You’ve got a slick cost estimating system that generates bids quickly and accurately, complete with line item quantities, costs, and “what-if” scenarios. Meanwhile, accounting upgraded from QuickBooks a couple years ago and is generating detailed job cost reports on demand. Sounds pretty efficient, huh? Not necessarily.

The only way to know for sure is to examine how well the two departments – estimating and accounting - are working together. And if you are still using spreadsheets and QuickBooks, the answer is probably, “not so good.” So what’s the solution? Integrating your two systems, or going with one system that does both.

Seamless Integration: Everybody’s Doing It
“Integrated” certainly has become a buzzword in the construction software industry. Fact is, unless your estimating, job costing, and accounting systems are truly speaking the same language, your “integrated” system is nothing more than pipes of different sizes duct taped together. So let’s take a look at how truly integrated construction software systems work to increase efficiency in your estimating and accounting departments.

Letting Employees Do What You Hired Them to Do
Construction executives typically have employee efficiency at the top of their minds. Efficient employees who are focused on their tasks are well on their way to creating profitable projects. If they are instead spending lots of time on double entry, cutting and pasting data, and miscommunicating with other departments, that’s money lost.

Let People Work the Way They Need To
Software that allows one department to estimate in apples and the other to track costs in oranges would be best. An ideal system would also be able to make sense of the two different data types – essentially mapping which apples correspond to which oranges – without time-consuming and often error-prone human intervention in the middle.

Fortunately, this is exactly the level of flexibility and intelligence that truly integrated systems provide. Estimators can still create detailed bids, generate purchase orders, and send data over to the job costing module. Since the software does all the heavy lifting in the middle, nobody has to consolidate data or enter it twice.

Making Sure Your Data Counts
When data comes in from the field, labor costs tend to get consolidated to conform to cost codes. The solution is a system that can handle different data sources and make sense of them without human intervention. An integrated system or two systems that “speak” the same language will provide this flexibility.

So integrating processes sounds great, but what can it do for your business? By taking in and sharing data between departments, you’re able to control communication and eliminate guesswork. This “cradle to grave” integration results in greater transparency into your company’s operations, allowing you to address issues as they arise and base your decisions on solid facts.

Conclusion
As most construction businesses grow, software integration usually is not at the forefront of the owners’ minds. Fortunately, it is never too late to step back and implement an integrated system. Once the software is in place, it essentially starts paying for itself by improving employee efficiency, presenting accurate reports on company performance, and allowing you to better manage your business and projects in real time. And during a slow market, running a tight ship is even more critical. So if you are still looking at your reports with skepticism, get on the ball and integrate your software. Your employees and your bottom line will thank you.

About Software Advice
Software Advice is a free service that helps construction firms find the right cost estimating & takeoff software tools for their organization. Visitors to the Software Advice website can read insightful articles, learn best practices, compare products and build a short list of software vendors to contact for further research.