Successful project managers have many responsibilities, such as managing budgets and resources, running meetings, planning and scheduling, and analyzing meetings. This workload may be overwhelming on a busy day. Here is where using a construction management system comes in handy as it automates time-consuming tasks.
Due to the countless number of construction management systems in the market, here are the features that every solution should have.
Job Costing
Any construction workforce management software needs to have the ability to set standard rates for various types of construction services provided by your company. It should also determine the cost for every contractor, employee, supervisor, and production manager.
Furthermore, it should produce actionable data, manage project timelines, generate purchase orders, create invoices, and track expenses.
Field Management
The upsurge in job sites makes it challenging for project managers in the construction industry to supervise fieldwork in all locations. Thanks to advancements in technology in the construction industry, you can find a system with a field management feature to let project supervisors create and communicate essential project plans.
This feature also helps the boss assign tasks, capture daily results, improve scheduling, and keep in touch with team members.
Accounting
Construction project expenses need close monitoring, and the best way to achieve this is through a construction management solution that incorporates accounting capabilities. This accounting feature should be able to automate various accounting functionalities like accounts payable, accounts receivable, payroll, work order entry, etc.
Reporting
An outstanding construction management system gives the project managers control over all data, generates several types of data reports, groups and summarizes data, and generates a valuable analytic report to enhance decision-making.
This report should produce accurate and real-time data reports that enable exporting to third-party systems, help project supervisors assess project standings, and schedule automatic report delivery.
Service Management
It would be wise to get a construction management system that can handle and dispatch work orders, manage contractors, produce schedules, book jobs, meaningfully allocate construction equipment and assets, and efficiently manage a workforce. Some advanced systems incorporate dispatch with GPS technology; this enables the dispatch team to distribute tasks to the nearest technician.
Seamless Integration
If you have ever run into problems trying to integrate two systems, you certainly know the significance of ease of integration. Instead of buying a standalone construction management system, it is worth acquiring the one that effortlessly integrates with the already existing systems in the company.
Document Management
You could increase the chances of misplacing your documents if you store them in different computer systems.
Also, managing manual processes like job costing, daily reporting, and requesting for information (RFI) can be problematic without document management software. Buying a construction management system with document management features helps you lessen filing time and time used to retrieve documents.
Summing it Up
If you are searching for the best system to solve your problems, you should consider choosing a system with excellent reporting capability and one that lets you access your project in a single place.
Similarly, select a solution that easily integrates with other solutions as you might need it to integrate with other systems used by your team.