Are you researching Construction Project Management Software?  You might feel a little overwhelmed by the volume of promotional material that you are finding? Maybe you are thinking, “I’ve got to have a system, so I can make the best choice. Where do I start?”

I’ve been in construction for over 20 years. When I look at all the web sites for different construction software, I ask myself, if I were new to this where would I begin?  This is an intro to that process.

The problem:

There are hundreds of programs out there. Ask yourself these questions to help sort out what you need

1)          Are you a General Contractor?

2)         Are you a Subcontractor?

3)         Do you need Quantity Take Off software?

4)         Do you need Estimating software?

5)         Do you need Bid Management capability?

6)         Do you need Project Management?

7)         Do you need Accounting?

8)         Do you need Job Costing?

9)         Do you need Document Control?

10)         Do you want your data to be stored In-House or On-Line?

11)         Is your company union or prevailing wage or is it open shop?

The solution:

You may be tempted to think that you want everything.  However, it is important to examine what your company really needs to:

1. Work more efficiently
2. Increase profitability
3. Increase the scope of work that you can manage

Look at the systems you have in place now? Do you need to scrap what you have or should you augment what you have?

Give some serious thought to the categories of the software that you need. It’s a matter of matching what you need with the software that will meet that need.

Sort what you need into categories on a spreadsheet and then sort the available software into categories. This will narrow down your choices.

Keep in mind, the more that a program offers, the more it costs. It is possible to spend too much money getting software that is too complex for your operation.

Software can be highly specialized and won’t be appropriate for your company. Other packages are very expensive and aren’t appropriate for the size of your company or for the complexity of the work that you do.

A concrete company will have different needs than a general contractor. An architect’s needs differ from an engineer’s.

A general contractor that subs out all his work will have different requirements than a general contractor that does a lot of work in-house.

A company that does prevailing wage work will differ from one that does residential or commercial work.

Quickly eliminate programs that are not for you and focus on the programs that will work for you.

Keep working your spreadsheet and before long, your construction project management software solution will come into focus.

How accessible is the job data for your company?  Can you put your fingers on estimates, cost figures, RFI’s and lien releases, easily?  Is your job costing integrated with you estimating process? Do you worry that you are making decisions, without having all the information that you should have. Your life and your profits could be a lot better by using Construction Project management Software.

This article will spell out the four steps you need to take to choose the right software for your company.

Step 1:  Figure out what it is you need to be efficient.

The First thing to do is to talk to people.  A lot of what you need in software is probably a solution to the part of the construction management process that is frustrating you right now.  Depending on your role in the company, what it is that is bugging you, is going to be different?

If you are the project manager in the office, you’re going to have different frustrations than the superintendent at the site. Accounting will have different concerns than estimating. Estimating will definitely have some concerns. Recovering cost data from previous work is always a big plus for an estimator.

So go take a survey. Have some lunches with your key people. Brainstorm. What would make these people’s lives easier? What will improve their efficiency?  What will increase the potential capability of your company?  Don’t just talk to your managers; while your office manager may have the big picture, talk to your clerical staff, they are the ones entering data.

I once worked in an office where the business owner marched in with a new program. Everything was going on the computer. Some salesman had sold him! It doubled the work in the office. First you did what you always did, then you put it in the computer. He should have talked to us. After a month we dumped the program.

What will make it possible for your firm to do more work, or more complex projects, or work in a bigger geographic area? Maybe you don’t increase your work volume, but you increase your efficiency, decrease your cost and increase your profit. What will make your life more fun and less stressful? These questions are a good start to figure out what you need this software to be able to do.

Step 2:  How complex is your operation?

The solution has got to fit the problem. Choose the software that best suits your operation. Software can be broken down into four categories.

A)         Microsoft Excel. Ok, there are other spreadsheet programs, but this is the big one.  For many projects you can get a lot done with Excel. Contacts, lists, schedule, estimates. I’d draw the line at accounting, but you can do that with QuickBooks. These programs are not that expensive and they can go a long way to help a simple operation get organized.

B)          You can acquire individual software packages to do separate tasks. Plan Swift does a great job of doing on screen takeoffs. American Contractor provides a lot more sophisticated accounting. Microsoft Project will work for your scheduling. These or other programs are a great upgrade from just using Excel, without the expense of buying a big package.

C)          The next step is the integrated construction project management software packages for medium sized companies. This is one program that does a bunch of things. You can get packages that will do your estimating, accounting and job costing. And, will integrate this information  to facilitate future bids, profit analysis, efficiency studies, etc. You can manage documents and create and monitor your schedule. Sometimes these packages are sold in modules so you can get just the features that best suit your operation.

D)         Now we are talking about the big dogs in the project management software arena. These programs are for the huge, complex firms doing a lot of sizable work, scattered over a big area. This is Halliburton scale software.

So, when looking at software, concentrate on the package that is scaled for your business. If you’re the one-man shop, don’t waste your time looking at the big dogs.

Step 3:  Check out the software. Research Time.

Ok, now you have an idea of what you need your software to do, it’s time to do some research into what different software packages offer. I’m going to skip reviewing Excel and QuickBooks here and go on to the software packages.

A)         Go on-line, punch in “construction project management software”. You will be presented with this web site as well as a bunch of others. Most are web sites for software companies. Start checking them out. Get an idea of what they do and what they cost.

Start a spreadsheet to record your observations. What will the software: do, cost, take to implement, what is the software company staff’s attitude, anything, and everything? Put it all on a common spreadsheet so you can visualize which software offers which advantages.

B)         Make some calls, talk to the sales people, ask for demonstrations. They can do this by presenting their computer screen on your monitor, while they talk to you on the phone.  They can walk you through the whole program. Are there free trial periods available so you can play with the software? When you start narrowing down what will be right for you, go back for another demonstration to see what you missed. Try doing entries yourself Take notes! Features, price, write it all down on your spreadsheet.

Get the sales staff to document all the costs associated with this product? This should include: Initial costs, ongoing maintenance costs, upgrades, annual tax tables, phone support, training and help with implementation. Know what your costs will be before you commit.

Go through the list, you will get quite an education just going through the demonstrations. You will learn about capabilities that you didn‘t know were available. Note the sales people’s attitude. Is this somebody you want to work with? Do these people care what you need or are they just focusing on selling you what they have? Consider what this software will do for you vs. how much it will cost. This change is supposed to be making you more profitable.

C)         Consider implementation.  Once you’ve narrowed down your choice ask yourself, will your staff utilize this software?         How will they like it?  What do they think of it?  Get a demonstration done where your key staff can be part of it.  It is important to get your staff’s buy-in before you make your final decision. You want them to embrace this change, to be excited about it.

D)         Get references from the salespeople for others that have implemented this program. Call them; go see the program in action. Benefit from their experience with this management tool.

E)         What will you have to do to get up and running?  Is there training available?  Is there help available to get the program set up? What is support like? Are there consultants available, in your area, to help you solve set up problems?

Step 4:       What’s it going to be; making the decision?

This is the time to go get a cup of coffee and think about it. Sleep on it! Talk it over. Have a meeting. Go over your choices.  Not to add to the pressure, but there’s a lot at stake here. You are going to spend some significant cash and invest a boatload of time getting this program up to speed.

On one hand there’s the question, what’s the cheapest way to get the management that I need? And, on the other hand, what is going to serve me best, both now and in the future.

Go over your spreadsheet. Review the product literature.  Call up the salespeople and check out that point that concerns you. Review the assumptions you made about what you need and what you are getting. Call another reference.

There’s going to be times, when integrating this software into your operations when you will hit a snag and will need somebody to come fix it. Contact your support person and be sure they are capable,they  have sufficient staff, the expense is reasonable and they are people you want to work with.

Now it’s time to make the call. It’s up to you. You don’t want a salesperson to be the decider. You the boss! You “The Man”! Or, “The Woman”! Where is your company going?  Where do you want it to go?  What will help you to get there? Make your decision and get to work on implementation.

Wrapping it up:

Having the decision behind you is a relief. You know what you’ve signed up for. You know what the task ahead is. You know what you need to do. You’re starting a new era in construction project management. Software can be your friend. It will help you be efficient and help you make better decisions.

You can spend more time with your head up looking to the future than with your head down, looking in the files. Take the time to really master this software. Make it your helpful assistant. Have fun making it perform for you, get everything you can out of it. It’s your life and your business!