White Paper
General Contractor
S
OFTWAREC
OMPARISON- G
ENERALC
ONTRACTORI
f you are in the GENERALCONTRACTORindustry you face many challenges and have many specific requirements and standards thatmust be adhered to. Any successful general contractor, whether you perform commercial, industrial, public and/or private work must always complete each project on budget, on time and at the quality required. You also must manage the supplying and or subcontracting the necessary materials, equipment, labor, and subcontracted services to get the project done. Often times the management accounting systems that are currently in place within your organization do not meet these requirements. Having your operation’s, financial and payroll data centralized in a single system is critical. But it is also possible for you to have data such as project costing, communications, scheduling, inventory and equipment tracking captured in that same system. With a centralized system containing all of your management accounting information you are easily able to access this critical information with alerts, dashboards and reporting from all areas of your business. The long term success of your business depends on how effectively you manage this information in every aspect of your operations end to end.
These systems are flexible enough to handle a variety of construction types. They can accommodate your workflow requirements today and grow with your business into the future. Whether you are handling small construction work, major projects or both there are cost effective solutions available. Canadian business is said to be lagging behind US and Scandinavian countries in productivity. We must correct this by embracing technology which will make us more productive to compete in our local, regional or the world market place. Many of the features with these systems allow our employees to be significantly more productive. They allow us all to work smarter not harder. With the technology available today and enhanced processes we have our best hope for increasing productivity and remaining competitive.
The specific requirements with each type of operation will vary. Although as a group the General construction operations are similar, some software solutions are more flexible than others in meeting your specific needs. The software however, is only part of the story. To ensure an effective operation, specific processes must be developed to ensure the smooth flow of information into and out of the management accounting software. Therefore software is only 50% of the solution, the remaining 50% is in developing , implementing and training on the process enhancements required to use the software effectively and solve your issues.
To efficiently manage on a consistent basis you must develop good business processes. Improving business processes represents the greatest hope for positive lasting change in all organizations. They define the way in which business gets done. An organization can be no better that its processes allow it to be. As new management best practices evolve and business automation software is enhanced business must evolve to take advantage of these changes. General construction businesses must continually review their processes to determine if they can reduce or eliminate ineffective processes which cause countless wasted hours and resources every year. They need to continually ask why processes are currently done and or is there a better way?
1. Interview your employees, listen and define your vision and goals.
2. Listen, analyze and understand your current situation and business processes.
3. Review existing barriers and roadblocks that need to be eliminated.
4. Analyze best management practices that could improve your processing.
5. Prioritize issues and problems and decide what is most important.
6. Develop requirements listings.
7. Analyze new business solutions that will meet your requirements.
8. Design and flowchart the new processes.
9. Create a clear map and flowchart the steps required. 10. Determine, understand and solidify the benefits to be
achieved with each improvement step.
11. Implement the new processes and management systems. 12. Develop a systematic approach to continuous improvement.
T
he attached product ranking was based on these steps. Once we had determined the issues (Step 5) and developed as requirements listing (Step 6) for General construction businesses we entered the requirements into “The Accounting Library” (An independent feature ranking database). The software allowed us to rank the %fit the software was to the required feature requirements (Step 7). With software rankings you must be aware that this is not the complete answer. Don’t get caught up with the chase for additional features. Focus on the main features and functions required to run your operations effectively today and into the future. The Accounting Library has more than 3700 questions on features and functions. It is unlikely you will ever need them all. This ranking also doesn’t take into account software or implementation costs which can vary greatly between options. Use it as a good starting point to review your options. We must however choose wisely, not all systems offer the same long term productivity gains and return on investment. Generally you can assume that the higher percentage of the fit to your specific requirements the less workarounds and customizations would be required to meet your specific needs. The closer the fit usually results in reduced implementation times as well. (Look for a product ranking of at least 90%).S
TANDARDTYPESOFG
ENERALC
ONTRACTORSBUSINESSFEATURESTHATMAYBEREQUIRED:
FLEXIBLE, FULLYINTEGRATEDGeneral construction accounting, with project costing software. Ability to adjust to the requirements of most users and built to operate in a divisional and multi company environment.
ESTIMATINGfor General contractor using standard estimating processes and estimate (RFI) tracking or use industry specific functionality
such as estimating/takeoff software with an interface to project costing.
CHANGEORDERMANAGEMENT to track potential and approved changes, ensure that approved changes are invoiced profitably and
auto-matically update the project estimate/budget.
PROJECTSCHEDULINGwhichuses an interface between Microsoft projects and project costing.
PROJECTMANAGEMENTprocessing to control and analyze projects to three levels such as Project/Phase/Category. Track your current
pro-jects and their projected profit so you can pinpoint problems early and take corrective action. Drill down capabilities also puts the infor-mation you need right at your fingertips.
FLEXIBLEINVOICINGthat include progress billings, time & material and cost plus options. Able to produce detail or summary invoices
EQUIPMENTMAINTENANCEtracking the equipment maintenance costs. Keep costs down and minimize equipment downtime. (Track
equip-ment repair history)
SUBCONTRACTCONTROL that tracks subcontracts by project, vendor and subcontract number, while controlling all communications and
documents (insurance certificates, lien waivers, etc).
PAYROLLPROCESSING with features like multi-rate and multi-province capabilities that fully integrates to project costing timesheets.
TIME SHEET provides all the tools needed to electronically collect project time and expense data with integration to project management and payroll systems.
HUMAN RESOURCEprocessing that is able to keep track of vacation days, assigned equipment, employee skills, certifications and more.
Empower employees with our self-serve option which allows secure access to sensitive data and reduces demands on the HR manager.
INVENTORY CONTROLcapable of tracking multiple locations of inventory movements to projects by phase and/or category.
POWERFULFINANCIALREPORTING that includes flexible, easily customized Work in progress (WIP), detailed project by phase/category, aged
receivables/payables with retainage (holdback) and more.
DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT – paperless processing to improve workflow and reduce costs. By digitizing, storing and linking your documents with accounting, in one location, you can empower your employees with access to critical information.
WARRANTYTRACKING able to track warranty issues (Cases) and due dates
EXECUTIVE DASHBOARD reporting that organizes and presents business with information in an easy-to-read format. Deliver the information required, when it is required to the people that require it.
SCHEDULINGOF REPORTSwith email capability. Have a PDF, HTML or Excel report
sent to your inbox daily. Package multiple reports for automatic distribution.
FINDERcan find what you want faster and easier with smart lists of relevant information.
WEBPORTALACCESSand Reports allow access information anywhere anytime
with web portal. Push data to web reports. Advanced features for charting and graphing with drill down capabilities.
COMMUNICATIONcontrol offer full communication control and tracking to all the communications with customers (projects, warranty), and suppliers.
ALERTS- Powerful management tool that will automatically generate an email
when critical changes occur. (Receive notification immediately if a project is over budget, etc).
THISRANKINGWASBASEDONMANYOFTHEABOVE
FEATURESANDFUNCTIONS. THEMAJORREQUIREMENTSWERETHEFOLLOWING:
Canadian commercial general contractor operation
Web based access to information
Web based time sheet entry
Larger commercial projects
Canadian Payroll
Remote reporting
CUSTOMIZATION- Customize screens with user defined fields and tables. Tailor screens for the individual user, type of user, or all users to meet the needs of your business.
HOSTINGChoose either hosted (cloud) or non-hosted without having to compromise features.
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENTBuild stronger and more profitable relationships with CRM. Utilize internal and external sales
proc-esses, marketing, customer service and internal communication control with CRM solutions. CRM provides a full analytical view of the organization and its customers in real time for accurate and detailed reporting.
THE ACCOUNTING LIBRARY CANADIAN GENERAL CONTRACTORWITHLARGEPROJECTS PRODUCT RANKING
Version 9.06
SCORE % FIT PRODUCT NAME VERSION VENDOR NAME
8,343 99% Oracle E-Business Suite 12 Oracle Corporation 8,207 97% PeopleSoft 8.0 PeopleSoft, Inc. 8,133 97% SAP R/3 July 2003 SAP 8,017 95% Sage ERP X3 6.1 Sage
7,975 95% Epicor 9 9.05 Epicor Software Corporation 7,975 95% Epicor Express 1.0 Epicor Software Corporation 7,973 95% Sage ERP Accpac 6.0 Sage
7,927 94% Deltek Maconomy X1 Maconomy NE, Inc. 7,877 94% Microsoft Dynamcis AX, © 2009 Microsoft Business Solutions 7,876 94% Microsoft Dynamcis GP, © 2010 Microsoft Business Solutions 7,854 93% AGRESSO Software 5.5SP3 Agresso Corp., Inc. 7,827 93% Microsoft Dynamics SL, © 7.0 Microsoft Business Solutions 7,821 93% One World XE July 2003 J.D. Edwards, Inc. 7,790 92% Sage ERP MAS 500 7.3 Sage
SCORE % FIT PRODUCT NAME VERSION VENDOR NAME
7,775 92% ProjectPro / Microsoft Navision, © 4.0 SP1 Wilcomp LLC 7,743 92% Syspro , © 6.10 SP2 Syspro
7,741 92% Microsoft Dynamics Nav, © 2009 Microsoft Business Solutions 7,738 92% UA Business Software UA 2007 Advanced Software Development Corp. 7,590 90% Serenic Navigator 5.0 Serenic Software
7,534 89% Exact Global Enterprise 370 Exact Software North America 7,488 89% MMS / SouthWare Excellence Series , © 12.0 BTM Solutions 7,482 89% Fourth Shift 7 7.0 SoftBrands
7,470 89% SouthWare Excellence Series , © 2011 SouthWare Innovations, Inc. 7,417 88% Infor SyteLine 7 7 Infor
7,358 87% Infor SyteLine 6 6 Infor 7,341 87% Sage Pro ERP 7.5 Sage
7,329 87% Vantage 8.03.400 Epicor Software Corporation 7,261 86% Sage ERP MAS 90, © 4.4 Sage
7,254 86% WinMan 7.0072 TTW Incorporated 7,240 86% Sage ERP MAS 200, © 4.4 Sage
7,234 86% AccountMate for SQL 8.0 AccountMate Software 7,233 86% AccountMate for Express 8.0 AccountMate Software 7,216 86% DEACOM Accounting & ERP Software 9712 Deacom, Inc. 7,215 86% Infor VISUAL Enterprise 6.4 Infor - VISUAL Manufacturing 7,100 84% Macola Progression 7.5 Exact Software North America 7,093 84% WINLine 8.4 Mesonic Business Software 7,011 83% Macola ES ES Exact Software North America 6,951 83% SunSystems exfm 1.3 Infor
6,882 82% TRAVERSE 11.0 Open Systems, Inc. 6,847 81% ERP Plus 10.0 b20 Verticent, Inc. 6,842 81% BusinessOne 6.80.318 SAP
6,800 81% iScala 2.3 Epicor Software Corporation
6,745 80% SX.enterprise 4.1 Infor - Sx Enterprise 6,647 79% Sage PFW ERP 5.5 Sage 6,642 79% World A73 J.D. Edwards, Inc. 6,611 78% ProcessPro ERP 7.5 ProcessPro Software 6,602 78% PowerShop ERP Software 7.00.05 MSI International 6,522 77% MPM SUITE / Open Systems, © 7.52 3rd Dimension
6,401 76% Infinity POWER Advanced Accounting, © 6.8 Data Pro Accounting Software, Inc. 6,380 76% Khameleon 7.0 Khameleon Software 6,349 75% Compiere ERP/CRM 3.1.2 Compiere. Inc. 6,167 73% OSAS 7.5 Open Systems, Inc. 6,134 73% Certiflex Dimension 9.0 The Versatile Group, Inc. 5,937 70% 4thQuarter_Accounting 8 Braided Matrix, Inc. 5,895 70% Sage BusinessVision - Standard Edition 2011 Sage 5,891 70% Sage BusinessVision - Client/Server Edition 2011 Sage 5,844 69% Everest Advanced 4.0.1 Everest Software 5,826 69% Datamodes TM/4 Solutions TM/4 Datamodes, Inc. 5,740 68% NetSuite 2009 NetSuite 5,625 67% Sage BusinessVision - Limited Edition 2011 Sage 5,617 67% Activant Eclipse 2009 Activant 5,607 67% Sage BusinessVision - Small Business 2011 Sage 5,488 65% CostPoint Project Accounting 3.0C Deltek Systems, Inc. 5,422 64% Sage BusinessWorks 9.0 Sage 5,419 64% Total Command 2.5 ATX
5,407 64% Adagio Accounting 9.0a Softrak Systems, Inc. 5,337 63% Carillon Financials 6.5 Pettit & Company, PC 5,262 62% Sage Peachtree Quantum 2011 Sage
5,249 62% TRX Enterprise 2.2 TRX Integration, Inc. 5,246 62% QuickBooks Enterprise 11.0 Intuit, Inc. 5,197 62% CYMA IV Accounting for Windows 11.0 CYMA 5,197 62% CYMA IV Not-For-Profit Edition 11.0 CYMA
5,168 61% Made2Manage Manufacturing Software 5.51 Made2Manage Systems, Inc. 5,145 61% FACTS 7.4 Infor - FACTS
5,000 59% ABS Accounting Systems 7.05 American Business Systems, Inc. 4,966 59% Pacifica Professional Accounting for
Win-dows , ©
8.0 Pacifica Research 4,917 58% Intacct 2010 Intacct Corp. 4,906 58% Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for
Distribution
2011 Sage 4,903 58% Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for
Construction
2011 Sage 4,903 58% Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting for 2011 Sage
SCORE % FIT PRODUCT NAME VERSION VENDOR NAME
4,899 58% Sage Peachtree Premium Accounting 2011 Sage 4,842 57% AccTrak21 13.0 AccTrak21
4,787 57% FlexiFinancials 5.0 FlexiInternational Software 4,781 57% Cougar Mountain Accounting 2009 Cougar Mountain Software 4,741 56% Flexx 6.4 Databyte Corp. 4,739 56% Deltek Vision 6.1 Deltek Systems, Inc. 4,599 55% TakeStock 5.4 Infor - TakeStock 4,527 54% Cougar Mountain Denali 2.6 Cougar Mountain Software 4,393 52% Cougar Mountain Fund Suite 2009 Cougar Mountain Software 4,341 52% TurningPoint 6.0 Red Wing Software 4,126 49% Oneir - Manufacturing Accounting 8.6 Oneir Solutions, Inc. 4,120 49% Oneir - Point of Sale 8.6 Oneir Solutions, Inc. 4,118 49% Oneir - Sales Order Accounting 8.6 Oneir Solutions, Inc. 4,112 49% Oneir - Repetitive Billing 8.6 Oneir Solutions, Inc. 4,106 49% Oneir - Job Cost Accounting 8.6 Oneir Solutions, Inc. 4,104 49% Cougar Mountain Fund 2009 Cougar Mountain Software 4,104 49% Sage MIP Fund Accounting 10 Sage
4,084 48% Vigilant - Manufacturing Accounting 8.6 Vigilant Business Software, Inc. 4,078 48% Vigilant - Point of Sale 8.6 Vigilant Business Software, Inc. 4,076 48% Vigilant - Sales Order Accounting 8.6 Vigilant Business Software, Inc. 4,070 48% Vigilant - Repetitive Billing 8.6 Vigilant Business Software, Inc. 4,064 48% Vigilant - Job Cost Accounting 8.6 Vigilant Business Software, Inc. 4,051 48% Sirius GT Accounting For Windows 7.1 Sirius Software, Inc. 3,845 46% QuickBooks Premier Edition 2006 Intuit, Inc. 3,727 44% A-Systems JobView 7.2 A-Systems Corp 3,638 43% DacEasy by Sage 15 Sage
3,626 43% Vista 4.0 Epicor Software Corporation 3,611 43% Total Accounting Office 3.5 ATX
3,610 43% Premier Accounting Small Business Suite 2007 Version 16 MYOB US, Inc. 3,610 43% AccountEdge 2007 Version 7 MYOB US, Inc. 3,562 42% QuickBooks Pro 2006 Intuit, Inc. 3,386 40% Add+On Software 6.1 Basis International 3,380 40% Series 3 7.4 MBA Software and Consulting 3,246 39% FlexWare Accounting 9.50 MacAccounting 3,190 38% Sage Simply Accounting Enterprise 2011 Sage
SCORE % FIT PRODUCT NAME VERSION VENDOR NAME
3,184 38% Sage Simply Accounting Premium 2011 Sage
2,994 36% Advanced Accounting 6.1 Addsum Business Software, Inc. 2,936 35% Sage Simply Accounting Pro 2011 Sage
2,863 34% Global Software Financial Suite 5.30 5.30 Global Software 2,826 34% Giant Office Software 8.3 Giant Systems 2,624 31% Sirius Business Accounting 3.2 Sirius Software, Inc. 2,526 30% MultiLedger 7.0 Check Mark Software 2,138 25% MRP 9000 3.6 Intuitive Manufacturing Systems 2,138 25% Down To Earth v7.0 Datavision
1,639 19% SAP Business by Design 2009 SAP
1,390 16% Interprise Suite SP 5.3.2 Interprise Solutions, Inc. 1,227 15% Sage Pastel Evolution 4.0 Software Alliance Group 1,148 14% Sage Timberline 2008 Sage
994 12% Sage Master Builder 13 Sage 6 0% Infor ERP LN 1.0 Infor
A
FINALWORDABOUTCONSULTANTSAll
consultants and consulting companies are not created equal; many will tell you that they understand your business but few seem to actually deliver. Good consultants not only implement your chosen system but can greatly assist you with the developing , implementing and training on the process enhancements required to use the software effectively. They can help you reach the full potential productivity gains available, many of which you may have not realized existed.SOMEQUESTIONSTOHELPEVALUATECONSULTINGCOMPANIES:
Do they guarantee their service?
Do they have a fixed price which is set before the start of the project? (not rough estimates)
Do they listen and communicate effectively?
Can they offer you the complete package for all your requirements with continuing support?
Do they have the expertise?
Do they have the focus to complete the engagement? (Focused on consulting) Choosing the correct consultant who can install and configure the software plus help develop, implement and train on the process enhancements required is critical to the projects and your success.
