Construction for Sage 50 Accounts integrated with evaluate

Environmental sustainability is always at the forefront of Dunton Environmental’s design and methodology. Concern for the environment and a desire to see it restored is one of the driving motives behind the development of the team’s method technologies and environmental products.

With services approved and regulated by the Environment Agency under license, the company’s portfolio of completed projects include both major PLC companies and public organisations.

CENTRAL SOURCE OF INFORMATION

Dunton Environmental made the decision to review its company systems so that a central source of information could be made available to everyone in the business, managing everything from pre-contract and proposal through to execution and job completion. One of the main drivers behind the need to update the existing accounting and contract management solution was the requirement for full integration with an existing bespoke works management system.

Dunton Environmental previously used Sage 50 Accounts, Sage Job Costing, and a manual Excel-based estimating system. This was very basic in functionality; extremely time-consuming, with very limited reporting functionality and no integration with other systems. So all job and bid information had to be manually re-entered into other systems, opening up the opportunity for human error when re-keying data. Since the business was already using Sage 50 Accounts and the team was happy with the accounting functionality it offered, it made sense to consider an industry-specific offering that integrates with Sage 50 Accounts.

IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION

After looking at Construction for Sage 50 Accounts, along with EValuate, the decision was made to implement and integrate both of these solutions across the business, with some bespoke work to also integrate the company’s existing works management solution. Victor Osondu, IT Coordinator for Dunton Environmental, says “Implementation consultants came out on site and helped with everything, they provided a fantastic level of support and the implementation ran smoothly, to budget and to schedule. The training provided was brilliant and all of our members of staff now feel fully supported and able to use the new systems. Our staff were also supported to become engaged with the whole project, the consultants made sure they understood the reasons for changing, and the benefits the new systems were going to bring them day-to-day. A great level of service!”

SEAMLESS DATA MIGRATION

Victor also explained how the data migration process was seamless. “This included transfer of all relevant cost codes for resources staff were already using, helping to provide a very smooth transition for everyone involved.”

Dunton Environmental has staff using all areas of the programs, their estimators primarily use EValuate and their project managers look at the post-contract valuations, giving them the ability to oversee projects, including the costs and margins associated with these. The accounts department is then left to focus on the core accounting functions, no more managing requests for project updates or costs for example, everyone has access to the information they need.

Since implementing Construction for Sage 50 Accounts and EValuate, Dunton has seen huge improvements across the business with regards to regular sharing of information and quick, easy visibility across all projects for everyone.

Victor says, “EValuate has proven itself very simple and easy to use. We can now transfer cost codes and resources quickly and simply from one project to another, from one estimate to another. Reporting is a matter of a few clicks and all the information that our project managers need is right in front of them. This has significantly improved our bid submission times, a major benefit as we are able to bid for more projects and ensure we never miss a bid deadline.”

IMPROVE RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

There is also agreement across the senior staff members that they now have a better management of resources since implementing the software; they can control their projects in real-time and ensure all their resources are being managed in the most effective and cost- efficient way. The senior management team can look at current resource allocations and costs and now use this to inform critical business decisions. Victor comments, “If we can manage our costs more effectively this cuts costs for our clients, improving our ability to win repeat business and supporting our growth plans. Our software is critical in providing us with the solution to do this.

“ICA has been a fantastic additional module giving us extensive reporting capability, just what we were looking for. Reporting is so quick and easy now; we have full drill-down functionality into all projects and costs, across multiple projects or one by one – it’s great!

“We have invested heavily in software over the last 12 months, ensuring we have the systems in place to support our growth and expansion over the next few years. Scalable software that can grow with us was a very important factor in our decision-making process. Eque2’s software suits our long-term objectives and will allow us to build and grow our plans over the next five years.”