ERP Business Analyst in Delhi

Commission agents in Delhi's produce and grain markets

Delhi's large wholesale markets for fruit, vegetables, grain and spices still work through commission agents, often called arhtiyas, who buy or sell on behalf of growers, traders and buyers from other states. Their accounting is unlike a normal trading business. The agent may never own the goods, yet handles the money for both sides, earns a commission, pays or recovers market charges and labor, and often extends advances to growers or credit to buyers.

A generic ERP requirement list would describe sales orders and purchase invoices and miss all of this. The requirements I write for such a business cover:

• How each lot is recorded on arrival, by grower or consignor, with weight and quality as accepted at the market
• How the sale price, commission, market fee, labor and other deductions are calculated per lot
• How the settlement statement to the grower and the bill to the buyer are produced
• How advances and buyer credit are tracked and recovered
• Which records the market authority or tax advisors expect to see

Market fees and agent obligations are governed by the state's agricultural marketing rules, which can change. I note the treatment your accountant confirms rather than assuming it, and design the requirement so the rates can be maintained as settings.

Importers and the true cost of a container

Delhi is a major base for importers of electronics, hardware, toys, home goods, machinery parts and many other products. Goods often arrive through inland container depots in and around the city or through the western ports, with customs clearance handled by an agent. The supplier invoice is only the start of the cost. Duty, freight, insurance, clearing charges, depot or port fees, transport to the godown and currency movements all add to it, and some of these bills arrive weeks after the stock has been sold.

When landed cost is not handled properly, margins look healthy in one month and poor the next, and nobody can say which product is really profitable. The requirements I write set out:

• Which charges are added to inventory cost and which are expensed
• How charges are shared across items in a shipment, by value, weight, quantity or another basis
• How a provisional cost is used when bills are late, and how it is corrected afterward
• How the exchange rate at different stages is recorded

The tax and accounting treatment of each charge comes from your chartered accountant. I then check that the system requirement follows that treatment and is tested with a real past shipment before go-live.

Fee plans for schools and coaching institutes

Education is a large sector in Delhi. Private schools across the city, and coaching institutes in areas such as Mukherjee Nagar, Old Rajinder Nagar and Laxmi Nagar, collect fees under arrangements that are more varied than a vendor's demo suggests. A single coaching institute may run classroom, online and hybrid batches, offer early payment discounts, merit scholarships and installment plans, allow transfers between batches and centers, and process refunds under its own policy.

Schools add their own layers: admission and annual charges, transport fees by route, sibling concessions, fee waivers for particular categories of students and the reporting that schools may be asked to provide. Some of these rules come from regulation, so I record them as stated by your management and advisors and avoid interpreting them myself.

I write fee requirements as a set of student scenarios. For example: a student joins mid-session on an installment plan with a scholarship, then transfers to another batch, then withdraws. Vendors are asked to demonstrate each scenario with your actual fee structure. This exposes gaps quickly, and the scenarios become test cases later. My education industry page covers the wider system picture.

Hospital billing, insurers and the pharmacy

Delhi and its neighboring cities have many private hospitals, nursing homes and diagnostic chains, and they draw patients from across north India and from other countries. Their billing is complex: cash patients, package procedures, corporate tie-ups, patients covered through insurers and third-party administrators, and patients under government or employer health schemes where the hospital is on the approved panel.

Each route has its own rules. Packages define what is included and how extra items are charged. Insured patients need pre-authorization, interim updates and final claim documents, while the patient pays only the uncovered part. Scheme patients follow approved rate lists. The pharmacy and consumables store must charge correctly to each patient while keeping batch and expiry control.

The requirements I write for a hospital follow a patient journey from registration to discharge and claim settlement, with separate scenarios for each payer type. I also capture how deposits and refunds work, how doctor fees are shared where applicable, and which reports management, insurers and auditors need. Clinical records usually sit in a hospital information system, so the requirements also define what passes between that system and the ERP. More on the sector is on my healthcare page.

From slips, bilty and registers to requirement statements

In many Delhi businesses the real process is written on paper rather than in a system: an order slip from a salesman, a stamped delivery challan, a transporter's bilty, a register of goods sent out for repair, a notebook of daily cash collections. These records are valuable because they show what actually happens, including the exceptions that nobody mentions in a meeting.

I ask for photographs of a sample of each document and trace how it moves: who writes it, who checks it, where it is filed and what decision depends on it. A short video walkthrough of the godown or counter, recorded by someone on your side, often reveals more than a long interview. Where staff are more comfortable explaining in Hindi, a bilingual colleague on your team helps, and the engagement itself runs in English.

Each pattern then becomes a numbered requirement with an example, for instance: the system must record the transporter name, vehicle and bilty number against each dispatch and show undelivered consignments older than an agreed period. The full document set follows the structure described on my BRD consulting page. The broader Delhi context is on the ERP consultant in Delhi page, and the India-wide compliance requirements are on the ERP business analyst India page.