Success of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation greatly depends on selecting a system which is most aligned with companies’ requirements. Therefore, nowadays, choosing a right ERP has been weighed with serious concerns. As a broad example: Construction contractor companies are enterprises which could greatly benefit by ERP systems if the system has been chosen carefully and applied effectively. However, initial steps of ERP selection, such as ‘Requirements Recognition’ and ‘Criteria Definition’ as well as choosing a right supplier is a real challenge for the above-mentioned companies. The significance of this study is to provide a thorough survey in ERP selection as possible for the intended companies. A descriptive survey method was applied to evaluate the importance of criteria. Effective criteria in this selection were the outcome of studying relevant cases and issues. To compare the criteria and defining their priorities, two questionnaires were provided. The first one was distributed among 14 experts at management level in construction industry and were requested to compare criteria, whereas for the second questionnaire, 6 qualified IT users were selected and asked to compare alternatives. The targeted population for working on the questionnaires was selected by the outcome of census method. Finally, using the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process, the most appropriate package to meet construction companies’ requirements was selected.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an IT-based solution which helps managers to have a fast, accurate and high quality control over all company’s resources using an integrated system, so that they can manage entire company’s procedures development avoiding risks of failure. The specifications of these systems are to transfer and merge data between software in different departments of a company. ERP solution shares common data and covers end-to-end executive processes such as financial resources, manpower, distribution, manufacturing, production, supplies. Applying ERP provides a company with four main advantages (Gartner, 2012):

• Saving on IT expenses.
• Increasing the efficiency of a business on all aspects.
• Providing a platform for standardizing the process in a business.
• Catalyzing business innovations.

Identifying the above-mentioned benefits, ERP is considered a key to the success of a business in today’s world. It has become obvious that having an effective ERP is not only a competitive advantage, but a necessity, and the lack of it creates immense insufficiency and waste of resources.

Information Technology Journal, ERP system, System selection, Construction industry, Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchical Process, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, Saving on IT expenses, Catalyzing business innovations, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Fuzzy AHP approach.