When you start exploring ERP, you’re stepping into a big decision with a lot of moving parts. You’re likely dealing with unclear timelines, multiple stakeholders and the pressure to make the right decision on a major investment.
At ProjectLine, we guide businesses through this process every day, and we want to give you a clear picture of what the ERP buying process looks like.
Our goal is not to push you forward. It’s to give you clarity at each step so you can decide whether ERP and ProjectLine are the right fit for your business.
In this article, we’ll walk you through our ERP buying process—from your first conversation with us through to project kickoff. You’ll see who’s involved, how long each stage typically takes and how to get the most value out of each step.
The first step is a quick introductory call. We typically book 30 minutes, and that’s usually enough time to get a solid understanding of where you’re at.
This isn’t a deep dive and there’s no prep required on your end. You don’t need to bring documents, reports or anything formal to the conversation.
Our goal here is simple: understand what’s going on in your business that led you to start looking at ERP in the first place. We’ll ask questions like:
By the end of this call, you should have clarity on whether ERP is worth exploring further and whether ProjectLine is the right partner to guide that process.
In some cases, we’ll determine early on that it doesn’t make sense to move forward. That could be because ERP isn’t the right solution yet or because there isn’t a strong fit. While that might seem like a setback, it actually saves you time—and potentially a significant investment—by helping you avoid moving forward with a solution that isn’t right for your business.
If the introductory call makes sense to move forward, the next step is discovery.
This is where we build on what we learned in the introductory call and dig deeper to understand your business inside and out. Our goal is to get a clear picture of how your processes work today, where the challenges are and what you’re trying to improve.
Most discovery calls take anywhere from 45 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the complexity of your business and how many areas we need to cover. If your business has multiple departments, systems or processes involved, we’ll spend more time making sure we understand each area properly.
ERP discovery is where we start creating the foundation of your future system. That only works if we’re hearing from the people who are actually involved in those day-to-day processes.
That usually includes:
If a system is going to impact a specific part of your business, we want someone there who understands that area.
It’s also important that the decision-maker is part of this conversation. When the right people aren’t involved early, it often leads to rework later—whether that’s revisiting requirements, running multiple demos or re-aligning on priorities. Having everyone on the same page at this stage makes the process more efficient and prevents delays down the line.
This step is important because it helps prevent one of the most common (and costly) mistakes in ERP: moving forward with a solution that doesn’t match how your business operates and won’t address the challenges you’re trying to solve.
Most demos take anywhere from 90 minutes to a few hours. In some cases, they can run longer or be split across multiple sessions, depending on how many areas of the business we’re covering.
The biggest factor here is complexity. The more departments, workflows or systems involved, the more we need to show!
In most cases, you’ll have the same core group from discovery, but this is where we often expand the number of people involved.
Along with decision-makers and stakeholders, it’s helpful to include actual end users. These are the people who will be working in the system day-to-day. At a minimum, we want someone representing each key area of the business that’s being evaluated.
One of the most important ways to get value from the demo is by providing sample documents, such as:
With these, we can recreate them in the system and show you how your business would operate day-to-day using ERP.
This is what separates a tailored ERP demo from a generic one. Instead of seeing abstract features, you’re seeing how your real workflows would function in the system.
It’s also important to:
By the end of this step, you should have a clear understanding of how the system would support your day-to-day operations—and whether it realistically fits your business.
Your proposal is based on everything we’ve learned through discovery and the demo. In most cases, it takes about one to two weeks after the demo to prepare and review your proposal.
A big part of that timeline comes from refining the scope after the demo. Once you’ve seen how the system works—especially with your own data—it often leads to new ideas, questions or adjustments. User counts can change, priorities may shift and sometimes additional demo sessions are needed to cover new areas.
Once everything is confirmed on your side, we finalize the proposal and typically deliver it within about a week.
Your proposal is built around your specific requirements. That typically includes:
Once you’ve had a chance to review the proposal, we’ll schedule a meeting to walk through it together. This is typically a 45-minute conversation where we go through everything in detail.
At this stage, we want to make sure:
The goal is to leave this stage with a shared understanding of the scope, approach and next steps before moving forward.
Once everything is aligned and you’re ready to move forward, we move into closing and handoff to our consulting team—this is where we transition from the sales process into implementation.
From the ProjectLine side, there’s quite a bit happening behind the scenes to make sure your project starts off on the right foot. We’re coordinating internally, setting things up with the software publisher and transferring what we’ve learned about your business to the consulting team that will be implementing your system.
We’re sharing your processes, challenges and goals so they have a strong baseline understanding from day one. That allows them to focus on the right areas, move faster and avoid spending time covering information you’ve already shared.
From there, we’ll schedule a kickoff call. This is typically about an hour and includes your project team along with our consulting team who will be leading the implementation.
In that meeting:
From there, our consultant team takes the lead and you’re officially into the implementation phase!
Your sales team is still available if needed, but this is the point where your focus shifts from evaluation to execution.
When you’re evaluating ERP, there’s usually a lot of uncertainty. You’re making a significant investment, involving multiple people across your business and trying to make the right decision without always knowing what the process will look like.
At ProjectLine, we guide businesses through this every day. We’ve seen what works, where things can slow down and what helps teams move forward feeling confident buying ERP.
Our goal is to make this process as clear and straightforward as possible by:
Now that you understand how the ERP buying process works—from your first call through to kickoff—you’re in a much stronger position to move forward.
If you have questions about the ERP buying process or you’re ready to get started, the next step is to chat with our team!
Most ERP buying processes take anywhere from two to six months, sometimes more.
In some cases, it can move faster. A smooth and speedy ERP buying process can happen if your team is aligned, decision-makers are involved early and you have a clear understanding of what you’re trying to solve.
On the other hand, the process can take longer if:
The goal isn’t to rush it. It’s to move at a pace where you can make a confident, informed decision.
ERP pricing is discussed throughout the entire buying process.
Early conversations (like the introductory call and discovery) help establish general expectations, but detailed pricing is typically shaped after we understand your specific requirements and workflows.
By the time you reach the proposal stage, pricing should feel aligned with what you’ve seen and discussed—without surprises.