The Hidden Cost of Time

One Company Discovers That Efficiency Yields Far More Than Spare Change

For more than a half-century, Tarlton has completed high-profile projects to critical acclaim, winning awards for quality and safety along the way. Success is sweet, but with growth also came headaches on a grander scale. In early 2008, as growth continued but the economy squeezed margins, efficiency was a companywide priority.

The Need

It was determined that the company required a software application that would allow employees to record time and job costing without the burden of paper, and then allow efficient review and approval by field and office management. Furthermore, the system would have to integrate with their accounting system, to ensure that the error ridden practice of re-entering the data no longer existed as a bottleneck. In spite of this tall order, Tarlton Vice President of Finance David Moore knew that the largest challenge would be overhauling two of the company’s most critical processes without distracting from the core business of building.

“Tarlton needed a better way to allocate professional labor to the jobs on which that labor was spent. At the same time, we needed a product that would permit field superintendents and foremen to produce daily timesheets electronically,” said Moore.

After much searching, there was only one application that seemed to fit their criteria. While speaking with a customer service rep at Viewpoint Construction Software, Moore learned that they had a product called Mobile Field Manager® by Viewpoint Construction Software that immediately caught his interest.

Why Viewpoint?

When accounting for the myriad costs of a large construction project, accuracy is key and timeliness matters. While costing information gathered provides the basis for bidding new projects, it also provides critical insights into jobs already in progress, and can be used to gauge the performance of project managers, superintendents and foremen. Tarlton quickly found that the capabilities within Mobile Field Manager make it uniquely suited for this challenge.

Moore also found that Viewpoint Construction Software’s staff could provide a great deal of guidance from their experience with many similar implementations. Viewpoint consultants spent several days at the company’s offices configuring Mobile Field Manager, testing the new integration, and training Tarlton’s staff.

After a few weeks of successful use in the office, field personnel began using the system to track employee time on Tarlton’s various jobsites. Within the first few weeks, it was obvious that by reducing the number of times data was either recorded or entered, as well as the number of people involved, that Mobile Field Manager would have a dramatic impact on the efficiency of the company’s processes.

The Results

Since implementation, Tarlton has found that the reporting time spent by each of their superintendents has been reduced by several hours per week. In the accounting department, Chapman reports that the time required to process weekly payroll has also been reduced to just three hours per week, a substantial improvement. After totaling up these time savings, Moore concludes that based on time savings alone, Tarlton recouped the initial costs of the system within just five months.

For more information, visit www.viewpointcs.com.