Your team decides whether to proceed, investigate further, prepare, defer, or stop.

What you receive: A documented decision record covering findings, commitments, accepted risks, and unresolved issues.

Once you approve the final selection, we organize the findings needed to support your purchase and hand over the completed selection records.

Where authorized, we help address business and commercial questions concerning pricing, licensing, scope, and vendor commitments. Your legal counsel reviews and approves the contract terms.

We provide the approved requirements, evaluation evidence, decision rationale, known gaps, unresolved questions, and documented vendor commitments to your team and the selected implementation partner.

What you receive: A procurement and selection handoff package preserving the information developed during the project.

A thorough evaluation with less work for your employees

The Wayferry Navigator handles much of the requirements, evaluation, analysis, and documentation work. Its reusable library and connected records reduce repeated effort and help uncover needs your team might otherwise overlook.

Your employees concentrate on contributing business knowledge, setting priorities, evaluating capabilities, and making decisions. Full traceability connects requirements to the people who can clarify and validate them.

A clear scope and commitment

The initial assessment is a separate, fixed-fee engagement. If you choose to continue, we agree on the selection scope and fixed fee before that work begins.

Your proposal specifies the deliverables and any optional services, including additional assessments or commercial negotiation support.

Wayferry is paid only by its clients and receives no commissions or payments from software vendors or implementation partners.

Start with your business goals

Whether you are considering replacement or have already decided to proceed, begin by establishing what the investment must achieve.