Case Study: Software Selection – Highway Contractor – Massachusetts
Client
Highway and Paving Contractor with material production and sales
Client Size
$50M to $200M
(Annual Revenue)
Problem
The company had an old custom system. In addition, many side systems had been developed that were not integrated into the core system. A recent system crash had lost much of the historic data in the equipment maintenance system. Several processes were off line and were being performed manually. There was no integration with estimating or equipment management and accounting. Also, there was no integration between the small job T&M billing system and the core accounting system.
Unique Challenges
The equipment maintenance managers had definite ideas about how they wanted to manage the equipment department. This resulted in requirements that were beyond the norm for construction software. Also, the custom software either had to be replicated or integrated to eliminate some of the manual efforts. Some of the accounting people liked the old custom system so well that they were looking for a replacement system to work just like the old one.
Approach
Burger Consulting Group worked with the various departments to develop requirements very carefully to ensure that each group would be represented in the Request for Proposal (RFP). A fully integrated solution was selected that was highly tailorable. Though the implementation was arduous, the system was able to be adapted to meet the needs of each of the groups. Result After a somewhat lengthy implementation, with substantial data conversion and software tailoring, the company has moved from its core accounting and several of the side systems to the new software. Data redundancies have been substantially eliminated and the new software has been successfully implemented.
Lessons Learned:
- Tailorable software is valuable when a company’s needs are very diverse
- Implementing tailorable software can be a difficult process but worth it if the need is there