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A Power Duo for Construction Project Outcomes: Field Tracking & Accounting Systems

Contractors face tremendous pressure today to manage deployment, cost of labor, materials, equipment, and production to keep jobs on schedule and on budget. Knowing where they stand on performance vs. plan as projects progress is paramount, and this requires easy access to accurate data.

Specialized performance tracking software and accounting/enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems each play powerful roles in meeting this challenge. While some contractors rely on one or the other for this type of job costing information, a winning integration between the two can be a huge advantage in achieving successful outcomes.

Job profits are envisioned in the estimate, earned through operations, and measured in accounting/ERP systems. Ideally, the software applications managing these functions should work together seamlessly to help contractors analyze all relevant data needed for sound business decisions.

When field tracking software works with accounting/ERP systems, company leaders get the combination of immediacy (performance tracking) and final accuracy (accounting) needed. They also reduce the time and opportunities for errors associated with having to enter and re-enter the same data manually into multiple systems.

According to the Association of Equipment Manufacturers, the U.S. construction market is anticipated another year of growth for 2024, with the highest growth areas projected to be infrastructure and energy/utilities. As the heavy civil construction sector grows, leveraging a myriad of field production data at their fingertips can help contractors to make key operational decisions to remain competitive, grow profits, and gain efficiencies.

This article takes a deeper dive into job performance tracking software, accounting/ERP systems, and the ideal integration of both solutions, including a true-up feature, to illustrate how contractors can use them together.

Field Performance Tracking Software

Tracking field performance is imperative for managing projects to planned time and budget, and modern software solutions make this process efficient.

A quality solution offers data sharing among estimating, scheduling, and dispatching functions to establish field logs. Actual production data from field log reporting loops back to estimating to make future estimates more accurate.

A specialized performance tracking application can benefit project teams. Evaluating progress and costs vs. plan and adjusting operations accordingly with tools like this can include features like:

  • Electronic field logs, which eliminate the redundant, inefficient, and error-prone work of gathering timecards, material, and equipment utilization and production data with paper and spreadsheets.
  • Tracking software, which can automatically generate real-time performance summaries based on data from electronic field logs, so project stakeholders can compare actual vs. estimated performance, users can drill down for more detail, and leaders can make better, faster business decisions.
  • Flexibility in how data is reported back to the field, and reporting in a simplified field-centric format make reports easier for field personnel to understand as compared to complex accounting reports with more detail than they need.
  • Payroll hours and productivity data can be transferred directly to accounting/ERP systems.

Accounting/ERP Software

Accounting or ERP systems help businesses plan and manage their overall operations by integrating and automating core processes. The accounting functions of these systems are designed, essentially, with financial logic and for financial priorities. 

ERP software offers a wealth of knowledge to finance teams, including:

  • Detailed cost projections and budget reviews
  • A record of highly accurate project performance and profitability, providing in-depth reporting and analysis across projects as well as work-in-progress (WIP) reporting and cost-to-complete projections
  • An overall view of project performance and profitability for individual projects
  • The details needed for required financial reporting

A Powerful Combination

The value of data depends on its timeliness and accuracy. While field tracking solutions provide timely data, it’s not always 100% accurate.

Labor costs, for example, may be based on average hourly rates for a position rather than the actual rates for the specific people filling those positions. Material costs may be calculated based on prices at the time of the estimate, which may vary slightly from the final invoice. These minor discrepancies are not that consequential in making decisions about adjusting operations.   

Accounting/ERP systems provide accurate data, but there is a lag because reports are based on weekly, biweekly, or even monthly reporting on payroll, production, and costs typically followed by more time for further analysis and reconciliation.

Using the powerful combination of accounting and field performance systems together creates access to both types of information. Field data is fed to the field-tracking system in real-time and is automatically added to the accounting/ERP system, where it is combined with other data for accurate final reporting. As a result, project stakeholders have the right data at their fingertips at the right time to make agile and effective decisions needed for successful project performance. 

Many contractors also utilize a true-up feature periodically to keep the reporting in their performance tracking software aligned with their accounting/ERP system as some projects progress over months or even years.

A true-up identifies variations between the field log data and the accounting data and makes corrective entries to update the field tracking software. This action prevents minor, acceptable inaccuracies in the field tracking software from adding up over time and provides an accurate, reconciled picture of where the project stands.

Running various operational and accounting applications has made many companies painfully aware of the inefficiency involved with trying to connect multiple systems. However, contractors that seek to improve business operations and profits need to know where they stand on cost vs. plan with reasonable accuracy and summary reporting on a daily basis — and with absolute accuracy and detailed reporting over the longer term.

A powerful combination of software solutions for field operations and accounting is the best way to meet both business objectives. 

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