Construction Procurement Software Features

Construction procurement can be a difficult task due to material price fluctuations and the inefficiencies of gathering estimate information to identify the lowest bidders, buyout items, and required quantities. The latter being a result of having separate or non-integrated software for estimating and purchasing which results in duplicate data entry and errors.

Since Corecon is a suite of estimating and project management software, construction firms will improve their procurement process due to Corecon’s tight integration between estimating and purchasing features. For example, Corecon’s Estimating to Procurement Wizard can automatically create Purchase Orders (PO) and Subcontracts. The Wizard identifies awarded subs and suppliers, summarizes all items and quantities, and provides a comparison of the cost budget in the estimate with the actual sub or supplier’s price. With purchasing in-line with budgets, management will now have tools to maximize the profitability of a project.

How is Corecon’s procurement features different than most accounting packages?

Most accounting software packages consist of only a Purchase Order (PO) process. With Corecon, one can procure goods and services using Subcontracts in addition to Purchase Orders. Tracking changes for Subcontracts can be done using Subcontract Change Orders (SCO) which can increase or decrease the value of the original contract.

Since Subcontracts can be one of four types (fixed lump sum, cost plus with or without a guaranteed maximum price, and unit price), invoices are handled differently. For example, one major benefit of Corecon over most small business accounting packages is the ability to eliminate over-billing by subs with fixed lump sum contracts. Corecon will always track previous invoice amounts on Schedule of Values (original contract items) and Approved SCO items. This functionality is not available when using a standard PO/Bill process. Subcontract Invoices can also have retention (holdbacks) that Bills from POs do not.

How does Corecon integrate with existing accounting software for accounts payable transactions?

Corecon provides CoreconLink products that are add-ons to Corecon 20007. These products can be downloaded from within Corecon 2007 by the accounting department and can be installed on multiple workstations. The CoreconLink products are designed to transfer all Bills and Sub Invoices directly into the accounting software’s accounts payable module (i.e. bills/credit card/check features), eliminating duplicate data entry.