The Best Specialized ERPs To Sell Projects

Choosing an ERP is a strategic issue. Indeed, this decision has a significant economic impact because the ERP is not only expensive to implement, but above all, allows the company to optimize its profitability . For specialized jobs such as logistics, construction, accounting or service jobs that require a certain agility, you will have to choose between a generalist ERP or a business-oriented ERP. 

 

In this article, we offer you a list of project business ERPs and ERP for service companies. Next, we've put together a guide to help you understand the differences between business and generalist ERP. Finally, a list of functional building blocks to consider when choosing your ERP dedicated to service companies will help you select the right tool for your needs and your company size. 

The best business ERPs to sell your projects

Stafiz, the all-in-one ERP for end-to-end management

Stafiz is a business ERP for project sales. Thus, it combines project management and planning functionalities to enable complete management. 

 

Use cases

Stafiz allows: 

• project management,
• the resource planning, time and activity management,
• financial forecasting,
• project risk management,
• project invoicing.

 

Pre-sales management

Stafiz can be integrated with a CRM, which makes it possible to estimate a budget for opportunities close to converting. The tool offers the ability to pre-plan resources on opportunities with a high chance of becoming projects.

 

Profitability management

Stafiz helps maximize profitability because this ERP incorporates a complete planning process. Thus, it offers the possibility to: 

• manage employee and project workload plans,
• plan the need for resources,
• link project planning and financial forecasts,
• Simulate planning scenarios to optimize profitability.

Stafiz's intelligent scenario builder

• set up alerts to be notified of upcoming diversions,
• define a projected project budget,
• Track expenses in real-time. 

Creation of the initial reference budget from Stafiz with monitoring of its consumption 

Project planning

As an ERP for service companies, Stafiz facilitates project planning thanks to features for forecasting production and remaining to-do monitoring, a feature that is currently not very common on the market.

In addition, Stafiz supports capacity planning. It offers a long-term view of availability, allowing allocation by search for profiles or by skills.

The best project budget tracking tool

 

Automations 

Among the automation features, many have been integrated into the invoicing part:

• Possibility of transferring information from purchase orders, for generation and mass mailing,
• Triggering invoicing per deliverable,
• Implementation of unpaid automatic reminders,
• Automatic recognition (called OCR technology), for the management of expense reports,
• Taking into account the different billing methods (management / fixed price). 

 

Other automation features include time tracking: financial datacan be updated automatically based on the time entered. Indeed, when the time entered is connected, it can automatically adjust for control room cases. 

 

Which companies use Stafiz?

Stafiz presents itself as a business ERP specialized in project management, adapted to IT Services, consulting professions, agencies, for VSEs, SMEs, ETIs, and large companies up to about 1000 employees. 

 

IFS, the ERP dedicated to industry

IFS is a project-based ERP dedicated to project management for industry. 

Use cases

Robust and built with the principle of modules, it adopts a business approach and allows in particular multi-country project management.

In addition, it also supports: 

• cost tracking,
• human resources management,
• supply chain management,
• production management,
• document management, 
• Advanced analytics.

IFS enables project management in complex industries such as engineering, construction, industrial sectors. 

 

Which companies use IFS?

IFS is aimed at medium and large companies with complex industrial, internationalization and multi-site issues. 

 

Ypareo, an ERP for training organizations

Ypareo is a business ERP specialized in the management of vocational training organizations such as CFA (Apprentice Training Centers) and OFA (Apprenticeship Training Organizations). Thus, it addresses the specific needs related to professional training, from prospecting to invoicing. 

 

Use cases

Ypareo supports: 

• sales and CRM management ,
• administrative and financial management,
• pedagogical management such as training planning, monitoring of absences, evaluations,
• the implementation of collaborative portals,
• interconnection with institutional third-party tools (CPF, France Travail, Parcoursup, etc.) thanks to an API. 

Ypareo facilitates the administrative and pedagogical management of training organizations. 

 

Which companies use Ypareo?

Ypareo is aimed at private training organizations, CFAs, school networks, for small and medium-sized structures as well as large multi-site networks.

 

SAP, the highly customizable ERP

Use cases

Although a few years ago, SAP reflected the image of an ERP dedicated to logistics professions, SAP now offers different ERPs for different sizes of companies: 

• S/4HANA (large enterprises), 
• ByDesign (ETI),
• Business One (SME). 

Thus, the ERPs offered by SAP make it possible to coordinate the departments of finance, procurement, HR and others. They offer a large number of features, with a focus on BI and analytics. However, SAP remains a generalist ERP but said to be modular because it is very customizable. 

SAP ERPs are generalist but modular ERPs, in order to meet the needs of companies looking for a business ERP. They are particularly feature-rich. 

 

Which companies use Ypareo?

With a reputation that is quite oriented towards large groups, 

SAP therefore offers an ERP model dedicated to service companies, ideal for large groups, international companies and highly regulated industries. Its features facilitate multi-country deployment. However, SAP is actually aimed at all sizes of companies through dedicated products. 

 

Deltek, the ERP for a high degree of precision 

Deltek is a project-based business ERP for end-to-end project management. Thus, it offers robust reporting and BI tools to ensure the management of human and material resources. The integration of the schedule with the CRM and finance facilitates multi-project allocation and the matching of skills with project needs. It offers the following features, among others: 

Use cases

Budget monitoring

• Planning with Gantt views.
• Milestone view and critical path.

 

Management of contracts and deliverables 

• Monitoring of intercontracts.
• Partial, automatic, and bulk billing. 
• Tracking of deductions, advances, schedules.

Deltek enables project management for companies with a high need for accuracy, both from a financial point of view and in terms of time tracking. 

 

What companies use Deltek?

Deltek is mainly aimed at design and engineering offices as well as government entities and very large structures. 

 

Odoo, the modular open-source ERP

Odoo is a generalist ERP suitable for service companies. Open-source, Belgian, known for its modules and its high degree of customization, it is also renowned for its extensive community. In particular, it offers: 

Use cases

Project management 

• View as a Gantt, calendar, or Kanban.
• Setting up milestones and dependencies.
• Progress monitoring.
• Load management. 

 

Time and expenses

• Expense management.
• Multi-level fee validation.
• Setting up timesheets. 

 

Billing

• Management of the different billing methods: flat-rate, subscription.
• Multi-rate management and holdings.
• Liaison with projects, timesheets and CRM. 

Odoo is a generalist ERP adapted to many professions and in particular to service professionals such as agencies, architectural firms, chartered accountants or even IT Services.

 

Which companies use Odoo?

Odoo is aimed at VSEs and SMEs looking for a customizable solution. However, its difficulty of implementation often requires the support of a consultant or integrator.  

 

MyUnisoft, the ERP for chartered accountants

Use cases

MyUnisoft is a French ERP dedicated to accounting firms and their SME and VSE clients. Thus, it facilitates accounting and tax automation with: 

• OCR integration and automatic invoice recognition.
• Automatic import of bank entries.
• The generation of standard accounting entries.

 

It allows: 

• The internal management of the firm.
• Customer and commercial management.
• Financial management.
• The provision of a collaborative customer portal.
• Integrations through APIs. 

MyUnisoft facilitates the management of accounting firms and their client relationships thanks to the synchronization of the different data sources (cash registers, partners). 

This business ERP automates data entry and declaration tasks, while offering a shared customer platform. 

 

Which companies use MyUnisoft?

MyUnisoft is aimed at medium-sized to small accounting firms and chartered accountants. 

 

Cegid Loop, the ERP to automate accounting production

Cegid Loop is a business ERP also intended for chartered accountants to automate, collaborate and improve customer relations. 

As its added value is focused on automation, assisted by AI, Cegid Loop saves time by automating low value-added tasks. 

Cegid has a certain notoriety and credibility in the accounting world. 

 

Use cases

The software offers different features. 

Automated accounting production

• Automatic OCR to extract data from received documents.
• Automatic bank import and intelligent reconciliation to automatically associate accounting entrieswith the corresponding bank transactions.
• Automation of tax returns, VAT, annual closing in compliance with the regulations in force. 

 

Time Spent Tracking 

• Track time spent by client, assignment or employee.
• Profitability tracking by customer.
• Scheduling recurring tasks.

Cegid Loop allows the management of accounting firms as well as the production of accounts. 

Its features provide financial transparency through real-time dashboards. 

 

What companies use Loop?

Cegid Loop is aimed at accounting firms and networks, particularly small and medium-sized structures. 

 

IOvision, the project management ERP with a 360° vision

IOvision is a French project-based ERP designed for service companies. It provides a 360° view of the activity and offers the following features.

 

Use cases

Steering and finance

• Invoicing: issuing invoices, monitoring payments, managing the remaining amount to be invoiced, automated reminders.
• Budget monitoring: cost control and profitability analysis.
• Financial reporting: dashboards with real-time visualization of project progress, margins and alerts.

 

Resource and project management

• Time tracking (entry of time spent by project, employee and client).
• Implementation of workload plan and multi-project schedule.
• Management of contracts and amendments.

 

Cross-functional functionalities

• Multi-entity management: multi-company and multi-country.
• Integrated CRM: sales follow-up, customer relations.
• Integrated HRIS: publication of announcements, monitoring of absences and leaves.

IOvision offers a scalable ERP dedicated to service companies, scalable because it is composed of modules, to which it is possible to add functionalities. 

 

What companies use IOvision?

IOvision is aimed at consulting firms, SMEs and mid-caps as well as multi-entity structures that need flexibility at the local level. 

Biloba, the ERP for project management in site monitoring

Biloba is a French project-based ERP designed for service companies, especially for the building, site supervision, construction and engineering sectors.

 

Use cases

Biloba makes it possible to facilitate project management in engineering companies. 

He is in charge of document management and CAD/CAD calls for tenders as well as technical studies. Modular, scalable and can support the growth of companies. 

It allows: 

• Business management: coverage of lots / tranches / calls for tenders,
• Invoicing: in progress and the rest to be invoiced, 
• The provision of support modules: supplier management, subcontracting, schedule management, provisional budget in terms of duration and value, analysis of costs incurred.

 

What companies use Biloba?

Biloba is aimed at structures that want to combine technical and administrative skills, in particular time spent, resource management and subcontracting. It concerns medium-sized design offices with complex technical projects, which need to be divided into batches or tranches. 

 

What is an ERP for service companies?

Store and centralize data

An ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning in English) is a software that allows you to visualize and coordinate the management operations of a company.

In the context of an ERP for a service company, this tool stores and centralizes company data such as resources, finances, projects, opportunities or customers. Often, the ERP is connected to the CRM, which facilitates customer relationship management. 

 

Facilitate optimization and decision-making

The use of an ERP offers visibility that aims to help optimize the various parameters such as resources, finances or schedules.

These types of tools usually offer automation features. These not only help to save time, but also contribute to improved reliability by limiting human intervention. 

An ERP for service companies is therefore a powerful tool that brings together all the relevant data necessary for decision-making, usually accessible in real time. Thus, the ERP follows and accompanies the growth of the company. 

 

General ERP and business ERP: what are the differences?

The choice of a business ERP vs. a generalist ERP is a widespread debate. But then, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each? 

 

A generalist ERP for maximum flexibility

Unsurprisingly, generalist ERP is standard. Designed to adapt to the majority of professions, generalist ERP is said to be flexible, but not very specialized. Indeed, it is aimed at industries that are not very complex and not very specific. We therefore speak of horizontal ERP, as opposed to business ERP, which is called vertical. 

Many generalist ERPs are now designed in modules, so that they can be customized. They can thus gain in specificity thanks to these modules to suit sectors with particular constraints such as catering, hospitality, transport, industry, etc. 

The advantage of a generalist ERP is that it is aimed at many companies: the product is therefore regularly kept up to date, constantly evolving, integrating fixes and innovations.

 

A business ERP for more details

A business ERP is specific : it is aimed at a business. Thus, it is a software dedicated to a business, its constraints, its mode of operation.

Business ERP is aimed at a particular target, which it masters. As such, it is designed to meet its needs as precisely as possible, both from an operational and regulatory perspective. The product is bound to evolve thanks to customer feedback. 

For service jobs, the project business ERP generally focuses on key features such as invoicing and time tracking, in addition to traditional project management. In addition, they generally make it possible to optimize the management of budgets or quotes depending on the billing method, in order to optimize profitability. Thus, this type of ERP generally makes it possible to calculate profitability per project, per consultant or per client. 

 

Is a business ERP essential?

In the service business, a project-based ERP is often recommended. Essential or mandatory: no. However, the use of a specialized ERP facilitates management, as the operational and financial needs are indeed very specific. 

However, a business ERP dedicated to services often allows access rights to be configured so that the different roles (project managers, consultants, business managers) can access the information necessary for their mission such as time spent, budget, margins. 

With a generalist ERP, it is often the finance department that is responsible for transmitting the information. This requires delays and back and forth. However, personalized access to information limits these constraints. Thus, a project manager who wants to consult the budget in real time on a project can quickly obtain the information by his own means to make the appropriate decisions. 

 

The different criteria for choosing an ERP for a service company

As mentioned in the introduction: choosing an ERP is a strategic approach that cannot be improvised. To help you, here is a list of criteria and features to consider by use, activity and company size. 

 

By Use 

Here is a list of the functional building blocks often integrated into ERPs for service companies.

 

Project management

• Planning: organization of tasks, milestones, dependencies, critical path.
• Possibility of visibility under different views: Kanban, Gantt.
• Monitoring of project deliverables, change management (change of scope).

 

Resource Management

• Skills management.
• View on availability.
• Monitoring and optimization of the utilization rate.
• Forward-looking, forward-looking planningresource planning, rate of allowance vs charge.
• Management of the resource planning, subcontractors and even equipment.

 

Time and expense tracking

• Time entry (timesheets) and time tracking.
• Approval workflows.
• Tracking of direct and indirect costs.

 

Billing

• Billing methods: flat rate, subscription, milestones, mixed.
• Partial invoicing, periodicals.
• Recognition of income according to standards, project.

 

Accounting and Financial Management

• Monitoring of costs and margins project by project.
• Financial reporting.
• Budget management, forecasting, cash flow.
• General and analytical accounting.
• Multi-currency management.
• Multi-entity management.
• Pre-accounting. 

 

Proactive Reporting

• Configuration and visualization of key indicators: margin, profitability, burn rate, resource utilization, progress vs. plan, risks, profitability per customer/project.
• Implementation of real-time dashboards and alerts.
• Creation of forecasts and scenarios.

 

Management of customer/supplier contracts

• Definition of contractual conditions and payment terms.
• Follow-up of commitments.
• Management of supplier relationships in the event of outsourcing or subcontracting.

Integrations

• CRM (prospecting / quotation)
• Document management tools,
• Integration with HR for payroll, leave,
• Web/mobile accessibility.

 

Manageability

• Configuration and customizations possible without coding,
• Tax and regulatory localization depending on the country or sector, 
• Security, compliance, access rights

 

By Activity

Here is a list of features to consider depending on the type of structure. 

 

Consulting firms

• Fixed-price project management.
• Project planning by making the link between budget and resource planning. 

💡Recommended ERPs : Stafiz, Deltek.

 

IT Consulting, Integrators

• Billing that supports different approaches: time management, flat rate, mixed management and flat rate, Third Party Application Maintenance (TMA).

💡Recommended ERPs : Stafiz, Deltek 

 

IT Services

• Management of profile positioning on customer needs,
• CRM, 
• Time management.

💡Recommended ERPs : Stafiz

 

Architectural Firms

• Project monitoring and invoicing: monitoring and invoicing by batch / phase (possibility of segmenting projects by major phases with allocated budget and invoicing as progressed).

💡Recommended ERPs : Deltek

 

Agencies

• Precise task tracking: fine granularity in the planning (day, time) with a strong need for flexibility because it is subject to change
• Time and Activity management.

💡Recommended ERPs : Stafiz, Odoo

 

Training or coaching organizations

• Hourly scheduling: possibility of placing the hours at a fixed rate,
• Invoice follow-up: management of subcontracting.

💡Recommended ERPs : Ypareo

 

Chartered accountant:

• Time tracking: scheduling, time tracking,
• Management of recurring tasks: taking charge of repetitive operations each month and projects that come back every year,
• Confirmation of work completed: possibility to mark a task as completed, with time spent confirmed or pre-filled,
• Multi-client management: Efficiently tracking small tasks across a large number of clients.

💡Recommended ERPs : Stafiz, Cegid Loop, MyUnisoft

 

Design or engineering office

• Task management: dependency management, critical path,
• Management of project phases: milestones, deliverables,
• Resource management: planning by qualified resource, monitoring of utilization rate and occupation,
• Management of contracts and amendments,
• Collaboration management: inter-team, document, versioning, customer exchanges. 

💡Recommended ERPs : Biloba, IOvision

 

By Company Size

The choice of an ERP is also made according to the size of the company and the level of complexity sought. 

Here are the types of features to consider depending on the size of the company. 

Less than or equal to 50 employees

• Purchasing management,
• Workflow for expense request management,
• HRIS integration. 

 

Between 50 and 100 employees

• Inter-company / intra-company invoicing (between teams),
• Balance accounting integration (including accounting tool, exports),
• Auditable financial reporting. 

 

Thus, ERP is a performance and profitability lever for any company with strong project management needs. Service companies such as agencies, IT Services, or firms therefore have every interest in equipping themselves with a powerful ERP, adapted to their needs and their size of company. 

Choosing between a business ERP or a generalist ERP composed of modules can be a difficult decision. Indeed, such a tool generally accompanies the growth of the company over several years. So, implementation time, learning curve, integration, customer support and available features will therefore be important criteria to consider when making a choice.