Before you pay for an ERP for a fabrication business, put one of your own POs on the table and ask ten questions. A vendor can say yes to any feature. Only a real PO, a real party list and your own supervisor show whether the yes holds.
The questions follow the order a job moves. Under each one we say what Fab ERP does, and where it does not.
1. Does it read your PO, or does someone type it?
Send the vendor a real PO at a test inbox. Watch what appears. If the answer is "enter the order manually", that is the first gap.
Fab ERP: you connect the company mailbox (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook or any IMAP mailbox). The quantity, rate and deadline are read from the mail or its PDF. Lines it is unsure of wait for a person. You tap Accept and the order exists.
2. Can the supervisor use it standing at the machine?
If checking an order needs a computer, it gets done in the evening, from memory. Ask to see it on the supervisor's own phone.
Fab ERP is a phone app with a PIN lock, and roles decide what each user sees. On Gold, the Production Board lists open orders by stage.
3. Do dues show by age, by party, without asking for a report?
A report you must request is a report you skip. Ask for the party list by age on the first screen.
Fab ERP: the Clients Ledger holds statements, credit limits and the 60+ days list. Ask Fabio, the assistant, "Who should I chase for payment?" and it returns names with amounts. Silver and Gold.
4. Which papers does it make, and does the party get them on WhatsApp?
Quotation, proforma, tax invoice, delivery challan. Numbered, filed against the order, and sendable on the app your party's store already has open.
Fab ERP: the Database screen holds all four and shares them on WhatsApp.
5. Can it mark a thekedar's crew of eight?
Ask who marks them, where, and whether the month's muster fills itself. Then ask if that is payroll.
Fab ERP: attendance is marked on the phone, contractor crews included, and the muster fills itself. It is on Gold, or on Silver as an add-on. It is a muster, not payroll.
6. What does your accountant keep doing, and what does the ERP touch in his books?
He should not have to change how he works. Ask what the ERP reads from his books and what it writes to them.
Fab ERP: the GST screens are working papers (GSTR-1 and 3B, a 2B reconciliation) that your accountant confirms. We do not file returns. If your books are in Tally, the Tally connector reads and never writes. An invoice made in Fab ERP stays there, and the accountant enters it in Tally. See the Tally page.
7. What does it not do today?
Ask for the list in writing. A vendor with no list is not telling you something.
Fab ERP does not make e-invoices or e-way bills, and does not run payroll. If those are your first need, keep your current tools for them.
8. Who answers when it breaks, and how fast?
Ask for the channel and the reply time before you sign, not after.
Fab ERP: Silver has email support, with a reply within 2 working days. Gold has priority WhatsApp support. A person replies, and Gold goes first. There is no service-level promise beyond that.
9. What is the monthly price with GST, and when is the first charge?
Ask for four things in writing: the price per month with GST, the user limit, the cost of one more user, and whether the trial needs a card.
Fab ERP: the 14-day trial is free on every plan. You set up auto-pay when you start, nothing is charged during the trial, and we email you 3 days before every charge. Both plans and their prices are on the pricing page.
10. What leaves with you if you stop?
Ask what you can take out, in what form, and how long you have.
Fab ERP: cancel any time. Your access runs to the end of the paid period, then you have 30 days to export your data.
How do you score the answers?
Run all ten on one real PO. Mark each question yes, partly or no, and count only what you saw on a screen, not what you heard. Do this for every vendor, ours included, on the same PO. For the order itself, article one in this series follows one PO from the inbox to the gate.
Two answers deserve extra weight: question 1, because everything after it depends on the order existing, and question 10, because a bad exit cannot be fixed later.
Does every fabrication shop need an ERP yet?
No. If you can name every open PO, every party's balance and today's crew without looking, a register and a sheet will serve for now. The day you cannot answer one of those by six in the evening, run the ten questions.
Questions owners ask us
What is the first thing to test in an ERP for a fabrication business?
A real PO. Send one to the vendor's test inbox and see whether an order is made from it, and what waits for a person to check. Everything else in the demo depends on that step.
My accountant already keeps the books. Do I still need an ERP?
Your accountant's books start at the invoice. The first seven questions are about work that happens before that: the PO, the floor, the dues, the papers. You need an ERP when that work starts slipping.
Does Fab ERP file my GST returns?
No. It keeps GSTR-1 and 3B working papers and a 2B reconciliation as hints for your accountant to confirm. Filing stays with him.
How do I try Fab ERP before paying?
Start the 14-day free trial and put one real PO through it. You set up auto-pay when you start, but nothing is charged during the trial.
Where to look next
The product page lists every module, and the pricing page has both plans. When you want to run question 1 on your own PO, the 14-day free trial starts from the start page.