Oracle Netsuite
Netsuite is an integrated cloud-based ERP service for automating core business processes across industries, including construction.
ERP in the construction industry: services, integrations, and deployment tips
August 22, 2023
Construction ERP is a specialized enterprise resource planning platform that construction companies use for the integrated management of core business processes, from raw materials budgeting and subcontracts onboarding to project execution and payroll. With 20+ years in software engineering, Itransition helps its clients implement scalable and cost-effective construction ERP solutions to digitalize and orchestrate core processes.
About Itransition
10+Â years of experience in ERP services
50+ completed projects of different scales across various industries
Hands-on expertise in delivering out-of-the-box, custom, and hybrid ERP solutions
An Odoo Silver Partner
Client spotlight
400%
growth in the platform use
Acumatica construction edition development
Itransition helped Acumatica customize its cloud-based ERP system to adapt it to the needs of the construction industry by streamlining document management, automating construction project management, and more.
2x
faster work order management
ERP for repair and maintenance business
Itransition deployed an Odoo-based ERP solution to help the customer reduce the time for the purchase order approval, automate the management of various enterprise processes, and accelerate work order management.
Key construction ERP features
ERP systems are modular solutions, so your company's needs, requirements, and goals define the choice of features. Here, we’ve outlined some capabilities commonly implemented by construction firms:
Contractor and subcontractor management
Automating general contractor and subcontractor management processes from onboarding to invoicing, to focus on project execution, profitability, and growth.
- Contractor and subcontractor data storage (insurance data, health and safety data, training and skills data)
- Contractor and subcontractor registration
- Quotation management
- Work orders creation and issuing
- Work progress tracking
- Tracking of billable tasks with completion status
- Tracking of scheduled and change work order statuses from request to approval
- Running account bill generation
- Performance monitoring
- Bill and payment tracking
- Analytics and reporting (contractor/subcontractor performance, rate analysis, snag list report, job costing, etc.)
Are you looking for a reliable tech partner for your construction ERP project?
Essential integrations for construction ERP systems
ERP solutions should be well-integrated with the company's IT environment. To ensure uninterrupted data flow across all departments and business processes, we recommend integrating construction ERP platforms with the following systems:
Key integrations
CRM
BI software
Building information modeling tools
Project management software
Communication tools
CRM
Integration with customer relationship management software enables sales teams to access relevant data on the cost of work, project progress, and received payments quickly to manage sales relationships and customer service better. ERP-CRM integration also makes customer and prospect data (quotes, plans, agreements, invoices) available company-wide.
BI software
When integrated with business intelligence software, ERP facilitates advanced analytics capabilities for all authorized parties across the enterprise, automatic generation of custom reports and dashboards, planning what-if scenarios, and running predictive analytics and modeling.
Building information modeling tools
Safe and quick transfer of buildings’ virtual models from BIM to the ERP database aids in accurate construction project planning and costing. Meanwhile, reporting on construction issues helps prevent similar challenges in future projects.
Project management software
This integration helps oversee projects in progress, employees and teams involved, ongoing and scheduled works, and project timeframes for improved work scheduling, and task prioritization.
Communication tools
This integration leads to enhanced collaboration between different departments and employees, as well as a quick exchange of information between a company and its partners and customers.
Best ERP software for construction on the market
Key features
- Finance management and accounting
- Service and marketing automation
- Human resource management
- Billing
- Asset management
- CRM
- Sales order management
- Opportunity management
- Planning and budgeting
- Revenue recognition
- Financial analytics and reporting
Limitations
- Price hikes in the long run
Construction ERP implementation roadmap
1
Business analysis
Identification and analysis of key processes, workflows, and technology environment
Definition of industry regulations and compliance requirements
Elicitation of business goals, end-user needs, and expectations
Definition of software requirements for the future ERP system
2
Design and technology selection
Conceptualization of the ERP solution
ERP solution architecture design
ERP integration scope definition
Optimal technology stack selection
3
Planning
Definition of the project scope and deliverables
ERP projects scheduling and budgeting
Data migration strategy development
User onboarding planning
Risk management strategy development
4
Customization/Development
Customization of the off-the-shelf ERP or development of a custom ERP solution
Platform integration using custom code, pre-built connectors, or APIs
5
Testing
ERP functional and security testing
Usability testing of the ERP solution with focus groups
ERP performance and compatibility testing
Bugs and issues resolution
6
Deployment and handover
ERP solution deployment to production
Data migration from corporate systems and apps to ERP
User acceptance testing
User training and onboarding
7
Post-launch support (L1-L3)
Platform users and infrastructure support
ERP system fine-tuning in line with customer concerns or suggestions
ERP system troubleshooting
Technology upgrades
Сonstruction ERP benefits
Construction data consolidation
Automatic centralization of all data across business processes in an integrated secure database to enable fast data transfer between departments and seamless access to the required records within seconds.
Accelerated project planning and management
End-to-end project visibility helps managers and executives plan effectively, define realistic project schedules, allocate resources, as well as manage projects across several locations without delays and cost overruns.
Risk management
Continuous project monitoring with real-time alerts and automatic tracking of compliance with state, national and international regulations to help identify and mitigate construction projects risks as soon as they emerge.
Accurate cost and revenue estimation
Generating accurate project estimates and quotes for successful bidding and accurate planning and management of the budget for raw materials, equipment, labor, etc.
Improved decision-making
Interactive dashboards, regular and on-demand reporting capabilities to help gain end-to-end visibility and analytics insights into business workflows get to support each decision with data.
Cross-department collaboration
Construction ERP simplifies the tedious and confusing information exchange process. It helps seamlessly connect your site and back office teams regardless of time and location for real-time collaboration, knowledge sharing, etc.
ERP for construction: considerations before the adoption
Deployment model
When choosing an ERP solution for construction, one of the most critical decisions is cloud or on-premises hosting. This decision influences the pricing model, solution scalability, hardware investments, deployment speed, and more.
- An on-premise construction ERP system is run on the company’s proprietary infrastructure, which means the organization faces high upfront investments in hardware, facilities, and an in-house IT team to manage solution’s customization, maintenance, security, upgrades, etc.
- Cloud-based ERP software can be deployed and scaled faster and easier, as the company doesn’t need to provide the IT infrastructure and in-house expertise. Many companies consider the subscription-based model an undeniable advantage; however, in the long run, the subscription fee and ongoing support and maintenance fees can get too high compared to on-premises ERP.
- A hybrid construction ERP solution, which combines on-premise and cloud ERP modules, is an alternative for companies looking to maintain the inherent scalability and flexibility of cloud solutions without losing the security of ERP modules running in-house. However, integrating and maintaining hybrid ERP requires advanced expertise and considerable investments.
Implement construction ERP with Itransition
Itransition delivers scalable and cost-effective construction ERP solutions as well as optimizes the existing ERP software to better digitalize and orchestrate core processes.
Itransition’s ERP consultants provide advisory support along the construction ERP implementation and optimization, helping you mitigate project risks and ensure high ROI by taking on:
- Analysis of business needs and technology environment
- ERP solution architecture design
- ERP software selection
- ERP strategy creation and roadmapping
- ERP implementation support
We provide end-to-end construction ERP implementation services that include all or some of the following activities:
- ERP consulting
- ERP testingÂ
- Custom ERP developmentÂ
- ERP migration
- ERP customization
- ERP support and maintenance
- ERP integration
Entrust your ERP project to Itransition
ERP implementation challenges we help solve
Resistance to change
We can conduct user training and help you work out a change management strategy to ensure minimal resistance from the user community and a seamless user experience.
Budget overruns
We don’t start ERP development until the project scope and interrelated costs are agreed upon. To help you find the most cost-efficient solution and be aware of the possible costing affecting your budget, we weigh on different deployment options and shortlist ERP vendors with a comprehensive overview of their products' cost structure.
Vendor selection
Our ERP consultants constantly monitor existing and emerging ERP platforms to determine the flexible solution with extensive functionality and customization capabilities to meet all your specific needs.
Data management
Since ERP implementation implies data migration from other corporate systems to a central ERP database, we can take this opportunity to sort out irrelevant or redundant data and correct and add missing information to ensure good data hygiene and data reliability.
Data safety
When delivering construction ERP solutions, we introduce comprehensive data security practices such as multifactor authentication, behavior monitoring, data encryption, and more to protect your corporate information.
