Construction company Amey is continuing with an enterprise
resource planning implementation that has run up costs of £25m -
more than three times the initial predicted cost.
The company anticipated spending between £6m and £8m when it
started the project and employed LogicaCMG to implement the SAP
software. Following unsuccessful attempts to get the system up and
running, LogicaCMG left the project and integrator Fast Track took
over.
Amey's decision follows a string of high-profile problems for ERP
implementations in the construction sector.
Simon Bragg, an analyst at ARC Consulting, said a lack of
industry-specific software and cultural constraints in the sector
have hampered IT projects. "The construction sector has been a bit
of a graveyard for ERP suppliers. In the late 1990s, Baan tried to
create a solution for a UK house builder but was kicked out, and JD
Edwards had problems at WS Atkins.
"Construction requires strong one-off project management tools,
which in turn affects the design of the financials. The culture in
the industry is not particularly supportive of a large ERP
implementation.
"There is a view that everyone should be working on a client
project, and success is measured by the profitability of each
project," he said.