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Construction: Features & Benefits

Project Configurator

Imagine state-of-the-art software that walks you through project management moment by moment. With Axional ERP Project Mgmt., the full team of experts involved with a project (architects, engineers, clients, general contractors, project managers and others) collaborate over the internet to complete the project.

Construction projects normally involve a highly variable process filled with approvals, paper handoffs and meeting or teleconference notes. The resulting complexity, duplication and rework can all be easily managed with this software.

Axional ERP Project Mgmt., streamlines the management of construction activities. It speeds approvals, manages retention, and controls cash flow. It tracks the construction activities of your project the way you want all in a real time, on-line, paperless environment.

Architects and engineers approve submittals, while clients and general contractors gain increased management control. Insurance representatives can review incident reports, photos and eye witness accounts.

This cutting-edge software was developed using DEISTER SOFTWARE Web Technology because it assures clear communication and easy data transfer between different users. And it's easy to use. A browser and approved access to the secure project web site is all that is needed. With this Axional ERP module, clients or other approved participants record, store, organize, report or inquire about any part of the project from any location. Everybody involved benefits from increased productivity in the field and in the office.

Using an unlimited work breakdown structure, you have the flexibility to define each phase, task and sub-task of any project, contract or job. All of your costs, including labor, materials, outside processing, work in process, overhead and other expenses, are captured at each WBS level for immediate or future analysis. And inventory may be segregated by project, task or manufacturing process.

The Projects Module keeps you in control by managing deliverables, milestones, progress billings, budgets and percent complete, as well as any other user-defined events, according to the terms and conditions of your contracts. Powerful interactive analysis screens detail the exact status of all project activities across your enterprise, so you never have to guess.

Unlike most other systems, which only allow you to choose one cost type for budgeting and cost tracking and then individually import/ export information to get others, Axional ERP Projects concurrently compiles six different cost types: actual, average, standard, level, FIFO and LIFO. This tremendous flexibility makes it easy for you to get all the information you need. And if you work with the government, Axional ERP Projects will accommodate the different contract and invoicing types required.

The Projects module is so flexible, you can view every aspect of your project at any time and get up-to-the-minute information you need any way you want it from start to finish. As a result, Axional ERP helps you track variances and stay within your budget. Plus, it lets you add alerts and rules into system and when you do vary, the system will automatically let you know the moment it happens.

 
Features

Powerful and feature packed modules help record, store, organize, report, and inquire about virtually everything that takes place on the job site.

  • Site Management: Allows you to access the daily reporting activities, and log all important telecommunications with the construction team, including the architects, owner reps, subs, etc. With the use of a digital cameras, you can maintain a log of all the site progress in pictures. It also allows the team to schedule activities and monitor them using your favorite scheduling program.
  • Project Management: Allows project managers to track approved and pending changes to contracts, subcontracts and purchase orders.
  • Cost Accounting: The Cost Accounting module allows project managers and superintendents to track job cost on their projects. It integrates with the accounting system and allows the team to view all invoices paid, cost estimates, actual amounts, production figures entered in the field and calculates projections to complete for every cost item.
  • Risk Management: Through this module, the organization can reduce its risk. Warning lists show expired insurance certificates for subcontractors that are logged in the field. Incidents on the sites can be reported and resolved in a timely manner. The module also tracks bonds and litigation in order to ensure that the job site is a safer place.
  • Cost Accounting: The Cost Accounting module allows project managers and superintendents to track job cost on their projects. It integrates with the accounting system and allows the team to view all invoices paid, cost estimates, actual amounts, production figures entered in the field and calculates projections to complete for every cost item.
 
Benefits

The following benefits are achieved:

  • Management Control: You maintain control on all aspects of the project. All information including the financials is at your fingertips.
  • Reduce Paper Work: Reduces the amount of paper flow and the need for copying the different parties. All concerned can see the same information from any location.
  • Standardization: One system, and one standard for the whole company, reducing new employee learning curve.
  • Accountability: Each is accountable for his/her contribution to the project being completed on time and within budget.
  • Reduce Overhead: Staff can concentrate on critical aspects of the job thus saving time and money. Support staff can manage the details easily and more effectively.
  • Integration: Integrates with the financial information and makes it easy to retrieve information from any location.
 
Other Module Highlights

General:

  • Multi-project, multi-company, multi-warehouse and multi-currency capabilities
  • Unlimited phases and tasks for unlimited projects, contracts and jobs
  • Classing, grouping and internal codes
  • Automatic and/or manual entries from subsystems
  • Provides a true profitability picture of all projects in combination or individually
  • Ensures no activity or cost is overlooked or uncollected
  • Schedules materials, capacity and human resources
  • Manages every aspect of your contracts so you can deliver on your commitments
  • Reduces potential for engineering and workcenter bottlenecks
  • Pinpoints possible conflict areas
  • Identifies and notifies you of variances as they happen

Analysis

  • Cost, expense, revenue, labor and profit analyses
  • Graphic project analysis
  • Unbilled revenue recognition

Budgeting and costing

  • Budget at any work breakdown structure level
  • Labor, subcontract and expense mark-up
  • Cost of money
  • Overhead
  • Earned value analysis

Real-time project status reporting

  • Comprehensive, real-time project status including budget, actual and variance by phase, task and subtask
  • Gives you incredible management control with the ability to view any project, contract or job at any point
  • Desired information can be instantly pinpointed with query capability that takes you from summary to source document on a single screen
  • Drill up, down and across entire system with ease

Scheduling

  • Schedule one or multiple projects
  • Estimated completion
  • Job classes within timeframes and required dates

Tracking

  • Proposal and milestone tracking
  • Responsible parties at each level
  • Actual completion

Accounts Payable

Proper management of accounts payable can substantially impact your company. Constant on-line inquiry of vendor invoice status permits a great degree of control over cash. Invoices selected for payment by the due date may be timed with greater accuracy. More realistic forecasts of cash needs can be produced. Discounts can be taken on more payments. The Accounts Payable System provides the ability to efficiently and profitably manage payables.

Benefits For The Construction Manager

  • Reduce administrative costs with rapid access to accurate payables information
  • Keep cash in bank longer by ensuring correct timing of payment to vendors
  • Improve cash management by providing cash requirement forecast by job and vendor
  • Control disputed invoices while recognizing the cost
  • Retainage reporting
  • User-defined master file fields so you can keep track of unique items related to your suppliers or subcontractors

Tools For The Construction Accountant

  • Optional automatic calculation of invoice discount amount
  • One-step processing of prepaid invoices and handwritten checks
  • Single entry update to General Ledger and all applicable software applications
  • Optional interface with purchase orders
  • Magnetic media processing by vendor
  • "Hold Payment" option on any or all payments for a vendor until released for payment
  • Separate tracking of retainage payables for subcontractors
  • User-defined aging periods
  • Multilevel security by individual or by company
  • Simplify the process of data entry:
  • Duplicate invoice validation
  • Unlimited General Ledger/Job Cost distributions per invoice
  • Automatic default data
  • Ability to make entries for multiple General Ledger months
  • Accrue state and local use tax
  • Subcontractor retainage amount entered by dollar or percent
  • Establish due date for each invoice
  • Invoice discount amount entered by dollars or percent
  • On-line verification of all required information
  • Improve the efficiency of the check-writing procedure:
  • Multiple checks produced for the same vendor
  • Payment selection by vendor, due date, job ? all or manual ? with on-screen totaling of cash required
  • Partial payment capability
  • Selection of remittance statements or check stub detail
  • With MICR capabilities, instantly print checks to greatly reduce the need for handwritten checks

Accounts Receivable

The management of accounts receivable can have a significant impact on cash flow and net profit. The Geac Accounts Receivable System gives the accounting manager control of customer invoicing. Customer statements are aged and automatically updated. Service charges can easily be applied. Through efficient tracking of receivables and faster collections on past due accounts, the Accounts Receivable System can positively influence your bottom line.

Benefits For The Construction Manager

  • Manage your cash flow with timely aging reports
  • Consistent current receivables reporting, with retainage receivables always shown separately
  • Save time with quick access to information by inquiry or reports
  • Better manage cash flow on a job-to-job basis with posting to Job Cost
  • Increase cash flow with timely statement processing
  • User-defined master file fields so you can keep track of unique items related to your customers

Tools For The Construction Accountant

  • User-defined aging periods
  • Multiple jobs per customer
  • History of paid invoices maintained
  • Single-entry update to General Ledger and all applicable software applications
  • Retainage is shown separately in all aging reports
  • Full data base with credit information
  • Simplify the process of data entry and processing
  • Automatic calculation of due dates
  • Unlimited General Ledger distributions per invoice
  • Verification of customer number, job number and General Ledger account

 
Freefrom Billing/Contract Billing
  • Allows the contractor to quickly and easily enter and print invoices, thereby improving cash flow
  • Ability to include information specific to individual customers with freeform billing
  • Maintains up-to-date accounts receivable with automatic updating
  • Assures accuracy when calculating requisition and retainage amounts/percentages on contract billing invoices

Freeform Billing Features

  • Creates or modifies an invoice with the ability to use freeform text
  • Multiple levels of subtotals
  • Charges items directly from your own price list to the invoice
  • Option to have the Accounts Receivable application automatically assign invoice numbers or assign your own number

Contract Billing Features

  • Generates requisitions for prime contracts
  • Can enter customer contract amounts and retainage in either dollar or percentage amounts
  • Automatically updates accounts receivable
  • Produces invoices that indicate: contract value, previous draws and retainage and current requisition and retainage
  • Option to use automatic invoice numbering or assign your own

General Ledger

The General Ledger forms the core of the accounting system. All other accounting modules (Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Payroll, etc.) report to and update the General Ledger. Multi-company situations are easily handled by the system. Future period processing is supported, allowing the flow of accounting data to continue uninterrupted by month-end or year-end closes. Reporting options show the flexibility of the system. Up-to-date information is continuously available with supporting detail and inquiries on-line.

Benefits For The Construction Manager

  • Respond quickly to changing conditions in the marketplace through immediate access to current information via inquiry and reports
  • Better analyze your company with information displayed the way you like to view it with special formatting of financial statements
  • Know which departments are profitable with Profit and Loss at the department/ division level
  • Reduce the amount of audit time with accurate, detailed distribution reports
  • Avoid having to close a month or year before you decide it is time to close
  • Better management of your current year with comparisons against the previous year

Tools For The Construction Accountant

  • Fully integrated to all applications
  • Handles prior month and prior year adjustments
  • Allows multiple open accounting periods
  • Any basis of accounting to record income and expenses
  • Automated monthly and annual closing
  • Automatic reversing journal entries
  • Automatic recurring journal entries
  • Multi-company processing is supported
  • Each company has the ability to have:
    • Different chart of accounts
    • Different fiscal year-end
    • Different financial statements
    • Different accounting bases
  • Consolidated financials
  • Optional use of a supplied chart of accounts
  • System integrity insured by system self-auditing
  • Multilevel security by individual or by company

Vendor Management

Maintain complete control over your materials suppliers and subcontractors by implementing a purchasing system and tracking all aspects of each subcontract relationship to manage costs and job progress. Also, print and track signed lien releases to protect against the potential of construction liens.

 
Purchase Orders

The Purchase Order System provides accurate control over the vendor invoice process. Overpayments are brought under control. Once a purchase is approved, you are assured that invoices will conform to the coding structure originally budgeted for the job.

The Purchase Order System reflects committed costs in the Job Cost application, allowing Construction Managers to view valuable projected cost information which includes commitments from purchase orders. Purchase Order application provides the control that is essential for today's Construction Managers. It is fully integrated with Job Cost, Accounts Payable, Inventory and Equipment Costing.

 
Subcontracts

Subcontracts reflect committed costs in the Job Cost application, allowing Construction Managers to view valuable projected cost information which includes commitments from subcontracts.

Through interfaces with Accounts Payable, Job Costing, and Lien Waivers, the Subcontracts module compiles a history of change orders, vendor billings, payments and retainage. This application presents a concise record of all activity and is an indispensable tool for the management of construction subcontracts.

 
Lien Waivers

Lien waivers are often the last item to manage on a timely and accurate basis in an office. Lien Waiver application can improve efficiency by producing professional, accurate and timely lien waivers. This application lets you focus on other decisions by controlling the printing and tracking of waivers easily and quickly.

Customer Management

Track all related contract information and associated invoice and payment information to effectively manage the customer relatationship. Specialized invoicing methods are available to satisfy customer-billing requirements.

Benefits For The Construction Manager

  • Understand when a piece of equipment is costing too much by viewing essential costing information
  • Quickly and easily charge jobs with appropriate charge rates and descriptions
  • Reduce time spent handling equipment charges and increase accuracy with an integrated Equipment Costing module.
  • Reduce equipment administrative work with rapid access to equipment records
  • Allow management to make more informed decisions by seeing equipment costs by job
  • Allow management to effectively evaluate charge rates and therefore, have more accurate costing and estimating information
  • Permit costing information to identify when equipment or vehicles become too expensive to maintain

 
Prime Contracts

A continual flow of information on receipts and costs is required to effectively manage contracts. The Prime Contracts module provides this essential information.

Through interfaces with Accounts Receivable, Job Costing, Progress Billing and Contract Billing, the Prime Contracts module compiles a history of change orders, billings, receipts and retainage. This application presents a concise record of all activity on any contract. The information available through this system is an indispensable tool for the management of construction contracts.

 
T&M Billing

Production of customer invoices can be one of the most time-consuming operations in a construction office. With T&M Billing application, billings can be generated automatically, allowing you to produce invoices faster and enhance cash flow.

T&M Billing will also produce cost-plus billings when appropriate. You have the ability to decide how much or how little detail to include on an invoice. Once an invoice is produced, the system will update Accounts Receivable. Not only will you be able to quickly and efficiently bill the client, but you will also be confident that all the contractors' costs are being recovered and billed.

 
Equipment Costing

To effectively manage equipment, it is essential to keep accurate records of maintenance costs, revenues, location and profitability of every piece of equipment. The Equipment Costing module allows the contractor to track all pieces of equipment on these and many other factors. The package also charges the jobs by taking the charge rate times the hours used on a particular job and cost code. By maintaining up-to-date records on costs, repairs and usage, the equipment manager can maximize the life span and profitable utilization of equipment. This information provides the construction accountant with a higher degree of control over cost and revenue allocation as well as rate structures.

Equipment Costing offers contractors a useful and flexible tool for management of equipment. By keeping track of equipment use and repair, unexpected downtime can be prevented, and as a result, jobs can be completed on time.