Do you have bridges between ESTIMATION and an accounting system

Yes, we have data import and export modules that allow us to exchange with accounting systems according to their import and export capabilities.

• We have the "Budget" module to facilitate the establishment and import of a budget.

• We have the "Price Update" module to facilitate the exchange of prices between the accounting system and ESTIMATION.

• The updates of data exchange are done by import-export of files, done manually or automatically if needed.

However, we do not have direct integration with some accounting systems and here is why:

Even in the largest construction companies, estimation is almost never integrated with accounting software and it is not so desirable.

If the software has to be particularly integrated with an accounting system to become interesting, it is not interesting to do its main task.

Our recommendations

1. Harmonization or mapping of inventory codes between the accounting system and the estimating system to auto-generate the list of materials to be purchased with quantities.

2. Entering the budget codes of a project in the bid template to auto-generate the budget (between 20 and 30 codes normally not more to avoid overloading the administration).

3. Once the 2 conditions are well met, start a project by double data entry, or by importing an Excel file, or by copying and pasting from Excel when a good accounting software allows it, it takes about 30 to 60 minutes to open a project in the accounting system.

4. If a company starts 1 project per month, we are talking about 12 hours per year of double data entry.

5. If a company starts 1 project per month, we are talking about 48 hours per year of double data entry.

6. This kind of double data entry is used as a checkpoint before transactions.

The real issues

1. If a company starts 1 project per month, we are talking about 12 hours per year.

2. If a company starts 1 project per month, we are talking about 48 hours per year.

3. How much time are you currently wasting per year in estimating by researching prices and rewriting estimating articles?

4. How much money do you lose per year in inaccurate estimates?

5. How many projects are you losing per year to overbidding?

6. How many projects do you lose due to lack of time to bid since only a limited number of people can do it?

7. In estimating, do you only check the prices of the major costs in a project?

8. If the costs are significant, for each estimate, do you check or request a bid for the top 20% of materials that make up 80% of the material costs?

9. Is it desirable to pollute the accounting system with data required for estimating, but which will never be used for real transactions (customers, suppliers, purchase items)?

In summary

It is more cost-effective for companies to acquire software that is more efficient and open to data exchange than software that is directly integrated together.