Across the construction value chain, we consistently see organizations reach a similar pinch point: Multiple best-in-class software solutions or a single enterprise accounting application have created redundancies, left gaps in visibility, and forced teams to rekey data. Spreadsheets deliver more than one version of the truth, and your staff spend more time reconciling than delivering quality projects.
If your business is like most construction companies, you may be running 10 to 15 (if not more) applications — software that’s great at its specific function but doesn’t easily integrate. Systems for quote and estimate management, job cost accounting, field project management, equipment management, HR, and more clearly provide value. The same can be said for vertical-specific software, such as plant ticketing, eSUB, or subcontractor prequalification solutions, to name a few.
But as your business and number of disparate applications expand, your ability to efficiently manage core processes and operations while remaining competitive and profitable takes a hit. Processes typically involve multiple applications and decision-makers. Accessing and leveraging data needed for each point in the process can be time-consuming, manual in nature, and filled with opportunities for mistakes, which create errors in the resulting information. As a consequence, the success and growth of your business results in additional complexity — and if your application environment hasn’t been designed and fully integrated to support that complexity, your processes and systems will struggle to sustain growth.
Consider change orders, for example. Do your project management and job costing systems integrate and identify corresponding changes in margin timely? Can you accurately track your gain (fade) on the original-to-current planned margin? Reporting gets complicated, and it often falls by the wayside, along with your visibility. You no longer have accurate information about what’s happening; rather than having data about what went wrong during a project, you end up relying more on impromptu conversations, gut-feelings, outdated information, and anecdotes about what happened.
Do you find yourself asking the following types of questions?
- How many jobs am I winning per estimator? Are they improving?
- How do we consistently measure our project managers rather than use ad hoc analyses?
- When and where are we spending too much on overtime?
- Different versions of the same accounting data are circulating. Which can I rely on to make decisions?
- Our go-to IT resource had so much institutional knowledge but retired. Now what?
- What are realistic utilization targets and associated equipment rental rates?
- How do our KPIs compare to the industry?
- Exporting data and using spreadsheets to analyze information ad hoc is getting cumbersome. Is that really the best way?
- We’ve outgrown a lot of our processes; they’re too complicated now to maintain. How do we optimally leverage technology to meet the needs of our current size and growth stage?
Getting actionable answers to questions like these is crucial to finding efficiencies and collaborating across the construction value chain. It requires integrated applications combined with business analytics that provide holistic, accurate, and quality data that specifically align with the needs of the business.
Construction ERP and the enterprise application stack
So, how do you connect critical systems — providing you critical data — across the business in a way that supports and scales with the growth and increasingly complex operations of your business? Enter ERP.
Enterprise software typically involves multiple solutions. An ERP is crucial for recording and maintaining transactional data, serving as the source of truth for financial transactions and reporting. However, it isn’t always the primary location for data capture. Additional systems often feed data into the ERP, supporting day-to-day decisions. A distributed top-tier environment can be effective if transactional systems are well-integrated, driving centralized data, standardized reporting, and automated processes.
And while ERP alone is a powerful tool for your business, it’s made even more so by the power of data analytics. Data analytics technologies complement ERP systems by using captured data to generate valuable insights. They enhance ROI by eliminating redundant data entry and supporting standardized reporting. For example, instead of loading utilization data into your EMMS, use it for maintenance tracking and combine it with utilization data in your analytics program for reporting and KPI tracking. This approach streamlines management reporting and optimizes operational systems.
Construction applications environment, from assessment to roadmap
The first step to optimizing your enterprise application stack is to assess your existing softwares and their alignment with core business processes and operations, as well as their fit with each other. A good technology assessment looks beyond the tech to include your people and processes too.
