| Improve Communication Between Field and Office for Better Job Costing |
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Construction Business Owner, November 2008 Q:I am a project manager for a busy excavating company. I've been in the business since 1989. For several years now, I've used a system of spreadsheets for tracking job costs and progress. I update some key reports daily and others weekly to keep on top of labor, materials, equipment and productivity. Recently, the company hired a new accounting manager who immediately implemented a new accounting system. Now I have a laundry list of paperwork that needs to be completed and sent to accounting each week. The accounting manager says it will help with job costing, but I don’t see the value. I already track and maintain all the information I need.Alex A:You bring up a problem that is both common and complex. And though there are a lot of unanswered questions here, the bottom line is that your job does not operate in a vacuum. Construction companies need two-way communication between the office and field to succeed and profit. Chances are you were doing a lot of your own data gathering and updating because there was no other system in place to provide you with specific job data. I hope your company's new accounting system is construction-specific and designed to work for the good of both the accounting department and field operations. Since sophisticated job costing systems serve the dual purpose of recording financial transactions and producing timely, accurate job cost reporting, you could have access to detailed job data without wasting time entering and maintaining separate information in spreadsheets. Of course, in order to take advantage of a system's extensive reporting capabilities, you will need to do your part, which is gathering field data. By communicating exactly what kind of job data you currently track and what type of reports you would like to see, you can ensure that the system will provide the information you need on a regular basis. Soon, you should have more time to do what you do best: manage your resources efficiently and make well-informed decisions. Fred Disclaimer: Technically Speaking reserves the right to change names and edit questions for privacy, length and readability issues. Comments (1)
  written by A. Larry Aaron CCE PSP CEP AVS, November 19, 2008
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If the thermostat is never turned on, it receives no feedback from the room temperature and can’t control anything, so there has to be feedback.
It’s possible your software system only meets the needs of one or a few departments, in which case it’s not user-oriented and will eventually fail. That’s like having the thermostat monitor the temperature and then provide a cooling vent to only one of the rooms that is under its control.It’s also possible that the software requires a lot of maintenance to keep it going perhaps through a lack of automation, redundant inputs, and manually entries. This may provide the control that is needed but it is not cost effective. Back to the thermostat analogy, this is like having a person with a thermometer monitoring the temperature of the inside of the room and having to go down the hall each time to compare that with the set point and then run up to the roof to turn on the compressor. It works, but it is not cost effective.
It is common today for contractors to implement software systems (many of them turn out to be Excel spreadsheets) that meet the needs of one or a few departments and then everyone else has to spend the time, money and energy to make that system work, no matter how costly it is.
If your company is like the majority that I’ve worked with, the odds are that there is a lot of room for improving the current system by making it work for all in a much more cost effective manner.