ERP Requirements Gathering for Business Analysts Training Course

Course overview

Business analysts on ERP initiatives must turn conflicting requests from finance, procurement, supply chain and operations into requirements that implementation teams can configure, test and trace. A request such as “improve purchasing visibility” is not a requirement: it may conceal approval thresholds, three-way matching rules, supplier master-data ownership, reporting needs and audit controls. When these details are missed, ERP programmes absorb late change requests, unnecessary customisations, unreliable data and process designs that users reject.

This intermediate five-day course teaches participants to lead disciplined ERP requirements work from stakeholder discovery through to prioritised, testable specifications. Participants practise mapping current and future processes, identifying fit-gap decisions, eliciting business rules, defining master-data requirements, writing user stories and use cases, and maintaining traceability from business objective to acceptance criteria. The course addresses common ERP domains including procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, record-to-report and inventory management, with attention to controls, integrations, reporting and role-based access.

Delivery combines instructor-led demonstrations, facilitated workshops and a running ERP implementation case. Participants use BPMN 2.0 process models, a requirements traceability matrix, a fit-gap log and backlog techniques to resolve realistic stakeholder conflicts. By the end of the week, each participant has produced an ERP requirements pack for a defined business process: stakeholder map, as-is and to-be process models, prioritised requirements, business rules, data requirements, integration assumptions, acceptance criteria and a validation plan.

The course is designed for analysts already working with business processes or enterprise applications who need a practical method for contributing credibly to ERP selection, implementation, upgrade or optimisation work.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Map ERP stakeholders, decision rights and requirements ownership using a stakeholder analysis matrix
• Elicit process, data, control and reporting requirements through structured ERP discovery workshops
• Model as-is and to-be business processes in BPMN 2.0 for an ERP process area
• Document fit-gap findings that distinguish standard configuration, process change, integration and customisation
• Write testable ERP user stories, use cases, business rules and acceptance criteria
• Define master-data, transactional-data and data-migration requirements for an ERP workstream
• Prioritise requirements using MoSCoW and value-versus-risk criteria
• Build a requirements traceability matrix linking business objectives, requirements, design decisions and test evidence

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Business Analysts — who must translate operational needs into implementable ERP requirements
• ERP Business Analysts — who need a repeatable method for fit-gap analysis and requirements traceability
• Functional Analysts — who work with finance, procurement or supply-chain teams to define configuration needs
• Product Owners — who must prioritise ERP backlog items against business value, risk and release constraints
• ERP Project Managers — who need stronger control of scope, assumptions, dependencies and change requests
• Process Owners — who must validate future-state processes and approve business requirements

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience gathering requirements, documenting business processes or supporting a business application change. Familiarity with core business-process concepts such as procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, approvals, master data and user acceptance testing is assumed. Participants should be comfortable reading process maps and working in spreadsheets or collaboration tools. Prior exposure to an ERP platform such as SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP or Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance is helpful but not essential. Programming, database administration, ERP configuration and prior BPMN certification are not required.

Training methodology

The course uses a running case involving an organisation replacing fragmented purchasing, inventory and finance processes with an ERP platform. Short instructor-led sessions introduce each method, followed by hands-on work in stakeholder mapping, BPMN modelling, fit-gap assessment, backlog refinement and traceability. Small groups conduct simulated discovery workshops with conflicting stakeholder priorities, then review each other’s requirements for ambiguity, completeness and testability. On the final day, participants assemble their individual ERP requirements pack and create a workplace application plan for an active or anticipated ERP initiative.

Course outline

Day 1: ERP context and requirements discovery

• ERP business-process architecture and functional workstreams
• Procure-to-pay, order-to-cash and record-to-report process boundaries
• Stakeholder mapping for process owners, control owners and end users
• Requirements lifecycle from business case to user acceptance testing
• Requirements categories: process, data, reporting, control and integration
• Discovery workshop planning and question design
• Scope statements, assumptions and boundary conditions

Workshop: Participants create a stakeholder map, workshop agenda and scoped discovery plan for a procure-to-pay ERP workstream.

Day 2: Process modelling and fit-gap analysis

• As-is process capture using BPMN 2.0 swimlanes
• To-be process design and standardisation decisions
• ERP fit-gap categories: configure, adapt process, integrate or customise
• Exception paths, approval workflows and segregation-of-duties controls
• Business rules and decision tables for ERP transactions
• Pain-point analysis and root-cause questioning
• Fit-gap log structure and decision ownership

Workshop: Participants model an as-is purchasing process, design a to-be BPMN process and complete a fit-gap log for identified gaps.

Day 3: Writing testable ERP requirements

• User stories, use cases and structured requirement statements
• INVEST criteria for ERP backlog items
• Acceptance criteria using Given-When-Then scenarios
• Requirement attributes, identifiers and version control
• Functional requirements for approvals, matching and posting
• Non-functional requirements for security, performance and auditability
• Requirements quality reviews for ambiguity and completeness

Workshop: Participants convert workshop notes into prioritised user stories, business rules and acceptance criteria for an invoice-matching process.

Day 4: Data, integrations and prioritisation

• Master-data domains, ownership and data-quality rules
• Transactional-data requirements and retention considerations
• Data-migration scope, cleansing rules and reconciliation criteria
• Integration requirements for upstream and downstream systems
• Interface assumptions, events, error handling and exception ownership
• MoSCoW prioritisation and value-versus-risk assessment
• Requirements traceability matrix design

Workshop: Participants define supplier-master-data and integration requirements, prioritise the backlog and build a traceability matrix.

Day 5: Validation, governance and requirements pack

• Requirements validation workshops and stakeholder sign-off
• Linking requirements to configuration, test cases and training impacts
• Managing change requests and scope decisions
• Baseline control and requirements version management
• ERP reporting and analytics requirements
• Requirements pack structure for implementation handover
• Application planning for live ERP initiatives

Workshop: Participants present and peer-review a complete ERP requirements pack, then produce an application plan for using the method at work.

Tools & standards covered

SAP S/4HANA, Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, BPMN 2.0

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions