The short answer
Do not start with feature lists or price quotes. Start with:
- Your key processes, written as scenarios ("quote to cash for a custom order").
- Nigerian requirements: VAT and withholding tax, currencies, payroll deductions, record keeping, data location.
- A shortlist of three or four that fit your size and industry.
- Scripted demonstrations of your scenarios, not the standard demo.
- A weighted scorecard completed by the people who will use the system.
- Five-year cost of ownership, including implementation, support and exit.
Step 1: Write your key scenarios
Pick five to eight end-to-end processes. Script each with realistic data and at least one awkward exception; the scripts become your demonstrations.
- Lead, quote, order, invoice, payment
- Purchase request, order, receipt, supplier payment
- Stock moves, counts and adjustments
- Production or project, plan to cost
- Month-end close and reporting
- Returns, credit notes, warranty claims
Step 2: Nigerian requirements
- VAT and withholding tax: VAT (currently 7.5 %), WHT, exempt and zero-rated items, reports.
- Currencies: naira, US dollars or others; exchange rates and revaluation.
- Languages: English usually enough; any screens or documents in another language?
- Payroll: inside the ERP or connected; PAYE, pensions, statutory deductions and schedules.
- Payments and banking: reconcile transfers, card and wallet settlements, customer channels.
- Record keeping: retain and export records in a readable electronic format.
- Localisation: Nigerian functionality from the vendor itself, or a partner app?
- Data location and protection: hosting, backups, where support staff access data from.
- Power and connectivity: behaviour in power cuts and link failures; how quickly users resume.
- Industry rules: lot tracking, health information or CBN rules for financial services.
Withholding tax is deducted from supplier payments or suffered on your own invoices; ask about any e-invoicing requirements that apply to you, and confirm current rules with your accountant and the Nigeria Revenue Service. Many organisations buy in dollars and sell in naira: check how rate differences are recorded. Pension contributions fall under the Pension Reform Act. Keep records as long as your accountant and the authorities require. The Nigeria Data Protection Act 2023 (NDPA) sets rules for transferring personal data outside Nigeria (NDPC guidance). Microsoft publishes a list of countries with local functionality for Business Central: ask every vendor about Nigeria, ask to see it working, and look for offline-tolerant stock and point-of-sale entry.
Not tax or legal advice: confirm tax set-up with your accountant.
Step 3: Evaluation criteria
| Criterion | What to check |
|---|---|
| Process fit | How much of each scenario works by configuration alone? The rest: workaround, add-on or custom code? |
| Deployment and hosting | Vendor SaaS, partner hosting, or your own cloud or servers; with no major public cloud region in Nigeria, usually a local data centre or a region abroad (on-premise vs cloud ERP) |
| Upgrades and customisation | Release frequency, effect on your customisations, customers on the current version |
| Integration | E-commerce, CRM, banking, payroll, shipping; a documented API (for example NetSuite's REST web services); is API access extra? |
| Reporting | Reports without a developer? Ask to see your month-end pack rebuilt |
| Permissions and audit | Access by role, company, location or document type; what is logged, who sees it |
| Implementation partner | Matters as much as the software: configuration, migration, training, support (choosing a provider) |
| Cost of ownership | Five years of licences or hosting, implementation, migration, integrations, training, support, staff time, upgrades; model exchange-rate effects on dollar quotes |
| Exit | Export all data, with history and attachments, in a usable format |
Notes on ERPNext
Open-source systems such as ERPNext can be self-hosted or hosted by a provider: more control over data location, but someone must be responsible for hosting, backups and updates. ERPNext publishes its releases openly, so you can check the release pattern yourself, and manages access through role-based permissions.
Step 4: The weighted scorecard
| Criterion | Weight (1 to 5) | Option A | Option B | Option C | Notes and evidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fit with scripted scenarios | |||||
| Nigerian tax, currency and payroll needs | |||||
| Reporting without a developer | |||||
| Integration and API access | |||||
| Permissions and audit trail | |||||
| Hosting, data location and power resilience | |||||
| Upgrade path and customisation impact | |||||
| Implementation partner and support | |||||
| Five-year cost of ownership (estimates in naira or US dollars) | |||||
| Data export and exit | |||||
| Weighted total |
- Each option was demonstrated with your scripts and sample data.
- Scores came from future users, not only the project lead.
- Similar-sized reference customers in your industry were contacted per finalist.
- Every cost assumption is written down, including exclusions.
Six questions to ask every vendor and implementer
- Which of our scenarios need customisation, and what does that do to upgrades?
- What does a typical implementation of our size include, and what is excluded?
- Who owns the configuration, custom code and documentation at the end?
- How is support provided after go-live, and how are response targets set?
- Can we speak to two customers in Nigeria or elsewhere in West Africa with similar needs?
- How do we get all of our data out if we leave?
Limitations
A checklist cannot replace a careful look at your processes. If they are unclear or disputed, fix that first: any ERP will expose it. Replacing a system? Plan the move early with the data migration readiness guide.
Next step
For an independent view on your shortlist or help running scripted demonstrations, see ERP implementation; for an ERPNext-based system, see Prometheus ERP.
Sources and further reading
Product capabilities and guidance change. These are the primary sources this article relies on, checked on the review date above.
- What is ERPNext?, ERPNext documentation (Frappe)
- ERPNext releases, Frappe (GitHub)
- Role Based Permissions, ERPNext documentation (Frappe)
- Local functionality and localization strategy (Business Central), Microsoft Learn
- Overview of SuiteTalk REST Web Services, Oracle NetSuite Help Center
- Nigeria Data Protection Commission, Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC)
This article is general information, not legal, accounting or security advice for your specific situation. Examples are hypothetical unless stated otherwise.