Client Background
The client is a leading industrial and manufacturing enterprise based in Kuwait, operating multiple production facilities and a broad commercial network spanning finance, operations, sales, marketing, procurement, and after-sales support. As the organization pursued modernization of its technology landscape, it faced fragmented business inputs and an absence of a consolidated, system-agnostic view of what its future ERP and CRM platforms would need to deliver. Without a validated requirements baseline, any move to market risked inconsistent vendor responses and a selection process anchored more in vendor narratives than in the company's own documented needs. Cedar was mandated to define vendor-agnostic ERP and CRM business requirements and to prepare a structured Request for Proposal that would enable a disciplined, evidence-based vendor evaluation.
Cedar’s Approach
Cedar applied a structured, stakeholder-led methodology designed to convert raw business inputs into a validated Business Requirements Specification (BRS) that no single vendor could bias. The engagement progressed through a set of discrete modules:
Document Review and Planning – Cedar began by reviewing existing inputs, the stakeholder plan, technical proposals, and as-is process context across all functional areas to ground the work in the organization's current reality.
Program Kick-Off – Cedar validated objectives, timelines, scope coverage, and data requirements directly with the client's leadership and key sponsors to secure alignment before deep discovery began.
Stakeholder Conversations – Cedar conducted focused interactions across business, finance, operations, sales, IT, and support functions, building a comprehensive requirements baseline from the people who own each process.
Pain Point and Requirement Mapping – Cedar translated these inputs into documented pain points, functional requirements, reports, integrations, and technical needs, ensuring every requirement traced back to a real stakeholder concern.
BRS Consolidation and Finalization – Cedar consolidated the ERP and CRM requirements into vendor-ready outputs, applying VED prioritization and securing sign-off. The resulting baseline documented 23 modules and 257 functional areas, capturing 940 business requirements and 304 reports, split across 13 ERP modules (541 functional requirements) and 10 CRM modules (399 functional requirements).
Strategic Outcome and Way Forward
The engagement delivered a single, prioritized, vendor-agnostic requirements baseline that positioned the client to run an apples-to-apples vendor evaluation, with every line item traceable to a documented pain point and full visibility across functions, reports, and integrations. Module-level clarity also equipped the organization to plan a phased implementation and to accelerate RFP issuance and commercial negotiation from a position of strength.
Looking ahead, the way forward moves through RFI issuance and vendor shortlisting, structured vendor and partner evaluation via demos and deep-dives, and final mandate award, setting the stage for an implementation phase built on a clear and defensible foundation.