eCMS Cloud Construction ERP

1 Review 5/5

Integrated financial and project data on demand for smarter construction

About eCMS Cloud Construction ERP

eCMS is a Cloud Construction ERP software for any size and type of commercial contractor that needs financial and operations management. The solution includes cost accounting, payroll, reporting, project management, content management, and more.

Video Overview

Leveraging leading-edge technology and development, Construction Management System: Computer Guidance eCMS provides the most comprehensive integrated financial application suite in the market today. Computer Guidance eCMS includes six disciplines, from Accounting and Personnel to Project, Operations and Equipment Management, to a host of Specialized Applications – resulting in a suite that can be tailored to your firm’s precise needs, the ultimate combination of scalability and flexibility.

Plus, Computer Guidance eCMS Productivity Tools (document imaging, electronic workflow, business intelligence, electronic forms, etc.) increase visibility and enhance organizational effectiveness by utilizing a variety of data management optimization and communication methods. Throughout your channels, virtual offices, contractors, and subcontractors, you can be certain that there’s a higher level of dependability.

A/P & Subcontract

The Accounts Payable application makes certain that all your transactions are accurately distributed to general ledger accounts, job cost, subcontract, equipment, check reconciliation, and vendor history files. You can easily view current amounts due, future amounts owed, and history at any time.

Accounts Payable Benefits

  • Eliminates duplicate and over-payments to vendors
  • Improves cash flow
  • Enhances clerical productivity

A/R & Contracts

The Accounts Receivable System maintains current, accurate and properly aged balances. Data is entered, edited and distributed to accounts receivable, general ledger, job cost, and customer history files. The latest accounts receivable information is available through on-line inquiries.

Accounts Receivable Benefits

  • Improves cash flow
  • Enhances clerical productivity
  • Eliminates unbilled work and retention
  • Manages contract billing process (including AIA)

Bill of Materials

The Bill of Materials System provides the functions to maintain Product Structure and Standard Cost. The system is fully integrated with the Order Processing/Inventory Control System, Job Costing and Plant Sales.

Bill of Materials Benefits

  • Maintains perpetual inventories as finished products are sold
  • Makes inventory management easier when repetitive work is performed using common assemblies
  • Improves the contractor’s control of in-house manufacturing

Business Intelligence

The ability to have immediate access to critical data is a necessity for today’s construction companies. After all, your profit revolves around this data. Finding a solution to collect data solves only half of the problem. Finding a tool to help easily access that data is the puzzle many construction companies are trying to solve. Business Intelligence is that tool.

Business Intelligence Benefits

  • Design inquiries and reports
  • Create downloads to Microsoft Excel
  • Generate reports automatically at predefined times or as certain business conditions occur
  • Analysis tool in an OLAP environment
  • Data mining tool

Canadian Payroll

Computer Guidance Corporation’s Canadian Payroll System provides users with payroll processing and labor costing functions. Detail and summary labor cost analysis, unit cost reports, and unit productivity reports are provided to help maintain control of direct labor costs. Reporting is available for taxes, insurance, equal employment opportunity, employee history, and unions, satisfying reporting requirements for governmental and other institutions.

With the Payroll system, all information necessary to maintain payroll accounts can be entered quickly. Paychecks and time cards can be produced with ease to meet rigid schedules. Multiple check runs may be combined for an update to save processing time and produce combined payroll reports for payroll periods.

Canadian Payroll Benefits

  • Timely and Accurate Cheque Generation
  • Automatic Collection of Labour for billing
  • Government Compliance for billing, T4, UIC, and Provincial and local tax
  • Data Accuracy Reduces accounting costs
  • Improves labour cost reporting

Document Imaging

Computer Guidance Document Imaging/Workflow is a browser-based document image management solution. Documents can be quickly scanned into the system and stored. Single or multiple image files can be assigned to an accounting discipline (AR, AP, G/L, etc.), project or job jacket for fast and easy retrieval. Document files can be retrieved for viewing via any browser.

Our Document Imaging is integrated into Construction Management System: eCMS to easily scan documents and associate them to an eCMS record, or can be employed as a stand-alone application for any business. This is the most powerful and reliable document imaging solution for any business. This electronic storage and retrieval system gives you the power of company-wide access to your important documents.

Benefits of Computer Guidance Document Imaging Application

  • Reduced Storage Space - No More Paper Files
  • Reduced Printing Cost – View Reports on Screen
  • Files Associated with Project, Departments, Vendors, Employees, Equipment, etc.
  • Remote Access (and Approval) of Invoices
  • Electronic Transfer of Files – No Couriers or Faxes Needed
  • Improved Communications with Staff, Vendors and Owners
  • Supports Multiple File Types, such as PDF, JPG, GIF, DOC.
  • Supervisors Can Access Reports from the Job Site
  • Easy Storage of Backups in the Event of Disaster
  • Documentation Always Available for Government Inspection, Litigation, Audits, etc.
  • Employee and Payroll File Consolidation
  • Supporting Documents Always Available

Electronic Forms

You’ve heard this hundreds of times: Because of the computer, paper documents will become obsolete. Until this becomes a reality, an application to customize your documents is incorporated into eCMS. Standard Rich Text Format (RTF) templates, specific to the Construction Industry, allow you to create customized documents for your business. eCMS contains more than thirty form templates.

Below is a sample list:

  • 1099 Form
  • Daily Time Card
  • W2 Form
  • Equipment Work Order
  • AP Checks
  • Order Entry Invoice
  • AP Supplemental Check Stub
  • Payment Advice Request
  • AR Monthly Statement
  • Picking/Packing List
  • Plant Sales Invoice
  • Purchase Order
  • Change Order
  • PR Checks
  • State Quarterly Report
  • Weekly Time Card
  • AIA702 Application Certificate for Payment
  • AIA703 Application for Payment Contribution

Electronic Workflow

Along with Computer Guidance Document Imaging, the Workflow application is the timesaving, streamlining solution for your entire company.

Workflow is the business process where documents or information follow a specific processing route. The paper trail that currently streams through most companies represents a manual workflow process. With Computer Guidance Workflow application, an electronic (imaged) document travels via your company’s computer network to any one person, group of people or departments as determined by your organization’s policies.

Computer Guidance Workflow software is customizable to meet the needs of your business operations. Categorize your imaged documents with an unlimited number of options, such as W2, I-9, specific vendor invoices and all the other paperwork that needs to be routed through your company. Set the security controls to allow access to the information for viewing and who will need to take action. The software follows your predetermined set of rules for distributing the electronic information – to one person, a group of people, a department.

Equipment Accounting

The Equipment Accounting System compares and tracks:

  • Operating cost versus repair cost
  • Physical location tracking
  • Scheduled maintenance
  • Cost recovery
  • Fixed assets

Equipment Accounting Benefits

  • Eliminates unallocated equipment cost
  • Improves administrative productivity
  • Comprehensive depreciation, fuel tax and license reporting
  • Facilitates repair/replace decisions

Equipment Maintenance

The Equipment Preventive Maintenance application was designed to help users gain control of fleet maintenance cost. The cost of Equipment breakdown contribute to reduced productivity for other equipment and crews. This program matches the needs of the equipment for maintenance, the constraints of the job, and the mechanic personnel resources available. The maintenance system produces work orders that balance the needs of the job with the machine.

Equipment Maintenance Benefits

  • Reduces downtime repair and cost
  • Improves productivity of maintenance personnel
  • Provides information to help make mobilization decisions

General Ledger

Computer Guidance Corporation General Ledger System provides a highly flexible system which can be easily customized to fit your corporate procedures. Structure accounting, sales, and cost control activities to match your individual reporting requirements.

General Ledger transactions can be viewed on-line and traditional financial reports can be produced quickly and easily. Users can also easily define the report format of financial statements, making it easier to analyze financial conditions and operating performance.

General Ledger Benefits

  • Allows uninterrupted Processing
  • Increases staff productivity
  • Provides complete audibility
  • Produces timely and accurate financial reports
  • No monthly closes required

Human Resources

Computer Guidance’s Human Resources application maintains an extensive database of information, including data for current and previous employees. Information can be retrieved by employee name, number, or social security number.

Multiple skill levels can be maintained for each employee. Each skill record includes level of experience, employee class and type, and last date updated. This information is available for matching job requirements to available personnel.

Integration with the Payroll System allows the Human Resources application to accrue vacation and sick time, earned and used. Compensatory time is also tracked in hours and dollars, earned and used.

The Human Resources System Tracks the Following Information:

  • Attendance
  • Benefit/deduction enrollment
  • Company property
  • Compensatory time accrual
  • Education
  • Events
  • Employee history
  • Grievance
  • Insurance
  • Languages
  • Memberships
  • Military service
  • Salary reviews and promotions
  • Skills history
  • Skills inventory
  • Sick accrual
  • Training
  • Vacation accrual

Human Resources Benefits

  • Vacation and sick pay benefits
  • Applicant tracking
  • Staff functions
  • Salary reviews
  • COBRA administration
  • Safety administration
  • Substance abuse testing
  • EEO reporting
  • Veterans reporting
  • Benefit administration
  • Employee information

Job Cost

The Construction Management System’s Job Cost System calculates costs at completion to identify potential cost variances. You’ll maintain control throughout the life of a project, regardless of it’s complexity. And because all data is integrated with the entire Construction Management System application set, Job Cost information is always complete and accurate.

At any time, users can review an up-to-date picture of the current cost status of each job.

Cost at Completion Estimates Are Calculated Using:

  • Estimated costs
  • Percentage complete
  • Quantities put in place
  • Committed costs
  • Actual costs
  • Project managers can enter estimated cost, hours, or quantities either to complete or at completion

Both your Operations and Accounting staff can project and maintain job costs.

Job Cost Benefits

  • Change Order Control
  • Project Cost Reports with user define selections
  • Job Cost Inquiry, moving vertically and horizontally, through the job
  • Unit Cost Productivity
  • Financial Reporting
  • Field Reporting
  • Overhead Allocation
  • Estimating History and Closing
  • Job Cash Position Reporting
  • Job Cost Report Writer

Order Entry/Inventory

Order Processing’s interactive, online system allows users to enter, maintain and then track orders. Orders can designated as internal jobs, customers, equipment maintenance or customer’s jobs. Orders are automatically back ordered, pending customer’s approval, when sufficient inventory is not available; then released when inventory is in stock.

Order Processing is fully integrated with the Construction Management System’s Bill of Materials, Plant Sales, Accounts Receivable, Equipment Accounting, Job Cost, and General Ledger applications.

Customers orders, credit memos and price adjustments are entered using the Order Entry Program. Inventory is allocated for shipment or back ordered depending on the availability of inventory and customer instructions. Overrides may be entered for standard customer instructions, price or shipping instructions during order entry.

Payroll

The Construction Management System’s Payroll application performs payroll processing and labor costing functions. It’s detail and summary labor cost analysis, unit cost reports, and unit productivity reports help you maintain control of direct labor costs. Reports on taxes, insurance, equal employment opportunity, employee history, and unions will assist your company in satisfying reporting requirements for government and other institutions.

The Payroll application’s easy navigation makes the task of maintaining payroll accounts easy and hassle free. Information can be entered quickly; paychecks and time cards can be produced in seconds to meet rigid schedules. Multiple check runs may be combined for an update to save processing time and produce combined reports for payroll periods.

Payroll Benefits

  • Improved labor cost reporting
  • Quick time entry with or without validation
  • Reduced worker’s comp costs
  • Certified payroll reports and pay rate calculations
  • Government compliance for U.S. and other countries including Canada

Plant Sales

The Plant Sales application is designed to interface with the following PC-based scale ticketing systems from the plant site:

  • SELTEC
  • WEM (Wisconsin Electric)
  • CARDNIAL
  • IN-CONTROL
  • CAD-CRETE

Working with the Order Processing System, this application manages the flow of customer, department, and job orders. The system also captures data on hired trucks, builds accounts payable material vendor records, generates order releases, and customer invoicing. It supports user defined data such as zone haul rates, wait time rates, pricing by contract date ranges, job, department, customer, or class.

Plant Sales Benefits

  • Supports a variety of scale ticketing systems
  • Validates ticket data and pricing
  • Order Processing System Manages flow of order release and customer invoicing

Project Collaborator

Managing your projects successfully in today’s construction workplace can be difficult due to their diversity and complexity. Computer Guidance Corporation has developed Project Collaborator to help construction companies successfully take charge of their most challenging jobs and field operations.

This advanced project management tool is easy-to-use and fully links all critical project information, from remote job sites and the corporate office. Real-time project information, shared seamlessly with Computer Guidance’s eCMS financial software, will ensure your projects are managed effectively, so you can control project costs and drive profitability.

This browser-based solution is specifically developed to increase speed and efficiency by:

  • Improving communication and information flow across your organization
  • Allowing real-time response and access to project information anytime, anywhere
  • Enhancing performance with standardized processes and easily accessible project data
  • Connecting extended project teams to images, documents and information

Project Collaborator Benefits

Communication through:

  • Submittals
  • Meeting Minutes
  • Request for Information (RFI)
  • Issues Management
  • Reports
  • Letters
  • Punch Lists
  • Daily Reports
  • Transmittals
  • Drawing Logs
  • Dunning Letters

Control through:

  • Change Management
  • Project Hot Lists
  • Cost Control
  • Accurate Forecasts
  • Owner Billing
  • Contracts/Subcontracts

Project Management

Features Include:

  • Change Estimate Log Entry & Report
  • Anticipated Cost
  • Entry and Reporting
  • Job Cost, Fee Analysis and Management Summary Reports
  • Owner Change Order Entry
  • Subcontract Amendment Processing
  • Budget Transfer Entry
  • Host or Personal Computer Based System
  • Profit Impact Reporting
  • Owner Reporting
  • Contract Administration

Property Management

The Property Management System was designed to helps users manage commercial and residential properties. Management features include:

  • Invoices
  • Rent rolls
  • Expense pass through
  • Multiplied rent categories per property
  • Escalations
  • Key events for each property or unit
  • Lease expirations and management fee and commissions

Additionally, the application provides analysis of rent with full tenant sales history; and generates financial statements on a property/building basis.

The Property Management application integrates with the Construction Management System’s General Ledger, Accounts Payable, and Accounts Receivable.

Property Management Benefits

  • Provides rent roll support for tenant management
  • Supports property cost analysis
  • Integrates with Construction Management System accounting applications
  • Provides Analysis of rent with full tenant sales history
  • Generates financial statements on property/building basis

Purchasing

Control material orders, delivery coordination, recording of committed costs in the Job Cost System, and inventory items and order balance updates with Computer Guidance Corporation’s Purchasing application.

The application’s receiving function will help your company accurately account for all materials received. It also updates perpetual inventory and received/uninvoiced records in the Accounts Payable application. You’ll easily eliminate duplicate invoice payments and control cost overruns.

The Purchasing application’s on-line purchase control regulates invoice, receiver, and purchase order matching. To improve cash flow and control pilferage, materials are scheduled to arrive when required - rather than arriving weeks or even months ahead of time.

Purchasing Benefits

  • Improves cost forecasting
  • Reduces paper handling
  • Reduces expediting expense
  • Easy analysis of vendor performance

Service Request

The Service Request application will satisfy the needs of your service department. The recording of calls, creating work orders, dispatching the order, and recording all of the costs incurred take place within this application. Service contracts and warranty data can be entered and noted when a call is received. Service Request is integrated with the Payroll, Equipment Accounting, Order Processing/Inventory Control, Time & Material Billing Systems, Purchasing, and Job Cost.

Service Request Benefits

  • Eliminates duplicate entry of service call data
  • Easy to view dispatch board

Time & Materials Billing

The Time and Material Billing System automatically generates billings for labor, materials, subcontracts, equipment, and other transactions which make up costs. The billings are prepared from transactions entered from Payroll, Accounts Payable, Order Processing/Inventory Management, General Ledger, Equipment Accounting Systems, as well as Time and Material.

Your company will eliminate the clerical time required to compile billable costs, extend invoice amounts, and print invoices. All costs posted to a job are billed - lessening lost revenue from missed items. Preliminary invoices can be easily reviewed and adjusted before a final invoice is generated.

The data entered in this system is edited against information in the Accounts Receivable System for customers, jobs, and contract items.

Time & Material Billing Benefits

  • Eliminates unbilled cost, arithmetic and pricing errors
  • Saves time by automating data collection, recurring billings, automatic update of open receivables, job income and General Ledger
  • Provides flexible invoice formatting

Product Overview

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User Reviews of eCMS Cloud Construction ERP

★★★★★
★★★★★
Submitted on August 20th, 2018 by Eric Burnworth

We’ve been customers of Computer Guidance since 1984. We use electronic forms, dashboards, basic user level reports, advanced reporting, easy to use integrations, and most recently their mobile capability.

I talk to a lot of construction companies and they run into a lot of challenges in what they do, using different software. We’ve been able to overcome these by using Computer Guidance.

We’re a heavy highway construction company. We manage our own off and on-road fleet of equipment. We employ 1,000 people, and operate asphalt and ready mix concrete plants. eCMS lets us run all of our payables and receiables, pay our employees, track our job costing and have everything in one place.

My job is to eliminate as many steps along the way as we can. eCMS has let us do that by bringing data directly into our system via integrations so people don’t have to key in thousands of tickets each week. We will continue to use this software in the future and look forward to continuing our relationship.