4castplus Blog

4castplus Blog

15 15, 2018

Contractor Profits at the Mercy of Higher Construction Costs

By Michael S. Wilson | August 15, 2018 | Categories: Construction project management software, construction job costing software, project management cost control, construction project cost control, cost control in project management, cost control software, software for construction project management, construction project manager | 0 Comments

Construction costs in the US have been escalating for months now, and it’s so far the contractors who are carrying the weight of absorbing these price increases. This, according to a recent study by the Associated General Contractors, who went on to point out that recent tariffs on non-US foreign materials have further intensified the issue.


The Pain of Higher Construction Costs 

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20 20, 2018

Spreadsheets for Cost Management are a Lot of Work for Little Return

By Charlie Rose | May 20, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project software, construction project tracking software, engineering procurement construction management so, project cost controls software, project cost management software, project cost management, project cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, software for epcm, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, cost management software, project cost management solution, construction project cost control, software procurement management, construction job costing software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, online procurement management software, Project Accounting, project accounting software, software technology, information management, financial reporting, project controls software, project management cost control, Where Spreadsheets Breakdown, spreadsheet issues, Excel, financial cost reporting, Wall Street Journal | 0 Comments

"Excel just wasn’t designed to do some of the heavy lifting that companies need to do in finance.” So says Paul Hammerman, a business applications analyst at Forrester Research Inc. Despite that generally accepted fact, spreadsheets continue to be widely used as the default tool of choice for managing the finances of construction projects large and small. Most individuals that find themselves in this situation however, would enthusiastically agree that the use of spreadsheets for this level of complexity requires a ridiculous amount of meaningless effort for very little return. Far too much effort is put into getting the data into the spreadsheet – and all the formulas straightened out – that little time is actually spent analyzing that data.

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03 3, 2018

Time-Phasing the Remaining Budget: What Does it Mean?

By John Jeffrey | May 3, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project software, construction project tracking software, engineering procurement construction management so, project cost reporting, project cost controls software, project cost management software, project cost management, project cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, project tracking software, software for epcm, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, cost management software, jobsite tracking software, project cost management solution, construction project cost control, software procurement management, job costing software for construction, construction job costing software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, online procurement management software, Project Accounting, project accounting software, technology innovation, software technology, information management, financial reporting, project forecasting software, forecasting for construction projects, budgeting and forecasting software, time phased budgeting, cost engineering, project controls software, project controls, Variance, budgeting and forecasting, project management cost control, project spend forecasting, Forecast-to-Complete, project cash flow forecasting, free video, business process innovation | 0 Comments

Time-phasing the project budget is as core to project controls on construction projects as pasta is to Italian food. Or hockey is to a Canadian winter. Time-phasing is so central to project controls, that in 4castplus there are five different time-phasing plans that can be setup on a single project. Actually, there are 10 – but in this article we’re mostly going to talk about one really important one.

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18 18, 2018

7 Things You Need to Know About 4castplus Resource Forecasting

By Mary Ellerslie | April 18, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project software, construction project tracking software, engineering procurement construction management so, project cost reporting, project cost controls software, project cost management software, project cost management, project cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, project tracking software, software for epcm, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, cost management software, jobsite tracking software, project cost management solution, construction project cost control, software procurement management, job costing software for construction, construction job costing software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, online procurement management software, Project Accounting, project accounting software, technology innovation, software technology, information management, financial reporting, evm software, calculating progress, Project Progress Reporting, measuring project progress, Forecast-to-Complete, project forecasting software, forecasting for construction projects, budgeting and forecasting software, time phased budgeting, resource management software, free demo, cost engineering, project controls software, project controls | 0 Comments

One of the most important functions of project controls and cost engineering, is the ability to accurately forecast remaining costs-to-complete on a construction project. With the new Resource Forecasting tools in 4castplus, project controls professionals can now achieve ultimate accuracy and take full control of how projects are forecasted.

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19 19, 2018

Paper-based Ledgers are a Thing of the Past

By Charlie Rose | March 19, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project software, construction project tracking software, engineering procurement construction management so, project cost reporting, project cost controls software, project cost management software, project cost management, project cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, project tracking software, software for epcm, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, cost management software, jobsite tracking software, project cost management solution, construction project cost control, software procurement management, cloud procurement software, job costing software for construction, construction job costing software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, online procurement management software, Excel, Where Spreadsheets Breakdown, paper ledgers, Project Accounting, project accounting software, technology innovation, software technology, information management, SAP, ERP, financial reporting, supply chain management software, contract management software, Uncategorized | 0 Comments

Several decades ago, organizations used to manage all their finances using big paper-based ledgers, where they’d spend much of their day “doing the books”. These large ledger books worked for hundreds of years, however it would be a challenge to find any modern company today that runs their business on paper-based accounting methods.  

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07 7, 2018

Notley's $1B Upgrader Plan: Alberta Tech Company Ready to Help

By Joe Vanderhoot | March 7, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project software, construction project tracking software, Engineering, engineering procurement construction management so, engineering software, engineering project management software, engineering procurement software, engineering procurement contstruction, engineering procurement construction management, engineering procurement construction, engineering procurement, project cost reporting, project cost controls software, project cost management software, project cost management, project cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, project tracking software, software for epcm, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, cost management software, project management cost control, jobsite tracking software, project cost management solution, construction project cost control, software procurement management, cloud procurement software, job costing software for construction, construction job costing software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, procurement system, online procurement management software, project cost overruns, Alberta Energy, Alberta, Notley Government, Bitumen | 0 Comments

The recent announcement by the Alberta government to invest $1B in grants and loan guarantees to partially upgrade its bitumen, is great news for the Alberta energy industry. As a landlocked province with no access to tidewater for access to diverse markets, and no pipeline to transport its bitumen, Alberta is not getting full value for its products. It’s the government’s hope and expectation that this will incentivize a further $5B in private investment to build and improve the local upgrader infrastructure.

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16 16, 2018

Top 5 Reasons Why an ERP Won’t Work as a Cost Management Solution

By Mary Ellerslie | February 16, 2018 | Categories: Construction Cost Tracking, project cost tracking, cost tracking software, construction project tracking software, project cost management software, project cost management, cost management software, Construction project software, project cost control software, project tracking software, jobsite tracking software, construction cost tracking software, Real-time project cost tracking, project cost tracking software, construction cost tracking for energy projects, ERP, project cost management solution, project management cost control, construction project cost control, cost management, job costing software for construction, construction job costing software, time phased budgeting, evm software, EVM, field data capture software, field data capture, project cost reporting, free demo | 1 Comment

It’s not uncommon for organizations to consider the idea of using their ERP as a one-stop-solution for all their technology needs – even when it comes to managing the many-layered complexities of cost management on major projects. It’s an appealing idea: everything in one place, under the tight control and scrutiny of the finance department. The challenge with this of course, is that the target users of an ERP are in the finance department, not those who are managing the day-to-day operations of a large construction project. 

 
Construction projects have many moving parts and a colossal amount of data to carefully manage in order to keep the project running to plan. Not only that, but there are numerous different types of users that need to work collaboratively in real-time. Such as: Project managers, project controls, engineers, field staff at the jobsite, subcontractors, project owners and others, that all need to work together, sharing data and workflows, to seamlessly bring a project to a successful conclusion.  

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04 4, 2017

Using Rules of Credit for Percent Complete in 4castplus

By Charlie Rose | December 4, 2017 | Categories: rules of credit progressing, ;weighted steps progressing, project controls software, Construction Cost Tracking, Construction project management software, Construction management software, construction project management, construction project manager, rules of credit, cost tracking software, construction cost tracking software, project cost control software, evm software, project cost management software, earned value management software, construction job management software, construction job tracking software, construction job costing software, cost control software, job costing software for construction, construction project manager software, project cost tracking, project cost tracking software, cost management, job costing software | 0 Comments

How do you figure out percent complete on a project? How is it you go about objectively assigning a reasonable and accurate measurement of how far along you are on an item of work? How many times have you asked, “Hey, where did that number come from?”

Most any manager, VP or director who has to oversee the work of his or her team of project managers has a big worry about this very thing. They know the temptation that exists for a project manager to leverage a little creative license with the numbers to make the project look a little rosier than it is in reality. Customers on the receiving side of a progress draw are equally aware of the tendency to big-up the progress numbers in order to fatten the invoice.

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