PCL completes historic multi-year ERP consolidation project

Key Takeaways:

• PCL Construction, working with Syntax Systems, migrated and unified 26 separate ERP systems into a single cloud-based platform on Microsoft Azure — one of the largest projects of its kind in North America.
• The new system integrates more than 370 financial entities and supports global payroll, finance, asset management, project execution and supply chain management, improving reporting accuracy, reducing duplication, and lowering IT risk.
• By moving decades of infrastructure to the cloud, PCL has built a scalable, secure foundation to streamline operations, enhance governance and support future digital initiatives across its $8-billion annual business.

The Whole Story:

PCL Construction has completed a multi-year digital transformation that overhauled its global payroll and operations systems, consolidating decades of fragmented infrastructure into a single cloud environment.

The Edmonton-based builder partnered with Syntax Systems to migrate and unify 26 separate enterprise resource planning (ERP) instances into one system hosted on Microsoft Azure. The project, billed as one of the largest ERP consolidations in North America, was finalized last month.

PCL chief information officer Mark Bryant said the work fundamentally changes how the 119-year-old company operates.

“Through close collaboration with Syntax, we’ve moved decades of fragmented infrastructure to the cloud,” Bryant said. “This not only streamlines how we operate but equips us with the agility and insights to support our long-term strategy.”

For decades, PCL’s operations grew across multiple regions and business units, each maintaining its own ERP system on legacy IBM AS/400 infrastructure. The decentralized setup made reporting difficult, limited scalability and introduced operational risks.

To address this, Syntax and PCL devised a phased roadmap. Early stages involved migrating the ERP environments to the Syntax Enterprise Cloud. The final consolidation on Microsoft Azure now supports core functions including finance, payroll, asset management, project execution and supply chain management.

“Consolidating our ERP environment on Azure marks a pivotal shift in how PCL operates financially across its global footprint,” said Glen Anderson, PCL’s vice-president of finance and commercial risk. “We’ve significantly improved reporting accuracy, eliminated duplication, and reduced risk — while building a flexible platform to scale with our business.”

Syntax CEO Christian Primeau said the transformation demonstrates how large, asset-intensive enterprises can simplify operations. “Together, we’ve delivered a customer-centric ERP model for enterprises looking to scale without complexity,” he said.

According to the companies, the project has integrated more than 370 financial entities into a single platform, migrated and validated two years of financial and payroll history, and streamlined workflows using Microsoft’s Power Platform to reduce errors and speed execution. Hosting on Azure also provides high availability, scalability and enterprise-grade security.

PCL, one of North America’s largest general contractors, completes more than $8 billion US in work annually. Company officials say the new platform will strengthen governance, improve data accuracy and reduce IT overhead, while better preparing the firm for future digital initiatives.

PCL leaders are scheduled to present details of the transformation at the JD Edwards INFOCUS 2025 conference in Denver this September.