The ERPNext implementation checklist: 48 items you should not skip

After 120+ ERPNext go-lives, we've turned our lessons into a repeatable checklist. It's boring, exhaustive, and almost single-handedly responsible for our on-time delivery rate.

Phase 1 — Discovery & scoping

1. 1Document current-state processes per department in a single tracker.
2. 2Map pain points to specific ERPNext modules — not wishes, actual modules.
3. 3Identify top five reports leadership needs on day one.
4. 4List every integration: banks, tax portals, e-commerce, shipping, BI.
5. 5Agree on scope-out list — what we are explicitly NOT doing in phase one.

Phase 2 — Data preparation

1. 1Chart of accounts reviewed and signed off by finance.
2. 2Item master cleaned, deduplicated, UoM standardized.
3. 3Customer and supplier masters deduplicated, with tax profiles.
4. 4Opening balance cutoff date fixed and frozen.
5. 5Historical data scope decided: full import, summary, or read-only archive.

Phase 3 — Configuration

1. 1Company setup: fiscal year, currency, country VAT profile.
2. 2Permission roles matrix signed off by each department head.
3. 3Workflow configuration for approvals (POs, JEs, leave).
4. 4Print formats branded and tested for every primary document.
5. 5Email templates and notification rules configured.

Phase 4 — Cutover rehearsal

1. 1Dry-run opening balance upload on a production clone.
2. 2Verify every integration in the production environment.
3. 3Document the hour-by-hour go-live runbook.
4. 4Identify rollback criteria and rollback procedure.
5. 5Train the hypercare team on the exact issue triage flow.

Phase 5 — Hypercare

1. 1On-site presence for two weeks minimum.
2. 2Daily stand-up with client ops leads for the first month.
3. 3Issue log with severity, owner and SLA.
4. 4Post-go-live health check at day 30 and day 60.
5. 5Knowledge transfer signed off before handover to AMC.