Integrating Processes for Long-Term Growth

An IT professional, Hamilton determined the company needed a mobile solution with a robust construction and project focus, so he began his search for construction software that could provide those critical requirements and serve as a platform for growth soon after purchasing the company.

Hamilton liked what he found in products from two partnering construction software companies: ExakTime and Acumatica Construction Edition. ExakTime offered the mobile time tracking the team needed and was integrated with Acumatica Construction Edition, which offered robust project management features.

Tearing Down Data Silos

Roberts Glass executives used to wait months for aggregate financial data. Once deployed, ExakTime and Acumatica Construction Edition provided real-time labor and financial information.

“We’ve torn down the silos we had with the previous client-server solution, so now we have access in one view of the data,” Hamilton says. “We’re now able to see where we are cost-wise with our existing construction projects; we’re able to look at the profitability of each project, look at the customer base and understand where we are most successful.”

Besides, all project managers have visibility into what the company has completed year-to-date, what types of projects they are managing, and what’s in the pipeline.

ExakTime Provides Instant Time and Expense Management

The seamless integration allows time tracking data collected through the ExakTime mobile app to be pulled into Acumatica Construction Edition, providing real-time visibility into exact labor costs for every project.

“The information was manually input before and arrived six months down the road and was very inaccurate,” Hamilton says. Roberts Glass often ran into problems with their previous time tracking solution which would pull incorrect project and customer names. “There were a lot of manual interventions,” Hamilton says.

“Now we have the ability to enter the jobs in Acumatica Construction Edition with a job name based on what customers called it, and employees in the field can select the right job with one click,” he adds.

“ExakTime also has GPS features so it can recognize where an address is and search on it to find the job.”

The integrated software then looks in Acumatica Construction Edition to match it with the right job. “It really has increased our accuracy, what hours were worked and where employees were working,” Hamilton says. That information is delivered in real-time, which means they can see how profitable a project is instantly, not six months later.

Gaining Mobile Field Access

Hamilton’s next task is to provide field access for project managers working on a job site through Acumatica’s mobile app. That’s something they never had before.

“Our glazers may spend a half-day, or a crew may work for six or seven months on a project and travel directly to the job site each day,” Hamilton says. Because they had to rely on phone communication, some items were incorrectly communicated, some tasks were inadvertently redone, or worse, employees arrived at a job site without knowing the current status of the project.

With Acumatica Construction Edition, employees will be armed with an iPad with field notes for specific projects. They will have access to architectural drawings, any attachments, and any other information. “Before, assumptions were made, mistakes were made and it was time-consuming to try to figure out what needed to be done to complete a job,” Hamilton says.

Accounting Team Reduces Interruptions

Acumatica Construction Edition has freed up some of Roberts Glass’s controller’s time because she no longer has to look up information for others and convey that over the phone to remote workers. Previously, a lot of financial information was saved on her computer, and access was restricted.

Now, using Acumatica Construction Edition, which provides the ability to set varying levels of access and security, employees have direct access to information pertinent to their jobs. “We have dashboards, and some have their own personal dashboards where they can look at KPIs, revenue, projects we’ve bid on – all the information our controller no longer has to pull for them,” Hamilton says. “Our controller is a lot more productive without having those interruptions.”

At the same time, “Employees are more productive because they have instant access to the information they need. They don’t have to call headquarters or waste time searching for the right information,” shared Hamilton.

Strong Foundation for Growth

Acumatica Construction Edition was easy to learn and provides a strong foundation to help Roberts Glass continue to grow.

“What we’re trying to do is maximize our margins and profits by making sure we’re working on projects as efficiently as possible,” Hamilton says. “Acumatica Construction Edition has helped us grow in terms of revenue because we’re much more efficient at managing projects.”

Having data instantly available allows executives and employees to make data-driven decisions, whether in the office or at a job site. “First thing every morning, I can see what our case-load is like, what’s in our backlog, what are our active projects, and see from executive-level key indicators of the health of the business,” Hamilton says. “I don’t have to wait until the end of the month or two or three months after that to have clean labor data to learn the profitability of a job. With Acumatica Construction Edition, all of us have that data in real-time.”

While Roberts Glass has no immediate plans to expand through acquisitions, “I’m confident that if we find a business we want to acquire, we can get them going quickly with Acumatica’s cloud-based system. ExakTime and Acumatica Construction Edition have increased our job accuracy surfacing hours worked on a job and the location of the job giving us insight into project profitability,” said Hamilton.