Profitability analysis without replacing your ERP

The problem

When margin questions get hard to answer, the default pitch is a new ERP. Replacing an ERP takes many months and disrupts the shop, and most shops don't need a new system of record. They need the analysis layer their current one lacks.

What to measure

If you can export a job list with revenue and estimated and actual costs, you have everything needed for job profitability analysis: variance, erosion, customer and category rollups, and trends over time.

How MarginGuard helps

MarginGuard sits beside your ERP. Upload an export, confirm the mapping once, and re-upload on a cadence. It doesn't schedule, quote, or post transactions, so there's no overlap and nothing to migrate.

Next step: sign up, load the demo, or compare plans.

How to get started

1. Step 1
   Export from your ERP

   Use the guide for JobBOSS², E2, Epicor, Global Shop, ProShop, or the generic CSV guide.

2. Step 2
   Upload and map once

   Mappings are remembered per report layout.

3. Step 3
   Review weekly

   Ranked erosion and tracked actions.

Companion vs replacement

A replacement ERP changes how the whole shop works. A companion changes one meeting: the weekly margin review. If your ERP already records estimated and actual costs, a companion is usually the faster, lower-risk path.

When a companion is the wrong answer

If your ERP doesn't record estimated and actual costs per job at all, or labor isn't reported against jobs, no analysis layer can fill the gap. Fix data capture first: job-level time tracking and material issued to jobs. A companion also won't help if the shop has already outgrown its ERP for scheduling, inventory, or accounting; that is an ERP decision, not a profitability one.

What changes in the first month

Week one: the first export is uploaded and the team sees ranked erosion for the first time. Weeks two and three: the weekly review settles into a 30-minute habit and the first two or three fixes get owners. Week four: the next imports show whether those fixes held. Nothing about how the shop quotes, schedules, or posts transactions changes.