The life blood of every construction project regardless of size is cash flow. If you can't effectively manage cash flow on a project it reduces profitability and opens the door to hidden (and not so hidden) risks. Over the course of time your ability to control, adapt, and direct cash flow will be what makes or breaks your company.
How easy is it for you to get a real time update of your cash position? How accurate is it? One huge advantage of Viewpoint Construction Software is that it allows your to set up an on-screen dashboard that tracks cash accounts in real time. You never have to wonder. You're cash position is always just a glance away. Viewpoint also gives you the ability to directly enter account transfers, interest charges, bank charges and make the corresponding General Ledger entries automatically. Not only does it save your staff time it cuts down on errors and makes your entire accounting system more robust. The system can be also be used for bank reconciliation of cleared checks, deposits and adjustments. Think of how this could impact the cash flow forecasts or projections for new projects. Not only can you make a more accurate assessment of how much work will be completed each week and how much you will be able to bill for but it will also give you flexibility to make adjustments to the projections with confidence. By comparing forecasts to actual disbursements and receipts you can start a virtuous circle of better forecasts that feed into better managed cash flows. The cherry on top? With Viewpoint dashboards you can make this work visible. There are a host of ways that Olsen Consulting can help you squeeze more value out of any ERP system but we pride ourselves on building tools that let companies make realistic AND profitable estimates. Cash flow management is just the thin edge of the wedge.
Another key to long term success is the ability to negotiate favourable contract terms. It can be critical to have payment terms and schedules that are in your best interest. That usually means the billing schedule reflects the upfront costs of things like materials and delivery but also accounts for when they are installed. Viewpoint can handle all of this and more. It gives you the ability to pull reports on cost control on a moments notice and integrate that data with the accounting and operations departments. For example with Viewpoint you can issue multi-company and inter-company payables with the same invoice.
Working with multiple vendors and subcontractors increases the complexity of contract terms by an order of magnitude (sometimes more). With Viewpoint you can set up warnings for vendor compliance for things like insurance or licensing a feature that helps to catch issues before they have a chance to spiral out of control. The more you can simplify and automate parts of your contracts the better. Viewpoint can make it easy to schedule payments either as work is completed or after expected receipts from your clients. There's also the ability to run reports that compare quoted and actual costs on subcontracts and purchase orders.
How does you company handle change orders? Could your system be improved? We regularly hear from our clients that change orders are difficult to track and that they eventually reduce the clarity and transparency of the original contract. It's important to stay crystal clear on what you can and what you cannot charge for. Luckily Viewpoint has a whole suite of tools for document management that can help. First and foremost the system minimizes common challenges of document archiving. It offers intuitive tools for attaching, indexing and routing documents throughout your organization. Currently using a blended paper and digital workflow? Capture all your documents, index them and store them in the database with batch scanning then drag-and-drop them into emails and send them out to pre-defined distribution groups. Imagine the overhead costs and the time you can save by automating these processes. Viewpoint can act as a bridge that slowly transitions your organization away from paper systems that are no longer necessary while also improving the reliability and tracking of paper based systems that are vital to your workflow. Change orders are just one pain point among many that that good document management can ameliorate. Olsen Consulting is happy to offer a free consultation on any work flow problem. Process automation and efficient document archiving are just the beginning of what's possible.
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