Commerce and trade around the world require cutting edge tools and business process systems to stay competitive. All around us, this is manifested in how industries—big or small—conduct businesses and adopt new manufacturing and business systems to remain profitable. During the mid-20th century, businesses in the Western world began to adopt material requirements planning to streamline production processes till the finished product. While material requirements planning itself, at that point of time, was not unheard of, the introduction of computers and information technology revolutionised the way material requirements planning was adopted. Researchers and proponents of an integrated information system agree that material requirements planning predated enterprise resource planning (ERP) that has since been a central theme and prime mover of all information and data within organizations.
TopThe Basic Concepts Of Erp
Simply put, an Enterprise Resource Planning system is a self-contained environment that links several functional areas of an enterprise such as purchase, finance, accounting, inventory, human resources, production, and logistics. In terms of user interface and underlying features, an ERP system involves one database and a single user interface system per computing platform type. In other words, a user of a Windows-based system will have the same graphical user interface system as would another user on another Windows-based system. However, a mobile device user will have a different user interface that is different from a Windows-based user. In both instances, homologous functions and features have the same origin, i.e., a common central database. This is a significant step up in comparison to yesteryears when different application software had to be used for different functions and departments.
The image below encapsulates the functions and departments that an ERP system can support singly. This embodies the ethos of a single data sharing platform that helps in cutting down costs (Bell, Stukhart, 1987), but more importantly helps in gathering information in real-time or immediately soon after a data entry is made into the system and processed.
In construction companies, ERP can be utilized to perform a range of important functions. These are enumerated as follows:
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Boost decision making.
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Bring down costs.
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Complete projects faster.
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Improve flexibility in organizational functions.
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Strengthen partnerships with vendors.
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Improve inventory control and management systems.
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Bring about transparency in customer relationships.
The use of ERP within construction industry circles have only been studied by select few researchers. Most of the studies have focussed on processes related to construction and delivery, in addition to facility engineering. Involving organizations with ownership stake and contractual obligations to deliver the projects, such studies have gone on to form a vital bedrock for conducting further analyses on the implications of including ERP within the fold of business operations of construction companies.
As a senior consultant working for a reputed private consulting firm offering ERP solutions once described – ERP systems can and do provide a platform to help propel sales and disseminate project information among managers, engineers, sales representatives, investors, financiers, and customers. In business and residential construction segments, a myriad of activities encompassing land development and acquisition, project development, facility management, warranty and post-handover support, web-enabled services, realt estate sales and configuration management can be handled by ERP systems. The following are the advantages of implementing ERP systems by construction companies:
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Enabling automation.
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Integrated Project Management system
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Flexibility in planning.
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Responsiveness to global changes and regional mandates.
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Agile process planning
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Complete control over life-cycle of projects