ERP projects carry a weird kind of hope: executives imagine a single system that will stop errors, automate work, give perfect reports, and make everyone love their job again. At the other extreme teams treat the ERP as “just a database” something to tolerate while they keep doing work the old way. Both extremes are dangerous, because expectation mismatch is where most ERP projects quietly die.

This post breaks down the real capabilities of modern ERPs (like Business Central), the myths that inflate expectations, the traps of expecting too little, and how to recalibrate so your ERP is an asset — not an albatross.

The two bad bets: expecting too much vs. expecting too little

Expecting too much looks like this:

• You expect a software install to fix broken processes without changing how people work.
• You demand instant, perfect reports out of dirty or inconsistent data.
• You expect minimal cost and minimal time, despite heavy customization requirements.

Expecting too little looks like this:

• You leave mission-critical processes outside the system because “we’ll handle that manually.”
• You accept ongoing spreadsheets, shadow systems, and tribal knowledge as permanent features.
• You underinvest in training, change management, and governance because the ERP is “just infrastructure.”

Both are forms of denial. The first is denial of the work required to get value; the second is resignation to inefficiency. The result is the same: you pay for software without getting consistent, measurable outcomes.

What an ERP is actually good at (and what it isn’t)

Realistic expectations start with clarity on what an ERP will and won’t do.

It will:

• Centralize transactional data so you finally have a single source of truth for orders, inventory, invoices, and basic financials.
• Standardize workflows when you commit to process change and governance.
• Automate repetitive tasks that follow clear rules (posting, approvals, notifications).
• Provide a platform to build integrations, reporting, and extensions — but those require design and maintenance.

It won’t:

• Automatically fix bad processes — an ERP reflects the way you work unless you deliberately change workflows.
• Magically clean bad data — garbage in still produces garbage out.
• Replace leadership decisions — it informs them. Someone still needs to decide which processes to keep, change, or retire.
• Make a failing project succeed if you lack governance, sponsorship, or user buy-in.

Treating the ERP as either a miracle cure or an irrelevant utility will cost you time, money, and patience.

The common myths that wreck projects

Myth: “We’ll just customize the system to match everything we do today.”
Reality: Endless customizations create brittle systems that are expensive to upgrade and hard to support. Favor configuration and process simplification over custom code.

Myth: “We can postpone data cleanup until after go-live.”
Reality: Bad data introduces daily friction and user distrust from day one. Clean the most critical data beforehand; plan staged cleanup afterward.

Myth: “If the vendor delivered, we’re done.”
Reality: Vendor delivery is only part of success. Change management, process ownership, training, and governance decide whether the tool gets used.

How to tell if your expectations are misaligned

Answer these with honesty — they’re small questions that reveal big mismatches:

• Do we have documented, agreed processes for our top 10 revenue-impacting workflows?
• Can we point to the single report executives use for decisions — and trust its numbers?
• Are we comfortable reducing manual reconciliations and spreadsheets by 50% in year one? If not, why?
• Who owns the ERP inside our organization — a sponsor, an operational owner, or nobody?
• How many customizations exist and when was the last time we reviewed whether each one is still needed?

If you can’t answer these clearly, your expectations (and your governance) are fuzzy — and fuzzy expectations fail.

How to recalibrate expectations: the practical playbook

1. Prioritize outcomes, not features. Ask: what 3 measurable business outcomes (reduced days sales outstanding, fewer stockouts, lower month-end close time) will prove success? Design the project around those outcomes.
2. Adopt phased delivery. Don’t try to boil the ocean. Pick a high-impact area (finance close, order-to-cash, inventory) and deliver it well before expanding.
3. Simplify before you customize. Map processes and look for simplification opportunities. Configure the ERP to follow simpler, standardized steps instead of recreating legacy complexity.
4. Invest in data triage. Clean the most critical datasets (customers, items, open transactions) to ensure immediate usability. Plan ongoing cleanup for the rest.
5. Make change management non-negotiable. Training, champions, and communication are the multiplier for any ERP investment. Budget for them.
6. Measure and iterate. Set KPIs, track them weekly, and iterate. Small, measurable wins build momentum and goodwill.

When to call for a Project Recovery Assessment

If your ERP is under-delivering and you’re not sure whether the problem is the software, the partner, the data, or the organization a targeted Project Recovery Assessment is the fastest way out of ambiguity. It diagnoses root causes, produces a prioritized risk heat-map, and delivers a remediation roadmap with quick wins and realistic timelines. In short: it tells you whether you need to re-scope, re-train, replace, or retool.