Materials

=Accu-Crete's Current Practice and Options for Estimating, Scheduling, and Production Control=

June 8, 2000

Take a look at the attached PPT slide. It will give you an overall feeling of which applications we are using for estimating, scheduling, and production control. The slides will also tell you what options we have. - Walter



=Software Review and Cleanup=

June 8, 2000

David, here are my thoughts on the software you asked us to review. Overall, my belief is that we need to commit to the ‘Big 3’, OST, Excel Estimating and Timberline as the core foundation of our control system. We can get 95% of our requirements with these three systems. We understand all three systems well, we have adequate licenses and for the most part our team is trained and has a good understanding of how to use the software. We will gain significantly from the field reporting in TL 9.6 as long as it lives up to the advertised promise and from the demo we saw it appears to work as promised. Our focus should be to make this group of tools as bullet proof as possible and continue to complete the implementation in the field. RTE worked pretty well this week, but as you would expect, we had a few glitches and a few misunderstandings on the overall process. Similarly, we will need to refine our use of OST and the Excel model as we get more experience with them. We will need to determine how we eliminate paper and duplicate data entry as much as is possible. How do we get a true closed loop system with these 3 tools.

 With these tools, we will not be limited so much in compiling good data or in producing accurate estimates due to the software capabilities as we will be by getting a consistent implementation and utilization in the field. Getting everyone really trained and to the level where they can use the daily sheets knowledgably will not be easy. Getting a consistent feedback loop from the Playbook to Estimating, will not automatically happen—we must define the process. We have just gotten started with Ridgewood and Garrett and its clear we will need ongoing training, but we can definitely get there. So, let’s focus on the Big 3 and minimize our time on more evaluations of other products for now. Doing so will get us much closer to a defined and repeatable process. - Lee


 * ** Product ** || ** Functionality ** || ** Comments/Issues ** ||
 * OST || Good functionality overall, users happy with product, no need to look elsewhere now for take-off s/w || Ability to download quantities from OST to TL is very limited (crude copy & paste) and not as efficient as our current process from OST to Excel model ||
 * TL 9.6 || Overall functionality of TL Accounting is strong and reliable. GL, AP, AR, PM, Payroll and JC work fine. No real complaints or concerns here.

I view 9.6 primarily as an enhancement of the field reporting. There are other enhancements to estimating and security, etc. and they are shown below for 9.5 and in the attachment for 9.6. However, the only real enhancement driving us to upgrade is the ability to remotely capture productivity data directly into TL. Doing so will eliminate paper copies of the daily productivity calc, eliminate duplicate data entry (now done in the field and hand entry of same data done again into excel in the office) and get the core data into TL. Doing all of this with good consistent data from the field will be a step function forward for us. || With field reporting, we will need to develop some simple reports to show __by job by task__ daily and JTD performance metrics. Will not be hard to do, but should be a powerful tool for management and to give back to the crews. || Minuses: normal spreadsheet weaknesses, extensive linking will likely lead to errors, long term maintenance effort can be high, updating of material and labor prices time consuming, no real DB capabilities ||
 * Current TL Desktop || Some core reports can be setup on the desktop, but the biggest benefit in my opinion is for users to be able to easily customize the desktop to accommodate their most frequently used tasks, reports, lists, etc. It is not a one size fits all. || ||
 * Excel Estimating || AC Excel 2.0 is a good basic estimating system. It is flexible, easy to update, has a great interface to OST – it works. We should continue to refine it over the next 6 months and only then consider whether we would help ourselves by moving to TL. We may find the excel model works just fine. || Pluses: Simple to use, flexible, export/import capability, substantial investment and AC institutional knowledge here
 * P6 || Industrial strength scheduler. We can download task level detail. Beyond having the tasks in P6, we would of course have to do the real scheduling work within the tool: resource loading, setting dependencies, identifying and working resource load issues, CPM, etc. || Not sure how far we want to take P6. We have not spent enough time working this as a team to understand what the benefits or requirements would be to develop and actively monitor a planned schedule. ||
 * Sketchup || Another cheap Google toy || Don’t see much use for us ||
 * Means Cost Works || Designed for quick and dirty estimates or for smaller companies who have not done the development we have to have a more complete system made for their unique environment || Doesn’t add much value for us now other than the conceptual framework. ||
 * Revit || I have not used this or even seen it in action. Can’t add much value for now. || ||

