Tech

Conquer Project Management For Construction Sites Using An ERP Software

The pressure of working with a tight budget and the stress of meeting deadlines are familiar to any company involved in the construction industry. If you have several construction projects running, then you will need all the help you can gather. Luckily, we live in a time when technology has been tamed and software are now produced in all shapes and sizes made fit for purpose. The construction industry is no different, just like we have ERP in banking, manufacturing and IT industry, there is erp software for construction industry as well. ERP software is ready to do the heavy lifting right off the shelf so that your company can focus on things that are far more important than simply tracking the raw materials.

What is an ERP software in the first place?

Unforeseen circumstances can derail the entire project at the blink of an eye. All the well laid out plans and strategies can get thrown out of the window all because of some factor that went unaccounted for at the planning stage. There is always a looming risk of inefficiency and unorganized activity that take a toll on timelines. All these worries can be taken care of by the ERP solutions like Signax that are present in the market for construction companies big or small alike. 

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is a solution for most of your business problems and dilemmas. In this the data from various construction processes for instance finances, accounting, contractor management, vendor management, project management, inventory mapping, equipment checklists, etc. is gathered in a central repository. A bit of computing power is applied to all the data sets and you receive different customized reports that help in taking timely and effective decisions, whether it is CRM, Legal submissions, asset management, labor force, etc.

Features of an ERP software used in construction

What an ERP system does is combines disparate software into one integrated tool that becomes a comprehensive solution to all your construction woes. For any construction manager, the ERP software will help manage the full lifecycle of the project by using the following features it has to offer:

  • Cost estimation
  • CRM
  • Bid management
  • Project scheduling
  • Contracting and Purchase management
  • Facilities equipment management
  • Inventory management 
  • Productivity mapping 
  • Performance reporting
  • Legal Documentation and submissions

All the modules are interconnected in the ERP software. This means tracking, reporting, and decision making can happen at the same time. This connectivity is essential as using improper scheduling, or accounting can gravely affect the decisions you take on the site. 

Get the peace of mind you need by using an ERP software

Time is of essence for any construction project whether commercial or residential. Every minute of delay means burning cash unnecessarily that amounts to overhead expenditure. The productivity of the workers drops, the personnel cannot be utilized, all this and many unexpected situations can come up that derail the progress of the project. Having to work with a non-integrated system not only increases the chance of human error, it is also slow and delays decision making. With an ERP software that has been customized to the needs of your business processes and construction operations, you can gain full control over even the smallest task of the millions of activities that go around in a construction assignment. 

You can easily introduce role-based access controls, electronic identity, audit trails, real-time monitoring, firewalls and so many features that help you deliver the project on time. You can track the completion status on dashboards, view the real time progress through interactive BIM images to get a feel of the progress of the project and your engineers can work with different file formats for a hassle-free experience. Not just this, everything that the ERP has to offer is available in your smartphone so whether you are in your office, on a flight or on the road, you will never miss that important deadline or the milestone that lies ahead of you.

There are many ERP solutions available in the market today. The trick is to choose the one that suits your specific requirements. Note that many of them are not easily customizable and might require you to switch to other file formats than the ones already in use. Without proper implementation and customization construction companies can face different issues and have a hard time overcoming those. Hence it is always suggested to take help of the professionals and rely on your team’s advice rather than what seems good to you.