ERP Requirements Checklist: A Module-by-Module Template
By Vikas Saroj, ERP, Digital Transformation & Growth Consultant
Key takeaways
- An ERP requirements checklist lists, module by module, what your business needs the system to do, so platforms are evaluated against facts rather than demos.
- Each section should be reviewed by the process owner who does that work, with every item ranked as must-have, should-have or nice-to-have.
- Write testable requirements: instead of 'multi-currency support', specify invoicing customers in their own currency and revaluing open receivables at month-end.
- Include volumes, integrations, security, audit trail, data migration and non-functional needs such as performance and mobile access, not only functional module features.
- Avoid describing today's workarounds as requirements and marking everything as must-have; state the underlying business need and prioritize honestly.
An ERP requirements checklist lists, module by module, what your business needs the system to do, so you can evaluate platforms and scope an implementation against facts rather than demos. Use the checklist below as a starting point: keep what applies, delete what doesn't, add your industry-specific needs, and rank each item as must-have, should-have or nice-to-have.
I use a version of this list in discovery workshops. It works best when each section is reviewed by the people who actually do that work, not filled in by one person on behalf of everyone.
How to use this checklist
- Review each section with the process owner. Finance reviews finance, the warehouse lead reviews inventory, and so on.
- Make each item specific. Replace "multi-currency" with "invoice customers in their own currency and revalue open balances at month-end."
- Prioritize. Mark each item M (must), S (should) or N (nice to have).
- Add volumes and context. Number of users, transactions, items, warehouses and entities all affect platform fit.
- Turn it into a scored document. The checklist feeds your ERP BRD and your vendor scorecard in how to choose an ERP.
Writing requirements that can be tested
The quality of each line matters more than the length of the list. Compare these examples:
| Vague requirement | Testable requirement |
|---|---|
| Good approval workflows | Purchase orders above a limit set per department require the department head's approval, and above a second limit also require the CFO's approval |
| Multi-currency support | Invoice customers in their own currency, receive payment in that currency, and revalue open receivables at month-end |
| Inventory tracking | Track stock by batch and expiry date in each warehouse and suggest picks by earliest expiry |
| Project reporting | Show budget, committed cost, actual cost and billed amount per project, with drill-down to source documents |
A testable requirement tells a vendor exactly what to demonstrate and tells your team exactly what to check during user acceptance testing.
General and company structure
- Number of legal entities, branches and countries
- Base and transaction currencies; exchange rate updates
- Languages needed for users and for customer-facing documents
- Inter-company transactions and consolidation
- Fiscal year, periods and period locking
- Deployment preference (cloud, self-hosted) and data-residency constraints
Finance and accounting
| Requirement area | Questions to answer | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| General ledger | Chart of accounts structure, dimensions (cost center, department, project, branch), journal approvals | |
| Accounts receivable | Invoicing, credit limits, payment terms, dunning, customer statements, partial payments | |
| Accounts payable | Three-way match (PO, receipt, bill), approval workflows, payment runs, supplier advances | |
| Banking | Bank feeds or statement import, reconciliation rules, multiple bank accounts | |
| Tax | VAT/GST/sales tax rules in each country, e-invoicing requirements, tax returns and reports | |
| Fixed assets | Asset register, depreciation methods, disposals, transfers | |
| Budgeting | Budgets by account and dimension, budget vs actual reporting, commitment control | |
| Reporting & close | P&L, balance sheet, cash flow, consolidation, month-end close checklist |
Sales and order management
- Quotation creation, versions and approval for discounts or margins below a threshold you set
- Price lists by customer, region, currency or volume; promotional pricing
- Sales order to delivery to invoice flow, including partial deliveries and back orders
- Returns, credit notes and replacements
- Customer-specific terms, credit holds and approval rules
- Recurring billing, subscriptions or milestone billing if relevant
- Commission calculation and sales targets
- Integration with CRM for leads, opportunities and customer history (see ERP vs CRM)
Purchasing and procurement
- Purchase requisitions with multi-level approvals by amount, department or category
- Request for quotation and supplier comparison
- Purchase orders, blanket orders and framework agreements
- Goods receipt, quality inspection and partial receipts
- Supplier bill matching and price variance handling
- Landed cost allocation (freight, duty, insurance) for imports
- Supplier evaluation and approved vendor lists
- Automatic reorder suggestions based on stock levels or demand
Inventory and warehouse
| Requirement area | Questions to answer | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Locations | How many warehouses, zones and bins? Transit and consignment stock? | |
| Tracking | Batch/lot, serial numbers, expiry dates, FIFO/FEFO rules | |
| Units of measure | Purchase vs stock vs sales units and conversions | |
| Valuation | Costing method (FIFO, average, standard) and how it ties to accounting | |
| Movements | Transfers, adjustments, cycle counts, physical stock-takes | |
| Fulfillment | Pick, pack, ship workflows; barcode or mobile scanning; shipping carrier integration | |
| Planning | Minimum/maximum levels, reorder points, demand forecasting |
Manufacturing (if applicable)
- Bills of materials: single or multi-level, variants, by-products and scrap
- Routings, work centers and capacity
- Work orders, material issue and backflushing
- Make-to-stock, make-to-order or engineer-to-order models
- Subcontracting and outside processing
- Material requirements planning (MRP)
- Quality checks at receipt, in process and before dispatch
- Production costing: material, labor and overhead absorption
- Shop-floor data capture and maintenance of equipment
Projects and services
- Project setup with budgets, phases, tasks and milestones
- Timesheets and expense capture against projects
- Project costing: labor, materials, subcontractors, overhead
- Billing methods: fixed price, time and materials, milestone, progress or retention billing
- Committed cost tracking from purchase orders
- Project profitability and work-in-progress reporting
HR and payroll
- Employee records, contracts and documents
- Leave, attendance and shift management
- Expense claims and approvals
- Payroll: in the ERP, in a local payroll system, or via integration, depending on country rules
- End-of-service or statutory benefit calculations where required
- Employee self-service portal
Reporting and analytics
- Standard operational reports per department
- Management dashboards with drill-down to transactions
- User-built custom reports without developer help
- Scheduled report distribution
- Export or connection to BI tools
Integration and technical requirements
- Systems to integrate: CRM, e-commerce, payment gateways, banks, payroll, logistics, BI
- For each: data exchanged, direction, frequency and owner
- API availability and documentation
- Single sign-on and user directory integration
- Mobile access for field, warehouse or approval users
- Document management and attachments
For each integration, also note what should happen when a sync fails and who is alerted.
Security, compliance and administration
- Role-based access by module, entity, branch and record
- Approval workflows and segregation of duties
- Full audit trail of changes
- Data backup, retention and recovery
- Data privacy obligations in the countries you operate in
- Admin tools for user setup, workflow changes and configuration without code
Data migration requirements
- Master data to migrate: customers, suppliers, items, chart of accounts, employees, assets
- Open transactions: open orders, unpaid invoices and bills, open projects
- Opening balances and stock quantities with values
- How much history to migrate versus archive
- Who owns cleansing and sign-off for each data set
Industry-specific additions
Every industry adds its own requirements on top of the core modules. A few examples I see often:
- Construction and contracting: bill of quantities, subcontractor management, progress billing, retention, variation orders, plant and equipment costing. See ERP for construction.
- Trading and distribution: landed cost, multi-warehouse replenishment, customer-specific pricing, drop shipping and import documentation.
- Facility management and field service: contracts and service levels, planned preventive maintenance, work orders, technician scheduling and mobile job completion.
- Professional services: resource planning, utilization, time-based billing and project profitability.
Common mistakes with requirements
- Describing today's workaround, not the need. "Export to Excel and email the manager" is a workaround. The need is "manager approves purchase over a set limit."
- Marking everything as must-have. If everything is critical, nothing is. Be honest.
- Forgetting non-functional needs. Performance, security, mobile access and support hours matter too.
- Not involving end users. Managers often miss the details that make daily work fast or slow.
Next steps
If you want help running requirements workshops or turning this checklist into a scored BRD, that is a core part of my ERP consulting work. Contact me to talk about your project.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should an ERP requirements checklist include?
It should cover company structure, finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, manufacturing or projects where relevant, HR, reporting, integrations, security and data migration. Each item should be specific, testable and prioritized as must-have, should-have or nice-to-have.
Who should fill in ERP requirements?
The people who own and do the work. Finance should define finance requirements, the warehouse lead should define inventory requirements, and so on. A consultant or project lead can facilitate workshops and keep the format consistent, but the business must own the content.
How detailed should ERP requirements be?
Detailed enough to test in a demo. 'Good inventory control' cannot be tested; 'track batches with expiry dates across three warehouses and pick by earliest expiry' can. Include volumes such as users, transactions and items, since they affect platform fit.
What is the difference between a requirements checklist and a BRD?
A checklist is a working list of needs by module. A business requirements document (BRD) organizes those needs with context: objectives, scope, current and future processes, priorities, assumptions and sign-off. The checklist is usually an input to the BRD.
Written by Vikas Saroj
Independent ERP, digital transformation & growth consultant helping businesses map processes, implement Zoho, Odoo and ERPNext, automate operations and grow online. · LinkedIn
Insights
