Contact Info
Calgary
What does an ERP business analyst document for a Calgary company?
For a Calgary company, an ERP business analyst writes down the operating rules that people carry in their heads: day rates, standby and minimum charges on rental equipment, the qualifications a crew needs before going to a site, homebuyer selections and warranty obligations, and how carriers settle with owner-operators. I do this work remotely, turning those rules into a requirements document, process maps and test scenarios that any implementer can build from.
Last reviewed by Vikas Saroj
In many Calgary companies the most important business rules are not in any system. A dispatcher knows which customer pays standby after a certain wait, an estimator knows which options a homebuyer can still change, and a payroll clerk knows how each owner-operator is paid. When an ERP project starts, those rules have to be found, agreed and written down.
Finding them is the core of my remote business analysis work. I talk with the people who apply the rules, document them in plain language, check them against real examples and hand your implementer a specification that leaves little to guess. The engagement runs in English, and the documents are written for your team to own.
What I Do
Each deliverable captures a set of rules that a generic template would miss, using examples from your own records.
I catalog day rates, hourly rates, standby, minimum charges, mobilization, damage and cleaning charges, and the customer exceptions that override them, so the system prices work the way your contracts say.
I document which safety tickets, training records and customer orientations each role needs, and how dispatch should be warned when a worker's qualification is missing or about to lapse.
For builders, I map lots, house models, option packages, selection deadlines, change fees and warranty service requests into a requirement set that sales, construction and accounting agree on.
For trucking companies, I specify how loads are rated, how owner-operators are paid, which deductions apply and how fuel purchases are recorded for fuel tax reporting.
Every rule ends up in a structured BRD with process maps, data definitions, report needs and open questions, written so leadership can approve it and an implementer can quote from it.
I turn past tickets, contracts and settlements into acceptance test scripts with expected results, so your team can prove the configured system follows your rules before go-live.
My Consulting Journey
Business first, technology second. You can hire me for one step - a BRD, a gap analysis, a vendor shortlist - or for the whole journey.
How I Work
Find where the rules live
Interview dispatch, payroll and sales
Gather contracts and rate sheets
Pull sample tickets and settlements
List exceptions people mention
Write rules people can approve
Build the rules catalog
Draw current and future processes
Define data and reports
Resolve conflicting answers
Test the build against reality
Write scenario test scripts
Support fit-gap review
Track defects to closure
Confirm sign-off
Calgary has many companies that rent or operate equipment for a living: pumps, heaters, light towers, cranes, vacuum trucks, matting, site trailers and specialized tools. Their pricing looks simple on a rate sheet and becomes complicated in practice. A unit might carry a day rate, a weekly rate and a monthly rate, with the cheapest one applied automatically. Standby may apply when a crew waits on the customer, but only after a certain time and only for some customers. There are minimum charges, mobilization and demobilization, fuel surcharges, cleaning and damage fees, and negotiated price books for large accounts.
If these rules are not written down, an implementer will configure something reasonable that does not match your contracts, and the first invoices will need manual correction. I collect the rate sheets, master service agreements and a sample of past invoices, then sit with the people who build invoices today and ask how each exception is handled.
The result is a rules catalog: each charge type, when it applies, how it is calculated, which customer terms override it and who can approve an exception. It becomes the reference for configuration and for testing. The general method is described on my ERP requirements gathering page.
Energy producers, pipeline operators and large industrial owners in the region usually require contractors to prove that each worker holds the right safety training before arriving on site. Requirements vary by customer and by job type, and many owners also require their own site orientation. Companies often track this in a spreadsheet or a separate safety app, while dispatch happens somewhere else.
When an ERP or field service system is being chosen, this is a requirement that is easy to miss and expensive to get wrong. I document which qualifications each role needs, which customers add their own requirements, how expiry dates are tracked, and what should happen when dispatch tries to assign someone who is not qualified: a warning, a block, or an approval by a supervisor.
I also map where the records come from, such as training providers, internal safety staff or the worker, and how they are kept current. The point is not to replace your safety program but to make sure the system that schedules people respects it. The same thinking applies to equipment inspections and certifications that must be current before a unit leaves the yard. If the work also involves dispatch and mobile tickets, see the ERP for field service page.
Calgary keeps growing outward, with new communities on the north, south and east edges and in nearby towns. The builders that serve them run a process with many handoffs: a buyer chooses a lot and a house model, signs a purchase agreement, makes selections from option packages by a deadline, and then waits while the house is scheduled, built, inspected and handed over. After possession, warranty service requests begin.
Each step has rules that the system must respect. Which options are allowed on which model? When do selections lock, and what happens to a late change? How are deposits recorded? How do selections flow into purchase orders for trades and suppliers? How are warranty claims logged against the house and routed to the responsible trade? New homes in Alberta come with warranty obligations, and your legal and warranty advisors should confirm exactly what your process must cover.
I document this lifecycle as a single process map with clear handoffs between sales, design, construction, purchasing, accounting and customer care, then write the requirements for each handoff. The hardest part is frequently agreeing who owns the selection record. The real estate ERP page covers related property and development needs.
Many trucking and logistics companies operate from the industrial areas in the northeast of the city and along the highway corridors around it. A typical carrier mixes company drivers with owner-operators, hauls across provinces and into the United States, and depends on a dispatch or transport management system that is separate from accounting.
The requirements that matter most here are about money moving to drivers and from customers. How is each load rated: by distance, by weight, by hour or by a flat rate? Which accessorial charges apply, such as detention, extra stops or tarping? How are owner-operators settled, and which deductions come off their pay, such as fuel advances, insurance or equipment lease payments? How are fuel purchases captured so that the data needed for interprovincial fuel tax reporting is complete? The reporting rules themselves should be confirmed with your accountant.
I document these rules, map how data moves from the dispatch system into the ERP, and define the reports owners need: revenue and cost per truck, per lane and per customer. Carriers often keep their dispatch system and replace only accounting, so the interface is a key part of the specification. The transportation ERP page covers the wider picture.
I run the analysis through short, focused video sessions with the people who apply each rule: dispatchers, estimators, payroll and billing staff, yard and shop supervisors, and the finance lead. Sessions are kept short so field staff are not pulled away for long. Between sessions I draft and send documents for comment.
Real examples drive everything. I ask for a sample of tickets, invoices, settlements, purchase agreements or warranty requests and work through them with your team, because the exceptions show up in the documents rather than in the policy manual.
You receive a requirements package that your company owns: the rules catalog, current and future process maps, data definitions, report specifications, a fit-gap matrix once platforms are known, and scenario-based test scripts. It is written so any implementer can quote from it and build against it. For the national view of requirements work, including sales tax and language topics, see my ERP business analyst page for Canada. For the wider Calgary picture, the Calgary ERP consultant page is the starting point.
Tell me about your business and current systems. I’ll suggest the most sensible first step.
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FAQ
Usually, if the rules are documented clearly before configuration. I catalog every rate type, standby rule, minimum charge and customer override, with examples from past invoices. That lets you test candidate systems against your actual pricing and shows where an extension or a simpler rule would be needed.
Many field service and ERP systems can warn or block an assignment when a required qualification is missing or expired, but the rules must be defined first. I document which qualifications each role and customer requires, where the records come from and what dispatch should see when something is missing.
Usually with the selection process, because it touches sales, design, purchasing and construction at once. I map how options are offered, when choices lock and how they become purchase orders, then work outward to deposits, scheduling, handover and warranty service requests.
No. I document what data the system must capture and how settlements are calculated under your agreements, so reports are complete and consistent. The reporting rules and the tax treatment of drivers and deductions should be confirmed by your accountant or tax advisor.
Every business is different. Share where you are today and what you want to fix, and I’ll tell you honestly whether and how I can help.
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