ERP development fails when it is treated like building a normal app. ERP is not UI-first. ERP is governance-first: approvals, evidence, separation of duties, exception handling, and auditability.
1) Start with workflow truth, not screens
ERP projects collapse when “status fields” replace workflow modelling.
A reliable ERP workflow design includes:
- explicit states and transitions
- rule-driven validations at each step
- clear ownership per decision point
- defined evidence requirements (what must be recorded and why)
This creates predictable execution and makes audit trails natural rather than forced.
2) Exceptions are not edge cases in ERP
In ERP, exceptions are daily reality:
- partial deliveries
- mismatched invoices
- rejected quality checks
- missing approvals
- policy violations
- data conflicts across systems
An ERP system must:
- represent exceptions explicitly
- route them to accountable owners
- maintain traceability of resolution steps
- avoid “off-system resolution” via email and spreadsheets
3) Auditability must be engineered into the data model
Audit cannot be a log file. ERP needs:
- immutable audit records for critical actions
- correlation between workflow action and source data
- role-based access consistent with policies
- reporting that reproduces “why a decision happened,” not just “what happened”
4) Integration is the central challenge, not an add-on
ERP rarely owns all truth. It connects:
- finance systems
- procurement and vendor systems
- warehouse and inventory systems
- HR and access controls
- customer systems and sales platforms
Integration discipline requires:
- contract-first APIs and schema governance
- idempotency and retries
- event traceability with correlation IDs
- versioning and deprecation strategy
Without this, ERP becomes a reconciliation machine.
5) Scalability is operational, not only technical
ERP scale includes:
- user concurrency spikes (month-end, audit windows)
- batch jobs and data imports
- report generation load
- long-running approvals and escalations
A scalable ERP solution is designed with:
- asynchronous processing where appropriate
- workload scheduling and backpressure
- performance baselines for critical workflows
- observability tied to business cycle events
6) Adoption is built through clarity
ERP users do not want more features. They want fewer ambiguities:
- guided workflows
- embedded validations
- clear error messaging tied to policy
- role-specific views that reduce cognitive load
Takeaway: ERP success comes from modelling decisions, controls, and exceptions with discipline. When workflows are explicit and integrations are governed, ERP becomes a system of record that teams trust, not a system they work around.