Can Accounting and Project Management Play Nice?

A crisis has broken out across the nation’s construction industry: contractors everywhere are being robbed in broad daylight, and not by a man in a mask, but by the siloed software solutions they use to manage their project and financial data. Like a pickpocket on a crowded street, money is being pulled from their profit margins and it’s all because their systems don't allow for integration.

Background…

Until recently, accounting has been the primary gatekeeper of financial information in the construction industry. Construction teams have had to rely on accounting for the latest financial data, often halting their day-to-day tasks to wait for the information. This dependency has restricted project teams from staying on schedule, created communication issues, and caused projects to go over budget. Without access to financial data, mistakes are made and money is lost.

Maintaining siloed sources of information is the last headache a contractor needs.

According to JB Knowledge’s 2015 Construction Technology Report, 66.8% of builders are using three or more software applications in their construction roles. Juggling this many different sources of information throughout the lifecycle of a project can become disorganized, frustrating, and risky. The construction industry relies on collaboration and sharing information amongst all stakeholders to deliver projects on time. With dozens of subcontractors to manage, owners to keep happy, and deadlines to follow, contractors should not be wasting their time keeping track of all their data.

Operating on disconnected systems leads to three major hurdles for contractors today:

• Overcommitted budgets
• Overlooked mistakes
• Overwhelmed project teams

In an industry where minor slip-ups can make or break your business, it’s critical to have accurate, timely control over how financial changes impact your construction projects. 

You should have it all.

Developers of accounting software have begun to see this disconnect and several have created project management tools to connect to their accounting solution. These tools, however, are out of their expertise and none have been successful at creating an all-in-one system that covers all aspects of both processes. 

We don’t want to reinvent the wheel; we want to make our customers successful and we believe that they should be able to continue using their preferred accounting system along with a best-in-class project management solution. Finally, consumers aren’t forced to choose between top-notch solutions – they can have both.

So, can accounting and project management play nice?

Procore set out to solve this industry problem by connecting accounting solutions, such as Sage 300 CRE, directly to their project management system. 

Over 220 construction teams are using our Sage 300 CRE Connector to:

• Avoid errors and dual-entry with synchronized project cost data
• Maintain accurate and secure financial data in Procore
• Forecast confidently from the field with real-time access to financial information from your accounting system
• Solve communication issues between accounting and project managers

Procore client, Eric Weatherwax of BBL Construction shared, “we have been able to cut costs substantially thanks to real-time forecasting, derive a much greater understanding of what resources we need for each stage of the job, and save on unnecessary labor costs and other significant on-site overhead.”

Sylvia Lamas from Wells Construction adds, "Since we started using Procore, over the last year we were able to increase our sales by over 60%. We know that without Procore we wouldn't have been able to handle that amount of work." 

What else is on the horizon?

Several other accounting integrations are in the works, including QuickBooks, Dexter+Chaney’s Spectrum, and more.

This focus on accounting integrations has allowed our users to sync project and cost data into one integrated system of platforms. By untethering the project team from the office, our clients now have confidence in their financial data and can make decisions from the field. This seamless flow between project and cost data offers a major savings in time, effort, and efficiency, resulting in improved accuracy and a greater ability to control budgets and forecast in Procore. 

Learn more…

To learn more, download Procore’s free webinar, ‘An Introduction to Procore and Our Sage 300 CRE Connector: A Client Case Study,’ to hear Procore’s Group Product Manager Mark Bennett, and our client, George “Jock” Liles from Liles Construction Company, discuss the process and benefits of implementing the Sage 300 CRE Connector. 

Already a Procore user? Learn more about Sage 300 CRE here.