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ERP customization: options, best practices, services and our roadmap
ERP customization landscape in figures
> 64%
of organizations surveyed implemented their ERP software with moderate or heavy customization.
Panorama Consulting, 2022
Percentages may not total 100 percent due to rounding
About Itransition
10+ years providing ERP services
50+ completed projects of different scales across various industries
Hands-on expertise in delivering out-of-the-box, custom, and hybrid ERP solutions
An Odoo Silver Partner
The scope of our ERP customization services
Custom ERP upgrade
Itransition helps you modify the functionality of the proprietary ERP system that no longer meets your specific needs to enable capabilities unique to your business workflows and business requirements.
Odoo customization
An Odoo Silver partner, Itransition tailors the Odoo platform to help you support specific business functions and address the pain points of your a particular industry.
Tailor an ERP platform to your unique needs with Itransition
Success stories from Itransition’s portfolio
90%
manual work reduction
Odoo ERP customization
When implementing a customized Odoo ERP solution for a US repair and maintenance service provider, Itransition developed a custom warehouse management algorithm to streamline product search and procurement processes.
10%
DevOps cost cuts
eLearning ERP customization
Itransition provided a US-based eLearning company with a comprehensive LMS solution, featuring an array of fully customized ERP and CMS functionalities to streamline and automate its administrative workflows.
ERP customization vs ERP configuration
Both key steps in ERP implementation, configuring and customizing an ERP represent two distinct ways of adapting this tool to your software ecosystem and corporate workflows. Here's a brief comparison to help you select the most viable option based on your operational scenario:
ERP customization
ERP configuration
Functional extension
ERP customization
ERP configuration
Functionality is expanded beyond the out-of-the-box capacity.
Out-of-the-box functionality is altered using default settings only.
Possible modifications
ERP customization
ERP configuration
The scope of changes is defined by the owner’s business requirements and the platform’s functional limitations.
The scope of changes is limited to the settings enabled by the ERP vendor.
Expertise required
ERP customization
ERP configuration
Needs to be performed by qualified software engineers.
Can be performed by ERP administrators.
Change management
ERP customization
ERP configuration
Implies profound changes that can potentially redefine business processes, calling for a change management strategy.
Changes are mostly surface-level and can be introduced with minimal employee onboarding.
ERP customization paths
Here are some examples of ERP customizations we perform that require specific development skills and impact different aspects of your software.
UX/UI customization
We modify the default ERP’s look and feel to improve user experience.
Skills required
- UX/UI design
- Frontend development
- Usability testing
Common ERP integrations we help set up
ERP
CRM
HRM
Ecommerce
BI
Hardware
Banking and financial services
Accounting software
ERP + CRM
- This combination can prove extremely useful to:
- Synchronize supply and demand data
- Ensure a 360-degree customer view
- Enable personalized customer journeysÂ
- Track sales conversion rate
- Share customer data across departments
ERP + HRM
- A single view into workforce and resource data helps:
- Streamline expense management
- Allocate human resources efficiently
- Monitor employee performance
- Facilitate payroll and compensation management
- Ensure better employee training
ERP + ecommerce
- Integration with their digital storefronts allows companies to:Â
- Harmonize their ecommerce ecosystem
- Enhance their omnichannel strategies
- Keep track of inventory levels in real time
- Gather data on customers, orders, and leads
- Enable dynamic pricing and customized promotions
ERP + BI
- Business intelligence complements ERP’s analytical features to:
- Extract business insights from operational data
- Empower your staff with timely reports
- Identify new business opportunities
- Monitor and forecast major market trends
- Optimize your service and product offer
ERP + hardware
- Hardware integration helps businesses to:
- Enhance supply chain management with smart sensors
- Automate operational process for better shop floor performanceÂ
- Improve the accuracy of forecasting and planning
- Identify defects and increase product qualityÂ
- Predict failures and improve asset maintenance
ERP + banking and financial services
- This combination enables:
- Automated payment acceptance, processing, and storing
- Streamlined cash managementÂ
- Improved access to banking services for business users
- Transactions management from a single environment
- Real-time information provision from banks for corporate clients
ERP + accounting software
- Accounting software complements ERP capabilities to:
- Automate invoicingÂ
- Exchange data on orders, partners, products, payments, and invoices to streamline accounting workflowsÂ
- Quickly identify errors when reconciling accounts
- Automatically create accurate budgets and financial plans
Our ERP customization framework
1
Discovery
We frame your business goals and requirements, create technical documentation detailing the architecture and functionality of your future ERP, and set up a suitable project roadmap.
2
Design
Based on your requirements and specifications, we design your ERP system's information architecture, prepare blueprints and wireframes, and prototype the user interface.
3
Coding
We proceed with front-end and back-end development, delivering incremental code changes via script rollout and iterative releases to automate and streamline software building and testing.
4
Testing
Relying on our QA engineers' expertise and powerful automation tools, we perform continuous end-to-end testing to identify any bugs or performance issues and ensure your requirements are met.
5
Delivery
We release the final product, along with proper documentation describing its attributes, design principles, and operation, and prepare software agreements for transferring ownership.
ERP customization best practices we follow
Using KPIs to assess results
We measure the success of an ERP customization project with a variety of key performance indicators, for example, savings of time and resources to perform the same processes and their enhanced accuracy, along with end users’ level of satisfaction.
Aiming for long-term value
Any ERP customization is worth the investment if it delivers benefits in the long run. We achieve this through a solution that addresses key business needs, adapts to your workflow without involving major changes, and easily scales to suit ever-evolving scenarios.
Avoiding unnecessary customizations
Besides requiring proper investments, multiple changes to the structural design of your existing ERP can amplify the risk of running into compatibility issues and critical bugs. Therefore, we cherry-pick the most impactful modifications that may ensure a competitive edge.
ERP customization benefits
Efficiency
With an ERP fully aligned with your business processes, you can capitalize on increased speed, automation, and visibility.
Flexibility
A customized ERP solution becomes easier to scale up or change on-demand to meet emerging business goals.
Innovation
Customization allows you to exceed off-the-shelf ERP software capacity and tap into powerful features and tools.
Plug & play
A bespoke ERP is tailored to your workflow and infrastructure, so you won’t need to adjust your operations after its adoption.
Usability
An ERP designed to work in synergy with your pre-existing software ecosystem ensures a smoother user experience.
How we avoid ERP customization issues
When botched, ERP customizations can cause problems and undermine the business benefits they bring. Here is how we work to prevent these issues:
Issue
Solution
Over-customization
Issue
Solution
When heavy customizations render your ERP unrecognizable and hinder its normal performance.
We establish clear improvement objectives and identify the right amount of new features that won’t conflict with the core ERP functionality.
Introduced bugs
Issue
Solution
When developers unknowingly create defects in the ERP source code, UI, or logic.
We make sure to test customizations throughout and after the development, implementing automated tests to streamline the task if needed.
Upgrade conflicts
Issue
Solution
When customizations turn out to be incompatible with newer versions of the same ERP platform.
When dealing with platform-based ERPs, we develop customizations in line with the ERP vendors’ requirements so that they are backward- and forward-compatible.
Budget overruns
Issue
Solution
When your organization incurs unexpected ERP customization costs.
We help you define accurate project requirements and constantly monitor the customization progress to avoid wasting time and resources on unnecessary modifications.
Elimination of best practices
Issue
Solution
When an ERP undergoes substantial modifications affecting its compliance.
We frame your industry's best practices and document any code changes, ensuring that the modified product still fully complies with standards and regulations.
Obsolete customizations
Issue
Solution
When a customized feature is no longer necessary but still burdens your ERP's architecture.
We can get rid of dispensable customizations by removing them completely or by disabling them if their removal risks affecting several components of the system.
Looking for a reliable tech vendor for your ERP customization project?
More ERP services by Itransition
ERP consulting
We provide holistic consulting services to streamline ERP development and adoption, from gap analysis and tech stack identification to ROI projection and project planning.
ERP development
We create custom ERP systems with a tailored set of features, modules, and integrations for companies of all sizes and industries to meet their most deliberate ERP needs.
ERP implementation
We roll out platform-based and custom ERP software solutions by taking on the whole implementation process, from business needs to user support and onboarding.
ERP integration
We connect the ERP platform with other enterprise software systems and third-party applications by choosing and applying an optimal ERP integration approach.
ERP testing
We help assess ERP software functionality, performance, safety, usability, and compatibility with business workflows as a part of integrated or dedicated testing services.
