Classic Fire and Life Safety Reduces Financial Risk with Procore

The Challenge

Looking to get organized, Classic Fire and Life Safety, a fire protection contractor and service provider throughout Canada and the Southern US, adopted Acumatica, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system with a built-in project module. But the company soon realized it needed more than a module to manage its complex, rapidly expanding business, leaving them in search of a more holistic project-management platform.

The Solution

What the company needed was a solution that could bring all of its locations, talent and people together on a single platform — while also integrating seamlessly with its ERP. After a thorough search, Procore emerged as the clear winner. It was the only construction software that the team was already largely familiar with, and, most importantly, the only one purpose-built for construction.

The Results

• Having one platform where all project data lives and is shared across the company’s 17 locations gives everyone a clear, current view of each project
• The company now has the data and insights it needs to conduct thorough analysis of its projects, making it clear how it is performing before completion
• By seamlessly integrating with the ERP, Procore allows forecasting based on critical data like man-hour usage and for better management of essential resources

Procore was the obvious choice for seamless ERP integration

Classic Fire and Life Safety is a specialty contractor with a unique footprint. Based in Ontario, Canada the company has multiple offices across Canada and two outposts in the Southern United States, plus two sister companies that handle fabrication and design engineering. As a well-regarded specialist in fire and life safety systems and equipment, the company takes on all types of construction projects, from 5 million square foot industrial complexes to residential buildings. Managing resources across such a breadth of territory and projects has always been a challenge, especially as the company has experienced rapid growth in recent years, often through acquisition.

About two years ago, Classic adopted an ERP system with a built-in project management module. The idea was that the ERP would streamline functions like budgeting and payroll, while the module would help everyone get on the same page regarding construction projects. “The ERP was strong,” says Dave Groen, Vice President of Construction, “but we quickly realized that the project module was not what we were looking for to handle project oversight.”

The search was on for project management software that could bring all of the company’s locations, talent and people together on one platform while integrating with the ERP. Groen and his team considered a range of options, but the decision turned out to be easy. “At the end of the day, Procore stood alone,” he says. It was the only solution that was already familiar to much of the team, having used it through GCs on many previous projects, and the only one that “really is built for construction companies to execute projects.” Most importantly, Procore promised easy integration with the ERP. “We knew it was the right product for our team.”

Discovering the power and versatility of Procore without a GC in control

Despite their experience with Procore as users on their clients’ account, the Classic team was pleasantly surprised at just how useful it was once they brought it in-house to manage their own operations. “If you use Procore through your GC, it’s really just a repository for your drawings, a share file,” says Groen. “When you get Procore as your project delivery software or engine, you are driving the bus, and you have the power to do almost anything you want in regards to oversight of your projects.”

Even with more than a dozen locations and hundreds of people across Canada and the US, Classic found that Procore gave its people 360-degree visibility, reducing the risk factor on large, remote projects. “We can meet and go over the data and analytics of how the project's going and understand where in the process it is,” says Groen. “Procore really gave us the functionality to be able to bring our entire team together and to execute and understand what's happening on our projects.”

ERP integration allows for more efficient forecasting and timely adjustments By integrating with Acumatica, Procore empowered Classic to combine that greater insight into each project with its financial data. That means having a better idea of a project’s success far earlier in the process, resulting in more accurate forecasts and better allocation of resources. “Allowing our project management team to have access to labor costs, upcoming purchase orders and materials that are coming to site allows them to understand where they are in the forecast of the project’s success,” says Groen. “That gives us the opportunity to properly arrange our finances to improve our standing on that project.” “Without that visibility,” he adds, “we wouldn’t understand how successful the project was until it was nearly completed,” depriving them of the opportunity to make adjustments along the way. “Procore allows us to stay on schedule, understand where a project sits financially and drive for improvement on projects that maybe aren't doing as well.”

Procore’s ERP integration has also helped Classic reduce time wasted on duplicating efforts. Rather than input information on multiple platforms, employees can now import data uploaded to the ERP directly to Procore, which can then share it with complementary platforms like Microsoft BI. “We have the ability to run our construction projects in the process we want, and it can go either way,” says Groen. “It can go into the ERP and out to Procore, or it can come into Procore and into the ERP.”

The company keeps expanding, and Procore keeps paying off

What started as a search to extend the functionality of their ERP ended with a transformation of Classic’s approach to its business. With Procore and the ERP working seamlessly together, the company has been able to continue its rapid growth without losing a step. “Procore gives us the visibility we need into all of our construction projects across two countries,” says Groen. “We can reduce the risk in our portfolio, manage the projects better and support our staff wherever they are.”

“On all levels, the return on investment has been quite large,” Groen adds. “It's been a huge success for us.”