Independent advisersAdvisory service

Implementation oversight

Sitting on your side of the table during the build: holding the integrator to the plan, testing what is delivered against the requirements, and telling you early when a date is not going to hold.

4 firms state it5 things to ask forReviewed September 2026

Build the requirements first

01When you need it

When the implementation partner is also the only party reporting on the implementation. An integrator’s status report is not an independent one, however honest the individuals are.

Stackmark research · editorial, not sourced from any firm

02What to ask for

Put these in the engagement letter rather than the kick-off meeting. Each one is a thing that is awkward to ask for later and cheap to ask for now.

  1. 01

    A reporting line to you or the steering committee, never through the integrator.

  2. 02

    Acceptance criteria per phase, written before the phase starts.

  3. 03

    Access to the project’s own artefacts — plan, risk log, test results — rather than a summary prepared for you.

  4. 04

    An escalation the adviser is expected to use, and evidence they have used one before.

  5. 05

    A view on data migration specifically, which is where most timelines are actually lost.

03How it is priced

A day rate or a monthly retainer for the length of the programme, usually a fraction of the integrator’s fee. Beware oversight sold as a percentage of programme cost: it grows when the programme overruns.

Stackmark publishes no day rates. Nobody in this market posts them, an adviser’s rate varies more by who is assigned than by the firm, and a range we made up would be exactly the invented figure we refuse to print for licences. Ask two firms for a fixed fee on the same written scope; the comparison is the number you actually need.

04Firms that state this service

Firms whose own site names this work, alphabetical. A listing is a documented claim by the firm, not a recommendation by us, and there is no tier, rating or paid placement anywhere on this page.

  • ERP Advisors Group

    Does not state independence

    Its own wording: “Needs Assessment”, “ERP Selection”, “ERP Implementation”

    Also states requirements gathering, selection advisory

  • Lumenia Consulting

    States vendor independence

    Its own wording: “ERP Selection”, “ERP Strategy & Planning”, “ERP Implementation”, “Business Process Transformation”

    Also states change management, erp audits and expert review, programme recovery, requirements gathering, selection advisory

  • Third Stage Consulting Group

    States vendor independence

    Its own wording: “ERP Selection & Implementation”, “ERP Project Recovery”, “Expert Witness Services”, “Digital Transformation”

    Also states change management, erp audits and expert review, programme recovery, selection advisory

  • Ultra Consultants

    States vendor independence

    Its own wording: “ERP Technology Selection”, “ERP Implementation”, “ERP Recovery”, “Organizational Change Management”

    Also states change management, programme recovery, selection advisory

A firm we have missed, or one listed wrongly? Suggest a correction. It opens a public issue, prefilled with what we publish today.

05Sources

The page on each firm’s own site that names the service, and the date we read it. The reading of those pages — which of our seven services a firm’s wording maps to — is Stackmark’s, which is why the firm’s own words are printed above.

  1. [1]Needs Assessment | ERP Advisors Group Serviceshttps://www.erpadvisorsgroup.com/services · retrieved 2026-09-07
  2. [2]ERP & Digital Consulting Services | Lumenia Consulting: Independent ERP Consultantshttps://www.lumeniaconsulting.com/services · retrieved 2026-09-07
  3. [3]Services : Independent Guidance. Proven Results.https://www.thirdstageconsulting.com/services/ · retrieved 2026-09-07
  4. [4]Independent ERP Consultants | ERP Consulting | Ultrahttps://www.ultraconsultants.com/erp-consulting-services/ · retrieved 2026-09-07