Construction Software

Actual screens and questions from this RFP template toolkit are shown below to illustrate how it enables you to easily collect the unique metrics needed to successfully identify, select, acquire, and implement the construction ERP software solution best suited to your organization's needs.

Thousand plus of pre-defined construction ERP RFP criteria ensure no important business requirements or software features "slip through the cracks".  All are in a quantitative format that guarantees vendor responses will be meaningful, consistent, and easy to compare. All questions are professionally prepared by application specialists to address BOTH the STANDARD features and EXCEPTION CASE software functions required.

Precisely identify, collect, & prioritize all construction functional and process deficiencies between the software system currently in use and client/company current or projected needs. Easily document the severity, category, and requirements type of missing functionality using GAP analysis, and then calculates a score, for each GAP. The GAP process creates a prioritized, detailed list of ERP software requirements useful in all later phases of the construction enterprise resource planning software evaluation/selection process, i.e., in RFP creation, Software Demonstrations, Price (BAFO) negotiation, and software system implementation. View details at Fit/GAP Analysis Details.

Unlike other RFP templates that try (and fail) to gather useful solutions data about complex construction ERP system features, RFP Masters are not constrained to the use of summary-level "Yes" or "No" answers. This RFP Master^™ uses a Feature Support Matrix^™ (FSM) that identify BOTH feature AVAILABILITY and DELIVERY Method. This ERP RFP Master function is useful during both the enterprise resource planning software selection AND the system implementation phases of large projects because it enables effective Earned Value Management through detailed cross-referencing of usable ERP software functionality and vendor invoicing.

Unlike other RFP templates, an time and management software RFP Master template can illustrate potential support problems (and risk) inherent in vendor software proposals. The Feature Support Matrix^™ (FSM) used in each RFP Master^™ categorizes the inherent risk posed for each criteria, and uses that information to calculate the SUPPORTABILITY INDEX^™ for each vendor RFP response. For example, a feature delivered "out of the box" FULLY SUPPORTED is less risky than one delivered through custom programming, even if the programming is free. This RFP Master function is useful during both the software selection AND the implementation phases of a large ERP system because it enables effective Earned Value Management through detailed cross-referencing of usable software functionality and vendor invoicing.

This ERP RFP template provides an "Enhancement Cost" column for cross-referencing vendor invoices with the estimated cost of each custom custom script and/or source code modification proposed by the vendor. This makes the construction enterprise resource planning RFP an ideal tool for managing vendor invoices effectively. The uses of this are many: preventing payments to vendors from exceeding usable system progress, preventing vendor over-billing, and prevents proposed tasks from being omitted, and as an implementation audit tool.
 

The ability of the proposed ERP software to successfully integrate with existing business process workflows, or implement new workflows, is critical to a achieving the high productivity increases and ROI expected of the new ERP system. This software RFP Master examines all pertinent Workflow features in detail.

Vendors must answer each RFP question by choosing from a pre-defined list of possible responses. See below for an example of this drop-down list. This forces all vendors to respond to each construction ERP software question in a consistent, standard manner. Eliminates the days of time typically wasted trying to compare the inconsistent or incomplete vendor responses obtained by using traditional, non-quantitative RFP questions! Ensures vendor proposals are easy to compare and evaluate!

These comparison matrices automatically change vendor response cell background color to GREEN, YELLOW, or RED, to reflect how favorable each response is to your needs! Compared to the tedious task of reviewing hundreds of mono-color Yes/No answers, these colored responses allow problem areas to be spotted more easily, and risk assessment is made much more accurate. All required response comparison matrices are included and ready-to-use! Quickly and easily compare construction enterprise resource planning software system proposals side-by-side, feature by feature, in detailed comparisons you control! Keep your project on-schedule and under-budget.

Use an extensive set of ratio calculations to compare construction ERP vendor proposals quickly and efficiently.

Compares the Weighted Grade Point Score calculated for each proposed ERP system. This is calculated as follows: The enterprise resource planning vendor response to each RFP question is assigned an unweighted "raw" score. This raw score is then multiplied by the weight factor you entered previously (default = 1) for that construction ERP software RFP question to calculate the weighted score for each response. All of these individual scores are then totaled for use in this comparison. This score is essentially a measure of how well a construction enterprise resource planning software system fits your business and software needs, prioritized by the weight (importance level) you assigned to each question in the RFP. In essence, this score measures the SUITABILITY of each proposed ERP software system to your overall requirements. . NOTE this score measures just software functionality, and does not include any measure of vendor background, expertise, support, or programming ability.

An analysis of how each construction vendor is proposing to deliver the system feature/function contained in their construction enterprise resource planning proposal. The graph below shows the percentage that is Fully Supported "out-of-the-box", the percentage to be done via Report Writer, a Configuration Parameter, or Third-Party add-in, versus the percentage to be done via Custom Coding (Scripting / Programming). This information is very useful in terms of identifying RISK, since a Fully Supported (and tested) construction feature presents far less risk than that same enterprise resource planning feature done as a "custom programming" task. Also, see the Supportability Index, which sums up these detail risk factors.

The Supportability Index is a forecast of how much construction enterprise resource planning software support and maintenance may be required to keep each proposed software system running at full potential over it's lifetime. This score is determined by how much custom coding is required to implement the proposed construction ERP software, and which business processes depend on the customized software.

This graph compares both the Weighted Grade (Suitability) Score, Supportability Index, and the Vendor Capabilities Profile side-by-side for easy reference. It is important to see how much custom coding is in a proposed construction system that also has a high Weighted Score, along with the Vendor Profile. The more custom code, the higher the risk posed by that construction enterprise resource planning system. Therefore, the more custom coding, the more expertise and capabilities a vendor should have.

The backgrounds, expertise, capabilities, and certifications of each vendor is obtained in the Vendor Global Issues section of the ERP RFP for construction. The ERP vendor responses to this section are totaled separately from the software functionality topics, and this data is used to calculate the "Vendor Profile Score". The higher the score, the more CAPABILITIES a vendor is probably going to be.