9 Questions to Ask Your Aerospace & Defense ERP Vendor

Aerospace & Defense is a large and complex business and there are many unique requirements for an Aerospace or defense ERP system. Here are a few questions for your ERP vendor:

Can it provide the certifications and program requirements needed by my customer and the government that is the end customer?

If the certs are not 100% perfect, you don’t get paid. Is there a more important requirement?

Is the aerospace & defense ERP truly global?

My business runs in plants around the world. I have suppliers in countries across the globe. My customer uses the products everywhere, including above the world. I need to link the whole supply chain and I need to track my business wherever I operate through my defense ERP system.

Can I communicate with suppliers and customers?

I need to use EDI and XML to share information with all the businesses and governments in my supply chain. I need a web portal for customers and suppliers within the aerospace ERP. I need to use these web portals to receive crucial information in real time.

Will the ERP help with progress billings?

My programs run for years and I like to be paid. I need detailed cost breakdowns by project and sub-project for each billing within the defense ERP software.

Does the aerospace & defense ERP have powerful reporting capability?

I need to provide bills of material and routings with the planned build. Then, I need to report exactly the material and labor used in each operation.

Is quality management tightly integrated in the ERP?

My customer requires a variety of quality checks throughout production and the program. All the data collected must be kept in the ERP system and be easily reported.

Can I trace all the materials used?

Traceability of many key materials is required from my suppliers and where I used those materials in each serial-numbered unit I ship. I need to trace materials by lot number or serial number or date code. I must be able to provide reports to answer any reasonable request.

Will the ERP help me with bidding for my next contract?

This won’t be my only job. I want to be able to extract data from past jobs along with other data and analyze all of it within the ERP system. I want powerful analysis tools included.

Does the ERP provide project management tools?

I have used MS Project in the past. I could continue if data can flow directly to Project. I would prefer to have those tools integrated with my aerospace & defense ERP.