The ERP‑Native Diagnostic: what you get in 2 weeks (and why it saves six figures)

Two weeks of focused discovery beats months of rework. Leaders don’t need another pitch deck—they need the shortest path to clarity with the least risk. That’s why we built the ERP‑Native Diagnostic: a fast, practical engagement that gives you a clear picture of what’s working, what’s broken, and what to do next. If you’ve been considering an ecommerce audit, a B2B ecommerce assessment, or an ERP integration audit, this is that work—done tighter, deeper, and oriented to decisions you can make right away.

You’ll walk away with a current‑state system map, a prioritized risk list, a 90‑day plan you can begin on Monday, and a KPI tree that ties outcomes to the work. And because the diagnostic is “ERP‑native,” we don’t look at ecommerce in isolation. We trace how orders, inventory, pricing, customers, tax, and fulfillment actually move through your ERP and the rest of your stack. That’s where the real cost and the real risk live.

Let’s lay it out plainly: what it is, who it’s for, what happens in two weeks, and why it regularly saves six figures in rework.

When a diagnostic is the smartest money you’ll spend

You buy a diagnostic when the price of guessing is higher than the price of knowing.

Here are the signs:

• Your roadmap feels like a pile of requests, not a plan.

• Teams are doing heroic manual work to “make it go,” and everyone is a little numb to it.

• Stakeholders don’t agree on what “done” means.

• Your ERP upgrade, replatform, or M&A integration keeps bumping into “one more dependency.”

• The phrase “we’ll script a workaround” gets thrown around like confetti.

This is where a focused ecommerce diagnostic pays for itself. You reduce uncertainty fast, sequence the next steps, and stop paying a hidden tax in rework. We’ve seen companies spend months building the wrong thing because the first diagram was wrong. Two weeks of truth beats two quarters of fiction.

Stalled growth, ERP upgrade, M&A, replatform, channel conflict

Different triggers, same need: a shared map, a shared score, and a shared plan.

Stalled growth

Traffic up, revenue flat? Or AOV down while ops costs creep up? Often the culprit isn’t marketing—it’s the flow of data and the limits of the system. Contract pricing that fails at checkout. Inventory accuracy lagging by a day. Quotes stuck in email purgatory. A diagnostic exposes these invisible brakes and puts fixes in priority order.

ERP upgrade

Moving to a new ERP or a major version jump? The risky zone is the seam between ecommerce and ERP: item masters, UoM, pricing tiers, tax, credit terms, returns, and the order state machine. An ERP‑native diagnostic validates those seams so your upgrade doesn’t derail your store—or your quarter.

M&A integration

Two product catalogs. Two customer databases. Two ways of pricing the same widget. Sales is promising “synergies,” and your tech team is trying to merge three lifetimes of business logic. The diagnostic gives you a neutral system of record, a path to rationalize data, and guardrails for the first integration waves.

Replatform

Replatforming multiplies assumptions. “The new platform will handle that” is famous last‑words energy. We lay out the edge cases up front—quotes, POs, split shipments, kitting, lot control, distributor portals—so you avoid discover‑as‑you-go change orders.

Channel conflict

Marketplace, DTC, distributor, and field sales can coexist, but only if pricing, availability, and customer experience are consistent by design. The diagnostic looks at your channel policies and the technical levers that enforce them, so you stop the quiet war between channels before it starts.

Scope: what we do in 2 weeks

We run a cadence that balances speed with depth. No mystery. No black box. You’ll see progress every 48–72 hours.

Interviews

We interview 8–20 people across ecommerce, IT, operations, finance, merchandising, and customer support. We ask for “last mile” truth—the messy details you never see in a workflow tool. We map where people use spreadsheets, where they copy‑paste, and where “John just knows how to do that.”

Data and flow review

We inspect key data artifacts: product master, pricing rules, inventory updates, customer hierarchies, tax and freight logic, order and return states, and how payment terms flow. We look at the integration points, what system is the system of record, and the latency for each data hop.

Truth mapping

We assemble a current‑state diagram that shows the real path for order‑to‑cash, procure‑to‑pay, and returns. Not the aspirational PowerPoint. The actual path in production. This map also captures manual touches and edge cases. It’s where most “aha” moments happen.

Risk radar

We score risks by likelihood and impact across 7 dimensions: Data Integrity, Flow Automation, UX Alignment, Channel Compliance, Security/Privacy, Ops Readiness, and Platform Fitness. Red = stop now. Amber = proceed with guardrails. Green = move.

Readout

You get a working session, not a recital. We review the current‑state map, walk through the top risks, and present a 90‑day plan with clear owners, effort, and expected impact. We align on the KPI tree so everyone knows how we’ll measure progress.

The score and maturity stage

We keep scoring simple and useful. You’ll get a single composite score and per‑dimension scores. We also assign a maturity stage to your ecommerce‑plus‑ERP capability. It’s not a vanity metric; it’s a compass.

• Stage 1 – Reactive. Manual work props up the experience. Data is often stale or wrong. People fix what software should.

• Stage 2 – Emerging. Some automation exists, but exceptions are common. Teams rely on key individuals.

• Stage 3 – Integrated. ERP and ecommerce share clean boundaries. Most flows work end‑to‑end without manual rescue.

• Stage 4 – Orchestrated. Processes handle complexity by design: quotes, contract pricing, partials, returns, credit memos. KPIs drive improvements.

• Stage 5 – Adaptive. New channels and products can launch without a rewrite. Data, process, and experience are decoupled where it counts.

Where you are today matters less than how to level up next. The maturity stage tells us where the next unit of effort creates the next unit of value.

How we score; what each band means; sample radar chart

Each dimension gets a 0–5 score:

• 0–1 (Red): High risk of rework. Projects will stall unless this is addressed first.

• 2–3 (Amber): Usable with guardrails. Good candidate for targeted improvements.

• 4–5 (Green): Strong foundation. Build here with confidence.

Here’s a simplified, text‑based example of a radar snapshot:

Dimension            Score (0-5)
--------------------------------
Data Integrity       2.0
Flow Automation      1.5
UX Alignment         3.0
Channel Compliance   2.5
Security/Privacy     4.0
Ops Readiness        2.0
Platform Fitness     3.5

In the readout, we include an actual radar chart with notes under each spoke. You’ll see where the weak links are and what that implies for your next 90 days.

The deliverables (with examples)

An ecommerce diagnostic should produce assets you can use the next day. You get four core deliverables, each crafted to be shared with executives and used by practitioners.

Current‑state map (example)

We provide a one‑page diagram of your order‑to‑cash flow and supporting loops (catalog, pricing, inventory, tax, shipping, returns/RMA, credit memos). It labels systems of record and shows data direction, frequency, and manual touches.

What you’ll see on the page:

• System boxes for ERP, ecommerce platform, PIM/DAM, OMS/WMS, payment, tax, shipping, CDP/analytics.

• Arrows labeled with payload (e.g., “Inventory by SKU/Location, every 5 min, REST”) and latency.

• Red lightning bolts marking manual work or brittle scripts.

• Notes for edge cases (e.g., “Contract price override via CSV, weekly”).

Asset to include: Sample current‑state map (redacted).

Top 5 risks list (example)

We list the five highest‑impact risks with a short description, the failure mode in plain language, the affected KPI, and the earliest point at which the risk can be retired.

Sample excerpt:

1. Inventory Latency > 30 min (Amber → Red on peak). Oversells drive cancellations and churn. Impacts fill rate and NPS. Fix: switch from batch to event‑driven delta updates; add location‑level availability at checkout.

2. Contract Pricing Drift. Sales and ecommerce price books diverge monthly. Impacts margin and trust. Fix: unify price rules in ERP; expose contract terms via real‑time API.

3. Return State Mismatch. RMAs issued in ecommerce but credit memos in ERP lack linkage. Impacts DSO and finance accuracy. Fix: standardize return reasons and states; integrate credit memo events.

4. Tax Calculation Inconsistency. ERP vs. checkout tax differences on freight lines. Impacts compliance and support tickets. Fix: single tax engine; harmonize freight treatment.

5. Quote→Order Handoff Gaps. Quotes created online don’t reserve inventory or respect lot constraints. Impacts OTIF and warehouse chaos. Fix: introduce reservation logic and lot visibility.

Asset to include: Sample risk list page (redacted).

90‑day plan (example)

A tactical plan grouped in three workstreams, each with weekly outcomes. No vague verbs. We use “ship this” language.

• Stabilize data.

  • Weeks 1–2: move inventory updates to event‑driven deltas; add unit tests to the integration.

  • Weeks 3–4: unify contract pricing rules; build a daily reconciliation job with alerts.

• Fix the flow.

  • Weeks 1–2: standardize order states; map returns to credit memos; add error queues with retry.

  • Weeks 3–4: implement quote→order reservations; enable split shipments with visibility.

• Improve experience.

  • Weeks 1–2: expose location‑level availability; show dynamic lead times.

  • Weeks 3–4: add buyer role permissions and PO approvals; surface terms at checkout.

Each item in the plan comes with owner, effort (S/M/L), dependencies, and KPIs it affects.

Asset to include: Sample plan page (redacted).

KPI tree (example)

We connect the work to outcomes using a simple tree:

• Revenue

  • Conversion rate (impacted by availability accuracy, lead‑time display)

  • AOV (impacted by correct contract pricing, bundled kits)

• Cost to serve

  • Manual touches/order (impacted by returns/credit memo automation)

  • Customer support contacts/order (impacted by tax/ship consistency)

• Cashflow

  • DSO (impacted by credit memo linkage and returns processing)

  • Refund lag (impacted by RMA→credit memo sync)

This keeps teams honest. If a task doesn’t move a branch on the tree, it doesn’t belong in the 90‑day plan.

What changes in week 3

The point of a two‑week diagnostic is what happens in week three.

Decision clarity

Leaders can say “yes” and “no” with confidence. The roadmap has sequence. You know which dependencies are real and which were fear. The replatform or ERP upgrade either proceeds with guardrails or pauses for the one fix that unblocks everything else.

Fewer workarounds

Manual heroics start to come off the board. We target the handful of brittle scripts and spreadsheet rituals that create 80% of your support tickets. Teams get time back to focus on higher‑leverage work.

Aligned priorities

Sales, ops, IT, and finance are working from a single map and a single risk list. The collision points between channels get addressed on purpose, not discovered in production. The KPI tree is the referee.

ROI: where six‑figure rework gets avoided

Rework is expensive because it multiplies. A small wrong assumption at the ERP boundary can force a chain of changes across ecommerce, integration, warehousing, and finance. The diagnostic pays for itself by catching those early.

Here are common places six figures go to die:

• Incorrect pricing model assumptions. You build a storefront that assumes list price + promo, then discover contract pricing with quantity breaks, ship‑to overrides, and customer‑specific freight. Rework: custom pricing engine and rewrite of cart/checkout logic mid‑project = $150k–$300k. The diagnostic surfaces pricing rules on day 3.

• Inventory semantics mismatch. The site uses simple “in stock/out of stock,” but the ERP tracks lot/serial, expirations, substitutions, and backorder rules by location. Rework: rebuild availability logic and downstream pick/pack flows = $100k+. The diagnostic defines the availability contract and the reservation logic.

• Return/credit memo desync. RMAs flow to ERP, but credit memos don’t close the loop. Finance spends weeks reconciling. Rework: retrofit state machine and accounting events = $75k–$150k. The diagnostic maps states and events before a line of code is written.

• Tax and freight inconsistencies. Two engines, two rulebooks. Support tickets explode; auditors notice. Rework: unify engines and patch historical orders = $50k–$120k. The diagnostic chooses the single source of truth and standardizes freight treatment.

• Quote and PO workflows bolted on late. B2B buyers expect quotes, PO approvals, and role‑based access. If you discover this during UAT, you blow the timeline. Rework: implement B2B features under duress = $80k–$200k. The diagnostic validates B2B flows in week one.

Add in the quieter costs: overtime, morale hits, and opportunity cost from delayed launches. The ecommerce diagnostic prevents this by making the invisible visible early.

5 common traps the diagnostic catches early

1. “The ERP will handle it.” ERPs are great at being ERPs. They are not customer experience engines. We draw the boundary clearly so you don’t ask the wrong tool to do the wrong job.

2. “Batch is fine.” Batch works until it doesn’t. Nightly jobs become hourly jobs become a storm of retries. We define where event‑driven updates matter and where batch is still smart.

3. “We’ll normalize the catalog later.” Later never comes. Bad product data makes every downstream task harder. We flag the minimum viable data quality you need before replatforming or adding channels.

4. “We can copy what we did on the last platform.” No two stacks are the same. Lifting and shifting edge cases leads to brittle code. We map edge cases to native features or clean extensions up front.

5. “Security and privacy are table stakes.” They are, but table stakes still need to be checked. We review auth models, PII flows, and data retention so a future SOC2 or GDPR audit doesn’t block a go‑live.

Graphic: before/after flow with reduced manual touches

Here’s a simple view of how the diagnostic reduces manual work. The real deliverable includes a polished diagram; this illustrates the idea.

Before (manual touches in brackets):

Web Store → [Export Orders CSV] → ERP
ERP → [Email Pricing Updates] → Web Store
ERP → Batch Inventory (1 hr) → Web Store
RMA in Web Store → [Email Spreadsheet] → ERP → [Manual Credit Memo]

After (event‑driven, fewer touches):

Web Store → Orders API → ERP
ERP ← Pricing API (contract rules) ← Web Store (real-time)
ERP → Inventory Events (delta) → Web Store
Web Store ↔ RMA/Return Events ↔ ERP (auto credit memo)

Touchpoints that used to burn 10–15 minutes per order disappear. Multiply that by hundreds of orders, and you get why the ROI is not vague.

Where this fits with your roadmap

The ERP‑Native Diagnostic stands on its own, or it can feed your next move.

• If you’re planning a replatform, the diagnostic becomes your source‑of‑truth handoff to the build team.

• If you’re preparing for an ERP upgrade, it reduces the risk of go‑live by settling integration contracts before code.

• If you need a strategic jumpstart, it flows into a tight, time‑boxed Strategy Sprint to validate the riskiest assumptions and prototype a solution.

The point is to make your next quarter calmer and more productive, not to lock you into a long project. You can hand the assets to your internal team, another partner, or keep working with us. Choice is a feature.

How this compares to a traditional ecommerce audit

A standard ecommerce audit is often storefront‑heavy: UX, CRO, site performance. Useful, but incomplete. A B2B ecommerce assessment adds business logic review, but stops short of the ERP contract. An ERP integration audit dives into middleware and data mapping, but can miss buyer experience.

The ERP‑Native Diagnostic combines the three. We look across UX, data, and operations as one system. That’s why the recommendations land and stick. It’s an ecommerce diagnostic that speaks ERP as a first language.

What you get in the two weeks, day by day

Here’s the default cadence. It adjusts to your calendar and constraints, but the bones stay the same.

• Day 1: Kickoff, confirm scope, gather system access, schedule interviews.

• Days 2–3: Interviews and data pulls. Quick wins list starts forming.

• Day 4: First cut of current‑state map; early risk flags shared for validation.

• Day 5: Deep dive into pricing, inventory, and order/return states.

• Day 6: Draft risk radar and maturity score.

• Day 7: 90‑day plan v1; KPI tree alignment with finance and ops.

• Day 8: Stakeholder review; incorporate feedback; identify owners.

• Day 9: Finalize deliverables; prep readout.

• Day 10: Readout session; decisions captured; week‑3 next steps confirmed.

This pace forces focus. It also respects your team’s time. Most clients spend 6–10 total hours across those ten days.

What changes in your organization

Past the maps and plans, the diagnostic shifts how people work:

• Shared language. UX, IT, ops, and finance can talk about the same flows without translation.

• Cleaner boundaries. Everyone knows which system does what and why.

• Faster decisions. When a new requirement shows up, you can place it on the map and see who needs to be involved.

• Less rework. Specs match reality; build teams build the right thing once.

• Better vendor management. You can push partners (including us) to deliver against clear contracts and KPIs.

Frequently asked questions we answer during the diagnostic

We don’t add a formal FAQ to the deliverable, but these are the questions that usually get resolved:

• Can our ERP be the single source of pricing truth without slowing down checkout?

• How fresh can inventory be, and do we need reservations?

• What is the smallest set of catalog changes needed to make composable commerce work?

• Should we keep the OMS or fold its responsibilities into ERP + ecommerce?

• How do we enable quotes and PO approvals without a custom rabbit hole?

• Where do we need event‑driven architecture, and where is batch still fine?

• How do we enforce channel rules (MAP, distributor territory) in the stack?

The answers live in the map, the risk radar, and the 90‑day plan.

How to start (lightweight intake + scheduling)

We keep getting started simple:

1. Lightweight intake. A short form to understand your stack, objectives, and constraints. We also collect the names of stakeholders for interviews.

2. Access and artifacts. Read‑only access where possible; sanitized exports where needed. If security policies limit access, we work with redacted data.

3. Scheduling. We lock the two‑week window and book all interviews up front.

4. Alignment on outcomes. We agree on 2–3 decisions you want to make in week three. The deliverables are optimized for those decisions.

If you prefer to talk it through live, reach out via our contact/booking. If you’re ready to go, you can book the Diagnostic directly.

Why “ERP‑native” matters

Ecommerce is not a website with a cart. It’s a system with rules. The rules live in your ERP: how items are defined, priced, taxed, shipped, returned, credited, and recognized on the books. When those rules and your storefront are aligned, growth feels easy. When they’re not, everything is uphill.

Being ERP‑native means we map those rules first. We don’t force your business through a generic template. We encode your real constraints and your real advantages into the plan. That’s where six‑figure saves come from: fewer rewrites, fewer “we didn’t realize,” fewer surprises in UAT.

Who this is for

• Mid‑market and enterprise B2B firms with complex pricing, quoting, and fulfillment.

• Omnichannel retailers balancing marketplaces, DTC, and store networks.

• Manufacturers adding direct channels or dealer portals.

• Companies in the middle of ERP upgrades, M&A integrations, or replatforming.

If that’s you, and you want a clearer, lower‑risk way forward, this is the tool.

Final word

You don’t need a forever project to get unstuck. You need two weeks of concentrated truth that aligns teams and protects the next quarter. That’s the ERP‑Native Diagnostic.

Grab the 2‑week ERP‑Native Diagnostic. Leave with a plan your team, or ours, can execute.