Questions we are actually asked
These are the questions that come up before a discovery, not the ones that make a brochure look good. Where the honest answer is “not yet”, it says so.
1. What does Metrica replace?
Nothing. It sits on top of the ERP, the warehouse system, the accounting package and the spreadsheets that hold everything else, and it reads what they export. It is not a system of record: your systems stay the source of truth, and every figure in Metrica can be traced back to the rows it came from.
2. Which systems can it read?
How a source is connected is designed per deployment, because no two customers' systems look alike. Today the application imports CSV files — anything that can produce one works, which covers most ERPs, WMS and accounting packages plus every spreadsheet. Where a source cannot produce a usable export, how it is handled is agreed during implementation rather than ruled out by the product.
Current limits worth knowing: XLSX is not supported yet (save the sheet as CSV), and an import is limited to 2 MB and 3,000 rows per file today.
3. How long before we see something?
Two different answers for two different things. A first import can run the same day if the export is clean — the wizard maps the columns, shows a preview and rejects rows with a reason. A working management view takes longer, and the order is deliberate: discovery, then audit findings, then implementation.
We do not publish a fixed number of weeks, because it depends on how many sources there are and how clean they are. The proposal states the dates, and you can stop after any stage.
4. Our data is messy. Is that a blocker?
No — it is the normal starting point. The audit establishes what can be measured from the data you have and what cannot, so nobody promises a number the records cannot support. The import rejects rows it cannot read and gives you a CSV of them with the reason, so cleanup is targeted rather than a project in itself. Where data is missing, Metrica says so instead of showing zero.
5. Who owns the data, and can we get it out?
You own it. It stays yours; we process it to run the service and for nothing else. On request we provide a copy — the database is a single SQLite file and every input is a CSV, so there is no proprietary export to negotiate and no “contact support to retrieve your records”.
If you leave, the deployment’s data is deleted within 30 days of a written request.
6. Where is it hosted, and who can see it?
Amsterdam, the Netherlands (site.eu, on LeaseWeb Netherlands B.V.), in the European Union. One deployment per organisation, so your records are not sitting in a shared multi-tenant database with other customers. There are no analytics, no CDN and no third-party services in the application.
The Security & Trust page lists what is in place — and what is not, including no multi-factor authentication and no encryption at rest. Read that before your IT team asks.
7. How long are we committed for?
You can stop after any stage: the discovery, the audit, the implementation, or the monthly stage. There is no multi-year lock-in, no per-seat minimum, and no auto-renewing term buried in a click-through — because there is no click-through. The term and notice period are what your written agreement says.
8. Do you run pilots?
Yes, but a pilot here means a narrowly scoped deployment, not a free trial. It is paid, it runs on your data, and it is designed so that stopping afterwards leaves you with something: the findings, the indicator definitions and a copy of your data.
We do not have a free tier or a self-serve sandbox, and we would rather say that than invent one.
9. How do I know a number is right?
Every indicator has a written definition: the formula, the source fields, the period, and whether the data behind it was complete. Any figure can be traced to the records it came from, missing data is shown as missing rather than zero, and the audit trail records who changed what.
If a number surprises you, ask. We show the definition and the rows behind it rather than explaining it away.
10. What happens if Metrica disappears?
Your systems are untouched, and your data is a single file you can take with you, so day-to-day work continues. The stack is deliberately plain — PHP and SQLite on a standard host — with no proprietary service in the path and no lock-in format.
The honest caveats: the team is small, there is no escrow arrangement, and there is no third-party certification. Those are fair things to raise, and they belong in the written agreement rather than in a reassuring sentence on a website.
Still not answered?
Ask directly — a real question is the only way to find out whether this fits. New business and evaluations: meavida@metricahq.com. Anything else — privacy, security, accessibility, an existing deployment: andrei@metricahq.com.
What the product does is on the product page; what it costs is on pricing.