Glossary
The official French term for ERP: a software package that integrates a company's management functions (sales, inventory, production, finance) into one application sharing a single database.
PGI stands for "progiciel de gestion intégré", the translation recommended by the Office québécois de la langue française for ERP. Both terms mean exactly the same thing: software that centralizes a company's management functions in one shared database. In Quebec public tenders and government documents, PGI is the word you will see; in business conversations, ERP dominates.
Integration is the key word. A separate accounting package, inventory program and quoting tool form three islands. A PGI replaces them with modules that share the same customers, products and prices: an accepted quote becomes an order, which reserves inventory, which generates the invoice, with no re-entry.
"Progiciel" implies a standard, configurable product sold to many companies. That is the model of market PGIs (SAP Business One, Dynamics 365, Odoo, Acomba for smaller structures). A custom PGI flips the logic: the modules are built around the company's processes rather than the other way round. The hybrid approach, common among Quebec manufacturers and distributors, keeps a standard package for accounting and builds custom whatever touches production, the warehouse or service.
In Quebec, a PGI implementation qualifies for several programs (Investissement Québec, digital transformation credits), provided the scoping and requirements are documented.
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Yes. PGI is the French translation of ERP. Quebec vendors and grant programs use both terms interchangeably.
Yes, if the processes are already structured. A small team handling many product references or orders often gains more than a large team with simple operations.
