Most ERP go-live failures are governance failures, not technology ones. Your system integrator has a commercial interest in proceeding. Allan & Co provides the independent view your board needs before the go/no-go decision.
When your SI reports the programme is on track, they are managing your expectations. That is not the same as an objective risk assessment. By the time the real issues become visible, you are weeks from go-live with limited capacity to act.
Conflict of interest is structural, not incidental. Your SI's final milestone payment is contingent on a successful go-live. That commercial pressure shapes every status report they produce in the final phase of your programme.
RAG reports are not designed for go/no-go decisions. Status dashboards are built to manage programme communication, not to give executives the unfiltered picture they need at the point of maximum financial and operational exposure.
The failure modes that matter are rarely examined in depth. Financial close integrity, inventory cut-off accuracy, open PO migration, and payroll transition account for the majority of go-live failures. Most readiness reviews address none of them with rigour.
Board accountability has shifted. Audit committees and regulators increasingly expect independent assurance on major transformation programmes. Sole reliance on the SI's sign-off is no longer a defensible governance position.
Our methodology addresses the six areas that account for the great majority of ERP go-live failures. We work across your programme team, business leads, and technical architects without involvement from your SI.
Programme documentation review, SI RAG analysis, stakeholder interviews, and identification of the risk areas requiring deep-dive investigation.
Structured sessions across all six domains, technical environment validation, process walkthrough with business leads, and evidence-based risk scoring.
Consolidation of evidence into a prioritised risk register. Red-line issues identified. Remediation effort estimated. Board summary drafted.
Final readiness report, executive presentation, go/no-go recommendation, and 90-day post-go-live risk watch-list. Leadership debrief session included.
Every engagement produces a defined set of deliverables. The scope is agreed in writing before day one. No ambiguity about what you are paying for.
A structured written assessment across all six domains with an overall readiness score, red-line issues, and prioritised remediation recommendations.
A board-ready presentation that translates technical and programme risk into clear business language. Designed for CFO, CIO, and Audit Committee audiences.
A ranked log of all identified risks with severity ratings, recommended owners, and remediation timelines, structured for ongoing programme governance.
An unambiguous, evidence-based go-live recommendation with stated conditions. Gives your leadership team a defensible basis for the most consequential decision in the programme.
The issues most likely to surface in the first three months post-go-live, with monitoring triggers and escalation guidance for your internal team.
A structured Q&A session with your leadership team covering the findings, their implications, and agreed next steps.
The distinction matters. Only one of these options has no commercial interest in your programme proceeding as planned.
| Dimension | Big Four / Advisory | Boutique SI Reviewer | Allan & Co |
|---|---|---|---|
| Independence from SI | Often partnered with the same SI | Frequently SI alumni networks | Fully independent, by design |
| Senior delivery | Senior sold, junior delivered | Variable | Principal-led throughout |
| Platform depth | Broad but often shallow | Single-platform specialists | SAP, Dynamics 365, Oracle |
| Pricing model | Time and materials, open-ended | Variable | Fixed-price from $50K |
| Board-ready output | Dense technical report | Variable quality | Executive deck included |
| Delivery timeline | 8 to 16 weeks, typically | Variable | 4 to 6 weeks, structured |
| Conflict disclosure | Not always transparent | Rarely disclosed | None to disclose |
A single, all-inclusive price for the complete Go-Live Readiness Assessment. All six domains, all deliverables, all principal time. Agreed in writing before work begins.
Open-ended billing creates the wrong incentives. A fixed fee means we have every reason to deliver findings efficiently and none to extend the engagement. You know the total cost before we begin.
Programme complexity varies. Multi-entity, multi-country, and dual-platform programmes require additional scope. We provide a firm, all-inclusive quote within 48 hours of a scoping call.
A single avoided critical incident at go-live, whether a failed financial close, a payroll disruption, or a regulatory exposure, typically costs five to twenty times the assessment fee. The business case is straightforward.
The optimal window is 8 to 16 weeks before your planned go-live date. Early enough to act on every finding. Close enough for the assessment to reflect the actual state of the programme. Tighter timelines are accommodated on request.
Allan & Co is a specialist assurance practice built by senior ERP practitioners who have spent careers leading and overseeing large-scale transformation programmes across manufacturing, distribution, financial services, and professional services. The practice does not implement ERP systems. It does not resell licences. It assesses programmes at the point where the risk is highest and the capacity to act is still real.
Every engagement is delivered by a principal advisor with direct, first-hand experience of go-live risk at enterprise scale. There is no junior resource deployed behind a senior introduction. The team that scopes your engagement is the team that delivers it.
The practice holds no vendor certifications, no SI partnerships, and no referral arrangements. This is not a policy we commit to at the start of engagements. It is how the practice is constituted.
There is no mechanism for junior consultants to be deployed once an engagement begins. The person who leads the scoping conversation leads the assessment.
Our work is structured to give boards and executive teams a clear basis for action. We are not in the business of producing findings that require interpretation or that defer to the SI's position.
What we assess, what we deliver, and what it costs are agreed in writing before the first day of work. There are no variables, no scope expansions, and no billing surprises.
A direct conversation covering your programme, platform, go-live timeline, and the specific risks you need assessed. No presentation. No obligation. We establish whether there is a fit and what the engagement would cover.
Book NowA written proposal confirming scope, deliverables, timeline, and a fixed, all-inclusive fee. Delivered within 48 hours of the scoping call. You review, request changes if needed, and confirm in writing.
See PricingWe mobilise within days of engagement confirmation. Four to six weeks later, your leadership team has an independent readiness assessment, a board-ready deck, and an unambiguous go/no-go recommendation.
See DeliverablesYour SI's internal readiness reviews are produced by the delivery team and serve the commercial interest of proceeding to go-live. They are status communications, not independent assessments. Allan & Co has no delivery stake in your programme, no relationship with your SI, and no financial incentive other than to produce an accurate picture of readiness. The structural difference is significant.
Confidence in your SI does not eliminate the conflict of interest inherent in their role. Even high-performing SIs operate under milestone pressure, resource constraints, and schedule commitments that shape how risk is reported in the final weeks of a programme. Independent assurance is not a judgement on your SI. It is good governance. Many clients commission it specifically to give their board and audit committee a defensible basis for the go/no-go decision.
Yes. The optimal window is 8 to 16 weeks before go-live, but compressed timelines are a regular part of how we work. In those situations, we tighten the scope to focus on the highest-risk domains where intervention is still actionable. The deliverables and analytical standard remain consistent. Contact us to discuss your specific timeline.
We cover SAP S/4HANA (Greenfield, Brownfield, and Rise with SAP), Microsoft Dynamics 365 F&O, Microsoft Dynamics 365 BC, Oracle Cloud ERP (Fusion), Oracle NetSuite, and Infor CloudSuite. Our methodology is platform-informed and platform-agnostic. The risk framework applies consistently across all of them.
The core assessment scope covers all six domains and the full deliverables set, priced from $50,000 USD or EUR 46,000. Complexity factors, including number of entities, geographies, integration points, and platform configuration, are discussed during the scoping call and reflected in a fixed, all-inclusive proposal. There is no ambiguity about the final fee, and no mechanism for it to increase once agreed.
Yes. Every engagement includes a 90-day post-go-live risk watch-list as standard. For clients requiring ongoing advisory support during the hypercare period, including active monitoring of watch-list items and response to emerging incidents, we offer a structured hypercare retainer. This is scoped and priced as a separate engagement.
Yes. We work with clients across the United States, the United Kingdom, and the DACH region. Our European client work covers the same methodology, same deliverables, and same principal-led delivery model as all engagements. Euro pricing is available for European clients.
A 30-minute conversation establishes whether there is a fit and what an engagement would cover. No presentation. No commercial pressure. Just a direct conversation about your programme.
contact@allan-co.com