10 Things To Look For When Choosing A Project-Based ERP

Looking for a new project-based ERP software?

Maybe you’re shopping for a new ERP system for a growing project-driven business?

Or perhaps, you are looking to replace an old legacy on-premise ERP system with a Cloud-Based ERP application?

No matter what the case, it’s important to know that not all ERPs are created equal, especially when it comes to project-based businesses.

The right project-based ERP software brings ease of use to both the project lifecycle as well as the tedious task of project management.

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Such an ERP is specifically designed to support all aspects of the project lifecycle, and its in-built features help your project managers as well as teams to simplify, automate and accurately track everyday tasks throughout the project.

Considering that your project-based ERP has a tall order to fill, how do you decide what would be the right fit?

Below, we discuss 10 things to keep in mind when choosing the right project-based ERP for your business.

1. Opportunity Management

The right project-based ERP allows for better visualisation, helping to manage your opportunity pipeline a lot better. If we are being honest, this is crucial for any project-based business, as winning bids is the lifeblood of your business. The right ERP gives improved visibility and clarity on resources, profitability, revenue trajectory, as well as enterprise growth.

2. Resource Management

For any project-centric business to be profitable, it has to carefully use its resources in the best way possible. The right ERP maximizes resource management as you are better able to see skills, availability, time phasing and utilisation of all key resources at the click of a button. This improved visibility and control allow your business to maximize both performance and profitability.

3. Earned Value Management (EVM)

EVM is a very useful project management practice that helps you better plan, assess, execute and monitor your projects. By using Earned Value Measures, a project manager can keep a closer eye on their project’s progress to achieve a host of metrics on both current as well as future performance.

4. Customer Relationship Management

A good project-centric ERP ensures that your customers are always satisfied with your work and timely updated when any/all key milestones are completed. With built-in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) applications, the right ERP ensures smooth interaction with both current as well as potential customers. The result is improved relationships with customers with a special focus on customer retention and driving sales growth.

5. Clearer Forecasting

In the world of projects, changes are inevitable. Sometimes project plans may change, or maybe even resources have to change. At times you will need to hire external services in order to complete your project successfully, or maybe even change materials or vendors mid-project. The right ERP is sophisticated enough to accommodate all these changes so that your project managers can easily forecast any potential problem areas and quickly revise work to accomplish the end goal without a hitch.

6. Accurate Budgeting

With the right ERP, you can accurately budget every aspect of your project as it allows you to better calculate the time and expense of each employee. With a clearer vision of what you want to achieve and how you intend to accomplish it, such a project ERP creates a more fool-proof budget to act as the baseline for performance management. By carefully tracking budget vs. actuals, your project managers will be in a better position to reallocate resources/materials to ensure the profit margins uphold at all times.

7. Tracking Revenues

The most important metric that any project-based business must track is REVENUE. With the right project-centric ERP, revenue recognition becomes much easier. With the ability to track revenue in real-time, project managers can always ensure that they are achieving their revenue goals.

8. Accurate Time & Expense System

Unlike generic ERPs, project-based ERPs are designed to carefully track the time and expense of every single asset in your organisation. Time collection systems simplify the task of entering hours to better track project effort, and are designed to support payroll, invoicing, chargeback, project accounting, and job cost accounting. By seamlessly integrating time and expense directly into each project, it becomes easy for managers to stay up-to-date on all resources and actual costs.

9. Simplifying Billing

The right project-based ERP automates billing as well as shortens the bid-to-bill lifecycle. With billing and revenue recognition in lockstep, it becomes far easier to keep a better track of where money is going and when it is coming in – which ensures the project runs on time without any financial hiccups.

10. Real-Time KPIs and Reporting

KPIs or Key Performance Indices may differ from one project-centric business to another but are always the key to providing actionable insights to better execute projects. Ensuring that all KPIs are updated in real-time simplifies day-to-day operations – be it status reports, time and expense, financials, resource reports or EVM. A good ERP colour codes and makes graphs of all KPIs so that managers can quickly assess project progress without having to go through lengthy charts and reports. This gives them vital clarity on where they stand against the original plan, and what improvements can be made to meet deadlines in time.

The right project-based ERP lets you do all this and much more! Therefore, it is crucial to check if your chosen ERP is capable enough of performing all these functions so that you pick software that is streamlined, efficient, and sophisticated enough to automate all systems and keep your business organised.

If you want help in picking the right project-based ERP that ensures your projects stay organised, on schedule, and within budget, Projects Expert is here to help. Get in touch to know how we can help you pick the best application to support your unique project needs….our contact information is below.

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About Projects Expert

Projects Expert is the first-of-its-kind Oracle partner that specialises in Project Centric Enterprise Solutions. We aim to deliver sustainable, robust, and business-friendly Oracle solutions for Projects driven organisations.

To know more about what we can do for you, visit our website at www.projectsexpert.com. Reach out to us on +44 330 330 5154 or drop a note at info@projectsexpert.com