ERP to Benefit Construction Industry the Most

How can an ERP benefit the construction industry? This business has unending challenges coming its way. One of them is cost estimation — which, if properly done, reduces overheads and expenses. As project spans run for many years, it is difficult to align projected and actual costs. The challenge is even bigger with the volume of a project.

In the case of large construction companies, around 30–40 projects run concurrently. Things have become easier with the birth of Construction ERP — it helps companies integrate all business processes and data with separate modules to manage basic functional areas.

Before ERP: The Challenge of Manual Processes

Before ERP entered the market, collection and collation of data was done manually using Excel charts and files. This created information silos within the company, making it extremely difficult to estimate the real-time cost of different projects. Such difficulties gave rise to the demand for an ERP — a system that connects all functions as well as projects to a centrally maintained database.

How Construction ERP Transforms Operations

The modules are implemented in phases. Financial, marketing, materials, accounting, and project planning and control are the major modules — with others executed later. The application is customised as per the requirement of each construction company.

For example, the marketing module enables a company to send information to all its customers whenever a new project is launched. It helps to track pre- and post-sale activities, making it easy to plan and forecast demand with ease.

Key Construction ERP Modules

• Financial Management
• Marketing Module
• Materials Management
• Accounting
• Project Planning
• Project Control