KORE1 contract crews, as of November 2026
ERP Upgrade Services Contract crews for version upgrades, forced platform moves and the retesting nobody budgets
Hourly contract crews for the testing, rework and retraining a vendor upgrade leaves to you.
KORE1’s ERP upgrade services are hourly contract crews sized like a small implementation, with testers, an upgrade lead, developers for customization rework and an analyst for retraining. A mid-level regression tester bills $73 to $94 an hour.
Last updated: November 15, 2026
- This page
- The contract crew for a version upgrade or a forced platform move, what each crew costs, and who retests what.
- Not this page
- Coverage after go-live is ERP support services. The data load is the ERP data migration specialists. NetSuite’s twice-yearly releases are NetSuite release testing.
The upgrade call always starts the same way. The vendor says the new version is ready, somebody in the room says “so it’s basically a patch,” and a ticket goes into the IT queue with a due date that was picked before anybody looked at the customizations. Then quarter-end lands on top of it.
It isn’t a patch. It’s a small implementation. Customizations get retested. Some get rebuilt. Integrations get pointed at the new version. Reports get rebuilt and users get retrained, all by the same people who are closing the month, which is the part nobody puts on the project plan.
That’s the work KORE1 staffs. We place the testers, upgrade leads, developers and analysts on contract staffing, inside the ERP consultant staffing we’ve run since 2005. You keep the close.
What Do ERP Upgrade Services Cover That the Vendor’s Upgrade Does Not?
The vendor moves the software. Everything you built on top of it stays on your side of the line, and somebody has to count it before it goes live.
Closing count for an ERP upgrade
Count it in before the upgrade. Count it out before go-live. The two have to match.
| What the old version had | What has to happen | Counted in | Counted out | Who owns the count |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customizations | Retested, and reworked where they break. | Contract seatDeveloper and QA tester | ||
| Integrations | Pointed at the new version, then tested end to end. | Contract seatDeveloper | ||
| Reports and dashboards | Rebuilt, or replaced by something standard. | Contract seatBusiness systems analyst | ||
| Roles and users | Mapped to the new version, then retrained. | Contract seatBusiness systems analyst | ||
| Scheduled jobs and imports | Run again on the new version and compared. | Contract seatQA tester | ||
| Month-end close steps | Walked through once on the new version before go-live. | Your peopleYour controller’s team |
Count correct
Signed by the upgrade lead
Signed by your controller
Contract seatA seat KORE1 staffsYour peopleA count that stays with your teamA blank you fill in
Look at the last row. Nobody budgets it. The people who run your close are also the people the vendor expects to test the upgrade, and they can’t do both in the same week.
That’s the gap a contract crew fills. The vendor’s release notes tell you what changed in the software, but they can’t tell you which of your own customizations just stopped working, because the vendor has never seen them and never will. Moving the data is its own job. The ERP data migration specialists page covers it.
Which Crew Does Each ERP Upgrade Type Need, and What Does It Cost?
Three upgrade types, each priced seat by seat at KORE1 Contract Rate Index medians. One seat is three months at 40 hours a week.
Crew by upgrade type
KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026.
| Upgrade type | Seats | Seat prices, three months | Crew total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Version upgrade on the same platformFor example an Epicor version upgrade | 3 seatsQA tester, senior ERP consultant as upgrade lead, business systems analyst | $43,000, $55,300 and $43,700 | $142,000 |
| On-premises to cloudSame platform, new hosting | 4 seatsThe three above, plus a mid-level developer for customization rework | $142,000 plus $56,100 for the developer | $198,100 |
| Forced platform moveNAV to Business Central, AX 2012 to Dynamics 365 | 5 seatsSenior ERP consultant as upgrade lead, two mid-level developers, QA tester, business systems analyst | $55,300, $56,100 twice, $43,000 and $43,700 | $254,200 |
Price your own crew
Send the ERP and version you’re on, the upgrade type, how many customizations and integrations you have, your go-live window and the seats you think you need, and a KORE1 recruiter sends bill rates for your req.
What each seat bills
| Seat | Index cell | Bill range per hour | Median per hour | Three months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QA tester | Mid-level, United States | $73 to $94 | $83 | $43,000 |
| Upgrade lead | Senior ERP consultant, United States | $95 to $115 | $106 | $55,300 |
| Business systems analyst | Mid-level, United States | $75 to $95 | $84 | $43,700 |
| Developer | Mid-level software engineer, United States | $96 to $122 | $108 | $56,100 |
| Senior developer | Senior software engineer, United States | $118 to $142 | $131 | $68,300 |
| Data engineer | Mid-level, United States | $98 to $122 | $110 | $57,200 |
I price every seat as a three-month seat and then argue about the weeks. That’s a sizing question. Which seat starts when, and how long the tester stays after go-live, depends on your cutover date, your freeze windows and how much of the testing your own people can absorb. The ERP contract team calculator does it week by week.
ERP Migration Services for Forced Platform Moves When the Vendor Retires Your Version
A version upgrade keeps you on your platform. A forced move doesn’t. When the vendor retires the version you run, the question stops being whether to move and becomes how many people it takes, how long they need, and what they have to rebuild before the old system goes dark.
On the crew table that’s the third row. The upgrade lead stays. A second developer joins the first, because the code has to be reworked as well as retested and the new platform doesn’t take your old customizations as they are, however carefully somebody wrote them. A data crew runs alongside. It’s a separate job.
For a Dynamics move, the AX 2012 to Dynamics 365 upgrade crew comes from the same pool as our Dynamics 365 consultants. For Epicor, see our Epicor version upgrade crew and the guide to staffing an Epicor version upgrade. Leaving QuickBooks is a different animal, and QuickBooks to NetSuite migration staffing covers that one.
What Happens to Overlayered Code When You Move Off Dynamics AX 2012?
Rebuilt, replaced or retired. There isn’t a fourth option, and each of the three has a seat that owns it.
Microsoft lists extended support for Dynamics AX 2012 R3 as ended on January 11, 2023. If you’re still on it, you already know. What you may not have priced is the code.
“Extensibility is the only customization framework in Finance, Supply Chain, and Commerce. Overlayering isn’t supported.”
Read that twice. The X++ you wrote straight into standard objects can’t come along as it is. It’s rebuilt as an extension, replaced by a standard feature, or retired. Nobody can tell you the split until somebody has read the code, and that somebody is the upgrade lead, who starts with a count of every object your developers ever touched.
AX customization triage
One decision per customization, one seat that owns it.
| Decision | What happens to the code | Owning seat | Bill range per hour | Three months |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rebuild as an extension | The overlayered X++ is rewritten as an extension on the standard object. | X++ developer | $118 to $142, median $131 | $68,300 |
| Replace with a standard feature | The custom code goes, and the standard feature that now does the job is configured and tested. | Business systems analyst, for the fit-gap | $75 to $95, median $84 | $43,700 |
| Retire | Nobody needs it any more. It’s switched off, and the business signs that it can go. | Upgrade lead, with your controller | $95 to $115, median $106 | $55,300 |
| Carry the data across | Whichever way the code goes, the tables and fields it used have to be upgraded too. | AX data upgrade engineer | $98 to $122, median $110 | $57,200 |
Who Retests Everything After an Upgrade or a Vendor Release?
Here’s the rule I run. In Foretopia’s change control policy, FT-QMS-001, section 7, a vendor release is a change to the operating environment, so it gets assessed in the release preview before it reaches production, and the assessment records which functions are affected and what regression testing is required.
And when a release breaks something, the repair is a change with its own assessment. No bundling, no “we’ll fold it into the weekend.”
An upgrade is that same rule, just bigger. Every line on the closing count gets a test before and a test after, and somebody has to write them and keep the record while payables asks, again, why the invoice match is slow. That somebody isn’t your accountants. A contract tester does it, and the ERP regression and UAT testers page shows how that seat works.
On NetSuite the same loop runs twice a year, with every release. Our guide to NetSuite release testing covers it.
What Is Inside the Hourly Bill Rate?
Devin Hornick, a partner at KORE1, explains it with a round number, so I’ll borrow it. Say a contractor earns $100 an hour in wages. Burden adds 24% for payroll taxes, required insurance and sick pay, and now they cost $124 an hour before anybody has made a dime, which is why the bill lands around $150 to $160.
- Wages
- $100 an hour
- Plus 24% burden
- $124 an hour loaded
- Bill rate in the example
- Around $150 to $160 an hour
The $100 wage keeps the arithmetic easy. It isn’t an ERP rate. For real ERP work, KORE1’s own contract placements billed $73 to $123 an hour, median $91, across 15 placements that started from 2023 to 2026 in several states, which is the figure to hold any quote against.
Here’s the question I’d ask any firm. When somebody quotes you a markup, what does it sit on? Wages alone leaves the burden out. Ask for the pieces, not just the total.
What Breaks If the Upgrade Slips Into 2027?
Devin put the question in a way I wish every steering committee used.
“What breaks if the company doesn’t spend the money or finish the project?”
Start with security. Under Microsoft’s Fixed Lifecycle Policy, Extended Support includes security updates at no additional cost, and past the end of support they’re listed as available via the Extended Security Update Program, which means a version past its extended end date stops getting free security updates.
Then the integrations. Anything built for the old version has to be pointed at the next release, and that work doesn’t shrink while you wait. The funded line goes back into next year’s budget fight. The cutover lands on a close you didn’t plan for.
| Version | Extended support ends | Where that leaves you |
|---|---|---|
| Dynamics AX 2012 R3 | January 11, 2023 | Ended |
| Dynamics NAV 2016 | April 15, 2026 | Ended |
| Dynamics NAV 2017 | January 12, 2027 | Ends in 2027 |
| Dynamics NAV 2018 | January 12, 2028 | Ends in 2028 |
How Fast Can an Upgrade Crew Start, and How Is It Billed?
Fast, usually. Across 1,997 KORE1 contract placements the median time from offer to start was 3 days, though that’s a record and not a promise, since your own interview loop, background checks and onboarding set a good part of the pace.
“…you can get them quick… flexible… to scale up, to scale down as needed.”
That flexibility is the point. The tester is on the project for the test cycle. The developers roll off when the rework is done.
Billing is hourly, time and materials, with a not-to-exceed you set. KORE1 is the W2 employer, so we pay the contractors every Friday and carry the insurance and the sick leave that go with the job, and there’s no replacement guarantee on contract, though you can hire a contractor with no conversion fee after 1,040 hours. The terms are laid out in what KORE1 commits to on a contract.
3 days
median from offer to start for KORE1 contractors (n=1,997)
$142,000
three-seat version-upgrade crew for three months, at index medians
$83
median hourly bill rate for a mid-level regression tester
$91
median hourly bill rate, KORE1 contract ERP placements (n=15)
KORE1 placement records, W2 contract, 2019 to 2026, and the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4, effective October 16, 2026. Track record, not a commitment.
What to Settle Before You Size the Crew
Four answers that change the number of seats more than any vendor quote does.
The code
How many customizations?
Overlayered code sets the number of developers, so count it before anyone quotes a crew.
The connections
Which integrations point at it?
Each one needs re-pointing and a test. List them with the system on the other end.
The close
Who covers the month-end?
Your controller’s team can’t also be the testers, so name who holds the close.
ERP backfill for the closeThe data
Is the data load in scope?
The upgrade crew doesn’t move your data. That’s a separate crew and a separate quote.
Data migration specialists
Common Questions
What is the difference between an ERP upgrade and an ERP migration?
An upgrade moves you to a newer version of the same ERP. A migration moves you to a different platform, such as AX 2012 to Dynamics 365, and it adds developers, a data crew and more retesting, so the crew and the bill are both bigger.
How many contractors does an ERP upgrade need?
A same-platform version upgrade runs on three seats, a QA tester, an upgrade lead and a business systems analyst. Add a developer for on-premises to cloud, and plan on five seats for a forced platform move.
What does a contract regression tester cost per hour?
As of October 16, 2026, a mid-level QA tester on a W2 contract in the United States typically bills $73 to $94 an hour through a staffing firm, median $83. A three-month, 40-hour-a-week contract at the median runs about $43,000, and six months about $86,000. The rate is modeled from BLS OEWS May 2025 wages, a 24% employer burden and KORE1’s observed bill bands (KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4).
Does the upgrade crew move our data?
No. The upgrade crew tests, reworks and retrains. Moving the data takes a separate crew of data migration specialists, scoped and priced on its own.
What does a forced platform move cost in contractors?
A five-seat crew for a forced platform move runs about $254,200 for three months at index medians, before the data crew. That’s an upgrade lead, two mid-level developers, a QA tester and a business systems analyst, all priced from the KORE1 Contract Rate Index 2026-Q4.
Planning an Upgrade? Hit Me Up
Send me the ERP, the version you’re on and the date the vendor stops supporting it. I’ll tell you which seats I’d put on it.
- ERP and versionWhat you run today and what you’re moving to.
- Upgrade typeVersion upgrade, on-premises to cloud, or a forced platform move.
- SizeHow many customizations and integrations you have.
- Go-live windowThe date you can’t miss, and the close it sits on.
- SeatsThe seats you think you need, or none yet.
Want a price first? Get a bill rate quote, or call 949-706-6990.
