There is a solution. In a short period of time, for a reasonable price, Mission Development can help your company customize and learn to use a much larger amount of the program. There are 1,200 reports included in MB. But over half of them require using a few simple setup options. If your company can consistently use these setup options, another 30-40% of the program is available to you. Mission Development will also help your staff learn to customize the program, including reports and data entry screens. Why hire consultants to do this when at least one person on your staff is totally capable of learning a dozen features which will double or triple the usefulness of MB?

Please contact us for more information.

All reports are created in Master Builder Report Writer and will be printed from a numbered screen in Master Builder and/or the Custom Reports printing utility in Master Builder at your request.

Custom reports are available upon request. Sample reports appear in .PDF when you click on a link.  Please contact us for pricing or if you would like to learn more.

New reports are being published every week. Variations of all reports can be ordered.

Estimating/Bidding

These 5 Proposals print directly from the Takeoff in screen 9-5:

Proposal by Phase with Notes

Proposal by Phase and Cost Code with Notes

Proposal by Cost Code with Notes

Proposal by Bid Item with Notes

Proposal by Bid Item and Cost Code with Notes

Job Reports

Gross Profit Long Form

There are dozens more reports available, please e-mail service@missiondevelopment.com or call 805-771-8400.

If a report cannot be written in Master Builder’s Report Writer, it defnitely can be written using Crystal Reports. For any reports you would like written using Crystal Reports, please contact Dolente Consulting, and mention that you were referred from this site.

Implementation, Training, Custom Reports and Services

Implementation

Consulting Overview

Implementation, Training, Custom Reports and Services

Implementation, training and troubleshooting services for Sage Master Builder and QuickBooks are offered upon request. Please contact us if you would like to learn more.

In addition, a full construction management method is available. This includes advanced construction accounting, profitable project management, advanced estimating in Master Builder, and custom reporting in Master Builder. Management and organizational consulting is also offered.

Since we are an advocate for Master Builder customers, you may e-mail us your suggestions of how to improve the program. We will package them in a way in which we think they will be noticed, and submit them for you. The timing is right to make suggestions. If people do not make suggestions, there is almost no chance that the items which you want in MB will appear.  Because we need to follow Sage’s format, and cannot re-type every suggestion submitted, please follow this format:

Menu Item:

(General Ledger, Accounting, Reports, Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Payroll, Project Management, etc.)

Screen Number:

(1-3, 2-2, 3-2, 4-2, 5-2-2, 6-2, etc.)

Sub-Menu:

(Enter a sub-category related to the Menu Item. For example, Menu Item = Project Management; Sub-Menu = Change Orders.)

Brief Description:

(Two to three keywords about your suggestion.)

Detailed Description:

(As long or as short as you want.)

Benefit:

(Describe the business problem or reason that led you to recommend your suggestion.)

A company I worked with was eager to grow.  Management envisioned an ever-expanding business at the top of its field.  The company boosted the marketing with an active radio and print campaign.  It also advertised for and hired more staff to handle the workload.

After a few years, the expansion became a nightmare.  Client work backed up.   Many of the recent hires didn’t have the talent that the founding partners enjoyed.  It wasn’t satisfying for the partners to correct other people’s errors and fret about poor quality.

What happened?  The company tried to grow by simply doing more of what it was doing, adding more clients and adding more staff.  It didn’t develop the systems for recruitment and managing the work that it needed to support the next stage of growth.

The prescription for the company to break through the bottleneck is one that many firms can follow.

Hire the best for your core.

Identify the key roles in your business.  Use a recruitment process that will attract and select the best people to fill them.

In order to manage the company at a level of 25 people, the company needed four very highly qualified people.  Each needed an expert level of knowledge and the ability to motivate and supervise other team members.

The company had followed standard recruitment procedures.  The problem is that these average recruitment efforts yielded only average candidates.

For the critical hires, the company had to do better.  It refined its quality standards and upgraded the opportunities and rewards for the top positions.  Then, the partners networked with the best people in the field to find prospects who weren’t looking for jobs and used skill and style assessments to choose superior players.  Higher quality colleagues also rekindled the partners’ enjoyment of the business.

Leverage the rest to produce more.

Get the most benefit from your top performers with mid-level professionals and administrative staff to support them.  Think of your firm as a pyramid of talent.

The company’s pyramid had become wobbly.  It had too many average performers in the middle.  The firm trimmed average players and boosted its standards.

Use systems to be your best.

Finally, implement quality systems that enable new hires to quickly learn and apply best practices.  These systems become business assets for your next stage of growth.

The company’s leaner, more capable team committed time to document best practices.  They scanned how other firms handled similar work, documented standard procedures, and added their own elements of distinctive value.  These translated into quality checklists and procedures everyone could follow.  Instead of worrying about whether junior people were making mistakes on individual projects, the senior team tracked the quality systems.

Recognize the stages of growth for your business.  Business as usual won’t get you to the next level.  Develop the standards, strategies, and systems that will enhance your business’ value and your enjoyment of it.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

Another method of motivation is to fill a basic human need – the need to feel valuable and important. Mary Kay Cosmetics has a reputation for motivating their sales force, and at the front of this effort are the many things they do to make their people feel special. Here are some ideas they use to make their employees feel special.

1. Listen to people. People feel important and perform better when they think their opinions are valued. Have a weekly production meeting including the project managers, estimators, owner and accounting staff. Progress on jobs, billings and a variety of issues should be discussed. Everyone has a report to give and everyone listens to each other. Each individual knows that their contribution really counts and so they are motivated to do their best.

You can see the importance of this concept and some ways to implement this in your business. There are also ways to extend this to the field. If each superintendent realizes the value of their performance to the success of the job and company they will be motivated to perform at a higher level. This can then extend to everyone working on the job. Having weekly tailgate meetings (which are often already required for safety discussions) gives workers an opportunity for input on how things could be done better.

2. Don’t give responsibility without authority. Giving employees responsibility will make them feel important, but only as long as long as they also have the authority to fulfill their responsibilities. This may be difficult, especially when your business is growing and you have to turn loose decisions you previously made. However, for the business to be successful this must happen, and if it is done right the employees will grow into the job.

3. Let people know you appreciate them. People are motivated when they know they are appreciated – plain and simple. There are a few little “tricks” you can use – such as noting the “hire date” of your employees and sending a card or some other action that is taken on the employee’s anniversary date with the company or on employee birthdays.

4. Put people on a first class basis. One way you can do this is to provide tools for your employees which will make their work easier and more efficient or which results in a more attractive finished product. Give office personnel the ability to enhance forms such as invoices and statements. Whenever they print these they will be reminded that this is a first class company; the type of company where they want to be. The same is true of tools in the field. If these are old or out-dated then employees will be frustrated. If you are on the lookout for new methods and tools, look objectively at their potential and then try out those which are promising then employees will feel that this is a progressive company, not one still working in the ‘Dark Ages.’ Employees do take pride in their work and if the client shows employees that their work is important enough to look “first-class” they will be motivated to perform.

Another way to make employees feel important is to tell the world they are important to you. You can show your client how to do this. You may publish a quarterly newsletter which is sent to clients and prospects as well as employees and vendors. One feature in the newsletter is an “employee of the month” type article with the employee’s picture and an article about that person.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

The important things are that:  1) Debits = Credits;  2) there is an asset account which declares the actual asset value of the vehicle (purchase price) and a long-term liability account which declares the principal loan amount.

When a monthly payment is made again the loan, it would typically look like this:   This can be accomplished in the 1-1 screen by displaying the two debits in the grid.  Or is you really want to run it through A/P and pay an invoice, display the two debits in the grid of the A/P invoice screen.

When the asset is depreciated, your CPA should give you a journal entry to accomplish that.

There other possible scenarios, such as when the interest and principal change every month.  To implement that, you would need a schedule from the lending institution showing the principal and interest monthly over the life of the loan.  This summary covers the basic idea.  Please let me know if you have a specific different circumstance you want to implement.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

Mitnick became a cyberspace legend after his success in penetrating networks at major telecommunications firms — including Pacific Bell and Motorola, Nokia, Fujitsu, Novell and NEC — led the FBI on a 15-year manhunt that ended when his 1995 capture put him behind bars for nearly four years. Older and seemingly wiser, he now uses his skills for good as a Los Angeles-based security consultant, stopping in Australia briefly to address the crowd at the annual Toshiba event.

Many companies invest heavily in security technologies to protect their networks, but Mitnick was quick to point out that even the tightest technological barriers never stopped him; rather, some carefully planned social engineering – or even a bit of Dumpster diving in one’s spare time — can often be far more effective at penetrating the weakest security link at most companies: their people.

“What you can find in the trash is simply amazing,” said Mitnick, holding up a “souvenir” from his earlier days: a printed directory listing the name, phone number, email address, direct reports and other information about every employee in the company. “People throw out notes, drafts of letters, printouts of project documentation they’re working on. In some cases they even write down passwords and access information, or calendars that list every person that person has talked to or met with”.

This information provides invaluable assistance to bad guys keen to worm their way into a company by, say, impersonating an employee and calling the internal help desk, or dropping into the site and pretending to be a business associate. Because people hate to say no even when they’re suspicious of a well-presented stranger, Mitnick says, smooth talking has gotten many a hacker far closer to a target company’s network than days of brute-force technological attacks.

Modern technology is an enabler for such attacks: if a hacker can worm his way into a conference room for just a few minutes, for example, an wireless access point can be plugged into an out-of-the way network access point, providing an open back door into the network even when the hacker is parked outside the building.

The solution to such security vulnerabilities is easy to understand, but often hard to implement: develop clear security policies for issues such as treatment of strangers, handling of information and access to physical facilities by visitors. In suspicious circumstances, teach employees to fall back on those policies rather than trying to ad-lib their response or give in to their natural reticence to accommodate the hacker’s requests.

Even a simple request for contact details, so that a company employee might call back the person requesting assistance, can be enough to make many hackers turn tail and run.

“We can’t expect our employees to be human lie detectors,” Mitnick said. “One of the most difficult challenges in corporate cultures is getting people to modify their politeness norms. Social psychology has found that people should generally pay attention to their own discomfort; if something doesn’t feel right, or it’s nagging at their gut, they’d better check it out. They’re not always going to remember a security policy, but what you want is to come up with some very simple protocols that will trigger employees to refer to security policy. The only people who are going to object to this are the bad guys”.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

It’s one thing to show someone the historical data on what happened – it is a giant step forward when you can give them the tools they need to effectively control the outcome. One of the most effective tools you can provide to employees is Scheduling.

First of all, scheduling gives everyone more control over the job. By having the ability to see what impacts changes will have on the schedule the project manager now has the tools to make decisions that are logical and likely to generate the desired results. The benefit of this in motivating employees goes beyond the monetary one, although a job that is managed properly to finish faster will usually be more profitable and this will provide even more motivation to someone whose compensation depends on profit.

Beyond that, however, scheduling can give employees the sense of control that will provide a motivation of its own. It is hard to be motivated to work harder or smarter if you are out of control. A good example of motivating employees by giving them more control is through communications with Subcontractors. If you have ever watched a fellow contractor spend half his time on the phone – being interrupted every few minutes so he can call a sub and let them know he needs them on the job (frantically) then you know what being out of control does. Watch for these people – they are the ones who call everyone on Sunday night. And compounding the problem is that they spend so much time, energy and concentration on these calls that they do not have enough left for more important tasks – these urgent (last minute) items have them permanently occupied.

But if you use Scheduling, you now have an easy-to-use method of projecting when those subs are needed and a communication tool that puts the project manager back in control of the project. Give them a project schedule at the beginning of the project. Then update them on a weekly or semi-monthly basis. Faxing reminders/notices to individual subcontractors a few days before they are needed on the project. You may then wish to follow up with a reminder call the day before the schedule shows them starting work on the job. This will ensure that they are ready and available when needed on the job.

And something else has happened – we have raised the “level” of that person’s job. By removing the busywork of all of those calls we have freed up some time that can be spent on the more important tasks in the day – the proper analysis of what is happening on the job. Instead of a day filled with frantic and basically uninteresting calls, this person now has a job that requires a little more thought and is certainly a much better job.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

Over the years, several key performance indicators (KPIs) for decision-making have evolved.  KPIs are meaningful yardsticks that contractors can see and use to effectively communicate the day-to-day operations of the business, supported by the best practices of construction.  The most profitable and successful construction companies have improved their businesses by aligning people, processes, and technology to produce results that are better than the industry average.

The construction industry has generally accepted KPIs that indicate the overall health of a firm. However, the definition and understanding of each of these KPIs varies widely since a typical construction company has a complex combination of requirements.

Here are the important indicators which many successful companies follow:

1. Liquidity indicator

2. Schedule variance indicator

3. Work-in-process (WIP) reporting

4. Margin variance indicator

5. Project cash flow indicator

6. Unapproved change-order indicator

7. Committed cost indicator

8. Backlog indicator

9. Scorecard indicator.

This article describes the Liquidity Indicator.  For more information on the other indicators, please contact me.

Liquidity Indicator:

Cash is the single most important asset that keeps a construction business operational; all sins are forgivable except one: running out of cash. The complexity of contracting makes forecasting cash flow difficult at best. Late client payments, schedule delays, invoice processing, change order approval, vendor/subcontractor payments, labor costs, and numerous other factors affect the timing and ultimate receipt and disbursement of cash.

Understanding cash flow is critically important and is examined in detail when working with the WIP indicator.  One key aspect of cash flow is cash demand or liquidity which is discussed here. A manager should have the ability to evaluate organizational liquidity (availability of cash) and then should be able to drill down and see which projects are providing liquidity and which are using liquidity.  Once the amount of liquidity at the project level is known, an organization can work to improve it.

The next step toward liquidity improvement is to identify actions that will improve the cash generation process.  A project that is losing money may still be generating positive cash flow.  Conversely, a project that is making money may produce negative cash flow.  For example, a positive cash flow can be achieved inappropriately by not paying subcontractors and vendors. Therefore, causes of both negative and positive cash flow should be investigated and analyzed.

Looking at cash flow from a contractor’s perspective reveals four key balance sheet accounts that are largely controlled by project managers. A contractor is funding his WIP with his own cash if accounts receivable (including retention), and underbillings (costs and earnings in excess of billings) exceed accounts payable (including retention) and overbillings (billings in excess of cost and earnings on contracts).  The funding can be in the form of equity or borrowed money.

Conversely, the contractor is funding his WIP with the project client’s money if the current liability accounts exceed the current asset accounts. The difference in this equation will be one of three possibilities:

1. Zero, in which case the funding and asset accumulation are in balance.

2. A positive number, in which case cash is being applied to operations. That is, the general contractor is financing the WIP.

3. A negative number, in which case cash is being provided by operations. That is, the client combined with subcontractors and/or vendors are financing the WIP.

The current asset and liability accounts can be converted to the equivalency of a number of days’ revenue outstanding by dividing annualized revenue by the 365 days in a year producing an average daily revenue amount. The average daily revenue amount is also the amount of cash that can be generated from operations if improvements are made in the ratio, or relationship, of these key accounts of current assets to current liabilities.

Dividing the current asset accounts and current liability accounts by the average daily revenue produces the days outstanding for each account. Those numbers can then be totaled to determine the net impact. The net impact is the average number of days of liquidity applied to or provided by WIP by each account. The accounts receivable and accounts payable days outstanding can be compared to industry averages such as that compiled by the Construction Financial Management Association (CFMA) or Risk Management Associates (RMA) for contractors to determine positive and negative comparisons to similar size contractors.

The range of days outstanding of accounts receivable and accounts payable for a  contractor within a certain volume range varies significantly within the industry. The goal for your firm should be to rank in the top 25 percent of firms in this comparison survey. These firms have best-of-class financial management practices.

As I said above, sometimes MB customers are not getting what they need.  If you’re not getting what you want or need, I can help by working with you to give you the full view of your business and how it compares to others in your part of the construction industry.  Using the Key Performance Indicator model in combination with the large array of information which can be found in Master Builder reports, you can get an extremely clear view how your business is working and the exact areas in which it can be improved.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.

Companies can enhance financial performance by implementing planning and minimizing risk with some often-overlooked practices
Contractors have always had to deal with risk, but in these uncertain times, their exposure is greater than ever. However, many companies simply react to their growing risks rather than anticipating them through sound analysis and management.

Here are five strategies that contractors can use to improve financial performance.

Develop a Risk Strategy

Effective risk management is about playing both defense and offense. The process begins by assessing risks, including:

> Competitive risks. Competition has intensified among contractors and with full-service, mega real estate firms competing against traditional contractors.

> Pricing pressures. Clients are pressuring contractors to cut prices using reverse bid auctions that drive down prices and squeeze profits.

> Rising materials and fuel costs. Materials shortages and increased costs for fuel and construction materials will continue.

> Litigation costs. They never go down.

> Fast-changing markets. Contractors are having to adapt to rapid changes in the public and private sector markets, including power, telecom, commercial and others.

> Geopolitical risks. War, terrorism and other global events have increased risks to contractors and their clients.

> Labor shortages. Contractors face looming shortages of qualified people.

> Sarbanes-Oxley. The tightening of accounting and auditing standards has put public contractors, like public companies in general, under a microscope, requiring them to disclose deficiencies in their internal controls.

> Insurance/surety. These areas continue to tighten, with costs rising, deductibles increasing and coverage shrinking or disappearing. Sureties are pressuring private contractors to improve internal control standards and systems.
Once risks are identified, they can be quantified, prioritized and strategies can be developed to mitigate their impact.

Develop a Growth Strategy

Companies must decide whether they want to grow and how much. They need to analyze current markets to determine if they are still attractive. If existing markets are declining, companies may need to diversify, expand geographically, acquire other firms or recruit new talent.
A growth strategy also requires the resources to get more projects done. These include sound internal processes, experienced managers and a strong “bench” of new managers who can free senior managers from day-to-day operations to pursue new business.
Alternatively, a company can choose a no-growth, negative growth or selective growth strategy to reduce risk. It can focus instead on reducing costs, increasing profits and capturing market share in existing markets or making selective acquisitions in related business areas.
While a moderate or no-growth strategy may work for large companies, smaller companies that follow the same strategy must consider the risk of losing business to bigger competitors that can work on larger, more complex projects or provide a broader range of services.

Develop a Profit Strategy

How can a company meet its profit goals? Reducing costs can boost profits, but once excessive costs are eliminated the payback from cost cutting diminishes. If a company is not generating enough profits, it may have to grow or diversify to reinvest in the company, create a reserve for future opportunities or pass profits through to shareholders and investors.
If a company chooses growth as a way to increase profits, it should employ the least risky growth strategies, like generating new business from existing customers rather than trying to win new ones. Keeping current customers happy also keeps competitors at a distance.

Develop a Competitive Strategy

Competition in the construction industry is intensifying, both globally and locally. Global contractors generate billions of dollars and thus also have the capital to compete with regional and local contractors. Among U.S.-based firms, large specialty, heavy and building contractors-such as Granite, Modern Continental, J.E. Dunn and others-have developed a commanding presence in local markets.
Companies need to evaluate how their current and potential competitors are diversifying, acquiring companies and hiring people. How are competitors eroding their own market positions? How is their own company viewed by its customers? This information is best gathered from customer surveys done by an outside firm.

Based on analysis, companies may need to fine tune existing strategies or create new ones. But they also have to consider the risks, like diversifying from private to public sector work or jumping into unfamiliar markets.

A competitive strategy also looks at defense-companies have to protect their flanks from competitors who may try to steal customers or employees.

Develop an H.R. Strategy

Strong growth can help companies attract managers and workers. They can offer more jobs, job choices, career opportunities and advancement, and they are in a better position to compete for the best and brightest employees.
Does this mean a slower-growing company will lose the talent competition? Not necessarily. Some people may prefer to work for a company if it offers interesting work, more responsibility, greater autonomy, faster advancement, a supportive culture or other advantages. But smaller companies need to create work environments that meet workers’ expectations.

Strategic Planning

Companies must not only have strategic plans but also a process for implementing, revising and adapting them to changing conditions. Plans should include action steps to improve operations and financial performance and capitalize on business opportunities.

Planning begins with a review of the business, its operations and finances. It should include research about trends in existing and prospective markets to identify business opportunities. But whatever planning decisions companies make, their success depends not only on business acumen and financial strength, but also on how well they manage risk.

Please contact us if you would like to learn more about instituting a comprehensive training process.  Thank you.