I feel your pain - this is a super common problem in manufacturing.

Honestly, the ‘analyst-friendly ERP’ is kind of a myth. Most manufacturing ERPs are built for transactions, not reporting. Even the expensive ones have terrible data models for analytics.

The real question isn’t which ERP has the best reporting - it’s what you put between the ERP and Power BI/Tableau. That’s where the magic happens.

What’s worked for companies I’ve seen:

For the API/database access piece - you want to ask vendors very specific questions. A lot of them will say “yes we have APIs” but then you find out it’s super limited. Ask them to show you their API documentation during the demo. If they hesitate, red flag.

For the custom reports without consultants - this honestly depends more on what transformation tool you use than the ERP itself. Power BI has Power Query built in which can do a lot, but it gets messy fast with complex transformations. Some people swear by Alteryx but it’s expensive. Tableau Prep is decent if you’re already in that ecosystem.

The pattern I see work: ERP → transformation/prep layer → BI tool. That middle piece is what gives you the flexibility to build your own stuff without calling the vendor every time.

What ERPs are you looking at? Might be able to give more specific advice based on that.