The Civil Engineering Contractor April 2019 | Page 37

THOUGHT LEADERS
“By making them
accountable with the
carrot rather than the
stick, employees are more
freely able to communicate
problems and errors at
the same time as finding
effective solutions.”
remain accurate and valid as well as
providing the tools to fine-tune and
adjust for variations.
Productivity improvements must
be applied in all aspects, from labour
through process and procedures.
Process automation and tracking
from end to end can be achieved
by employing bespoke construction
software (construction ERP) to link
and integrate your entire operation
from initial bidding to handover
and include all elements in-between
(including change orders, purchase
orders, variations, RFIs, accounting
and
payroll,
subcontractor
agreements, and triggers).
Purchase orders should ensure
your business bills are calculated
accurately without duplication or
over/under charging. By employing
construction software that can
accurately handle purchase orders,
you can identify discrepancies while
seamlessly integrating with your
accounting systems. Efficiencies
made by eliminating, or at the very
least reducing or identifying billing
errors, are a key factor in staying on
track and on budget.
Defining goals
Defining explicit goals and measuring
your progress against them is an
essential aspect of modern business.
This should encompass immediate,
medium-, and long-terms goals
and will include elements of profit,
growth, and turnover, but considering
goals relating to employees and
customer expectations will deliver
more far-reaching results. By
focusing on more than the obvious
www.civilsonline.co.za
fiscal goals and creating a culture of
ownership and accountability, your
business can achieve an enviable
position in the market that translates
to a genuine competitive advantage.
Integrated systems and reporting
delivered by modern construction
software enables forward-looking
companies to easily track and
monitor progress against these
goals and formulate accurate and
effective remedies to catch up or
regain track where falling short.
This in turn will translate to more
effective delivery against commercial
targets and timelines. The very best
construction software available also
includes planning tools to adapt
and overcome areas such as cost
overruns and the facility to adjust
and make efficiencies elsewhere in
the overall project to stay on time
and on budget.
Incentivising employees at all levels
to achieve business bottom lines is
true forward-thinking. By making
them accountable with the carrot
rather than the stick, employees are
more freely able to communicate
problems and errors at the same
time as finding effective solutions.
This echoes the ethos of the defined
goals section and goes a long way to
improving employee motivation and
morale.
Training is not only an investment
in your employees but delivers
results for the business as a whole in
terms of process and productivity.
The pay-off in the investment can
deliver results ten-fold in terms of
productivity and efficiency, which
can save the business considerable
money (which, of course, translates
to profitability). Consider the
difference in cost of sourcing,
legalising, and training a new
employee as opposed to keeping
hold of a great existing employee.
Also consider the benefit of assisting
or training an employee who is not
quite making the grade as opposed
to starting from scratch.
Communication among the many
stakeholders and elements involved
in delivering a construction
project is the cornerstone of its
ultimate success. Gone are the
days when considerable time
and resources need to be poured
into collating data and drafting
presentations for this purpose.
Construction software can take
the bulk of this effort and work
away from the employees and
department heads, allowing them
to focus on delivering the results
rather than reporting on them.
It can also keep all functions and
departments on the same page at
the same time and better enable
them to handle challenges in a
collective and productive format.
Conclusion
No one element discussed in this
article is the answer to every
challenge and even collectively,
the points discussed form a basis
or guide to better run and deliver
success across an organisation. The
good news is, enhancements in
the tools available specifically for
the construction industry are now
available to make these elements
almost effortless, which will equate
to efficiency, effectiveness and, most
importantly of all, profitability. nn
Specialised software solutions for
the construction and engineering
industries — developed by
contractors, for contractors.
That has been our mission at
Construction Computer Software
(CCS) for over 35 years and
we have built an international
reputation for excellence in doing
just that.
CCS’s two leading software
products — Candy Estimating and
Project Control, and BuildSmart
Cost Enterprise Management —
combine to create a one-of-a-kind,
market-leading integrated project
life cycle control solution … from
first estimate to final account. It
has more than 20 000 users in over
50 countries.
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