Important ERP associations & initiatives in the DACH region

The central independent SAP user association in the German-speaking region (founded 1997, 4,000+ member companies, ~70,000 members, ~200 working groups). It represents user interests toward SAP, with its own country arms for Austria and Switzerland.

The independent user association for abas ERP (now Forterro/abas) – with over 320 member companies the largest German-speaking abas community, mainly from the manufacturing Mittelstand. It bundles requirements and represents users toward the vendor.

An independent (Microsoft-unaffiliated) user and partner community for the Microsoft Dynamics family: Dynamics 365 Business Central (NAV/Navision) and Finance & Operations. Forums, knowledge exchange and events around the Dynamics ERP ecosystem.

The German Oracle user group (founded 1988, Berlin) – an independent German-speaking community around Oracle databases, Oracle Applications, Java (JavaLand) and enterprise IT. For the Oracle user side in the DACH region.

Germany's largest digital-industry association (2,000+ member companies) with its own standing ERP working group and ERP guides (most recently „Multi-Agent Systems in the ERP Context“, 2026). It defines the market view and functional scope of ERP from the industry's perspective.

The Federal Association for SME IT represents exclusively the mid-sized (Mittelstand) IT sector (~2,500 mostly owner-managed IT companies) and awards the „Software Made in Germany“ seal, among others. Partner of the IT-Unternehmertag with the ERP awards.

Europe's largest industrial association for mechanical and plant engineering (~3,600 mostly Mittelstand members) and a key driver of Industry 4.0. Relevant for ERP at the interface to manufacturing, MES and digitalisation.

The national GS1 organisation (Cologne, since 1974) – the sole German allocation office for GTIN/GLN/SSCC and operator of the core EDI/data-exchange standards. The basis for barcodes, master data and EDI in ERP supply chains; GS1 Austria and GS1 Switzerland cover AT/CH.

An Austrian non-profit association for national and international e-business standardisation (a WKO initiative, since 1989). It develops and maintains ebInterface, the Austrian XML standard for e-invoicing, among others – relevant for ERP invoicing processes in Austria.

An affiliated institute of RWTH Aachen University for business organisation and enterprise IT – influential in ERP research and organiser of the vendor-neutral CBA (Congress on Business Applications, formerly the Aachener ERP-Tage). Studies, selection methodology and practice transfer.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material Flow and Logistics runs vendor-neutral ERP selection and the comparison platform ERP LOGISTICS (a database of 200+ ERP vendors) as well as ERP market studies. The concrete selection advisory is a paid service.

The Business Informatics division of the German Informatics Society (Gesellschaft für Informatik) bundles the academic special-interest groups on enterprise information systems (incl. modelling, ERP/enterprise software). A scientific, vendor-independent perspective on ERP fundamentals.

An application-oriented business-informatics institute at the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, with dedicated competence areas for business software and digital transformation in which ERP is a focus. Vendor-neutral research, teaching and consulting (CH).

The professional association for management consulting, accounting and IT of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber – the statutory interest representation of, among others, the IT service providers and consultancies that implement and operate ERP systems. The central point of contact for the IT sector in Austria.

The Swiss business association for the ICT and online sector (700+ member firms) with its own „ERP and Business Software“ expert body. The central industry representation and ERP point of contact in Switzerland.