Abstract:
Information technology is significantly changing the management of a growing
number of companies worldwide. These changes have important implications for the
engineering profession and engineering practices, particularly in the twenty-first
century. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the enterprise around which
all the activities of a company to automate and replace existing systems, integrating
all departments and functions across a company into a single information system that
runs on a single database so that the various departments can more easily share
information and communicate with each other.
ERP systems have an important role within the organization, assisting in the planning
and management of organizational resources. Indeed, the success of an organization
depends on the efficiency of resources allocated by the organization. Even though
ERP systems have been used and grown rapidly in globally, the most of engineering
and construction companies have not followed significantly. Many engineering and
construction companies know how beneficial ERP systems, but they are still hesitant
to use these systems due to its high cost and risk. This research examines the
implementation of ERP systems as a means to illustrate how changes in information
systems, construction companies to link the whole management of operations. The
successful ERP implementation should depend on a number of important factors
according to the literature review. However, most of the engineering and construction
companies have no idea about implementation.
The impact of use of ERP to the construction industry studied by very few
researchers. The purpose of this research is to identify the impact of the use of the
ERP system in the construction industry. The series of five different areas were
covered by the literature review, such as theory of IT systems, ERP systems available,
the construction industry, the system for managing the supply chain and the impact of
an ERP system to organizations. The research methodology conducted by using
quantitative data gathered via companies’ annual reports of ERP users in large and
medium scaled enterprises in the construction industry. Secondary data were gathered
from trusted ERP vendors and from national stock exchanges. Profound analyses
were done with precise data set of construction firms within the medium and large
scale. The research investigates the change of a management system of traditional
construction with a focus on the implementation of ERP systems, including ERP
potential impact on business and the profit margin. A 29 number of companies’ rich
data set were collected from reliable source for analysis of absolute key values of the
business process, which had implemented of ERP between 2005 and 2010. The
results showed that ERP systems are supported to organization key operation.
Finally, research suggests recommendations for a successful ERP implementation.
This research has provided useful information for the engineering and construction
companies, when they plan to adapt the ERP systems to their organization.
Key words: Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, Construction Industry, Supply
Chain Management, Information Technology.