Jobsite Mobility Apps spell relief for SAP Construction Companies

Addressing the Pains of Paper Pushing

Project managers often express that foreman at construction job sites are flooded with paperwork, and quite frankly, there is a lot of back and forth between the foreman and payroll. 

Oftentimes, it can take over two weeks before costs on the project become visible, waiting for payroll to run, and equipment time sheets to be entered. The result is that the foreman’s attention is set on paperwork and not the day-to-day operations of the job site, making it difficult to course correct as a project manager since your costs are poorly understood.

Here, we are going to take a closer look at Illumiti’s Jobsite Mobility Apps and how they extend functionality through SAP S/4HANA’s industry cloud solutions, bridging the gap between job site and back-office operations through field data capture (FDC).

SAP’s Strategy to the Cloud

Through a unique set of technologies, SAP S/4HANA has the ability to service the entire end-to-end industry value chain for EC&O companies and, through proficient SAP partners like Illumiti, can extend functionality through its industry cloud solutions. In modular and intelligent ways, you can then selectively plug and play to fit your company’s specific needs. On top of the Business Technology Platform, which is foundational to everything SAP does, SAP has built the latest set of intelligent suite products that provide all of the underlying functionality for solutions such as Illumiti’s Job Site Mobility Apps.

Jobsite Mobility Apps Streamline Data Capture, Push Costs

When project foreman log onto their mobile devices in the morning, they see all of the relevant Jobsite Mobility Apps to streamline field data capture. Once the Default Apps have been set up, the other apps are able to function. The default date can be set to “current day” should the foreman wish to enter data at the end of the day, or “current minus one” if entering data for the previous day. Additionally, the foreman can easily add a new project, as well as the relevant and associated crew members.

For each crew member, the foreman can see information relevant for payroll such as union numbers and the activity or job classification. For crews such as water main or asphalt crews that move from one project to the next, it’s easy to copy the whole crew or select specific crew members for the next project. This also applies to equipment, where the foreman can view the utilized equipment from one project and copy them to the next.

When entering the start and end times, the foreman can choose to “bulk edit”. This applies the same scheduling across all crew members. The foreman can also see how much time is accumulating for each crew member, providing full visibility into when overtime will to occur. Further, there are indicators for using company vehicles, a personal vehicle, lodging, and meal allowance. The foreman can even use speech-to-text technology to record, for instance, why a meal allowance was given. These same notes are copied to payroll and available to the project manager. In construction, it’s not uncommon to have employees exchange and transfer between different companies; this inter-company movement is also accommodated by the app.

To minimize the time spent on data entry for every work breakdown structure (WBS) element, the foreman has the ability to copy everything from the prior day and can add lines as well (e.g., Adam worked from 15:00 to 16:00 on a different WBS element) to ensure precise and exact costing. Equipment time follows the same methodology, and the app even allows for integration of third-party equipment. Once the data is saved, it becomes included in the system. This means that all the costing for those specific pieces of equipment now happens automatically.

With the third-party vendors, this solution is fully integrated with the accounts payable process; the system automatically performs the service receipts for all the rentals and can automatically pay the vendors for those pieces of equipment based on the time information entered by the foreman. For materials received on the job site, the foreman can view the list of all purchase orders and contract quantities and can simply enter the quantity received as materials arrive. Through journaling features, the foreman can document various factors such as poor weather conditions, a crew member falling ill, or even upload a photo to document a safety concern. The foreman can Record Issues such as a hit water main and automatically create a WBS element on the project structure, as well as begin capturing data on the cost associated with the issue for the recovery of any revenue to collect from the owner.

The project manager can now view a Daily Summary Report to see all of the events that occur on the job site, including costs (on a daily basis and weekly running total), all of the journaling data, the data associated with the time entered for employees and equipment, materials received, and any issues reported — all ready for approval.

Through SAP S/4HANA’s industry cloud solutions and Illumiti’s Jobsite Mobility Apps, EC&O companies can leverage FDC at the construction site to eliminate paperwork, help keep the project manager’s finger on the pulse of operations, and deliver daily cost reporting to allow for course correction. One integrated technology platform, one version of the truth, and simple to use.

To learn more, visit: https://illumiti.com/industries/construction/ and watch for our upcoming post on Illumiti’s Construction Payroll Solution for SAP S/4HANA companies.