Title: A survey of the potential for enterprise resource planning (ERP) in improving the effectiveness of construction management in the UK construction industry

Authors: Stephen Barthorpe, Hung-Ju Chien, Jack K.C. Shih

Addresses: School of Technology, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, UK. ' School of Technology, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd, CF37 1DL, UK. ' Department of Civil Engineering, Ming Hsin Institute of Technology, Taiwan

Abstract: Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a state-of-the-art business integration tool, which includes all the resource planning for the enterprise and its partners. ERP applications include supply chain management (SCM), customer relationship management (CRM), product lifecycle management (PLM), E-procurement and financial management (FM), etc. The aim of this paper is to examine the current awareness of ERP and to identify its potential for in integrating the supply chain in the UK construction industry. This paper reports on the findings obtained from a questionnaire survey conducted between November 2001 and January 2002, with contributions received from 55 organisations representing UK construction companies and ERP consultants. The results indicate that the construction industry can learn a great deal from the application of the ERP system used in the manufacturing and service industries. It was also revealed that applications of ERP offered significant potential in improving the effectiveness of construction supply chain management (SCM), financial management (FM), E-procurement, product lifecycle management (PLM).

Keywords: enterprise resource planning; ERP; supply chain management; SCM; financial management; FM; E-procurement; product lifecycle management; PLM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCAT.2004.003840

International Journal of Computer Applications in Technology, 2004 Vol.20 No.1/2/3, pp.120 - 128

Published online: 10 May 2004 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article