Masonry Magazine April 2005 Page. 40
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ProjectTalk.com ASP finds it's not a problem. "We've migrated several of our clients like this who decided to start with the ASP model and then migrated to self-hosted Prolog once they were ready to install and maintain the software in-house. We've also used the ASP as a means to pilot the software for a specific project. Clients like this due to the fact that ProjectTalk.com does not require any software to be installed on their computers."
One of Project Team Solutions' customers, Lynn Masonry in Ada, Mich., near Grand Rapids, purchased a few licenses of Prolog Manager last year. Josh Irving of Lynn Masonry recalls, "Lynn has about 100 people in the field and has benefited by using project management software. The software has allowed us to simplify and streamline redundant tasks while at the same time improving tracking of shop drawings, RFls and other correspondence. Additionally, tracking and controlling Potential Change Requests in a centralized location compared with using Microsoft Excel has dramatically improved our ability to stay on top of these items. With the software, we are able to build spreadsheets, create documents, and import contacts all in a single integrated application. This has allowed our project managers to manage more work and waste less time on clerical aspects of their job. The tracking component has also reduced the number of mistakes and missed opportunities we experienced before."
Leslie Shiner, Senior Advisor at Intuit Construction Business Solutions, the company that provides Master Builder software, knows the basics a company needs: "A contractor needs to have an accounting package. Then typically, depending on what type of contractor and what their needs are, they also will have some sort of project management software. They may use Microsoft Excel or a construction management package, but they need to track certain project management things that their accounting package may or may not include. Spreadsheet programs like Excel are great to a certain extent but for accounting purposes, Excel doesn't work."
What about for project management? Shiner says, "It works if you're trying to keep track of certain things. For example, 20 years ago when I started doing accounting on computers for contractors, we would do a generic accounting package, and then we'd job-cost everything on a spreadsheet. But the problem is you're constantly trying to balance the two. We'd do the
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38 Masonry
April 2005
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