Engineering ERP Consultant, Australia

Engineering contracts for Australian resources and infrastructure

A typical Australian engineering contract starts with a tender package from a mining company, utility, government agency or tier one contractor. You price design, procurement, fabrication, surface treatment, testing, freight and site work, often against tight technical specifications and the client's own standards. On award, the work is governed by a schedule, a set of deliverables and an inspection and test plan that the client must approve before fabrication begins.

Distance shapes the rest. Long-lead items may come from Europe, the United States or Asia, while the site may be in the Pilbara, the Bowen Basin or a regional water treatment plant. Freight is planned in modules, and installation is done by a crew on a fly-in fly-out roster, with flights, camp accommodation and allowances that rarely show up in the original estimate correctly.

The common symptoms when systems lag behind:

• Job cost known only after the final supplier invoices arrive.
• Site variations agreed verbally and not claimed.
• Hold points released by email, with no link to the work order.
• Purchasing out of step with the latest drawing revision.

I trace one completed contract through every team in a process mapping exercise before discussing software.

Defense export controls and security expectations

Australian engineering firms supplying defense, aerospace or certain dual-use technologies may need permits to export goods or to supply technology listed on the Defence and Strategic Goods List, and the controls can extend to intangible transfers such as emailing drawings overseas or giving foreign staff access to controlled data. Defense clients may also expect you to meet security requirements through Defence's industry security program. Assessments and permits belong to your export controls lead and advisors; I do not interpret the list.

The ERP still has to reflect those decisions in daily work. I usually specify:

• A DSGL assessment outcome and permit reference on items, assemblies and drawing records.
• End-user and destination details captured on quotes and orders.
• Shipment holds and drawing transfer approvals for controlled items.
• Role-based access to folders and records holding controlled technical data.
• A report of controlled exports and transfers for internal review.

Few platforms do all of this out of the box. Some need configuration, some an add-on, some a connected document control system. That trade-off becomes visible in the gap analysis, which is where I want it rather than discovered after go-live.

R&D Tax Incentive records and design change control

Engineering firms that develop new equipment or methods often consider the R&D Tax Incentive. The program expects records of the activities you claim, ideally created as the work happens rather than assembled at year-end. Eligibility and registration are decisions for your R&D tax advisor, but the ERP can make their job far easier.

I structure it around normal engineering work so it does not feel like extra admin:

1. Activity codes on timesheets, kept short, so an engineer can flag hours spent on an experiment rather than standard detailing.
2. Change notices with a mandatory reason field, which builds a natural history of hypotheses tried and abandoned.
3. Test records attached to the job, not stored in personal folders.
4. Cost reports grouping hours, materials and subcontract spend by project and activity.

Change control also protects margin. A drawing revised after steel has been ordered or a weldment fabricated needs to flag affected purchase orders and work orders, and someone has to decide whether the client pays through a variation. I define the CAD or PLM to ERP release point, the revision rules and the variation decision in the solution design, which the implementer then works from.

Progress claims, security of payment and industry participation

Australian engineering contracts are usually paid through monthly progress claims, with retentions released in stages as the work is handed over and the defects period runs out. Where your scope involves construction work, state and territory security of payment legislation can apply, setting rules around payment claims, payment schedules and timeframes. Because each jurisdiction runs its own scheme, take legal or accounting advice on what applies to your contracts.

Inside the ERP, that translates into specific requirements:

• Claims generated from the job, with progress by milestone or quantity and supporting detail.
• Retentions held as a separate receivable, with release events recorded.
• Variations tracked from request to approval to claim.
• Payment schedules and amounts certified recorded against each claim.
• GST applied to claims as your advisor confirms.

Larger public and resources projects may also ask suppliers to show Australian industry participation, for example through local content or industry participation plans. That draws on supplier classifications and spend reports by project, which are easier to produce if suppliers are classified at setup. These requirements feed into requirements gathering alongside the operational ones.

Leaving add-ons behind and working across time zones

The common starting point is MYOB or Xero with a job management add-on, a fabrication spreadsheet and a document tool for ITPs and certificates. That works until contracts get larger, defense work begins or a second workshop opens. At that point job cost, claims and quality records drift apart.

Migration is built around live contracts: contract sum and approved variations, the current budget, open purchase commitments, cost incurred, claims made, retention held and work remaining. Closed contracts stay archived. Item masters and drawing references are cleaned before load so revisions are not duplicated.

If your work is mainly repeat production, my Australian manufacturing ERP page fits better, and the engineering ERP guide explains the engineer-to-order model in general terms. Engagements run remotely, with workshops arranged around eastern, central and western time zones, and with recordings for site supervisors who cannot attend live. My ERP consulting work in Australia and the Australia hub explain how projects are scoped.