Glossary
Construction ERP terms, explained plainly
The vocabulary of construction management and ERP, defined in plain English — the same terms BuilderX Pro is built around.
- Construction ERP
- Enterprise Resource Planning software that unifies a construction company’s core functions — CRM, estimation, projects, procurement, finance, and HR — in one connected system with a shared database. The platform →
- Construction CRM
- A customer relationship management system tailored to construction sales: lead capture, deal pipelines, quotations, and follow-ups, connected to project delivery. CRM features →
- Indent
- A formal material request raised (often by a site engineer) specifying item, quantity, and required date. In BuilderX Pro an approved indent converts into a purchase order. Procurement →
- Purchase Order (PO)
- A document issued to a vendor authorizing the supply of specific materials at agreed rates, generated from an approved indent. Procurement →
- GRN (Goods Received Note)
- A record created when material is received at site, verifying quantity and quality against the purchase order — in BuilderX Pro, with photo capture per line item. Procurement →
- BOQ (Bill of Quantities)
- An itemized list of materials, parts, and labour with quantities for a construction project, used for estimation and for comparing planned versus actual cost.
- DPR (Daily Progress Report)
- A structured daily record of work completed at a site, including quantities, remarks, and photos, used to track progress and maintain an auditable history. Projects →
- Work Order
- An instruction awarding a defined scope of work (often to a sub-contractor) with agreed terms, governed in BuilderX Pro by configurable approval flows and payment requests. Work orders →
- RA Bill (Running Account Bill)
- A progressive invoice raised at stages of a project for work completed to date, common in Indian construction contracting.
- Retention
- A portion of a payment withheld until a project or milestone is satisfactorily completed, released later as agreed.
- Petty Cash
- A small cash float used for minor site expenses, tracked in BuilderX Pro with advance top-up and expense settlement. Finance →
- Chart of Accounts
- A structured list of all financial accounts used by a business, forming the backbone of its bookkeeping and reporting. Finance →
- Vendor Ledger
- A running record of all transactions with a vendor — purchases, payments, and balances — used to reconcile what is owed.
- Approval Flow
- A configurable, multi-step sequence of sign-offs required before an action (such as a purchase or payment) is committed, creating an accountable trail. Governance →
- Scope of Work (SOW)
- A definition of the work to be performed on a project, broken into tasks and sub-scopes for planning and tracking. Projects →
- Site-to-Site Transfer
- The movement of material stock from one project site to another, tracked with an approval trail so inventory stays accurate.
- 360° Photo Feed
- A time-stamped visual record of site progress, organized by date and activity, giving stakeholders a shared view of work as it happens.
- Geofencing
- Defining a virtual boundary around a site so that field attendance can be validated against the worker’s actual location. Field tracking →
- Multi-tenancy
- An architecture in which one software platform serves many organizations while keeping each organization’s data isolated from the others. Security →
- Row-Level Security (RLS)
- A database mechanism that restricts which rows a user can access, used in BuilderX Pro to enforce tenant data isolation. Security →
- Measurement Book
- A site record of work executed and quantities measured, used as the basis for progressive billing and RA bills in Indian construction contracting.
- Cost-to-Complete
- An estimate of remaining cost to finish a project, calculated from committed spend plus forecasted work — used to catch overruns before close-out.
- Three-Way Match
- Reconciliation of a purchase order, goods receipt (GRN), and vendor invoice before payment — a control to prevent paying for unordered or undelivered material. Procurement software →
- Sub-Contractor / Work Order
- A party engaged to execute a defined scope of work. In BuilderX Pro, work orders govern sub-contract awards with approval flows and payment requests. Work orders →
- Material Return
- The formal process of sending unused or defective material back to a vendor or central store, reversing or adjusting inventory accordingly. Procurement →
- Labour Category
- A classification of workers (e.g. mason, carpenter, helper) with associated rates, used for work-order costing and attendance reporting.
- Geofencing
- Defining a virtual boundary around a site so attendance check-in is validated against the worker's GPS location. Attendance software →
- Construction Operating System
- A unified platform that connects CRM, projects, procurement, finance, HR, and site operations — the category BuilderX Pro defines itself in, beyond standalone project management tools. Platform →
- Job Costing
- Assigning direct costs — material, labour, sub-contract, and expenses — to individual projects to measure profitability per job. Accounting guide →
- Progressive Billing
- Invoicing a client in stages as work is completed, common in construction through RA bills tied to milestones or measured quantities.
- Site Engineer
- The person responsible for day-to-day execution at a construction site — filing DPRs, raising indents, verifying GRNs, and coordinating labour. Site management app →
- Milestone
- A significant checkpoint in a project schedule — such as slab completion or handover — used for progress tracking and staged billing. Projects →
- Kanban Board
- A visual task board that shows work items moving through stages (e.g. To Do, In Progress, Done), useful for site coordination and CRM pipelines. Task management guide →
- Contractor Management Software
- Software that helps construction contractors manage multiple sites, procurement, labour, billing, and finance from one system. Contractor software →
See these concepts working together
BuilderX Pro turns this vocabulary into a connected, day-to-day workflow. Book a demo to see how.