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Free 56-page guide · Third edition, 2026

The Basics of
ERP Selection

How to choose and implement a business system without making an expensive mistake. Written in plain English for small and mid-size manufacturers and distributors — especially those buying an ERP for the first time.

What an ERP really costs, including the lines people forget
How to write requirements vendors can actually answer
A demo script, a scorecard and the questions most buyers miss
A realistic timeline, and what goes wrong when it slips

This guide was written and published by Aquilon Software. Although Aquilon develops ERP software, the selection principles in this guide are intended to apply regardless of which product or vendor you consider.

56 pages · PDF, flipbook and Excel workbook

Third edition · 2026

Where should we send it?

Three fields. We’ll email the guide and show you the download links straight away.

No cost, no obligation. We never sell or share your details.

Four parts, four questions

You don’t have to read it cover to cover in one sitting. Each part answers one question, and each ends with a worksheet you can fill in.

Part 1

Understand

What is an ERP, and what would it actually do for me?

What’s inside an ERP
Cloud or your own server
What AI really does today

Part 2

Decide

Do I really need one, and can I afford it?

The honest cost picture
Subscription or perpetual
Does it pay for itself?

Part 3

Choose

How do I find the right system and the right vendor?

Writing requirements
Demo script and scorecard
Checking references properly

Part 4

Implement

How do I get it live without breaking the business?

A realistic timeline
Moving your data across
Go-live and the weeks after

Three things land in your inbox

All free, all yours to keep and share with your team.

PDF

The 56-page guide: Print it, mark it up, hand it round the management team. A4, ready to read on screen or on paper.

WEB

The online flipbook: The same guide as a page-turning book in your browser. Nothing to install, works on a laptop or a tablet.

XLS

The Excel selection workbook: Ten tabs that do the arithmetic for you — requirements list, budget, payback, demo scorecard, reference calls and project plan.

Who it’s written for

Being specific about this makes the advice more useful, not less.

A good fit if you are…

A manufacturer or distributor, roughly $5m–$50m in sales
Running the business on accounting software and spreadsheets
Buying an ERP for the first time, or replacing a system that has stopped keeping up
The owner, Managing Director, finance lead or operations lead who will carry the decision

Less useful if you are…

A large enterprise with a dedicated IT department and an established selection process
Looking for a product comparison or a vendor ranking — this guide deliberately names no products
Already mid-implementation and looking for recovery advice

About the publisher

Aquilon Software is a Canadian software company with more than 30 years of experience helping small and mid-size manufacturers and distributors run their businesses on integrated systems.

The guide is written by Philip Patton, who has been involved with hundreds of implementations over those 30 years — the successes and the ones that went badly, which is where most of this material comes from.

It is published as a resource, not a sales document. No product is named or recommended anywhere in its 56 pages.

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Fill in the short form and the guide, the flipbook link and the Excel workbook are on their way.

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The Basics of ERP Selection