Construction Software Review .com

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EPCWORKS FOR OIL AND GAS REVIEW

There are plenty of accounting and construction project management programs available, but when Bantrel needed a new application to manage budgets, commitments and actual costs in both dollars and hours, and to generate various monitoring and management reports, it turned to its in-house IT professionals to create a custom solution. The result was EPCWorks.

"The program is compatible with various engineering, procurement and accounting software programs used by the company," said a Bantrel employee who uses the program. "Our product is best-suited to our needs because of its compatibility with other software used by the company and the fact that it was custom-built."

Bantrel, which provides engineering and construction services to large oil refineries, wanted to eliminate a good chunk of the data entry often associated with construction project management tasks. "There is less data entry, with information automatically downloaded from other software programs. It is more systematic and timely in terms of the data," the reviewer said. "I like the direct-downloading of engineering quality reports from engineering and the actual hours from payroll software into EPCWorks. And it has a host of other features that, when used, make it an excellent tool for project monitoring and control."

Improvements could include more user friendly custom reports and the ability to download reports and other information into a spreadsheet, he said.

The user gave EPCWorks a rating of 7 out of 10.

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?
 
How long have you been using this tool?
 
Where did you obtain it?
 
How much did you pay?
 
How are you using this product?
 
Why did you pick this product?
 
Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one? What was it you didn't like about them (or made    this product better)?
 
Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed?
 
Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?
 
Can you estimate how much time or money you saved or other measurable benefits your firm realized using this    tool?
 
What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?
 
Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?
 
What would you change about the product if you could?
 
Are there features that you don't use? Why not?
 
Who would you recommend use this tool?
 
How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?
 
Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?
 
Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help? What was your experience like?
 
How would you rate the user documentation? Is it helpful?
 
When the next version of this software comes out, will you upgrade to it?
 
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool?

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?
Bantrel does engineering and construction of large oil refineries.

How long have you been using this tool?
Two years.

Where did you obtain it?
It was developed by our parent company Bechtel.

How much did you pay?
I do not know.

How are you using this product?
We use it for managing budgets, commitments, actual costs in both dollars and hours, and to generate various monitoring and management reports like performance reports and cost reports.

Why did you pick this product?
EPCWorks was developed in-house and was a corporate decision. The program is compatible with various engineering, procurement and accounting software programs used by the company.

Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one? What was it you didn't like about them (or made this product better)?
Comparable construction project management products on the market that I know of are Prism and the like. Our product is best-suited to our needs because of its compatibility with other software used by the company and the fact that it was custom-built, so to speak. Again, it was a corporate decision.

Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed?
I am more efficient in terms of data-retrieval and generating reports. There is less data entry, with information automatically downloaded from other software programs. It is more systematic and timely in terms of the data.

Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?
The accuracy, reporting and use of performance report generation have greatly improved all my projects.

Can you estimate how much time or money you have saved or other measurable benefits your firm has realized using this tool?
That's beyond my capabilities.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?
I like the direct-downloading of engineering quality reports from engineering and the actual hours from payroll software into EPCWorks. It also has a host of other features that, when used, make it an excellent tool for construction project management, monitoring and control.

Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?
I do not know how much we paid.

What would you change about the product if you could?
I would make the custom reports more user friendly and add the ability to download reports and other information into a spreadsheet.

Are there features that you don't use? Why not?
No.

Who would you recommend use this tool?                
I cannot recommend it; it is a custom-built construction project management tool for the organization, and I am not sure about its compatibility with commonly used, off-the-shelf software. The software is appropriate for Bantrel Project Controls, Project Engineering, Procurement, Payroll and Accounting.

How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?
Beginner to intermediate.

Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?
It just took a moderate amount of training.

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help? What was your experience like?
Yes. It was very good and helpful.

How would you rate the user documentation? Is it helpful?
I do not use it.

When the next version of this software comes out, will you upgrade to it?
Yes.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool?
7