"According to the CFMA's 2008 Information Technology Survey for the Construction Industry, 71% of contractors are using scheduling software. Such software allows a contractor or project manager to build project timelines, track critical paths and dependencies, manage resources and supplies, initiate and track workflows, provide audit trails and track change requests. Want to know more about scheduling and resourcing software before you buy? Then read on for product overviews, unbiased end-user reviews from construction professionals and competitive analysis about an array of estimating software tools."

Ezy Estimator by Ezy Estimator

Ezy Estimator software features advanced data entry, accurate cost calculation, automatic task scheduling, time and cost tracking, advanced reporting, personalized formulas and more. The software was designed to provide users with a flexible system that can be tailored to suit all businesses ranging, from manufacturing to construction to corporate, the vendor said.
 

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Primavera P6, Primavera Contract Manager Software Review

Product: 
P6
Fivestar: 
0
Review Summary: 

About two years ago, Transnet Capital Projects implemented several Primavera software products, including Primavera P6 v6.1 and Primavera Contract Manager v11. The company is still phasing in the products, but Brett Sandham, TCP’s Primavera specialist, said the company is more effectively controlling costs and managing schedules and resources.

Overall, Sandham rated Primavera software a perfect 10 out of 10 and indicated that TCP intends to use Primavera for future enterprise resource planning needs.

How long have you been using this tool?: 

We implemented Primavera software about two years ago.

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?: 

TCP works on a wide range of large capital projects.

Where did you obtain it?: 

We purchased the software from Primavera UK.

How much did you pay?: 

Terms of bulk package bundles are confidential information.

How are you using this product?: 

We use Primavera software for tracking schedules and costs, as well as for resource management.

Was this product compatible with the software programs you were already using?: 

TCP was a newly formed entity to manage several of South Africa’s infrastructure upgrade. We have still not integrated our Primavera software with SAP.

Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one?: 

Primavera software was chosen prior to my involvement, though I understand that Primavera’s dominance in the large capital project market was the deciding factor.

Before you bought this product, were you using a different one to do the same job? : 

No, as our company is a new entity.

How many people are using this software? : 

We have 200 P6 licenses, 200 Web Access licenses, 200 Contract Manager licenses and 600 Timesheet licenses.

Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed? : 

Historically, projects managed by divisions were delivered late and way over budget.

Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?: 

Due to our organization being new, we have yet to get the best out of software. Nonetheless, we are effectively controlling costs and managing schedules on most projects (we have hundreds on the go). Going forward, we intend to do more effective resource planning, as Primavera has outstanding capacity planning features.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?: 

Sophisticated scheduling capabilities, capacity planning and cost control are the best features of Primavera software.

Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?: 

Definitely.

What would you change about the product if you could?: 

The built-in report writer could be improved. Moreover, the integration between Contract Manager and Primavera P6 is limited; however we are managing costs and schedules separately.

Are there features that you don't use?: 

There are several, as we are still phasing in usage of Primavera software. TCP rolled out several initiatives simultaneously (including SAP), which has resulted in a much longer embedment process.

Who would you recommend use this tool?: 
  • For P6 -- Planners and schedulers mostly, but also project managers.
  • For Web Access -- project managers, resource managers and other management personnel.
  • For Contract Manager -- cost engineers, contract administrators and managers.
  • For Timesheets -- all users whose time is billable against projects, or whose input is required to progress the status of activities.
How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?: 

Timesheets, Contract Manager and Web Access are easy to use. Primavera P6 is a very sophisticated product and does require experienced users.

Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?: 

If implementing in a mature organization, Contract Manager training can be done within a few weeks. Primavera P6 takes over a year to truly master. This would be much less if you have planners who are already experts in other products such as Microsoft Project. (One must be careful to differentiate between planning and software skills.)

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help?: 

The Primavera / Oracle support is outstanding.

How would you rate the user documentation? : 

It is world class.

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

We are looking at P7 right now.

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

10.

Categories: Project Management, Scheduling and Resourcing, Primavera Software
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CMiC Project Controls by CMiC

The control center of the CMiC system, CMiC Project Controls arms executives with quantifiable data to execute business decisions. They can manage subcontractors, perform change management and create accurate, reliable forecasts to gain a clear picture of a project, the vendor said.

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Primavera P6 Software Review: NV Energy

Product: 
P6
Fivestar: 
4
Review Summary: 

NV Energy, with offices in northern and southern Nevada, has been using Primavera P6 since May 2009. One key advantage, said Josh Schonbrun, supervisor of project controls, is that P6 makes it easier for the company to perform enterprise-wide resource planning and to view all project details. This was not as easy to do with NV Energy’s previous project management software, Primavera P3.

Overall, Schonbrun rated Primavera P6 an 8 out of 10 and said he was “certainly considering” an upgrade to version 7 of the project management software.

How long have you been using this tool?: 

About a decade ago, the company was actively using Primavera P3. I personally began using that software about five years ago and was part of the team that upgraded to Primavera P6. NV Energy has been using Primavera P6 since May 2009.

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?: 

NV Energy works on transmission and distribution construction projects, mainly power lines and substations.

How are you using this product?: 

We are using Primavera P6 for project management, schedule management, resource capacity planning and financial forecasting

Why did you pick this product?: 

We chose P6 because we were already using Primavera P3.

Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one?: 

I was part of a larger, separate project that was reviewing total work and asset management systems for the company and this was a small piece of it. I honestly couldn’t tell you if they analyzed other products or not.

How many people are using this software? : 

We have at least 200 people using Primavera P6. A small portion, about 20-30, are project managers. The rest perform functions such as engineering; they are able to view schedules and provide some input into the schedules

Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?: 

The fact that we are using Primavera P6 across the enterprise is very helpful. We have locations in northern and southern Nevada, and the ability to view details for an entire project in one spot was not really easy to pull off before. In addition, we can now perform resource planning for the whole company, not just for isolated areas.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?: 

We have the Web and the client version. It’s nice to provide a power tool to project management and also provide a simpler tool to executive management and engineers, supervisors. We can use one source to get all that data.

What would you change about the product if you could?: 

I think the reporting side of the client could be improved a little bit. Other than that, Primavera P6 is a pretty comprehensive tool.

Are there features that you don't use?: 

Though we absolutely take advantage of the majority of the features, I wouldn’t say we’re using all of it right now. I don't think we’re using the thresholds, the issues component or some of the collaboration that you can use within the tool. We’re not currently using the contract manager in Primavera P6 either.

Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?: 

On the project management side, users should have some general application awareness, such as how to navigate through a software application. We did three days of training for project management and project controls.

Those using the Web went through a three- to four-hour training session that we provided for them. It really doesn’t require a lot of computer knowledge; if you can use a browser, then you won’t have trouble using Primavera P6.

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help?: 

I personally used the support knowledge base before it transferred over to Oracle, though I haven’t use the new Oracle support for it. We have several functional support and technical support personnel who have been on the phone with them.

How would you rate the user documentation? : 

It’s large, but if you know what you’re looking for, then yes, it’s helpful.

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

I’ve seen release 7 for Primavera P6 and I’m certainly considering it. I will be a strong contributor to that decision at NV Energy.

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

I’d probably give it an 8, 8+, somewhere in that range. There’s always a little room for improvement, but it’s a very solid tool. I’m very pleased with the ability to implement it; it’s pretty easy to transition from Primavera P3 to P6.

Categories: Project Management, Scheduling and Resourcing, Primavera Software

Road map for Primavera P6 software outlined at Oracle OpenWorld

Posted by Brian Eastwood | Oct 19, 2009 | 12:27pm

SAN FRANCISCO – This year’s Oracle OpenWorld hinted at the future of Primavera P6 and how the software will leverage Oracle technology now that Oracle has owned Primavera for one year.

Category Tags: Construction industry news and trends, Project Management, Scheduling and Resourcing, Primavera Software

Meridian unveils Prolog Converge, a Web platform for project delivery

Posted by Brian Eastwood | Oct 01, 2009 | 08:02am

Meridian Systems has lifted the sheet off its latest release, Prolog Converge, which will be available in November.

In an introductory webinar, recorded Sept. 30 and now available at the Meridian Information Library, Senior Director of Product Management Bruno Berti described Prolog Converge as a Web services platform powered by Meridian Prolog.

Category Tags: Construction software new releases, Field Management, Building Information Modeling, Project Management, Scheduling and Resourcing

Steelray Project Analyzer video demonstration

By Brian Eastwood

Steelray Project Analyzer helps construction project managers analyze Microsoft Project schedules based on a variety of pre-set criteria, including the DCMA 14-point assessment calculations. (In the fall, this product will also be able to view schedules created with Primavera software products.)

Categories: Scheduling and Resourcing

American Contractor Software Review: Sharpe Enterprises

Product: 
American Contractor
Fivestar: 
0
Review Summary: 

According to Sara Anderson of Sharpe Enterprises, American Contractor is "the worst accounting software I have ever encountered."

The company purchased the software from Maxwell Systems after a "really impressive" demonstration. A free trial of American Contractor was not available, but Anderson said she and her colleagues figured the demos were enough: "We were told so many things that we wanted to hear. Now, after having the software for over two years, it was the worst investment we have ever made."

Anderson described the scheduling module as "quite spendy" but difficult to use. "You can't modify anything," she said. "You can't even print a schedule to fit on one page! You can't add headers or footers or anything. It is the most unprofessional looking thing I've ever printed."

AIA billings are also tough to work with in American Contractor, since "you have a limit of about 12 characters for the Item Description. I know these sound like little things," she added, "but there are a million things in this software that are terrible."

Maxwell System's customer support did not help either, Anderson said. "If you want help with anything, pretty much everything is considered a 'custom solution,'" and that can get expensive, she said.

Overall, Anderson rated American Contractor software a 0 out of 10.

How long have you been using this tool?: 

Over 2 Years.

What kinds of construction projects do you mostly work on?: 

We are a general contractor, but we do a lot of work ourselves. We do over $2 million in projects per year.

How much did you pay?: 

Way too much -- more than $8,000.

How are you using this product?: 

We are TRYING to use American Contractor software, but we can't really do much in it. We would have liked to use it for payroll, job tracking, document tracking (RFIs and RFPs -- their document management doesnt even include RFPs), sScheduling and estimating.

Why did you pick this product?: 

Maxwell Systems gave very impressive demonstrations.

Did you look at other tools on the market before picking this one?: 

We looked at about 20 other programs.

Before you bought this product, were you using a different one to do the same job? : 

We were using QuickBooks accounting software.

How many people are using this software? : 

Five.

Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed? : 

We are all a lot more stressed and sick that we spent this much money on such a worthless program.

Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?: 

None.

Can you estimate how much time or money you saved or other measurable benefits your firm realized using this tool?: 

None. We wasted money.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?: 

The only feature we like is that we can all be logged in at the same time.

Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?: 

Absolutely not.

Are there features that you don't use?: 

We don't use any of the features of American Contrator software because they are a joke.

Who would you recommend use this tool?: 

No one.

How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?: 

I am very computer literate, and I can't figure a lot of it out. If you have a programming background, you might do all right.

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help?: 

Several times. Support was worthless. They just want to sell you the solution.

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

We have to -- we are stuck with American Contractor.

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

0.

Categories: Cost Estimating, CRM, Human Resources, Job Cost Accounting, Project Management, Scheduling and Resourcing

Ten common mistakes of construction scheduling

By Brian Eastwood

SEATTLE -- No schedule is perfect. Fortunately, many common errors of construction scheduling are easily remedied. At this year's AACE International Annual Meeting, Joseph Lukas presented a list of 10 common mistakes of construction scheduling and offered a series recommendations for avoiding those mistakes.

Categories: Scheduling and Resourcing, Microsoft Project for Construction Management and Scheduling

Construction schedule methods that avoid common mistakes

By Brian Eastwood

SEATTLE -- This tip presents helpful construction schedule methods that aim to avoid common scheduling mistakes, as presented by Joseph Lukas, the vice president of PM Centers USA, at this year's AACE International Annual Meeting.

Categories: Scheduling and Resourcing, Microsoft Project for Construction Management and Scheduling