Five decisions to make before adding AI to your ERP data
A practical ERP AI evaluation guide covering data access, business definitions, permissions, report validation and a focused pilot.
Define the business question first
Replace a broad question such as “How are sales doing?” with a defined period, product group and comparison. Agree on the meaning of revenue, returns, discounts and open orders in your business.
Choose three to five recurring management questions for the pilot. Record how they are answered today, which reports are used and which team can validate the answer. This turns a conversational demo into an assessable business scenario.
Agree on the source and scope of data access
The ERP’s name alone does not define an integration. Review the version, database, available APIs, reporting layer and network access together.
Bring a sample table structure or a report with sensitive details removed to discovery. Specify data that must stay out of scope and how fresh the result needs to be. ALL WISE BI connector scope is confirmed in that technical discovery.
Match the assistant’s access to the user’s permissions
A sales representative, finance manager and executive do not need the same data scope. Prepare an access matrix showing which entities, branches and fields each role may see.
Include both an allowed question and an out-of-scope request in the demo. Evaluate what the system should display, when it should seek approval and what record it should leave.
Decide how answers will be checked
Ask to compare the same question against an existing ERP report that your team accepts. Make the period, currency, filters and data source part of that review.
Add missing, incorrect and stale data cases to the evaluation. Agree who reviews the result and how an incorrect output is reported and resolved.
Measure the pilot against a real baseline
Before the pilot, record the time needed to prepare the selected report, manual steps and review effort. Measure the same work within the same scope afterwards.
Treat one successful demo as the start of an evaluation, not a company-wide rollout decision. Use the pilot results to plan additional data sources, user groups and deployment requirements.
Your discovery meeting checklist
- ERP name, version and access method
- Three to five real reporting questions
- Permission matrix and excluded data
- An accepted reference report
- Pilot owner and success criteria