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ERP and Design for a Utility Contractor
An ERP, designed from the workflow up, for a contractor whose jobs depend on heavy equipment, crews and hard ground conditions.
Business goals
The client began as a heavy civil general contractor and works on underground utility and infrastructure projects, with crews and equipment spread across distant job sites. Ground conditions can change production overnight, and a costly machine standing idle hurts right away. Preconstruction planning also matters a great deal to how the company wins and runs work. It needed an ERP designed around these realities, so estimates, jobs, equipment and costs could be followed in one place.
Project overview
Hexagon designed and delivered an ERP shaped around the way a contractor runs work. We planned the workflows and screens first, then built records for jobs, estimates, crews, equipment, purchasing and cost. Project managers compare budget with actual cost by job and cost code. Field production and hours reach the office in a consistent form. Management can look across remote sites without phoning each superintendent for an update.
Challenges faced and solved
When the job sites are far apart and the machines are expensive, late information gets costly.
Production that swings with site conditions
A trench or bore can go to plan one week, then slow badly when ground conditions change. If daily production stays in a foreman's notebook, the cost problem appears weeks after the fact.
We built daily field reports against each job, so footage, hours and delays reach project managers while there is still time to respond.
Equipment spread across the country
Specialized machines move between yards and sites, and costs follow them. Without shared records, nobody can quickly say which machine is where, what it is costing, or when service is due.
We created equipment records with location, assigned job, hours and service history, so managers can plan moves and charge usage to the right job.
Bids disconnected from delivery
Preconstruction work produces quantities and assumptions that should guide the job. When those figures sit in spreadsheets, the field team may never see them, and nobody can test whether the bid was right.
We carried estimate quantities and cost codes into the job budget, so actual performance can be compared directly with what was bid.
Software crews will not use
Field staff working in remote places have little patience for long forms and cluttered screens. Poorly designed entry leads to missing data, and an ERP with missing data can't be trusted by anyone.
We started with design, mapping real tasks by role and keeping entry screens short, so foremen record only what the office actually needs.
Features
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Estimating and preconstruction | |
| 1. Bid Records | Each opportunity holds its scope, quantities, status and documents, so past pursuits can be found again. |
| 2. Estimate Line Items | Quantities and unit costs are organized by cost code, ready to become the job budget. |
| 3. Value Engineering Notes | Alternative methods and their cost effects are recorded alongside the estimate, so the reasoning survives after award. |
| Project managers | |
| 4. Job Setup | An awarded bid becomes a job with its budget, cost codes, customer and team already in place. |
| 5. Budget Versus Actual | Managers see committed and actual cost against budget for each cost code while the work is happening. |
| 6. Change Orders | Added scope is tracked from request to approval, then reflected in the job's budget. |
| 7. Subcontractor and Supplier Records | Vendor details and commitments are tied to the jobs they serve. |
| 8. Purchase Orders | Materials are ordered against a job and cost code, which keeps pipe, conduit and fuel costs in the right place. |
| 9. Progress Billing | Pay applications draw on recorded progress, so invoices line up with work in the field. |
| Field supervisors | |
| 10. Daily Field Report | Foremen record production, crew, equipment and delays each day on one short form. |
| 11. Crew Time Entry | Hours are entered by person and cost code, so payroll and job cost both start from the same figures. |
| 12. Safety Records | Toolbox talks and incidents are logged against the job and date, keeping the record easy to find. |
| Equipment and yard teams | |
| 13. Equipment Register | Each machine has a record with type, location, assigned job and meter hours. |
| 14. Service Schedule | Maintenance is planned by hours or date, which helps avoid breakdowns on a remote site. |
| 15. Equipment Job Charging | Usage is charged to the job that used the machine, so job cost reflects equipment cost. |
| Management and accounting | |
| 16. Company Dashboard | Leaders see active jobs, cost status and equipment location across all sites on one screen. |
| 17. Job Cost Reports | Reports compare bid, budget and actual cost, which feeds better numbers into the next estimate. |
| 18. Role-Based Access | Field, office and management users see the screens and records that match their job. |
How the platform is put together
Each layer has one job.
The result
The client's estimates, jobs, crews and machines now share the same system. Project managers and leaders can read field conditions and job cost without waiting for paperwork to come in.
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Field production | Reported late, in varied formats | Daily report on one short form |
| Equipment | Location and cost tracked by phone and spreadsheet | Register with job, hours and service history |
| Bid to job | Estimate figures re-entered or left behind | Quantities and cost codes become the job budget |
| Job cost | Assembled after the work finished | Budget versus actual visible during the work |
How we took it from idea to launch
Good software follows a process. Here are the six stages, and what happens in each one.
Discovery & Requirements
Goal: Define the product vision, target audience and core business requirements.
Key activities- Stakeholder interviews
- Market and competitor research
- Defining user personas
- Drafting technical specifications or a Product Requirements Document (PRD)
Design (UX / UI)
Goal: Create an intuitive user experience and visual interface.
Key activities- UX design: information architecture, user flows and wireframes
- UI design: high-fidelity mockups and interactive prototypes in Figma or similar tools
- Design system: colors, typography and component libraries
Development: Frontend & Backend
Goal: Build the functional application using agile sprints.
Key activities- Backend: set up databases, design APIs (REST, GraphQL), implement server logic, and configure authentication and authorization (OAuth, RBAC)
- Frontend: build responsive interfaces and connect components to backend APIs
- Version control: manage code through Git and GitHub
Security & Optimization
Goal: Harden the application against vulnerabilities and boost performance.
Key activities- Security: address the OWASP Top 10, including injection, XSS and CSRF, enforce encryption in transit and at rest, and implement rate limiting
- Optimization: code splitting and lazy loading, database indexing, API caching and load testing
- QA and testing: unit, integration and end-to-end tests
Beta Release
Goal: Deploy to a controlled group of real users to catch edge-case bugs and gather feedback.
Key activities- Set up staging and production CI/CD pipelines
- Launch a closed or open beta with real users
- Monitor errors through observability tools
Public Release (Launch)
Goal: Roll the software out to the general public.
Key activities- Final production deployment
- DNS configuration
- Marketing and onboarding rollout
- Post-launch performance and security monitoring
Business benefits
A slow week of production shows up before it becomes a bad month.
Managers can see which equipment is available before renting or moving more.
Actual results by cost code inform the next estimate.
Short, role-specific screens make daily entry easier to keep up.
Conclusion
Underground and civil work punishes slow information. Machines cost money whether they are digging or not, and the ground rarely follows the plan. Hexagon began with design, working out what each role needed to see and enter, and then built the ERP around it. Bids, budgets, field reports and equipment records now connect. If your contracting business runs jobs from spreadsheets and phone calls, we'd like to hear about it. Talk to us about what you need to see sooner.
Talk to us about your projectRelated services: ERP development · custom software development
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