The IPM Blog

Many construction companies can often be mistaken in thinking they don’t need a CRM system to help manage their projects – after all they are in the business of managing projects, not customers. However with developments in CRM technology in recent years, CRM tools are no longer just about contact lists and sales leads. That’s why I’ve put together the following reasons why project managers should be using a CRM tool as well as a project management tool to help manage their projects:

1. You can build and manage relationships
Apart from delivering the project on time and on budget, nothing is more important than managing the relationships you form on a project. You never know who you may need on future projects, or how far someone else’s recommendations of your work will take you. Keeping up to date contact details for all your project stakeholders and maintaining a good working relationship can go really far in ensuring the success of your project.
 
2. It helps you stay up-to-date with your outstanding activities 
New features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM such as conditional formatting means you can not only view a list of outstanding project activities in CRM, but it can also automatically highlight those that are due soon, or even overdue.

3. You can easily monitor and manage your supply chain
In order to finish a job on time, you need to have everything delivered on time. With a CRM tool, you know exactly who your suppliers are and have their contact details at your finger tips to keep track of everything that is supplied to site. CRM also lets you integrate with your accounting software, so accounts and payments are kept up to date.

4. It helps you to track your enquiries and tenders
Due to its tight integration with Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has one of the most advanced email tracking facilities available. It can automatically file all your emails relating to a particular enquiry or tender to ensure you also keep track of your project communication.

5. All your customer and project information is in the one place
A CRM system gives you the ability to store all your contacts, accounts and project data in the one database that can be accessed by everyone in your organisation, and from anywhere. It helps everyone stay up to date with everything that’s happening on your project and also ensures there is only one set of data, rather than multiple versions.

6. It gives you a single view of your customer and project data
Not only does having a CRM mean having a single database, features like the dashboards added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 give you a great overview of the data on your project. You are also able to customise these dashboards so you can see the information that is relevant to you.

7. You can focus on retaining your customers and growing your business
Finally, similarly to what I mentioned in my first point, it’s all about relationships. You can only continue to manage projects if people want to continue working with you and that’s why it’s so important to manage your working relationships as well as your projects. The combination of a CRM system with your project management tools can help you achieve this.

So even though it may feel like a sales tool, a CRM system can be invaluable when it comes to managing your projects. There are many CRM systems out there to choose from, but we believe Microsoft Dynamics CRM has the most features that can translate across to project management, and that is why our project management tool is built on the Microsoft Dynamics platform.

What about you, can you think of any more reasons a project manager might need a CRM tool? Let us know in the comments below.

Today marks the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Australia. If there is one remarkable feat in construction, ‘The Coathanger’ as Aussies affectionately call it, would have to be right up there.

As the largest steel arch bridge in the world, it took 1 400 workers, 53 000 tonnes of steel, two creeper cranes, four maintenance cranes, 18 000m3 of granite blocks, 6 million hand driven rivets and eight years to complete.

One of the interesting features of the bridge was the building of two separate arches and joining them in the middle. Leading up to the completion, there as much apprehension from locals who didn’t believe the two sides would match up. But thankfully they did.

When I think about the Sydney Harbour Bridge today, not only does the sheer size of the project impress me, but also the fact it was built without any of the technology we so heavily rely on today. There was no CAD to assist the architects, no BIM, and more importantly, no project management software to manage the thousands of workers and subcontractors involved. The contractors were from England, there were two steel fabrication workshops set up on Sydney’s north shore, and a temporary Australian, Scottish and Italian settlement at Moruya (300km away) to quarry granite. And not a single email or mobile phone call was sent or made to communicate between everyone.

Today, we are so fortunate to have so much useful technology at our fingertips to make managing our projects easier. So as we celebrate the construction of one of Australia’s most iconic landmarks, we also have to celebrate the skill, ingenuity and project management skills of the people who pulled off such an amazing project without any of the technology we have today.

We are very pleased to announce that IPM Global’s project management suite has been named in Constructech Magazine’s Top Products for 2012. The winners were announced on March 1st and the full list can be found on theConstructech Magazine website.

So what does it mean to be named a Top Product? Well according to Constructech, the competition highlights some of the best products tailored for the construction and homebuilding markets. The top products are judged by the Constructech Magazine’s editorial team, who are looking for strong, stable and efficient technologies that are useful and unique to the construction industry. They also take into account the customer growth rate of each product over the past five years when making a decision.

IPM Global was named in the New Products category, for software that has been on the market for two years or less. One of the key features of IPM the judges liked was the way it uses the Microsoft interface to create a familiar and comfortable experience for the user. Mike Carrozzo, the chief editor of Constructech Magazine sums it up well when he says, “Our Top Products winners provide solid solutions in areas from mobility to BIM, and so much more. We truly believe these to be some of the best offerings found in the construction marketplace.”

A big thank you must go to Constructech Magazine for taking the time to review our product. Feel free to review IPM yourself by checking out some of the functionality and user benefits. You can also contact us to arrange a free demo if you'd like to see the software in action.

I just came across this study from Besner and Hobbs on the PMI website, and it was looking at the top 70 tools and techniques project managers use to manage projects in the real world. Interestingly, looking at a broad cross section of project managers from organisations of differing levels of maturity and managing projects of different sizes, one thing remained constant.

The number one tool for both low and high maturity organisations, and for working on projects both under and over $1m was the humble progress report.

The top ten in all categories also included many other tried and true project management tools and techniques such as task scheduling, Gantt charts, change requests and milestone planning, but it was the progress report that stood out as being the most important tool in all four categories. It just goes to show that project managers value knowing exactly where they are at, and where they are heading, at any stage of the project. And no matter the size of the project or the organisation, progress reports have a very significant place in the project management process.

That’s why it’s so important to be able to quickly produce this information with accuracy and reliability. There is so much information and communication surrounding a project, at times it can be difficult for the project manager to draw out the important information about his or her project to make good decisions and manage the project effectively. And as the survey tells us, that is what they really want, and will use often and across a whole range of projects. That’s why solid reporting tools that can produce accurate and reliable progress reports are a paramount addition when it comes to any project manager’s tool set. As a project manager do you have access to reliable reporting tools that can give you excellent progress reports?

Managing projects can often be a very demanding task, one that requires skill, dedication and a very cool head. But there are also a few tips and tricks you can implement to ensure your projects run smoothly.

1. Plan for everything
One of the best things I’ve heard when it comes to project management is that failing to plan is planning to fail. Bringing your projects in on time and on budget needs a great deal of planning, even before the very first foundations are laid. What’s more, you have to keep planning as you go along to ensure you always stay one step ahead. You need to continually monitor the schedule to anticipate which tasks need to be done next and what effect any notices of delay from subcontractors will have. It is also imperative to keep a comprehensive and updated issue and risk register so nothing catches you off guard. In other words, hope for the best but plan for the worst.

2. Keep track of communication
There’s nothing worse than having to trawl through six months worth of emails or project documents to answer an RFI, or misplacing a vital piece of communication in the event of a dispute or claim. That’s why good project managers keep track of all their project communication, no matter how small. It helps to have a central database that everyone on the project team has access to and can store all project documents and can keep a history of any edits or changes made to a document. Automatic email filing can also help, and IPM’s facility can file all incoming and outgoing emails against a transaction, rather than against the job.

3. Introduce a little automation
While sometimes computers and IT may feel frustrating, you have to admit technology really has made our lives a lot easier, particularly when it comes to project management. When done right, automation can be a project manager’s best friend; completing certain tasks so you don’t have to worry about them and ensuring all the right data is in all the right places. Using project management software is one of the best ways to bring automation to managing your projects. IPM’s project management software has features like customisable workflows you can use to convert change requests into change orders or subcontract change orders, automatically file your emails, automatically generate email reminders for meetings and track and store the information for RFIs and RFQs as it is emailed back and forth.

4. Keep all your team members on the same page
Managing a project is not just about juggling the schedule, subcontracts and budget, but also about managing the people you are working with. Many different people contribute to a project and in order to be able to manage everyone and ensure they all know what their job is, it’s important that everyone has access to the same, up-to-date information. You can make sure of this by using a central database that team member can access from anywhere, both online and offline. This means there are not multiple spreadsheets being emailed around and creating confusion as to which is the most up to date. Another simple way to keep everyone on the same page is to have standardised project reports across your whole organisation, meaning people are all familiar with the report design and know exactly where the content they are looking for is located in the report.

Are there any other fail safe ways you use to manage your projects? Have your say in the comments below :)

If there is anything the global economic crisis has taught us is that there's no escaping globalisation. Whether we like it or not, the marketplace we operate in is global, and things that happen in one country affect people and organisations in another. No longer are we our own islands, responsible for our own directions, and immune to the decisions of others.

The same is also true for projects, with construction, IT and community projects often spanning different countries, but all team members working towards the same outcome. Case in point, I know an estimator based in Brisbane, Australia, working on a project in Gladstone, North Queensland. Parts of the project are being subcontracted to companies in Australia, other parts to companies in Malaysia, who in turn are subbing work out to companies in India. Gone are the days where projects are run, subcontracted and completed all in the same country, let alone the same city.

So how do we go about managing these projects across a broad range of countries, languages, cultures, timezones and currencies? The good news is the tool that has helped facilitate this global market is also the tool that can help us work effectively in it. Technology. Technology is now more important than ever when it comes to managing projects in the global marketplace.

With advancements in technology like cloud computing, project information can be available to users instantly, regardless of their location or time zone. Online central databases mean users have access to all the same information, and it is the most current and up to date. Databases like those used in IPM also have the ability to store all subcontractor information, including the currency each one operates in. Exchange rates can be applied to convert currencies so all your figures are telling the same story.

What’s more, developments in mobile technology like the one just released by Microsoft on Monday mean you can take your project information with you where ever you go, and access it from anywhere in the world – very handy should you need to visit any of your project stakeholders in other countries.

So even though coordinating a global project can seem like a logistical nightmare, the exciting developments in technology in recent years are helping project managers navigate the global marketplace and ensure nothing gets lost in translation.

For more information about how IPM can help with managing your projects, both national and international, please do not hesitate to contact us.

There’s no denying the economy is struggling.  The ripple effects of the 2008 ‘Global Financial Crisis’ are still being felt across the world, worse in some places, but still being felt all the same. Australia hasn’t been quite as hard hit as our European and North American counterparts, but there is still a noticeably sluggish feel to the economy compared to the boom years of 5 – 10 years ago.

One of the sectors that has seen a slump all over the world is construction, and with a slump comes reduced profits, and ultimately less confidence in ‘expensive’ investments such as new software.

But software could actually be a smart investment during a downturn. As John Chaney pointed out in the CFMA’s May/June issue of Building Profits, in previous economic downturns the contractors who have emerged stronger from recessions are those who have embraced new technologies.

Cloud computing is one such new technology that is becoming a buzz in the IT industry. And, according to Joe McKendrick of Forbes, in the present economic climate cloud computing makes sense. Cloud computing is essentially like renting a house.  You pay a monthly fee to use the software housed on someone else’s servers, and the fee is calculated on a per user basis, so you only pay for what you need.

This means less upfront costs for your own infrastructure and more flexibility and innovation to customise software. Updates and maintenance are also taken care of by the software provider, and the data is backed up and safe in the event of a natural disaster or power outage at your office.

Cloud computing is paving the way for small business start ups and larger companies to test new innovations without a large capital investment and long term commitment. Through developments in cloud computing, construction companies are able to, in the middle of a downturn, invest in new software to help streamline processes and save money. And this is exactly the kind of innovation and forward thinking needed to steer construction companies through the current economic downturn and come out stronger at the other end.

If you’d like to know more about the cloud version of IPM’s project management software, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Software has long since been an important tool in project management, but for many years has not really been very project management friendly. For decades, project management software has been limited to highly specialised solutions with very little room for manoeuvre, or solutions developed on accounting frameworks that look, feel and ‘think’ like accounting systems.

This has created a noticeable gap between how project managers work, and how project management software works.  The one way to fill this gap has been with spreadsheets. But in our virtual, interconnected world spreadsheets are rapidly becoming unviable tools and resulting in project data scattered across numerous computers and different versions of data as team members update and save numerous copies.

Spreadsheets do have their place in a project manager’s toolbox, but they should by no means be the principal tool used. But if previous project management software solutions are so bad, what is the solution?

The key is finding a software solution that works like a project manager works, so much so it sometimes doesn’t even seem like they are using a dedicated project management software tool. Project managers love Outlook and Excel, so what if you could create, edit and send all of your project documents without ever leaving your email? Or import and export spreadsheet data in minutes, that then becomes accessible to every relevant team member? IPM can do all of this and much more. The accounting side is also taken care of with seamless ERP integration, meaning project managers never have to set foot inside an accounting application again.

For too long dedicated project management software has focussed on the software side, and not the project management side. Now, technology is moving in such a way that there should be no excuse for accounting based project management software, projects run solely on spreadsheets, or project managers not wanting to use software that companies make considerable investments in.

For a free demo of how the above features of IPM work, please contact us.

We’re very pleased to announce the publication on the Microsoft website of our latest IPM case study. We’ve recently been working with one of our newer clients, Tracey Brunstrom and Hammond, to share with you their experience of IPM and how it has helped them provide independent project management services across Australia and Singapore.

The case study highlights TBH’s need to standardise documentation for all their offices across Australia and Singapore, and how IPM’s report functionality is helping them achieve this. We also look at the checks and balances inherent in IPM’s automatic email filing facility, and how IPM’s central database has enabled TBH supervisors to keep track of project progress without having to visit the local office.

The full TBH project management software case study can be found on the Microsoft website, and we hope it’s useful for you to see IPM in action in a real world project management scenario. If you have any further questions about this particular case, or how IPM may be able to help solve any of your project management problems, please don’t hesitate to contact us or leave a comment below.

I know that this blog has often talked about the benefits of IPM and how they can help you manage your projects better, so we thought it might be a good idea to show you real world example of IPM in action.

Last year, an Australian based civil construction company approached us looking for a better way to connect field-based project managers with the home office. Recently merged with UK based Murphy Pipelines, the now Murphy Pipe and Civil Pty Ltd builds and installs water and gas pipelines across Australia. After initially implementing a solution from MYOB and Workbench, the company discovered there were still problems the solution did not address, and that it was not being adopted by field employees.  They knew they needed user friendly project management software that could connect their front and back offices and streamline their project management processes.

So we showed them IPM, which is built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM framework and encompasses all of CRM’s features, such as Outlook and ERP integration.  They were particularly impressed with the integration between IPM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV, which allows critical data to be exchanged seamlessly and easily between the two systems. Data such as Customer and Supplier information, including names addresses and contacts, Subcontract information, Variation information and Progress Billing invoices can all be exchanged between both systems.

Having now implemented IPM, one of the main benefits that Murphy Pipe and Civil has found is broad adoption across the organisation, with 37 IPM users and 5 NAV users. IPM’s integration with Outlook is one of the driving factors behind this, as Murphy Pipe and Civil’s project managers were already familiar with Outlook, so needed little time to adapt to the IPM environment. With Outlook integration, Project Managers can also get automated alerts when exceptions are encountered, and IPM’s automatic email emailing and secure document control facilities means there is always a complete paper trail.

Murphy Pipe and Civil have achieved great success with their IPM implementation, and have discussed a number of further investments to add to their IPM infrastructure. You can read more about Murphy Pipe and Civil Pty Ltd’s success with IPM in our case study, or if you’d like to find out how IPM can help with your project management needs, please contact us for a free demo.