Enterprise-wide information system for construction: A document based approach

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems have gained significant popularity in last decade. However, with the growing rate of implementation, we have also heard of growing number of implementation failures and expensive repairs. Construction sector is a unique sector because a big proportion of construction companies can be classified as Small and Medium sized Enterprise (SMEs). This paper evaluates the applicability of ERP to construction sector. It also evaluates a document based enterprise information system and compares it to ERP through a case study of a modular home manufacturer. Based on the analysis, the document based enterprise information system seemed to be smaller, cheaper and more modular in nature. Given that it was assembled using Commercial Off the Shelf Software (COTS), it will also require less training and IT expertise from the users, reducing the training budget significantly as well. Based on the data, the document based system seems like a viable alternative to the ERP for the construction sector.