ERP Business Analyst in the UK

VAT treatments and MTD digital links as requirements

Most ERP platforms sold in the UK can calculate VAT. The questions that decide whether a system fits are more specific, and they belong in the requirements document rather than in a sales conversation. I work through them with your finance team and, where needed, your accountant.

Typical requirements I document include:

• Every VAT treatment you actually use, such as standard, reduced, zero-rated, exempt and outside the scope, and which products, services or customers each applies to.
• Invoices with lines at different rates, and how credit notes reverse them.
• Reverse charge scenarios that apply to your sector, and what the invoice must show.
• How the VAT return is prepared and submitted, whether directly from the ERP or through bridging or accounting software.
• Where data moves between systems on its way to the return, so Making Tax Digital digital-link expectations are met without manual copy and paste.

I do not give VAT advice. Your accountant or tax advisor confirms how each transaction should be treated; I make sure that guidance becomes numbered requirements and test cases. The broader design side of VAT and Making Tax Digital is covered on my ERP consultant page for the UK.

Construction, CIS and project-based businesses

UK construction businesses have requirements that general-purpose ERP templates often miss. Contractors paying subcontractors usually operate under the Construction Industry Scheme, which involves verifying subcontractors, applying the right deduction, producing statements and making monthly returns to HMRC. Many building and construction services also fall under the domestic reverse charge for VAT, which changes what invoices must show and how VAT is accounted for.

On top of that sit the commercial processes: applications for payment, valuations, variations, retentions held and released, and cost tracking by project and cost code. When these live in spreadsheets beside the accounts, month-end becomes a reconciliation exercise.

I map these flows end to end with your commercial, site and finance teams, then document them as requirements: what data a subcontractor record must hold, how deductions are calculated and recorded, which documents the system must produce and which reports the quantity surveyors and finance director need. In the fit-gap analysis, each requirement is scored against your shortlisted platforms so you can see where a construction add-on or custom work would be required. Your accountant confirms the CIS and VAT rules; I make sure the system specification reflects them. My article on ERP for construction gives more background.

Trading with the EU: customs, currencies and data

Since the UK left the EU, goods moving between Great Britain and EU countries involve customs formalities that did not apply before. For an ERP, that is mainly a data question. If product, customer and shipment records do not hold the right information, every export or import becomes a manual exercise between your team, your freight forwarder and your customs broker.

In requirements workshops with sales, logistics and finance, I document what the system must capture and produce:

• Commodity codes and country of origin on product records.
• EORI and VAT details for your business and for trading partners where relevant.
• Incoterms on sales and purchase orders, and how they affect who pays freight and duty.
• Commercial invoices and packing lists in the format your broker needs.
• Pricing and invoicing in GBP and EUR, with exchange rate handling and gains or losses posted correctly.
• Landed cost on imports, so margins reflect duty and freight.

Where Northern Ireland or other special arrangements apply to your trade, I flag them for your advisors to confirm before they become requirements. The result is a specification that lets you test, before go-live, that an EU order can move from quote to customs paperwork to invoice inside the system.

How remote requirements work runs for UK teams

Business analysis is mostly conversation and documentation, which makes it well suited to remote delivery. I run interviews and workshops on video during UK working hours, usually one process area per session, so people do not lose whole days to meetings. Each session produces written notes, draft requirements and a short list of open questions with named owners.

Process maps and the business requirements document live in shared files your team can comment on between sessions. People who work shifts or on site, such as warehouse leads or site managers, can contribute through short questionnaires or recorded walkthroughs of how they do a task today. That often surfaces the workarounds that formal meetings miss.

Sign-off happens in writing, process area by process area, so there is a clear record of what was agreed. When vendors or partners demo their systems, they follow scripts built from your requirements, and I score each demo in the same fit-gap matrix. The same requirements later become UAT scripts, so testing checks what the business asked for. For the structure I use, see my guide to writing an ERP BRD, or explore my other UK services on the UK overview.