Construction companies are complicated organizations with tons of moving parts, and running one is like conducting several elaborate orchestras at once. You need to manage labor, equipment, materials and tools, keep track of invoices and payments, estimate and bid on jobs, keep jobs on track and under budget, and deal with every curveball along the way.
Construction enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems simplify the very complicated and elaborate job of managing a construction company.
But with so many construction ERP providers on the market, it’s difficult to determine which one is best for your company (or if your company even needs an ERP). For that reason, the experts at Forbes Advisor have compiled a list of the best construction ERPs on the market.
Construction ERP software centralizes and streamlines the entire construction project lifecycle so that the project can maintain deadlines and stay on track. ERP (enterprise resource management) systems are used across all industries, but the ones that are built for the unique needs of construction companies help manage contractors, financials, and service operations.
With construction ERP software, construction firms, and project stakeholders can rely on a unified, core system that integrates all separate parts of a construction project, checks compliance and regulatory guidelines, and manages supply chain data into a single workflow.
The construction industry makes use of all kinds of specialized equipment, and its ERP software is no exception. When it comes to choosing software for your construction firm, opting for a construction industry ERP that you know can meet your specific needs can often save you time in getting your processes up and running.
Your first step to finding the best construction enterprise software for your business is narrowing down your feature requirements. In this guide, we’ve outlined some of the best construction enterprise software available including some of the key features to look for when selecting your ERP. You can check through our list of features below to ensure you’re investing in an ERP that can handle your unique needs.
What Is Construction ERP Software?
Construction ERP software is a specialized enterprise resource planning system built for the unique needs of construction companies. These systems should include management of general contractors, subcontractors, financial management, construction accounting, payroll, and service operations in one central database.
Features to look for in a construction industry ERP
Construction companies should look for an ERP system with:
- CAD interface
- Accounting
- Service fleet asset management
- Financial management
- Payroll
- Management of contractors
- Sub-contractor management
- Logistics and transport
- Scheduling
- Complex workforce management
- Inventory
- Workflow processes
What Should You Look For in Construction ERP Software?
For construction company managers who oversee complex projects with multiple contractors, construction ERP is like a master control room.
It’s a central place from which to manage all your workflows, such as project management, financial management oversight, efficient supply chain management, materials, and communications and collaboration.
Here are some key features to look for in construction ERP software:
- Streamlined project management software: Efficiently oversee projects from start to finish
- Financial oversight: Monitor all financial aspects, ensuring budget adherence
- Supply chain coordination: Manage materials procurement and deliveries effectively
- Equipment tracking: Stay updated on equipment availability and usage
- Mobility features: Access data both on-site and remotely
- Real-time communication: Facilitate quick decision-making and coordination with stakeholders
- Error reduction: Systems that minimize mistakes and oversights
- Enhanced collaboration tools: Promote teamwork among different teams and contractors
Lighthouse ERP Software for Construction helps you define your products/units according to market demand. Manage property sale inventory and prices, manage leads, close sales, automate process of due amount letters and reminders, accounting effect for interest posting, manage property handover and maintenance work .Integrate Purchase, Stores & warehouses, Project sites , Sales offices & Head office.
Construction industry is a rigorous process and involves myriad of steps. Huge projects comes with deadlines, and to complete construction before deadline is a tedious task. Construction industry deals with multiple project simultaneously.
Often so, multiple projects can belong to different parts of state or country. A industry so huge and stretched so far across the country, it is impossible to stay focused on every site. Procurement of raw material, labour count, and other requirements plays a key role in construction industry.
Modern problems require modern solutions. To manage brobdingnagian operations and tasks, ERP software for construction industry is the best pick of solution. ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. The ERP software for construction industry meticulously utilizes all the resources in the industry making the workflow smooth.
All the operations are controlled and monitored in construction ERP. ERP software creates a system-wide network of departments and divisions to make exchange of information seamless. This enables the industry to access information at any instance without geographical conditions posing a barrier.
The main modules of an ERP for contracting business
- Project Management & Production
- Supply Chain Management (SCM)
- Inventory
- Logistics
- CRM
- Accounting & Finance
- Business Intelligence
- Workforce Management
So as to deal with the undertakings and control every single capacity of the construction company adequately and with proficiency, it is important to have a thorough understanding about the significant modules of ERP software for contracting industry. So as to assist you with the excursion here we have outlined and explained every detail of the modules below.
Project management and production
In this module it gets simpler to guarantee every one of the projects and undertakings works at its optimal limit.
Moreover, it also keeps you up to date by providing real time data with respect to your ongoing projects .
This module enables the organisation to monitor every aspect of production and all its details. This means any faults or problems can be detected immediately that might have cost the company huge sums of money in losses.
Thanks to this feature, it is more likely that your projects will come to fruition.
Supply chain management
It assumes a significant role in setting up the costs of monitoring, automation in purchasing, and optimizing the supply chain.
It additionally handles the purchase orders management alongside the material requirements planning (MRP). Through the use of this module it gets easier to streamline purchase orders and maintain a good relationship with your supplier.
Inventory
Through this module of ERP software for contracting, resource management becomes much simpler and to have overall control of costs, transaction history and other information regarding the organisation. Wireless management as well as catch unit items are included in this module.
Logistics
The function of this module is to track shipments along with features that help you optimize the routes and schedules. It also enables printing of invoices for purchase and sales, report generation for further analysis, not to mention keeping track of the cargo loading for maximum efficiency.
Customer relationship management
Through this Contracting ERP module the association can, without much effort, manage the contacts from one area and improve the revenue from sales by managing customer relationships more effectively.
The module provides useful insights into specific client’s behaviour and information about their repeat purchases, along with tools that let you finalize and close deals quicker.
The efficiency of your employees can also be monitored through the key performance indicators provided in this module.
Accounting and finance
As the name suggests, this module helps you deal with managing the invoices, orders, and bills pertaining to your accounts payables and receivables. It also helps by providing an analysis and reports on the financial status of the company.
Business intelligence
In this module there are a few features such as imaging documents, KPI’s, indicators or business performances, and your address book containing all your clients’ details.
With the assistance of this module, the organisation can store every important business document safely in a large business library. It also aides in monitoring the performances of the various departments that are currently working on various tasks in the organisation.
The module also helps you improve and optimize the tasks that the company performs thanks to its business insights. Through various analysis and reports that it is able to generate, you can easily maintain a good relationship with your suppliers, employees and clients all from one location.
Workforce management
This is the last module of Contracting ERP software and it incorporates the capacities like task management, time and material administration, and much more.
It allows the organisation to manage projects and constantly track the progress of all the tasks within an ongoing project in real time, thus making it easier to deal with. It likewise helps in checking and dealing with the projects that are appointed to the various departments within the organisation.
Metal Construction ERP Features:
- Coil tagging and tracking – Monitoring metal coils throughout their life cycle of a project is easier to track.
- Component order entry – For measuring materials and components with their respective units.
- Metal Building Manufacturer’s Association (MBMA) reporting – It keeps you up to date with any new developments regarding the MBMA.
- Roll former integration – Practically eliminates all manual data entries as well as any consolidating tasks that need to be done.
This concludes our insight into the modules of construction ERP. These will definitely help your organisation achieve its goals, with efficiency.
We at Syncoria have the experience of working with businesses large and small alike.
Our tailored solutions are designed to your exact specifications, based on your own unique needs, and help you achieve your business goals.
Through the use of Odoo’s many intuitive modules, we provide customized solutions to transform and optimize your business processes. Our local team consists of business analysts, solution architects, project managers, delivery managers, and quality assurance engineers, all of whom are trained experts in Odoo.
Choose A Connected Construction ERP Software
Not all construction ERPs are equal, and it’s important that you choose the one that will best help you improve ROI and your bottom line. That’s why, at Trimble Viewpoint, we’ve spent 35 years working with construction firms to create software designed specifically for their needs. We can help you find a software solution that gives you the functionality and flexibility you’re looking for to aid all members of your team, from your head office to your crews in the field.