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Industry Insight Tips & Advice

Go Mobile: 5 Reasons to Transition to Mobile Devices for Construction Reporting

Construction is a unique industry, where most of the work takes place off-site. This can lead to unique communication challenges, many of which have been reduced thanks to mobile technology. 

In the 2021 Construction Technology Report, the annual survey found that every year since 2018 over 90% of respondents is using smartphones daily. During the same period, tablet use has been increasing. Construction companies are increasingly recognizing the value of going mobile.  

Here are the top five reasons construction companies use mobile devices on the job, according to the survey: 

  • Daily reports 
  • Photos and video
  • Time management 
  • Safety management 
  • Drawing management 

While most companies are actively adopting mobile technology, some still rely on tried-and-true paper documentation. Due to the nature of the work, this can lead to project delays and added costs due to rework. Adopting mobile technology has several benefits for construction companies. 

Benefits of going mobile

  1. Better communication

Construction projects require almost constant communication between team members and the office. A lapse in communication can lead to errors and rework. Using mobile devices allows workers to communicate with the office and other team members while still in the field. There’s less wasted time in meetings and going to the office. Improved communication leads to better outcomes in the field, reducing errors and rework. Team members’ questions get answered quickly and efficiently without downtime. 

  1. Access real-time information

Many mobile apps allow field workers to provide input to and pull up reports, drawings, and emails without leaving the field. Project managers can see budget reports at any time, so they know where the project is. Supervisors can access productivity reports and compare them to past reports. Team members don’t have to wait for reports to be generated, they can access them when they need them. This allows them to make better project decisions quickly, avoiding schedule delays. 

  1. Improve productivity

With access to data at their fingertips, workers spend less time in meetings, going to the office, and on phone calls. They can spend their time actively working on the project, instead of looking for lost documents, timecards, or other paperwork. Productivity is maintained and efficiency is improved through the use of mobile technology. 

  1. Improve organization

Mobile apps provide document management, helping workers find the information they need when they need it. Workers no longer have to spend time looking through multiple folders on a shared drive or combing through files in a truck. Drawings are automatically marked with revisions, making it easy to know when you’re working with the current version. This helps prevent mistakes due to lack of communication and reduces rework. 

  1. Integration

Integrating information between the field and the office improves productivity, prevents mistakes, and improves organization. Workers spend less time reentering data into multiple systems and are able to be more productive in their work. Data entry mistakes are reduced, and information is available at the touch of a button, instead of waiting for lengthy reports. 

Premier Construction Software allows teams to communicate in real-time, from the field and the office. This improves communication, gives teams access to real-time data, improves productivity and organization, and is completely integrated. The mobile connection saves companies time and money on slow paper processes. It helps ensure that everyone is working from the same data at the same time. 

If your company is ready to go mobile with your project management and accounting software, contact us for a demo or to answer any questions. 

Author Biography:

Dawn Killough is a construction writer with over 20 years of experience with construction payments, from the perspectives of subcontractors and general contractors. Dawn has held roles such as a staff accountant, green building advisor, project assistant, and contract administrator.  Her work for general contractors, design firms, and subcontractors has even led to the publication of blogs on several construction tech websites and her book, Green Building Design 101.

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Tips & Advice

Is Manual Data Entry Costing Your Business? Why Automation is the Solution

If you think that investing in software to automate your systems will cost you more money than doing everything manually, you’re not alone. Many businesses operate under the assumption that paying for automation is more expensive than paying people to do things. The truth is there are hidden costs to doing things by hand, and those costs can significantly affect your bottom line.

We’re going to look at the hidden costs you may not realize you’re incurring by doing your data entry manually. The magnitude of some may surprise you.

1. Increased error rate

Workers entering data manually, without verification, can have an error rate as high as 4%. That means for every 50 entries, two are wrong. In an experiment in 2009, it was shown that data entry workers made up to 10.23 errors when entering data from thirty spreadsheets. This is the nature of human data entry.

When errors involve money, the stakes are high. These errors could lead to over-and underpayments, over-and undercharging customers, disruptions to the accounting and auditing processes, and may lead to financial trouble. Data entry errors have cost companies millions of dollars.

2. It takes time

Manual data entry takes time. The average typist can perform 10,000 to 15,000 keystrokes per hour. Depending on the amount of data and its form, it can take even the fastest typist hours to perform data entry. If the data requires comprehension or analysis before entry, this slows down the process even more.

It could take a competent operator between 8 and 10 minutes to enter 400 units of data. This may not seem like much, but if the volume of data is high, it can cost your company valuable time that could be spent on other workflows, like analyzing the data.

3. Can’t focus on important business tasks

With so much time spent ensuring that the data entered is correct and finding and fixing errors, there is no time left to work on the business. Managers spend their time ensuring that the data they’re reporting is accurate and less time actually analyzing that data. A survey found that 37% of manufacturing professionals don’t trust the reliability of manually entered data when making strategic decisions. If you can’t trust the data you’re getting from your team, how can you grow your business or take on additional work?

4. Inhibits business growth

When management receives data, it often makes decisions based on that information, whether it’s correct or not. These decisions may inhibit the growth of the business. For example, a costly mistake can lead managers to believe a project is over budget when it’s not. They then make moves to cut company spending to protect the company, when instead, they should be investing in future growth.

5. Hidden costs

Most companies think automation costs more than entering data by hand. The truth is there are hidden costs to entering data manually. There’s the obvious labor to enter the data, then more labor to check for mistakes, and more labor to fix the mistakes. At each level, it becomes more expensive and time-consuming to detect and correct mistakes.

It has been shown that incorrect data can cost companies up to 30% or more of their revenue. In particular, a 2018 Goldman Sachs report stated that the direct and indirect costs of manual paper invoice processing are $2.7 trillion for businesses around the world. The hidden costs of manual data entry can be enough to make or break your business.

6. It’s boring

Continually spending days or hours doing mindless data entry can lead to employee dissatisfaction and turnover. When workers spend hours keying in the same information, they are bound to lose focus, which increases errors and leads to frustration. Data entry work is repetitive and tedious. 55% of employees in a survey cited the collection, uploading, and synching of data as the least productive part of manual data entry. When employees don’t feel productive, their morale lowers and they are then more prone to make mistakes.

Automation is the solution

How can companies save themselves the time and money that is lost through manual data entry processes? Automating as much as possible is one way to recoup these costs. By using machine learning and automation, the software can automate much of the data entry process, leading to fewer mistakes and speeding up the process.

Premier Software uses AI, machine learning, and automation to speed up invoice entry and other repetitive tasks, so you can spend time working on your business and less time entering data. For a demo of how our automation works to save you time and money, schedule one today.Author Biography:

Dawn Killough is a construction writer with over 20 years of experience with construction payments, from the perspectives of subcontractors and general contractors. Dawn has held roles such as a staff accountant, green building advisor, project assistant, and contract administrator.  Her work for general contractors, design firms, and subcontractors has even led to the publication of blogs on several construction tech websites and her book, Green Building Design 101.

 

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Accounting Industry Insight Mobile Trends & Technology

Mobility in the Construction Industry

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The construction industry is one of the largest and oldest industries in North America. In some areas it is at the forefront of innovation, and yet is oddly still hesitant to progress in others.  In today’s modern era of construction there are few features that can give as great of an advantage as mobility.

As mentioned in an article on Wired.com , the ability to access live data on the go allows Project Managers, Architects and Engineers to effectively operate multiple projects simultaneously and increase productivity during travel and out of office visits.

So what exactly is a mobile solution? Well for starters, it’s a system that when implemented, allows you hassle free access to live data in any setting and across multiple platforms I.E. your laptop and mobile device. True cloud based software allows you to enter live data and update on the go which ensures that everyone on your team is in sync and up-to-date. Cloud based Accounting and Project Management software provides you access to your data anytime, anywhere, on any device.

With current technology, it is very simple to implement a mobile solution for your construction business of any size.  Devices like the Microsoft Surface or the Chuwi ci8 Plus are capable of running full versions of Microsoft windows which gives you access to the full functionality of software that is too complex for a smartphone, while also maintaining the portability and ease of use of a tablet.  In addition to cloud based software, there are also Mobile Apps that will allow subcontractors to do time entry, daily job logs, and photo captures from the field that update to your projects in real time.

The time to take your business mobile is now. It is 2016 and there is no excuse to limit your own productivity or the productivity of those you employ, to traditional Construction Project Management and Accounting systems. The demands of today’s construction industry are higher than they have ever been before – Mobile Solutions represent the best way to reach new possibilities.

 

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Industry Insight Resources Trends & Technology

Premier Announces Integration with Microsoft Project

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Jonas Premier, a leading integrated cloud construction software solution, announces integration with Microsoft Project, a leader within the project management software industry. Phase 1 of this integration is set to be released in early December 2015.

Markham, Ontario, Canada (PRWEB) October 23, 2015 —

 

The goal of this integration is to enhance the accessibility of schedule information, allowing employees across the business to view project schedules from one central location. Any time a project schedule is updated, the revised schedule is automatically updated within Jonas Premier as well. This eases the burden of sharing schedules via email, which reduces the issues of viewing an outdated schedule and making decisions with inaccurate information.

 

Parham Mousavi, Director of Operations with Jonas Premier, is excited about the benefits this integration will provide, “With this integration between Jonas Premier and MS Project, existing Premier clients will not only be able to save time by having project schedules updated automatically, but they will also experience greater accessibility with all schedule information stored within the Jonas Premier system. All project schedules will be accurate and available in real-time, providing our clients with the confidence to make better decisions moving forward.”

 

The integration between Jonas Premier and Microsoft Project makes sharing project schedules easy, as everyone with access to the Premier system can view Gantt Charts, critical paths, schedules, and more, all in real-time. By automating this process, there is no requirement to import or export documents, which can be time consuming and cumbersome. Through a simple push of the button, project schedule information is made available to any Premier user, at any time and from anywhere through the integrated Jonas Premier cloud server.

 

Phase 2 of this integration, set to be released during Q1 of 2016, will further enhance this integration by providing Premier users with the ability to push estimated and actual costs to Microsoft Project, automatically creating the cash flow report in the process. As the project progresses, this integration will be able to automatically populate costs as well. This can be done instantaneously with a simple push of the button, saving a lot of time in the process.

 

About Premier

Premier is a fully integrated, cloud-based construction accounting software solution ideal for General Contracting businesses. Running in the cloud, it provides you with the ability to access and input key business information anytime, anywhere. It is built on modern software architecture, fully flexible and is simple to use. The complete offering for contractors includes: Accounting, Job Cost, Subcontract Management, Billing, Progress Billing, T&M Billing, Financials, Project Management, Bank Management, Purchase Order, Inventory, Time Entry, Integrated Document Storage, Field Mobile Apps, and Vendor and Customer Portals

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Trends & Technology

Premier Construction Software Permission Levels and Security

Cloud Protection and Security
Cloud Protection and Security

Cloud software provides your employees access to any information at any time, right? The answer is only if you want it to. Premier Construction Software is partnered with one of the world’s most trusted hosting providers, Microsoft Azure, which ensures your data is always available and secure. Premier allows the administrator to set up various security levels by company, division, job or menu design in order to provide or restrict access to certain groups or individuals.

 

Once the security levels are set, you have the ability to control what users can access and do. Within the software, users can set up read-only privileges and control who has access to view, post and or approve key documents. For example, key users can enter and edit change orders but the approval itself can be restricted, or a user can enter in a purchase order or an AP invoice but they will not be permitted to post them.

 

The security levels you assign to users is critical as it sets proper controls and makes it easier to hold users accountable.  A full audit trail, revision tracking and an automatic document storage system makes it easy to find an entry or any particular posting history. Another benefit to setting up proper security levels from the start is the capability to remove menu options for certain users which creates a cleaner and more user-friendly working experience. Permission levels are usually defined during the initial implementation stage but are easily adjusted as users are added.

 

Cloud software promotes collaboration by creating an environment that is secure and easily accessible for all important parties such as your colleagues, vendors and clients. Premier takes that security to an even higher level – it allows you to set up external third party access for your subcontractors and customers. Using this feature, they can easily log-in to a portal to get immediate access to view or approve documents related specifically to their projects. Using advanced security parameters, you can define which type of document is available within the portal (i.e. invoices, change orders, payment applications, quotes etc.). Premier accomplishes this by using a fluid permission levels system that does not hinder productivity while simultaneously allowing everyone to remain informed and continue being part of the team.

 

Now you can manage, access, and protect your data while gaining visibility and increasing communication within your team!