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ERP customization: options, best practices, services & our roadmap
ERP customization landscape in figures
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
A NetSuite Solution Provider
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.
An Odoo Silver partner, Itransition tailors the Odoo platform to help you support specific business functions and address the pain points of your 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
Functional extension
Functionality is expanded beyond the out-of-the-box capacity.
Out-of-the-box functionality is altered using default settings only.
Possible modifications
Possible modifications
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
Expertise required
Needs to be performed by qualified software engineers.
Can be performed by ERP administrators.
Change management
Change management
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
Skills required
- UX/UI design
- Frontend development
- Usability testing
Forms & workflows customization
Skills required
- Process modeling
- UX/UI design
- Frontend development
- Process testing
- Backend development
Functionality extensions
Skills required
- Frontend development
- UX/UI design
- Backend development
- Quality assurance
- Mobile development
Feature customizations
Skills required
- Frontend development
- Backend development
- Quality assurance
- Mobile development
We integrate an ERP platform with third-party tools, cloud services, or smart devices through custom-built APIs and other connectors.
Skills required
- Backend development
- Cloud integration
- API development
- Integration testing
Skills required
- Business process management
- Automation engineering
- Data analytics
- AI and machine learning
- RPA platforms
Common ERP integrations we help set up
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 & 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
2
Design
3
Coding
4
Testing
5
Delivery
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
Flexibility
Innovation
Plug & play
Usability
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
Over-customization
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
Introduced bugs
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
Upgrade conflicts
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
Budget overruns
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
Elimination of best practices
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
Obsolete customizations
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
ERP development
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
ERP testing
ERP customization FAQs
Which ERP deployment model is more customization-friendly?
Cloud-based ERPs hosted remotely and managed by the vendor can only be modified or expanded by third-party developers within strict, predefined settings. On-premise ERPs deployed on your own servers, on the other hand, ensure full control over the product and therefore extensive customization options.
Is it better to configure or customize my ERP?
As a rule of thumb, the first option to consider is configuration, since it's generally easier, faster, cheaper, and less prone to creating compatibility and updating issues. However, organizations requiring an ERP adjusted to their established processes and long-term goals should invest in customization.
Should I customize my ERP before or after its implementation?
Nothing prevents your business from customizing an ERP before actually deploying it. Still, allowing your staff to familiarize themselves with the new system for a couple of months will help you assess how it integrates with your workflows, identify its limitations, and set up a better customization plan.
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