Background

Avonhill are a medium sized construction company from central Scotland. They required a comprehensive and integrated back office database sysytem to handle their estimating, purchasing and project management requirements.

Data Interface

The system holds data of many types, including materials definitions, project data at various stages and project set up data such as default rates. To enable speedy search and access of this information the system opens directly to a switching search screen so the information type can be selected and search criteria entered at the same time. the required information is thus rapidly accessed

Detail

The example opposite shows how attention is given to detail.

In this case the purchasers needed to create a new purchase order without going to a different screen, so this option is integrated into the open purchase order drop-down list.

Estimating

Key to a building contractor's success is the submission of tenders which are both competitive and cover their costs.

Our estimating module calculates the estimate total from each component adding on assessed percentages for overheads etc.

Different possiblities of material manufacturers and other variations can be tested unitl the most competitive tender is calculated and can be submitted to the client.

Purchasing

Once a contract has been won the purchasing module enables supplier costs to be tightly controlled and total purchasing on the project to be monitored and compared with the orginal estimate.

PDF and Email Integration

All system output whether a tender submission or a purchase order is output directly to PDF format with our integrated PDF generator. The PDF files can then be either printed or can then be emailed directly from the application with the integrated Microsoft Outlook link.

Partnership Development

This project is an example of a long-term partnership arrangement. The overall aim of the project is clearly defined at the outset. However, the detail is an evolving process with close liason with both management and staff ensuring that the design and interface is exactly what the staff using the system need.