|
Field Marshal
Spectrum creates integrated data system to ease jobsite paper chase
 |
| Spectrum Mobile, a new module for its Spectrum Construction Software, enables field supervisors to submit daily field reports to the main office quickly, easily and accurately |
utomating processes with software that tracks equipment, manages invoice approvals and change orders, and provides real-time answers about schedules and margin variances can save companies overhead dollars and give them the data to address problems early.
Spectrum Construction Software from Dexter & Chaney, Seattle, has helped Colacurcio Bros. Construction Co. Inc., Blaine, Wash., to grow 10-fold during the past 15 years, adding project managers in the field but no administrative personnel, says Chris Colacurcio, chief financial officer and secretary/treasurer of the firm. He began using the software in 1992.
“I’m running the financial department with the same sized crew as back then,” Colacurcio says. “Every time Spectrum got better, it increased our capacity to do more work with the same amount of people.”
Spectrum offers 27 general construction modules to manage everything from accounts payable and receivable to work orders. Cost varies depending on modules chosen and the number of users. More than 1,000 companies use the software, first developed more than 25 years ago. Colacurcio uses all of the modules.
“One key benefit is the level of integration the ability for everybody in every function of the company to look at the same data in the same way at the same time,” Colacurcio says.
Colacurcio Bros. has stopped the unproductive paperwork shuffle. The accounting department logs an invoice in as soon as it arrives, codes it for a specific job, scans it and electronically routes it to the appropriate person.
“Nothing gets lost, and the project manager doesn’t face a basket of paperwork,” Colacurcio says. “He or she can approve or send it back to the person who originated it to seek a change.”
With a few clicks, Colacurcio can check that approvals take place in a timely manner or intervene when a bottleneck occurs. If a large invoice needs an executive to sign off on it, the system will route it appropriately. Once everyone gives the OK, it flows to the accounts-payable module.
The scanned document allows the project manager to view the entire invoice as submitted. The software’s optical character-recognition feature lets people search for words contained within the invoice.
“They can find [an invoice] quickly,” says Brad Mathews, vice president of marketing for Dexter & Chaney. “It’s like searching Google.”
Meanwhile, because the invoice was logged into the system, the management team can access up-to-date job-cost reports needed for cost-to-complete estimates.
“It’s an early-warning system,” Mathews says. “It saves the project managers precious time, which they have too little of, but it also gives them better information sooner.”
The project-management module allows the company to track requests for information and change orders. As soon as a problem crops up or an owner changes something, the project manager logs in the request, adding photos of a plumbing/ductwork conflict, for example, or a copy of the document with the client’s approval.
“The project manager captures that information at the earliest point in time and tracks it through with the subcontractor and owner until it becomes a change request,” says Colacurcio. At that point, it flows into accounts receivable. “The integration is important,” he says.
Colacurcio says he can use the equipment-tracking module to estimate if the company needs to own less equipment than it would otherwise because management knows where every item is located and who is responsible for it.
“We never have a problem with larger equipment, but as we have grown, there is an increasing importance on keeping track of smaller equipment that signifies a significant investment in dollars,” he says. “If I know where all of my pipe lasers are, and each is a $3,000 to $6,000 investment, I may not need six. I may only need three.”
Mathews says that users find the software brings people from across the organization together, building a team that works well together.
Dexter & Chaney
9700 Lake City Way NE
Seattle, Wash. 98115-2347
800-875-1400 or 206-364-1400
Fax: 206-367-9613
www.dexterchaney.com
|
