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MERIDIAN SYSTEMS PROLOG REVIEW

Meridian Prolog project management software's out-of-the-box performance needed a lot of customization in order to meet the requirements of SNC Lavalin Thermal Power, a full-service, turnkey engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company. Even after all the hours and dollars spent on customization, the Prolog-based solution -- which is used for progress-measurement, cost and commitments and forecasting -- must be combined with a spreadsheet in order to deliver full results. "Only after we exported data to Microsoft Excel were we able to develop more detailed analysis on commitments and forecasting," said Utpala Dubey of SNC Lavalin Thermal.

Despite the difficult customization, Dubey admits that Meridian Prolog allowed the Bothell, Washington-based company, which constructs natural gas-fired power plants, to centralize its progress measurement, cost, commitments and forecasting into one software program, rather than multiple programs. This saved the business money on software, training and support while improved efficiency and accuracy.

"I think the software's integration with payroll for cost commitments, budgeting, tracking costs and commitments, and uploading variances to budgets, is very useful and efficient," Dubey said.

Dubey rated Meridian Prolog, without his company's customizations, as 6 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?
SNC Lavalin Thermal Power is a full-service, turnkey engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company. I primarily work on natural gas-fired power plants.

How long have you been using this tool?
I used it for five years at SNC Lavalin.

Where did you obtain it?
It was provided to me by the company.

How much did you pay?
I didn't buy this product, and so I don't know.

How are you using this product?
I use Meridian Prolog for progress-measurement, cost and commitments, and forecasting.

Why did you pick this product?
I had no role in the selection process as it was provided when I worked at SNC Lavalin.

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)?
No, I didn't look at other tools because the software was already in place.

Comparing the way you work now with the way you worked before you bought this tool, what has changed?
Before Prolog, we tracked a project's progress on an access-based program called Ledger. Essentially, all Meridian Prolog did for my company was to combine progress-measurement, cost and commitments, and forecasting into one software, rather than into multiple programs.

Can you give us an example of a job where this tool really made a difference?
No, because Meridian Prolog was used on all SNC Lavalin Thermal Power projects.

Can you estimate how much time or money you have saved or other measurable benefits your firm has realized using this tool?
I cannot say. Since SNC Lavalin used this for all its projects, there's no way to determine this figure.

What are the best features (for your business) in this tool?
I think the software's integration with payroll for cost commitments, budgeting, tracking costs and commitments, and uploading variances to budgets, is very useful and efficient.

Do you think it's a fair value for the price you paid?
I don't know how much money my company paid, but Prolog definitely requires a lot of additional work, so I'm not sure it is worth the price.

What would you change about the product if you could?
I would add contract modules, back-charges, trends and more. Also, considering the size of the projects SNC Lavalin was executing, progress-entry for construction wasn't easy. It was very tedious to enter progress, for example on every spool. It would have saved many man-hours and an additional person only if there was a way to batch-upload the progress through an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file. Also reports are not modifiable once they have been customized. We lived with truncated numbers and got around it by exporting the data back to Excel and then analyzing it.

Are there features that you don't use? Why not?
I don't use document/drawing transmittals and contracts modules. In fact, I don't think my company paid for contracts modules, and our document controls team does document-tracking using their own, existing tools.

Who would you recommend use this tool?
I think every engineering, procurement and construction company, manufacturing company or businesses in any industry that needs some tool for tracking progress, cost and commitments, or transmittals should look at this product. In the absence of any other options, this certainly is a good product.

How much computer experience do you think someone needs to use this tool effectively?
Anyone comfortable with standard Microsoft applications will definitely need full-time training for at least a week or so to understand the usage of all modules and reports.

Did it take much training (or studying) to learn to use this tool?
I did not receive formal training for this software, although a formal training program would have made the job easier. I basically learned it hands-on, and by asking colleagues when they had time.

Have you ever called the company's support lines and asked for help? What was your experience like?
I hardly called. Instead, we called in our consultant who had customized this software.

How would you rate the user documentation? Is it helpful?
I didn't use it much. With all the customization our company had done, all the vendor's documentation that was readily available was pretty much useless.

When the next version of this software comes out, will you upgrade to it?
I don't think so.

Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate this tool?
6, without customizations.