Team work in a contracting company can be enhanced by incorporating information systems, writes David Bell of software supplier Estimation.
In any successful business, there has to be an element of teamwork - both between individuals and operational areas. And, as with any team, sharing information between members is crucial to maintaining efficiency and effectiveness.

In the context of a building-services contracting company, there are three or four areas that form the bedrock of a profitable business. Making the business as successful as possible necessitates that information is shared between these areas - and information technology can make this process much easier.

Bidding for work and winning jobs is, of course, the first of these areas. Here, the fundamental requirement is to put the estimates together as efficiently as possible and arrive at a competitive price that still allows you to make a sensible profit. In parallel, there may be scope for exploring value-engineering opportunities that might set your bid apart from your competitors.

Once the job has been won, any projected profits from the estimate will only be realised if the job is run as efficiently as possible. This applies to everything from procurement of the materials, through the management of variations and dayworks to the valuation of completed works and unfixed materials and submission of applications for payment.

Thirdly, and just as important as winning and running the jobs, is the financial side of the business; measuring and controlling the financial performance of each individual project as well as the cumulative effects of all projects on the overall finances of the business.

And, fourthly, for many contracting businesses, there is also a service and maintenance operation that may just cover warranty obligations or may operate as a separate business unit.

Clearly, each of these areas needs to be strong in its own right but they should also add strength to each other to gain maximum benefits. Yet there are still many contractors operating isolated islands of information - often simply because their systems are unable to share information in a meaningful way. Very often, such integration comes down to the functionality of the software being used in the business.

Contract-costing software, for instance, may be thought of as a financial tool because it tracks the financial health of each project. That does not make it the preserve of the accounts department, though, because it needs to be operating at the heart of the
business.

When you win a job, for example, the contract-costing package can be populated with a breakdown of estimated costs and revenue, organised into meaningful pots of information, or cost heads such as tube, valves, heat emitters etc. These budgets form the basis for comparing estimated costs with actual costs as the job progresses.

There should also be separate cost heads for materials, labour and sub-contract costs so you can compare actual costs for each of these areas. Crucially, for maximum productivity, this needs to happen automatically through the integration capabilities of the software so that analysis and reporting becomes a by-product of day to day operations, rather than an extra task.

Similarly, information from the estimate needs to flow into the procurement software to create buying lists for individual projects, for different phases of a project or for all of the company's current projects to maximise buying power. All of the vital information flows from the winning jobs area of the company. But the power to manipulate it for optimised buying lies with the running-jobs section.

Furthermore, all of this procurement information needs to be shared with the managing-the-money department as well. As each order is placed in procurement, the contract-costing module will record the details. So, at any given time, you know exactly what your committed, delivered and actual costs are on the contract, and how they compare with the budget figures.

Integration with accounts modules also ensures that each purchase order, time sheet, material and sub-contract invoice is automatically posted on to the relevant contract as a by-product of processing the payroll, purchase ledger and sub-contract ledger - along with Applications for Payment and sales invoices - and updates the ledgers in accounts.

Where a service management software package is in use, this needs to track the costs and performance of each contract automatically and flag up areas where profitability is below expected levels, just like contract costing does with installation projects.

Links to accounts software allow invoices to be raised, with all of the relevant information already laid out. Treat the various business areas as a team, bring them closer with the right software, and you are on the way to an outstanding performance.