ERP Success Requires More Than Software and Project Management.
CatalistIQ was created to close the gap between business strategy, operational reality, project execution, commercial commitments, and technical delivery. We help manufacturing and distribution companies choose the right systems and partners, negotiate stronger agreements, build executable plans, and maintain control through stabilization.
Most ERP projects have business experts, project managers, and systems integrators. What they often lack is someone responsible for keeping the business, the plan, and the technology aligned from beginning to end.
The Missing Role in Most ERP Programs
ERP projects rarely fail because no one is working hard. They fail because important responsibilities fall between the business, the project plan, the commercial agreements, and the system design.
Executives know the business. Operational leaders know how work is performed. Project managers know how to manage tasks, and systems integrators know how to configure software. Yet, projects still slide.
CatalistIQ fills that gap by connecting executive strategy, operational reality, project execution, vendor commitments, and technical delivery.
Critical Diagnostic Questions
- ?Who independently verified that the implementation plan is complete?
- ?Who confirmed that internal resource assumptions are achievable?
- ?Who is reviewing vendor commitments against the contract and SOW?
- ?Who determines whether the organization is truly ready to advance?
Experience Across the Business, the Project, and the Technology
Frank Mueller is a technology and business-operations executive with decades of experience leading ERP, business intelligence, operational improvement, technology strategy, and enterprise systems initiatives.
Across manufacturing, energy, consulting, managed technology services, and other complex operating environments, Frank has worked at the intersection of executive strategy, operations, data, and technology.
He has led technology organizations, governed ERP initiatives, built analytics capabilities, improved operational controls, negotiated software agreements, and helped organizations recover value from systems and projects that were underperforming or poorly aligned with the business.
Why Frank Founded CatalistIQ
Frank founded CatalistIQ after seeing too many organizations enter ERP initiatives without the independent planning, commercial strategy, project controls, and oversight needed to protect the investment.
The same patterns appeared repeatedly: weak preparation, incomplete requirements, unrealistic plans, hidden internal workload, under-scoped contracts, unclear ownership, poor data readiness, and executive teams relying on status information that had not been independently verified.
CatalistIQ was created to give executive teams a disciplined way to choose the right systems and partners, negotiate stronger agreements, build an executable implementation plan, and maintain control through stabilization.
The CatalistIQ ERP Assurance Model
Our five-stage methodology creates the implementation baseline, aligns the parties responsible for execution, verifies progress against evidence, controls material risks, and determines when the project is ready to advance.
1. Establish
Build the implementation baseline.
2. Align
Confirm roles, scope, contracts, resources, responsibilities, and decision rights.
3. Verify
Test progress, deliverables, and readiness against evidence.
4. Control
Manage risks, issues, changes, dependencies, scope, schedule, and commercial exposure.
5. Advance
Move forward only when defined readiness conditions are met.
Six dimensions evaluated throughout the methodology
The Operating Environment Behind the Methodology
EXProv is the operating environment for the CatalistIQ ERP Assurance Model. It is the ERP implementation management platform that helps teams plan, manage, and control the project from beginning through stabilization.
It turns the methodology into a repeatable system of tasks, timelines, dependencies, evidence, risks, decisions, and phase gates.
"EXProv is the easy button for planning, standing up, managing, and controlling an ERP implementation—without forcing the team to build the entire project structure from scratch."
Selected Results That Shaped CatalistIQ
CatalistIQ is a recently established company, but the methodology behind it was shaped through years of ERP, technology, operational, data, and program leadership. These representative outcomes illustrate the experience that informed CatalistIQ’s approach to selection, planning, oversight, negotiation, and recovery.
A manufacturing ERP initiative had stalled after substantial investment, with unresolved scope, weak governance, and growing contractual exposure.
InterventionThe project was independently assessed, re-baselined, and placed under a renewed governance and accountability structure.
OutcomeThe company regained control of the implementation and established a viable path toward go-live.
Legacy ERP dependencies, unreliable inventory data, and slow financial reporting limited operational visibility and decision-making.
InterventionERP, data, reporting, and operational controls were redesigned and integrated around the needs of the business.
OutcomeInventory variance was reduced materially, financial visibility improved, and operating decisions were supported by more reliable information.
A complex enterprise initiative lacked consistent governance, capital-planning visibility, and reliable schedule control.
InterventionA program-management center of excellence and executive reporting structure were established.
OutcomeSchedule slippage and cost exposure were reduced while leadership gained better visibility into program performance.
Independent by Design
Your software vendor knows its product. Your implementation partner manages delivery. CatalistIQ helps protect the client’s business interests across the ERP lifecycle.
CatalistIQ does not sell ERP software and we do not receive software commissions. We are not financially dependent on a particular ERP vendor or implementation partner. Recommendations are based strictly on client needs, evidence, risk, operational fit, and commercial value.
Bring Greater Control to Your ERP Initiative
Discuss how CatalistIQ can help your team choose the right system and partner, negotiate stronger agreements, build the project plan, oversee implementation, or recover a troubled initiative.