In the construction industry, managing projects efficiently is critical for success, but it’s just one part of running a thriving business. From handling finances and tracking resources to managing client relationships, you need an ERP system that covers every aspect of your operations. That’s where Acumatica Construction Edition comes in. As a complete ERP solution, Acumatica brings together all your essential business functions in one platform, including built-in tools that help you keep your projects on track and within budget.
Acumatica’s features provide everything you need to manage the day-to-day aspects of your construction projects. And when your projects demand even more specialized capabilities, Acumatica integrates seamlessly with advanced tools like ProjectManager, Procore, or Asite, offering the flexibility to choose the solution that best fits your business needs.
Acumatica’s Built-In Project Tools
Acumatica provides a robust set of tools designed to help you handle the complexities of the construction process from start to finish. Let’s break down what Acumatica delivers and how these tools benefit your project managers and project teams:
Real-Time Job Costing and Budget Management
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica allows you to track all project costs in real time, including labor, materials, and equipment, ensuring that you stay on top of your project’s financial health and meet project goals.
Why This Is Important: In construction, unexpected costs can quickly lead to budget overruns. With Acumatica’s real-time cost tracking, you can monitor every expense as it happens, compare it against your project budgets, and make adjustments as needed. This gives you better control over your project’s profitability and helps prevent financial surprises down the road, ensuring a successful project.
Daily Field Reports
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica allows field teams to submit daily field reports in real time, documenting key job site activities such as weather conditions, work performed, potential safety hazards, and material usage. These reports are instantly accessible to the construction team via the Acumatica platform.
Why This Is Important: Daily field reports provide essential, on-the-ground visibility into what’s happening on-site each day. By streamlining the reporting process, Acumatica ensures that important details about the job site are recorded and shared immediately, reducing the chance of poor communication. It also helps to quickly address any potential risks or delays that may arise, keeping the project timeline on track.
Photo Logs
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica’s photo logs feature allows field teams to capture and upload images of the job site directly into the system. These images can be linked to specific tasks, locations, or issues, providing visual documentation of project progress.
Why This Is Important: A picture is worth a thousand words, especially in construction. Photo logs provide a visual record of job site progress, safety conditions, and potential issues. This feature not only helps with tracking progress but also serves as valuable documentation for stakeholders and project managers, ensuring that any claims or concerns are backed by visual evidence and aligned with project scope and project milestones.
RFIs (Requests for Information)
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica simplifies the RFI (Request for Information) process by allowing contractors or subcontractors to submit RFIs directly through the platform. Each RFI is tracked from submission to resolution, ensuring that all project-related questions are addressed promptly.
Why This Is Important: RFIs are critical for resolving ambiguities in project plans. Acumatica’s RFI tracking helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks, reducing the risk of delays caused by unresolved questions. By streamlining the process, it helps maintain a smooth flow of communication between teams, enabling effective communication and ensuring that the construction process moves forward without unnecessary hold-ups.
Project Issues
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica allows project managers to log and track project issues as they arise. Each issue is recorded in the system, categorized by priority, and can be assigned to specific team members for resolution. Issues can also be escalated to RFIs or change orders as needed.
Why This Is Important: Construction projects are dynamic, and issues are bound to occur. Acumatica’s issue tracking ensures that problems are addressed in a timely and organized manner, preventing small issues from escalating into larger problems. This proactive approach helps mitigate risks and keeps the construction team focused on achieving project success.
Submittals
What Acumatica Delivers: Acumatica’s submittal management feature allows you to track the approval process for project submittals, such as materials or product specifications. The platform automates the submittal workflow, ensuring that every approval is documented and completed in a timely manner.
Why This Is Important: Submittals are a vital part of the project life cycle, especially when it comes to material approvals and specifications. Acumatica’s submittal tracking ensures that these important documents are reviewed and approved without causing delays in ordering or fabrication. It helps keep the project timelines intact and avoids potential bottlenecks.
When You Need More: Tailored Project Integrations
While Acumatica’s built-in tools provide everything you need to manage most construction projects, some businesses and industries require more advanced features. That’s where Acumatica’s flexibility shines. By seamlessly integrating with industry-leading tools like Procore, Asite, and ProjectManager, you can choose the solution that fits your company’s specific needs and business requirements, adding even more functionality when necessary.
These integrations offer a range of advanced capabilities that enhance and complement Acumatica’s core features:
Advanced Punch Lists and Task Management
What These Tools Deliver: For large, complex projects, managing punch lists and detailed task dependencies is critical. Integrating one of these tools allows you to track every final task and ensure that nothing is overlooked during project closeout. You can also benefit from more advanced task hierarchies, Gantt charts, and resource allocation features.
How This Adds Value: Punch lists are essential for completing construction projects to client specifications. With advanced punch list and task management features, you can ensure that every last detail is tracked and resolved before handing over the project.
Enhanced Collaboration and Communication
What These Tools Deliver: These integrations provide additional collaboration tools, such as document version control, real-time updates, and team communication features that keep all project stakeholders connected and informed, even across multiple locations. Flexible workflows built into Acumatica’s workspace improve communication between field and office teams, ensuring the communication plan stays on track.
How This Adds Value: Construction projects often require coordination between large teams across different sites. With enhanced collaboration tools, you can ensure that everyone is working with the latest updates and that decisions are made quickly and efficiently, reducing the risk of delays and helping meet key project milestones.
Detailed Resource and Schedule Management
What These Tools Deliver: For projects with intricate schedules and tight deadlines, these tools offer detailed scheduling and resource management features that allow you to track dependencies, manage workloads, and adjust timelines with precision. The comprehensive project workflow dashboard provides a holistic overview of all project tasks and schedules.
How This Adds Value: Large projects can easily fall behind schedule without proper resource and timeline management. Advanced scheduling features help you stay on top of task dependencies, resource allocation, and progress tracking, ensuring that your entire project stays on schedule.
Inspections, Observations, and Reporting
What These Tools Deliver: These tools allow you to capture inspection reports, manage on-site observations, and store meeting minutes—all within Acumatica’s platform. These tools help identify hazards, document project status, and ensure compliance with safety regulations.
How This Adds Value: Regular inspections and observations help mitigate risks and ensure safety on construction sites. With comprehensive reporting features, you can track project compliance and maintain a historical record of issues, decisions, and resolutions.
Acumatica + The Right Project Tool: A Complete Construction Solution
Acumatica provides everything you need to manage your construction projects efficiently, from job costing and scheduling to collaboration and real-time reporting. But when your projects demand more advanced functionality, Acumatica’s ability to integrate with Procore, Asite, or ProjectManager gives you the flexibility to choose the solution that best fits your business needs.
By selecting the right integration based on your specific project requirements, you can enhance collaboration, improve task management, and ensure that your projects stay on schedule, helping you deliver project success every time.