Get More from Your Acumatica ERP Discovery Session

When companies start exploring ERP, discovery is often the first big step. It’s also the one that makes many leaders the most uneasy. What should I bring? Who should attend? How do I make sure this meeting is worth the time?

Here’s the good news: you don’t need to have every answer. Discovery isn’t a test. It’s a structured conversation designed to surface the insights that connect your business challenges with the right Acumatica capabilities, and set you on the path to a successful implementation.

At a Glance: Getting Discovery-Ready

If you’d like to skim before diving in, here’s what this guide covers:

• Prepare with the 4 Ps
• Who to Bring to Your ERP Discovery Session
• What to Expect in Discovery
• ERP Discovery by Industry
• Common Mistakes to Avoid
• A Quick Readiness Check
• What You’ll Walk Away With
• Ready to Get Started?
• ERP Discovery FAQs

Use the list above to jump to what matters most, or read straight through for the full picture.

Preparing with Purpose

Think of discovery as your chance to put your business on the table. The goal isn’t to deliver a polished presentation; it’s to help us see your challenges, processes, and priorities clearly. That’s what allows us to bridge the gap between what ERP can do and what your business really needs.

Over the years, we’ve found that the best-prepared discovery sessions share a common pattern. Leaders don’t show up with binders of data or polished slide decks. They show up having thought through four key areas that give the conversation real substance. We call these the 4 Ps of discovery preparation.

The 4 Ps of Discovery Preparation

Over the years we’ve noticed the most productive discovery sessions have something in common. Leaders do not arrive with perfect decks. They arrive having thought through four areas that give the conversation substance and direction. We call these the 4 Ps: Problems, Processes, People, and Priorities.

1. Clarify Your Top Problems

Write down the three to five issues that slow the business down, and note the impact. Replace labels with specifics. For example, instead of “reporting is hard,” write “it takes five days to close and leaders wait a week for reliable numbers.” Consequences help us target the right solution fast.

2. Select a Few Processes to Walk Through

Pick one or two workflows that define how you operate, then be ready to show them step by step. Order to cash, month-end close, project budgeting, purchasing, or production scheduling are all good candidates. You do not need a polished flowchart. A simple sketch or talking through the steps is enough, especially if you point out where delays, rekeying, or errors creep in.

As you outline these workflows, we’ll already be thinking about how Acumatica’s flexibility can simplify or automate them.

3. Talk to Your People Before Discovery

Functional leaders are typically in the meeting, but the best inputs come from the team that runs the work every day. Do a quick pulse before discovery. Fifteen-minute huddles or a short form works well. Ask three questions:

• What slows you down most often
• Where does the system fail you or force manual work
• If one thing could be automated this quarter, what should it be

Who should attend the discovery itself: your finance lead, your operations or supply chain lead, the executive sponsor, and an IT representative who understands integrations and data. Bring the frontline insights with you so the room reflects real-world pain, not just leadership’s view.

4. Define Your Business Priorities

Set the targets that matter over the next one to three years. Examples include shortening close by two days, improving on-time delivery, scaling revenue without adding headcount, or entering a new market. List must-haves versus nice-to-haves and any constraints like timeline or budget. These priorities become the lens we use to evaluate every option.

Key Stakeholders for ERP Discovery Success

One of the most common questions we hear is: “Who should be in the discovery meeting?” The answer is simple: bring the people who know the processes best and the leaders who define success. Discovery works best when you have both perspectives in the room.

At a minimum, we recommend including:

• Finance leaders bring insight into reporting challenges, close cycles, and cash flow concerns.
• Operations or supply chain leaders share the realities of order management, inventory, production, or project delivery.
• Executive sponsor or business leaders set direction, clarifies strategic priorities, and defines what success should look like.
• IT or systems leads explain how current tools connect (or don’t) and helps flag potential integration needs.

Together, this group ensures discovery covers day-to-day pain points and big-picture goals. We’ve seen that when these voices come together in Acumatica discovery, the conversation moves beyond “system replacement” into how the platform can unlock growth and efficiency.

Once you have the right group, the next step is to align around what each role contributes, and then explore how systems, data, and processes tie it all together.

How Finance, Operations, IT, and Leadership Shape ERP Discovery

Different roles see the business from different angles. Here’s how each can make discovery more productive:

• Finance leaders: Bring recent reports and be ready to point out bottlenecks. Do consolidations drag on? Are forecasts unreliable? These specifics shape how we tailor Acumatica reporting and automation.
• Operations or supply chain leaders: Walk us through a real workflow. If fulfillment drags or production schedules keep shifting, show us where the friction happens. ERP shines when we can see these issues clearly.
• Business leaders: Share your vision, not just your pain points. Do you want to grow without adding headcount? Expand into new markets? Improve profitability? That direction ensures discovery isn’t just about fixing today but also planning for tomorrow.
• IT leaders: Provide the lay of the land on current systems. Which tools work well, which don’t talk to each other, and where do you see duplication or shadow systems? That baseline helps us plan integrations and avoid surprises.

What to Expect in an Acumatica ERP Discovery Session

Discovery is structured, but it isn’t scripted. We’ll guide the conversation across a few key areas that reveal how your business really works and where Acumatica can make the biggest impact.

Not every topic will be covered in every discovery session. Complexity, scope, and your readiness will shape how deeply we go. Depending on how deep the session goes, you may explore:

Strategic Direction

We start by looking at where your business is heading.

• What does growth look like over the next few years?
• Are you planning to expand, launch new products, or make acquisitions?
• Which business outcomes matter most this year?

We ask these questions so we can anchor decisions in your big-picture goals, not just today’s pain points.

Operations and Challenges

Next, we dig into the realities of how work gets done.

• Where do processes consistently break down — fulfillment, scheduling, reporting?
• How much time do routine tasks really take?
• What workarounds does your team rely on?

This helps us see where Acumatica can eliminate friction and free up capacity.

People and Experience

ERP has a human impact, so we want to understand the employee perspective.

• Which teams feel the most pain with your current systems?
• Do people trust the information they’re using to make decisions?
• What do you wish your teams had more time for, if routine tasks were automated?

These insights help us design solutions that don’t just improve efficiency but also make work less frustrating and more rewarding.

Data and Decision-Making

We’ll also explore how information flows through your organization.

• Can you trust the numbers you see today, or do you double-check them?
• How quickly can you get answers when you need to make a decision?
• Do different departments rely on different versions of the truth?

Data is the backbone of Acumatica ERP. Understanding your current state shows us how to give you a single, reliable source of insight.

Systems and Tools

We’ll review your current technology stack.

• Which systems do you rely on most heavily — ERP, accounting, CRM, spreadsheets, or industry-specific apps?
• Do these systems integrate, or are you constantly re-keying data?
• Are there tools you’ve invested in but barely use?

This gives us the baseline to see where technology is enabling your business and where it’s holding you back.

Processes and Workflows

Finally, we’ll walk through some of your critical workflows.

• How does an order move from customer request through to fulfillment?
• How do you manage procurement, production, or project tracking today?
• Where do bottlenecks, manual handoffs, or errors create delays?

By mapping your processes, we uncover opportunities to streamline and automate — often finding ways to scale without adding more headcount. If you’d like to get a head start, use our System and Process Evaluation Guide to document workflows and pain points before discovery.

How Industry Context Shapes ERP Discovery

No two discovery sessions are alike, and that’s because no two industries operate the same way. A construction firm wrestles with job costing and compliance in a way a distributor never will. A manufacturer’s pain points look very different from a professional services firm.

This is where The Answer Company brings real value. With three decades of experience across industries, we know which questions to ask and which red flags to look for. We’ve seen how industry-specific issues, if left unspoken in discovery, can derail an ERP project down the line. Surfacing them early ensures your discovery session focuses on what matters most to your business.

Here are just a few examples of how industry context shapes the conversation:

• Construction: Job cost breakdowns, change orders, and compliance requirements. These often live in disconnected spreadsheets; discovery highlights where Acumatica’s project accounting and compliance tool can bring control and accuracy.
• Manufacturing: Bills of materials, production schedules, and quality reports. We look for where manual processes create delays or errors that ripple across production. Discovery helps us see where Acumatica’s production management features can streamline scheduling and reduce errors.
• Distribution: Inventory accuracy, fulfillment cycle times, and supplier performance. Discovery uncovers how gaps in real-time visibility impact both efficiency and customer satisfaction and pinpoints where Acumatica’s inventory and warehouse management can deliver real-time visibility.
• Professional services: Project budgets, time and expense tracking, and client reporting. We focus on where disjointed tools create billing delays or margin blind spots.
• Retail & eCommerce: Multi-channel sales, customer experience, and real-time inventory management. Discovery pinpoints where siloed systems create stockouts or order delays and highlights where Acumatica’s multi-channel integration can eliminate stockouts and order delays.
• Not-for-Profit: Fund tracking, program reporting, and compliance with donor requirements. We uncover where manual reporting eats up staff time that could be better spent on mission delivery.

Because we’ve guided Acumatica discovery sessions across all of these industries, we know where to probe deeper,  and where a single overlooked detail can change the entire ERP strategy.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

We’ve guided thousands of discovery sessions, and patterns emerge. Even well-prepared teams sometimes fall into the same traps, which can stall the process or lead to missed insights. Here are the most common mistakes we see, and how to avoid them:

• Arriving without clear goals: you’ll leave with notes, but not direction.
• Leaving out key voices:  ERP touches finance, operations, and leadership.
• Getting stuck on old systems:  let’s focus on where you want to go, not just what doesn’t work today.
• Expecting us to fill in the blanks: we’ll guide the process, but only you can share your unique challenges and priorities.

A Quick Discovery Readiness Check

Not sure if you’re ready for discovery? Use this simple self-check. You don’t need to score perfectly, the goal is to surface where you’re clear and where discovery will help fill in the blanks.

• Can I clearly name my top three business challenges and the impact they create?
• Do I know which processes cause the most delays, errors, or rework?
• Have I spoken with my team to capture their frustrations and workarounds?
• Can I outline the core systems we rely on today and where they don’t connect well?
• Do I know what success would look like in the next one to three years (growth, efficiency, profitability, or scale)?

If you answered “yes” to most of these, you’re well-prepared. If you answered “yes” to only one or two, that’s fine too — discovery is designed to help you uncover the rest.

Want a practical way to get started? Try our System and Process Evaluation Guide to capture workflows and pain points before your session.

What You’ll Walk Away With

Discovery isn’t a one-and-done exercise, it’s the starting point of your ERP journey. You won’t leave with a finished roadmap or detailed design, but you will come away with:

• A clearer picture of your biggest challenges and how they connect
• Insight into where Acumatica can deliver quick wins and long-term value
• Agreement on early priorities to focus on first
• Next steps for refining requirements and building toward a tailored Acumatica plan

Think of discovery as laying the foundation. It gives you the clarity and direction needed to make smart decisions in the sessions that follow.