Contents
A custom management tool for a franchise or multi-site network is quoted case by case, at roughly $22,400 to $28,000 (€20,000–€25,000)excl. VAT for a first scope: consolidated KPIs, a franchisee area, field visits, documentation and royalties. It replaces the spreadsheets consolidated by hand every month.
Network headquarters often spend part of every month chasing figures, copying them into a spreadsheet and checking they are comparable. Meanwhile, network coaching relies on emails, shared folders and scattered visit reports. A custom management tool brings all of this together. This page is for franchise, company-owned or dealer networks, from a handful of locations to several dozen. Here is what it should include, the legal points to settle and what it costs.
What headquarters needs
Three needs come up in almost every network:
- Seeing the figures without chasing them. Revenue, foot traffic, average ticket, margin, sales by product line, pulled automatically from each location’s tools.
- Coaching the network in a structured way. Field visits with an audit checklist, tracked action plans, news, up-to-date documentation.
- Simplifying administrative flows. Orders to the central purchasing unit, royalties, national campaigns, feedback from the field.
Franchisees, for their part, want a tool that saves them time: their figures compared with the network, their documents, their orders, without re-entering anything.
The modules of a management tool
| Module | Users | What it replaces |
|---|---|---|
| Consolidated dashboard | Executives, field coaches | Spreadsheets filled in every month |
| Franchisee or location area | Franchisees, site managers | Emails, shared folders |
| Field visits and audits | Network coaches | Paper checklists, Word reports |
| Action plans | Coaches, franchisees | Informal reminders |
| Document library and news | The whole network | Email blasts, outdated versions |
| Central purchasing orders | Franchisees, purchasing | Order forms by email |
| Royalties and network invoicing | Finance | Spreadsheet calculations |
The first batch usually covers the dashboard, the franchisee area and field visits. Orders and royalties follow.
Data collection: the real work
A management tool is only as good as its data. Each location uses a POS, management software or an ERP, sometimes different from one site to the next. Scoping lists these tools and how they exchange data: API, automatic export, file drop. When the tools are consistent, one integration is enough. When they vary, each one is priced separately.
I also recommend defining common calculation rules early: what counts as revenue (with or without discounts, excluding tax), how foot traffic is counted, when a month is closed. Without these definitions, the dashboard compares different things.
Legal points to settle
Access to franchisee data. A franchisee is an independent business. What headquarters may view (detailed figures, customer data, staff files) depends on the franchise agreement and data protection rules. I turn those choices into access rights, but they are decided with your legal counsel. This page is not a substitute for their advice.
E-invoicing in France. Royalties and sales from the central unit to franchisees are business-to-business transactions. According to the French Ministry of the Economy’s page on e-invoicing (in French, checked in October 2026), all companies must be able to receive electronic invoices since September 1, 2026; issuing them has been mandatory since that date for large and mid-sized companies, and will be from September 1, 2027 for SMBs and micro-businesses, through an approved platform. If the management tool calculates royalties, it should send invoices to your approved platform or invoicing software rather than produce plain PDFs. The topic is covered in mandatory e-invoicing in France: adapting your tools. Networks in other countries should check their own rules.
The budget
A network management tool is quoted after scoping. For an order of magnitude, here is a calculation using the building blocks from my pricing, for a network with more than 50 users:
| Building block | Indicative price |
|---|---|
| Application base | $6,800 (€6,000)excl. VAT |
| Accounts and roles (executive, coach, franchisee, employee) | $1,700 (€1,500)excl. VAT |
| Headquarters back office | $2,300 (€2,000)excl. VAT |
| Franchisee area | $2,800 (€2,500)excl. VAT |
| Consolidated dashboard | $1,700 (€1,500)excl. VAT |
| Royalties and PDF documents | $1,700 (€1,500)excl. VAT |
| Notifications | $1,200 (€1,000)excl. VAT |
| Connection to location tools (one type of system) | $2,300 (€2,000)excl. VAT |
| Total with the over-50-users factor (×1.2) | about $24,200 (€21,600)excl. VAT |
Each additional type of system to connect, integration with the e-invoicing platform or a central purchasing module come on top. A multi-area platform takes 3 to 6 months or more. For your setup, the estimator gives you a first range.
When this is not the right solution
If your network uses industry software that already includes a satisfactory multi-site module, make full use of it before considering anything else. Likewise, if all you need is dashboards, a data visualization tool connected to your sources may be enough, for a smaller budget.
Custom software makes sense when you need to bring reporting, coaching and administrative flows into a single tool, when your locations use different software, or when your calculation rules (royalties, bonuses, targets) do not fit any standard product. If your current ERP is too heavy for the network, see also ERP too heavy: building only the modules you need. For a retail network, the article on custom multi-store management software complements this one.
How the project works
- A free 30-minute discovery call: how the network is organized, location tools, pain points.
- Scoping (1 to 2 weeks): KPIs and calculation rules, scope of shared data, integrations, fixed quote.
- Clickable mockups, tested by executives, a field coach and one or two franchisees.
- Development in batches, with a few pilot locations.
- Rollout across the network, training and 3 months of support included.
The offer is described on the business apps page.
Frequently asked questions
Do all locations need to use the same POS software?
No, although it is simpler. The management tool can connect to several systems, as long as they offer an export or an API. Each additional integration is priced during scoping.
Can headquarters see all of the franchisees' data?
It sees what the franchise agreement and the franchisees allow. Franchisees are independent businesses: the scope of shared data is defined with your legal counsel before development, then turned into access rights.
Can a franchisee compare their results with the network?
Yes, and it is often a strong driver of buy-in. We usually show their position against an average or comparable groups, without exposing other locations' figures by name.
Can the tool serve as the network’s intranet?
Yes. A document library (operations manual, product sheets, procedures), news, training and read receipts are common modules. They replace email blasts and shared folders that are hard to keep up to date.