A conversation about ERP is easier when it starts with the work your business actually does. You do not need a detailed list of screens at the outset. Choose one process that causes difficulties and describe it from beginning to end.
Start with the trigger and the outcome
What starts the process: a customer enquiry, an accepted quote or a new order? What marks its completion: delivering the work, issuing an invoice or allocating a payment? These boundaries help establish which teams and data should be included in the analysis.
Show the handovers between people
Record who performs each activity and who receives the result. At every handover, add the information the next person needs. A salesperson may pass on the service scope, a manager may provide delivery data, and the person preparing the invoice may pass the document on for further financial processing.
These handovers are where it is useful to check whether data is re-entered, reconstructed from correspondence or only completed after a phone call from the next department.
Include a case that does not go to plan
Alongside the normal flow, describe one exception. A billing rate may be missing, a customer may dispute part of the work, or a payment may have an unclear reference. Establish who makes the decision and how everyone else learns the outcome.
Identify the data and current tools
A list of the places where you keep information today is enough: a sales system, a billing spreadsheet, contract documents or accounting software. You do not need to share real customer data for the first conversation. You can prepare an example with fictional values.
Name the change you expect
Instead of “we need more automation”, write down a specific outcome: “the person preparing the invoice should receive a verified billing basis from the contract period” or “the operator should see how much of an invoice remains outstanding after a payment is allocated”. A goal described this way provides a starting point for choosing modules, configuration and acceptance criteria.