ERP Selection: Water Gremlin Case Study

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Schulz interviewed four consultants familiar with ERP software and manufacturing processes, evaluating them based on experience, capabilities, and personality. He ultimately got started working with Minnesota Technology in August last year. Connor says Minnesota Technology’s consulting practice employs the lean manufacturing philosophy, which touts the elimination of waste as its central concept.

One of the first tools Schulz’s team worked with was The Accounting Software Library, a needs analysis program that narrows the ERP software choices based on answers to an extensive questionnaire. The modifiable edition of the Software Library, which sells for about $1,400, evaluates about 150 programs ranging from entry-level systems such as QuickBooks Pro and Peachtree up to SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle for larger companies.

Over several days, Schulz and Water Gremlin staff worked to answer the more than 4,000 questions Software Library poses about company operations in areas such as cost analysis and reporting, procurement, debt collection, customer relationship management, customer files, and workflow. The software asks users to define their business requirements by ranking them on a scale of zero to nine (from no interest to critical requirement). For instance, one question posed by the software: Does your company need to open purchase orders in the accounts payable screen sorted by requested delivery date, buyer, inventory item, job/project, or expedite status? Users must rate each of these choices as a low, medium, or high priority. The software compared Water Gremlin’s answers against the software in its database, ranking each program from on a point system to show how closely a program’s attributes corresponded to company priorities.

Whereas Software Library is “very tactical in terms of the nitty gritty blocking and tackling,” SoftSelect, another software program that Water Gremlin used to assist in evaluating ERP systems, has a more strategic angle, Schulz says. SoftSelect addresses macro-level issues such as creating a production plan as opposed to questions about when and where certain fields should appear on-screen.

SoftSelect also produces a print out showing not only which software would work, but also short explanations of why each system was matched with the company’s criteria.

“It’s a very lengthy survey and questionnaire,” Connor says. “There are about 400 attributes that we are measuring. It’s not to be done with one decision maker. We set up meetings with the different players who will be involved and will be affected by the software change, and who have some requirements.”

Schulz’s three-prong approach to ERP selection—research, needs assessment, and working with consultants—originally yielded 45 ERP possibilities. Using Software Library and SoftSelect, Schulz whittled that list down to seven systems.