Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for ERP Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

The ERP Analyst is responsible for translating business requirements into stable, scalable ERP solutions across finance, supply chain, manufacturing, or other functional areas. This role combines system configuration, process optimization, data migration, integration, testing, reporting and end‑user enablement to ensure ERP systems deliver measurable business value. The ERP Analyst partners with stakeholders, technical teams, and vendors to drive implementations, upgrades, and continuous improvement initiatives while maintaining day‑to‑day operational support and governance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Business Analyst with domain experience in finance, supply chain, or manufacturing.
Systems Analyst or Application Support Analyst working with enterprise systems.
Finance or Operations subject-matter expert transitioning to technical ERP work.

Advancement To:

ERP Manager / ERP Program Manager
Senior ERP Consultant or Solution Architect
IT Applications Manager or Director of Business Systems
Head of ERP / Head of Business Systems / CIO (for extended career growth)

Lateral Moves:

Functional Process Owner (Finance, Supply Chain, Manufacturing)
Project Manager (ERP Implementations)
Business Process Improvement or Change Management Lead

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead end‑to‑end ERP implementations and upgrades: gather and document business requirements, design solution blueprints, configure modules, develop integration and migration plans, coordinate testing, manage cutover activities, and provide post‑go‑live stabilization and support.
Translate complex business processes into ERP functional requirements and technical specs by conducting workshops, process mapping sessions, and gap analyses with cross‑functional stakeholders.
Configure ERP modules (e.g., Finance/GL/AP/AR, Procurement, Inventory, Order Management, Manufacturing, HR/Payroll) including security roles, workflows, approval rules, master data structures, and user interfaces to meet business needs.
Manage data migration activities: design ETL mappings, cleanse and validate legacy data, develop migration scripts and tools, execute trial migrations, and reconcile migrated data to ensure integrity in the new system.
Design, develop, and maintain integrations between ERP and third‑party systems (CRM, WMS, MES, payroll, eCommerce platforms) using APIs, middleware (e.g., Dell Boomi, MuleSoft), flat files, or custom web services to ensure seamless end‑to‑end processes.
Create, maintain, and optimize reports, dashboards and KPIs using reporting tools (Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, SSRS) and SQL to provide actionable insights for finance and operations teams.
Develop and execute comprehensive testing strategies including unit, system, integration, regression, and user acceptance testing (UAT); create test scripts, manage test cycles and document defects and remediation plans.
Provide tier 2/3 ERP support: triage incidents, perform root cause analysis, apply fixes or configuration changes, escalate to vendors or development teams when required, and communicate resolutions to business users.
Drive continuous process improvement by identifying automation opportunities, simplifying manual steps, enforcing best practices, and proposing enhancements that reduce cost, improve cycle times and mitigate risks.
Maintain ERP system documentation: functional specs, configuration guides, runbooks, training manuals, and change logs to ensure knowledge continuity and audit readiness.
Partner with IT security and governance teams to enforce access controls, segregation of duties (SoD), audit trails and compliance with SOX, GDPR or other regulatory requirements applicable to enterprise systems.
Manage vendor relationships for ERP modules, cloud services, implementation partners and third‑party add‑ons; evaluate vendor deliverables, manage contracts, and coordinate technical and functional workshops.
Prepare and present executive‑level status reports, impact analyses and project charters that clearly communicate scope, timeline, risks, dependencies and business impact during implementations and enhancements.
Serve as subject matter expert (SME) for end users by providing training, developing job aids and conducting classroom or virtual sessions to drive user adoption and reduce reliance on support escalations.
Configure, test and maintain workflows, approvals and automation rules to ensure business policy adherence and streamline transaction processing across functional areas.
Execute performance tuning and troubleshooting for ERP modules and integrations: analyze logs, identify bottlenecks, optimize SQL queries or batch jobs and recommend infrastructure adjustments.
Support master data governance programs: enforce standards for item, vendor, customer and chart of accounts structures; participate in data steward councils and remediation activities.
Develop and implement change management plans: assess change impacts, coordinate communication, manage release schedules and ensure minimal disruption during releases or upgrades.
Coordinate cross‑functional process harmonization across multiple business units or geographies to establish standardized ERP processes that enable scalability and consistent reporting.
Lead or participate in Agile/Scrum ceremonies for ERP projects: backlog grooming, sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews and retrospectives to accelerate delivery and increase stakeholder collaboration.
Build and maintain configuration migration pipelines between development, QA and production environments; manage change request workflows and ensure traceability between requirements and deployed changes.
Evaluate and prototype new ERP features, modules or add‑on solutions; produce proof of concepts (POCs) and make recommendations on adoption based on cost, risk and business ROI.
Support financial close activities and period‑end reconciliations by ensuring ERP transactions are posted correctly, resolving system issues and providing operational support to accounting teams.
Provide technical specifications and oversight for ERP customizations when out‑of‑the‑box functionality is insufficient, ensuring custom code complies with architectural standards and is maintainable.
Maintain up‑to‑date knowledge of ERP vendor roadmaps, cloud migration strategies (SaaS/Cloud ERP), and industry trends to recommend strategic enhancements and avoid technical debt.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Assist internal audit and external auditors with ERP evidence, access logs and change histories during reviews.
Facilitate cross‑training and knowledge transfer sessions to increase bench strength across ERP functional areas.
Participate in vendor evaluations, RFP responses and total cost of ownership (TCO) analyses for ERP-related purchases.
Monitor system health, apply vendor patches and coordinate scheduled maintenance windows to minimize business impact.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Deep functional knowledge of at least one major ERP platform (e.g., SAP ECC/S4HANA, Oracle EBS/Cloud, Microsoft Dynamics 365, NetSuite) and familiarity with other ERP ecosystems.
Strong SQL skills for data interrogation, report building, troubleshooting and writing data migration queries.
Experience with ETL/data migration tools and frameworks (SSIS, Informatica, custom scripts) and proven ability to design data conversion mappings.
Hands‑on experience with integrations using REST/SOAP APIs, middleware (Dell Boomi, MuleSoft), EDI or file‑based interfaces.
Proficiency with reporting and BI tools (Power BI, Tableau, Crystal Reports, SSRS) and ability to translate business metrics into dashboards.
Practical knowledge of ERP configuration: security roles, workflows, approval matrices, master data models, and module-specific setups.
Familiarity with scripting and automation tools (Python, PowerShell, Bash) to support utilities, data loads, and small automation tasks.
Experience in system testing methodologies: test plan creation, test cases, UAT coordination and defect tracking (JIRA, Azure DevOps).
Understanding of accounting and financial processes (GL, AP, AR, Fixed Assets) or supply chain processes (procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, inventory) depending on the specialization.
Knowledge of cloud ERP deployment models, tenancy, backups, and vendor patching strategies; experience migrating on‑prem to cloud ERP is a plus.
Familiarity with identity and access management, segregation of duties (SoD) controls and compliance frameworks (SOX, GDPR).
Competence with project management fundamentals and ability to coordinate cross‑functional project deliverables and timelines.

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and communication skills to engage executives, process owners and technical teams.
Analytical mindset with attention to detail and a focus on root cause analysis and data‑driven decision making.
Problem solving and troubleshooting orientation with the ability to prioritize under pressure during cutovers or critical incidents.
Facilitation and workshop skills to drive requirements elicitation and consensus across diverse groups.
Change management and training aptitude: comfortable delivering training, creating user guides and driving adoption.
Collaboration and team orientation while also able to work independently and own deliverables.
Time management and multi‑tasking skills to manage competing priorities across projects and BAU support.
Adaptability and continuous learning mindset to keep up with ERP vendor releases, new modules and industry best practices.
Business acumen to understand the intersection of technical solutions with operational and financial outcomes.
Customer service orientation — committed to resolving user issues and improving the end‑user experience.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Computer Science, Accounting, Finance, Business Administration or related field.

Preferred Education:

Bachelor's degree plus certifications such as SAP Certified Associate, Oracle Certified Specialist, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Certification, NetSuite Administrator, PMP, CBAP or other relevant credentials.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Information Systems / Computer Science
Accounting / Finance
Business Administration / Supply Chain Management
Industrial Engineering / Operations Management

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3 to 7 years of progressive experience supporting, configuring or implementing ERP systems in enterprise environments.

Preferred:

5+ years of direct ERP experience with at least one full life‑cycle implementation (requirements, configuration, testing, data migration, go‑live).
Demonstrated experience in the relevant functional domain (finance, procurement, manufacturing, inventory) and with integrations or reporting projects.
Prior exposure to cloud ERP migrations, vendor implementations or consulting engagements is highly desirable.