Top 3 Automation Best Practices for Viewpoint Users
Construction is a vast and complex industry. As such, the simpler and more streamlined your processes are, the better. Complicated, manual tasks hamper construction professionals’ ability to conduct business by slowing down efficiency and productivity. Despite the obvious benefits of modern automated workflows, a survey conducted by McKinsey Global Institute found construction is the second slowest adopter of digitization.
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) technology like Viewpoint makes your data easily accessible, but can fall short when it comes to generating custom and ad hoc reports. How can you get the best results out of your Viewpoint ERP while getting up to speed with digitization and Industry 4.0? Here, we discuss the top 3 automation best practices for Viewpoint users.
1. Adopt Digital Workflows
Manual workflows, in addition to being time consuming, can grind the pace of work to a screeching halt. They also come with a cost – according to a Construction Industry Institute report, rework accounts for up to an average of 20% of project costs. This is often caused by project managers not having access to the right information when they need it.
Digital workflows empower construction professionals by providing direct access to data from a centralized source, ready to report on at any time. However, many businesses are slow to adopt them. For example, the Connected Construction: The Owners’ Perspective report shows that only 54% of owners and 42% of designers and contractors indicated that they are highly engaged with technology for conducting digital workflows. The good news is this is rapidly changing – 85% of respondents said they’re currently working on implementing digital processes.
Benefits of digital workflows include:
- Having a single source of truth where multiple sites can immediately access consistent data
- Saving time on manual tasks
- Increased efficiency
- Reduced risk of error
- More informed decision making
- No duplicated work
2. Migrate to the CloudÂ
When existing systems have worked for years, it’s challenging to make a case for change, especially one as significant as a companywide cloud migration. Maintaining data on paper or disparate systems may have worked in the past. But growth companies will quickly find that it gets harder and harder to manage as the scale increases. Construction businesses must adapt to the rising digitization demands of Industry 4.0.
Migrating to the cloud helps organizations mitigate the challenges of modernization while allowing them to take back control of their data. Cloud storage and management enables companies to:
- Connect disparate data systems
- Increase visibility across multiple sites or entities
- Streamline workflows
- Boost productivity
- Increase profitability
Simplify Cloud ERP Migration
Access Resource3. Enhance Your Reporting
Like any ERP, Viewpoint comes with helpful, out-of-the-box reporting capabilities and easy-to-interpret visualizations. However, they’re not necessarily designed for finance and accounting professionals in the construction industry. Critical custom and ad hoc reports still need to be generated by IT departments and outside consultants.
Adopting software solutions purpose built for intuitive custom analysis is a valuable way to save time while creating the reports your organization requires. With software like Spreadsheet Server, gain the power of refreshable reporting directly in Excel’s familiar interface. With drag-and-drop, self-serve reports, you can create your own custom reports without IT involvement.
Spreadsheet Server enables you to:
- Build and manipulate custom and ad hoc reports without IT or consultants
- Easily track performance
- Drill down on data
- Close the books faster
- Devote more time to valuable analysis
Our tool integrates directly with Viewpoint. Once you generate the report you need, it also allows you to drill down into the numbers, empowering construction finance and accounting professionals with the ability to analyze reports at a project or even transaction level.
The construction industry is working actively to grow and adapt to the digitization demands of Industry 4.0. By following best practices like the ones outlined above, you can reduce time spent created analysis and be more confident in its accuracy. With Spreadsheet Server you can optimize your construction reporting so that you don’t miss a single, crucial detail.
Easy Financial Reporting for Viewpoint
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