Option 1
As the foundation for your application
Customer portal, field app, approvals: ElbDesk already brings sign-in, permissions and master data. The scope of custom development depends on your task.
Your workflows.
Built on ElbDesk.
ElbDesk is the foundation on which we develop your software. ElbDesk provides sign-in, permissions, documents and collaboration. We add your screens and business rules, and ERP modules when you need them.
An ElbDesk window: on the left the areas overview, purchasing, warehouse, sales and accounts, below them “Your part” with designer and the open production area. On the right a production order created from the designer, with four materials and quantities; at the bottom the scheduling at the cutting station with material reserved.
An illustrative view
Your workspace. Your business rules.
Lists, detailed views and next steps belong together. This illustrates how a custom workspace on ElbDesk could look.
- See your records
- View details in the same workspace
- Prepare the next step
In practice
ElbDesk in use
Built with ElbDeskAuction house
Auction platform
ElbDesk as an auction platform - lot numbers, catalogue and settlement in one system.
- Lot number entry
- Cataloguing of objects
- Settlement of auctions
Built with ElbDeskPrepress business
Replacing an old system in a production business
At Carl Ostermann Erben, an ERP on ElbDesk replaces an old system that could no longer be extended - on a clean data model and connected to the production software in real time.
- Production steps directly in the ERP
- Room to extend on the ElbDesk Core
- Real-time connection to the production software
„Durch die enge und partnerschaftliche Zusammenarbeit entwickeln wir ein ERP-System, das genau auf unsere Bedürfnisse zugeschnitten ist.“
Holger Ostermann · Managing Director, Carl Ostermann Erben GmbHWhy ElbDesk is different
Which foundation fits your project?
Standard software, a standalone custom application and ElbDesk have different strengths. Your workflows, existing systems and the effort needed for rollout and operation determine the choice.
| Criterion | Standard software | Standalone development | With ElbDesk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sign-in, permissions, documents | Included | Have to be developed as well | Provided by ElbDesk |
| Warehouse, invoicing, accounting | Included, the way the vendor designed them | Have to be developed or connected | As modules, when you need them |
| Your special rules | Only within the settings, the rest runs alongside | Developed for you | Developed for you, directly in the system |
| Later changes | Depends on what the vendor allows | As you need them | As you need them |
ElbDesk is not automatically the right choice for a pure integration or a standalone app. We clarify that before implementation.
Structure
One foundation. Modules as needed. Your process on top.
The foundation
What every application needs and nobody should build twice: sign-in and permissions, workspaces, collaboration, documents and search - in the office, in the browser and on the phone.
ERP modules
Ordering, warehouse, invoicing or accounts are added only if you need them. If you have an ERP, it stays. Accounts and warehouse keep running there, and we connect it where possible, so nothing is maintained twice.
Your part
We build your costing, approvals or production steps with custom screens and rules. The scope follows your actual workflows.
Ways to use it
As a foundation, alongside your system or as an ERP
Which way fits depends on what your current system does well.
Rollout
Your process first.
Then one area at a time.
Whether ElbDesk fits your process shows in the first area - not in a presentation.
Record the process
We look at how your business works and what your current system does - and check whether ElbDesk fits.
Build the first area
We build your workflows on ElbDesk, and your team tests them on real transactions. Your current system keeps running, connected where possible.
Carry on once it proves itself
Further areas follow at your pace. What can stay, stays.
AI in the system
Ask your ERP in your own words
ElbDesk answers questions like these straight from your data. AI assistants access it through a dedicated interface (Model Context Protocol, MCP) - what they may read is decided by the permissions in the system.
Which orders are overdue?
Show me all customers in Hamburg.
Contact
Does ElbDesk fit your project?
We discuss your workflows and show you what ElbDesk provides, what would need custom development and what a first step could look like.
Tobias Kietzmann
Managing Director · Your permanent point of contact
Send an enquiry
Tell us briefly where things are stuck. We will get back to you personally.
Thank you, your message has arrived. We will reply personally to discuss the next step.
A short description is enough. We will work out the details together.
Guides on this topic
Answers to the questions we are asked most often before a project - in detail, to read at your own pace.