Questions to Ask an ERP Vendor Before Buying: Demo Checklist

The questions to ask an ERP vendor before buying are less about screens and more about control: where your data physically lives, who can reach it and how support gets in, how updates are applied, how far forms can be adapted to your plant, and who moves your existing data across. Take the list below into every demo and insist on a clear answer to each item.

Most ERP demos follow the vendor’s script. A few polished screens, a colourful dashboard, and the hour is gone. Back at the plant, someone realises nobody asked what happens when the internet goes down, or how the vendor’s engineers connect to the server. This guide turns the meeting around. The questions are grouped by topic; for each group we describe what a convincing answer looks like, and then give Data’s own answer (Data is P-Soft’s manufacturing ERP), including the things Data does not do.

If you are still defining requirements and general criteria, start with our guide to choosing ERP software. This article is for the next stage, when two or three vendors are already booked for a meeting.

Questions to ask an ERP vendor: preparing the demo

Three simple habits make a demo far more useful:

• Bring the right people. Your IT lead, finance manager, production supervisor and storekeeper will each ask questions the managing director would not think of.
• Bring a real scenario. Print one genuine order, from the customer’s enquiry to delivery, and ask the vendor to walk through that order in the system rather than their prepared sample.
• Get answers in writing. After the demo, ask for written answers to the key questions. “Yes, we have that” said in a meeting is not the same as a written reply.

Keep one warning sign in mind: a vendor who never says “no” or “not yet” either does not know the product well or is not answering precisely.

1. Where is our data stored, and what happens without internet?

Ask: On which server, and in which location, will our data sit? Who owns that hardware? On a day when the industrial estate loses its internet connection, can production and the warehouse still record their work?

A good answer names a concrete location rather than “our secure servers”, and explains exactly which parts of daily work an internet outage would stop.

Data’s answer: Data is installed on a server owned by your own plant. Anyone on the internal network opens it in a browser on a PC or tablet. Your records stay inside your network, and an outage on the public internet does not stop people entering orders or stock movements. If your company would rather have the system hosted by the vendor on the internet, Data does not offer that model, and it is better to know this on day one.

2. Who can see the data, and how does support access our server?

Ask: Can we decide what each user sees? How do your engineers reach our server to fix a problem? Is that possible without our knowledge? Is there a record of what they did?

A good answer describes permissions set per user, and support access that depends on your consent. “Just trust us” is not a complete reply.

Data’s answer: Each user sees only the areas their role allows, so a storekeeper, a salesperson and the finance manager each work with their own slice of the information. A P-Soft engineer works on your server only after you agree; you watch the work on screen while it happens, and every action is logged. Without your permission, there is no way in. Transparent remote support, as a named service, is part of the Elite plan.

3. How is the ERP system updated, and what if an update goes wrong?

Ask: How are new versions installed? Is a backup of our data taken before every upgrade? Can we take our own backups whenever we like?

A good answer treats updating as a routine, low-risk task with a way back, because the data is safely copied first.

Data’s answer: New versions of Data are applied automatically and with care, and a backup of your data is created before each one. If you also want to trigger backups yourself from inside the admin panel, that option is available from the Pro plan upwards.

4. Can the forms be adapted to how our plant works?

Ask: If your customer or part form lacks a field we rely on, what happens? Can we add it ourselves, or do we have to commission development? Will the change survive the next version?

A good answer offers a defined way to store your own extra information that does not need reworking with every release.

Data’s answer: Data’s form builder lets you create your own fields on twenty core forms, among them the customer, part, supplier, enquiry, invoice and payment forms. You get the form builder on Elite; practical examples are in our article on custom fields and the ERP form builder.

5. How many users and sites, and will the system grow with us?

Ask: What is the user limit on each plan? If we open a second plant, will its data be kept separate? Does moving to a higher plan mean a fresh installation?

Data’s answer: Start allows up to 10 users and Pro up to 50, both for a single site. On Elite the number of users is set in the contract, and several sites can run with separate data. Moving up a plan never removes anything you had on the plan below.

6. Who migrates our existing data from Excel or the old system?

Ask: Who transfers our current customers, parts and stock balances? Who cleans up the old files? What exactly will be migrated, and will that be written into the contract?

A good answer defines the scope in writing: which records, from which source, and who is responsible for each step.

Data’s answer: P-Soft’s team moves your historical data, whether it lives in spreadsheets or in an older program, into Data. The contract sets out how much gets moved and in how much detail. To get your files ready beforehand, see the ERP data migration guide.

7. What does support and training look like on each plan?

Ask this precisely, because “we provide support” means something different at every vendor. With Data, the level of support rises with the plan:

8. What does the system not do yet?

This may be the most revealing question of the whole meeting, because the answer shows how candid the vendor is. Data’s answer:

• Coming soon: smarter scheduling of jobs that warns you automatically about delays, plus a desktop app of its own. Today Data is used in the browser.
• Out of scope: HR, tax calculations and e-invoicing are not part of Data, and there is no cloud-hosted edition. Data focuses on the order chain inside a factory: enquiries and engineering through purchasing, stores, production, quality, finance and delivery.

ERP demo questions: summary table

Do ask about the final price, how long go-live will take and what commitments the vendor makes, but only take those answers seriously in a written proposal made after the vendor has understood your plant. Any figure given before anyone has looked at your processes is a guess.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Data keep working when the internet is down?

Yes. It runs on your plant’s own server and stays reachable over the internal network in a browser.

Can a support engineer connect to our server without permission?

No. Access depends on your consent, the work is visible on screen and it is logged.

Which Data plan includes the form builder?

Elite, where it extends twenty core forms with fields you define.

Will our Excel and legacy data be migrated?

Yes. P-Soft’s team handles the migration, and its scope is agreed in the contract.

Can Data be hosted in the cloud?

No. It is only ever installed on a server belonging to the factory.

To put these questions to us against a real order from your own plant, see Data manufacturing ERP and request a demo.

Further reading

• What Is ERP? Complete Guide to Enterprise Resource Planning
• ERP Software Guide: Benefits and How to Choose the Right System
• How to Choose the Right ERP Software for Your Organization

Complete guide: ERP software