While we typically discuss (in detail) features within the System Integrator and, are always mindful of feedback from our users, we thought it best to focus on specific aspects of the software that can greatly assist commercial integrators this time around.
While that can be something of a catchall phrase, referring to any team as strictly commercial and not residential in orientation that is, there are still some very interesting mechanisms worthy of consideration within SI that will lend themselves greatly to such integrators.
If your team is strictly selling into market sectors such as Hospitality, Houses of Worship, Government, Higher Education, etc., SI and its well-established mechanisms can decrease bid creation time, enhance design standards, as well as enable your team to create and maintain proficient workflow models and best practices for your overall bid submission process.
Now, if your team issues bids to other market sectors including the aforementioned Resi, you may find some of the following useful as well. Therefore, I encourage all to continue reading (or listening) if you are interested in learning more about how SI can increase your business profitability and efficiency. As per our usual effort here, we will review a few scenarios on usage for some examples and mention some aspects of the related functionality for your consideration.
“As a Commercial integrator, we routinely quote large scale quantities. How can SI help?”
One of the best, more recent innovations on the SI platform that was strictly implemented with commercial integrators in mind is the Quantity-Based Project.
For those that are not aware of this mechanism, it can be best described as follows: the Quantity-Based project in SI allows our users to modify the number of any line item (be it a Product or Labor value) and for that total quantity value to be displayed in the same, single line presentation of that item.
A visual can be seen below here:
This is an improved mechanism for such large-scale commercial integrators over the traditional SI Project structure of Unit-Based values which displays all quantities as separate line items. Meaning, if there are 10 of any one item, you will see 10 separate line item entries in the SI Project.
A visual of this presentation can be seen below here:
Now while it may be obvious, it does not merit overlooking the benefit of using this Quantity-Based SI Project structure. The ease of quantity adjustment available in an SI Project can now enable users to make sweeping changes to the overall bid submission with just a few clicks. Specific usage enables estimators to click into the Quantity data field below the corresponding column header to enter the necessary quantity adjustment.
In addition, we would be remiss if we did not mention the implication of these Quantity-Based Projects towards design, procurement, and deployment. Thus, accordingly here are some relevant details with those factors in mind.
-Design-
If your SI Project is Quantity-Based, you will be locked into adding all same model number items so grouped to your drawing as one shape or block when using Visio or AutoCAD respectively. If this is not preferred, your design team can convert any group of quantities to the desired number to be plotted in the design environment. Simply right-click on any such item and select Convert.
Users also have the option to convert the entire Project from Quantity-Based to Unit-Based as well. More on each of these options can be found in the following links:
Custom Conversion
Converting the entire project
-Procurement-
The same essentially applies to the Procurement team, use of a Quantity-Based project will force your purchasing team to make PO’s for all like items in the grouped quantity designation. Following the same recommendation mentioned just previously regarding the conversion of such quantities, usage of this mechanism will override grouped amounts and allow for the purchasing of any desired quantity.
-Deployment-
Project Managers will be in the same boat if the Project is still in a Quantity-Based structure at the time of scheduling. Converting the items in the Project or Converting the entire Project is the remedy here to free-up the specific items to be deployed accordingly.
It is a strong recommendation for our users that are not familiar with these aforementioned practices regarding the use of Quantity-Based Projects in SI to secure time with our Professional Services Group team members in order to establish the appropriate methodology for your team. Please see this link to do so.
“As a Commercial integrator, we need the ability to adjust multiple assemblies and locations very easily. How can SI help?”
Another recent innovation on the SI platform was the addition of a new type of Package called a Solution. While many teams have manifested very interesting uses of this new utility, it was added to the software with large-scale commercial integrators in mind.
With that said, to easily understand what this type of Package called a Solution can offer, consider any bid where the requirement is the same across multiple rooms, locations, or floors of a project site. As you assess the details of any given room, location, or floor, the assembly of these items into this type of Package structure (a Solution) gives your team the unique ability to make changes to any one Solution present in the Project and for that modification to then flow to all the same Solutions within the bid.
An example could be as follows: perhaps your team is bidding a series of executive conference rooms at a corporate office complex. The details of these rooms are the same but there are 35 of them, one per each floor of the structure. The practice here would then be to create the first room of items as this Solution based Package and, once in the Project, simply assign it to each Location in your Project’s list.
As the bid requirements evolve, your team need only adjust one of these Solutions for the details to affect the other Linked Solution Packages. This makes changes related to negotiations, design compatibility, and product availability extremely easy to make. Moreover, for the rare occasion that one or more of the Locations has to meet a different or unique standard, then that specific Location can be unlinked from the rest of the Solutions.
Again, there could be much to sort out regarding the use of said Solutions for your team so do not hesitate to contact us to explore this utilization further for your SI methodologies.
“As a Commercial integrator, we need labor and other values related to deployment to calculate automatically as we create the bid design. How can SI help?”
So this specific aspect of our user’s needs can be addressed on multiple levels with the fully developed utilization of SI’s Labor Types. For those of you not completely familiar with the Labor Type designation in SI it can be described as follows: “The ability to compound various aspects of labor exertion on a single product based on the amount of time necessary to complete the required work be it installation related, programming, design, or commissioning.”
Now while that sounds like a mouthful, it really is quite direct and easily modifiable once you have the basic structure in place. Allow me to explain further if you will.
In your SI Control Panel, SI Catalog, or SI Project Explorer navigate to the Labor Type icon or Project Settings option:
Once there, at a minimum, you will find the default SI values and any other ones your team has created:
Keeping in mind your team can always create Labor Types for Design, Project Management, and any Misc. Labor your team performs, each Labor Type evaluation in SI allows for the incremental addition of these labor executions on top of the overall work for said Labor Type.
The makes compounded quoting evaluation very easy, succinct and (dare I say) quick in SI. Once your team creates all necessary Labor Types based on your team’s regular in-house or field executions, you’ll need only to populate the various pricing, factor and difficulty data fields in order to ensure your team is capturing the required aggregated labor evaluation for any product or labor item.
When focusing on any one Product, this is where the mechanism really flourishes in its ability to capture all required work evaluations to bring the item to a nominal state. Let’s take a surveillance camera for example.
Above you see the application of (4) separate aspects of work to be performed on the item. Upon addition to any SI Project, we will then compound the labor evaluation for all Labor Types present as well as the Unit Price for the item itself:
This image above here displays the complete labor aggregation on the camera with all (4) Labor Types considered.
The below image from the Estimated Installation Price View yields the overall installed price for the camera with all labor and other Price Adjustments:
This Labor Type usage, when fully developed within your SI, will not only reduce your quoting time but will also ensure that your team is not omitting key evaluations of in-house or field work for any single item. This will also ensure that multiple quantities are compounded with the same evaluation so that work for redundant items is not over looked as well.
And yes, these Labor Type assignments for Products can be Mass Updated in your Catalog so that dozens or hundreds of items can have pricing and time assigned accordingly. Once you’ve grouped your items (perhaps by Category/sub-Category), just right-click to access Update Labor Types. You will then see a screen that will allow you to apply multiple Labor Types with unique time evaluations to your list of items:
And just like that, you team’s ability to accurately quote with all labor to be performed already included with the item is complete.
This Labor Type usage is also very valuable for Labor items as well. Meaning, that once you have created your Labor Items in the SI Labor Explorer, you can then source said Labor Types for your variable or time-based labor executions:
This is the recommended practice in SI for Labor Items so that all labor estimates can be traced to appropriate executions in the Project itself. This will be critical to your team’s overall evaluation of Project profitability once the job is completed and the management team seeks to reconcile labor estimated versus labor incurred. This is best viewed in SI via the Job Cost report mechanism.
Which leads me to the last feature in today’s entry…
“As a Commercial integrator, we need evaluate our team’s labor success both during the deployment phase and at the end when it is completed. How can SI help?”
Once your team has entered the deployment Phase, the Job Cost report mechanism can give your management team an interesting perspective into the success of your bid efforts regarding labor estimates.
Available exclusively in the Project Explorer, the Job Cost report icon can be seen on every tab of the module’s ribbon:
Once selected, you’ll see the options to review your Project (or Projects) data with regard to Labor:
The options are by Phase or by Labor Type and here you’ll want to select Labor Type.
Once you select either Labor or Hours from the Layout dropdown,
you’ll see this result (Labor shown here):
The actual result of your team’s budgeted labor versus actual labor is now visible.
The hours options will yield something similar of course:
I cannot recommend enough that your team strongly pursue the use of Labor Types for all Products and Labor items.
With this type usage, your team can very successfully track and evaluate all Labor executions while in progress as well as once the job is completed. This is an incredibly effective tool in SI that will continue to deliver project reconciliation values to our users for years to come.
While we have covered a few mechanisms and methodologies in today’s session, this is merely scratching the surface of what SI can achieve for our commercial integrators.
Now, since we know each team will leverage and utilize these aforementioned feature sets in their own unique method, it is strongly recommended for new (as well as experienced) SI users to reach out to our PSG team to gain further insight from our team of industry professionals with extensive SI experience themselves.
And there it is!
SI’s features function in such a fashion that will enable commercial integrators to quickly and effectively complete bid estimates and design submissions thus allowing your team to build a profitable future. Be sure to tune back in here for future installments on SI’s v21 and beyond.
A Perspective
Our team is continually evaluating ways to improve and enhance your team’s usage of and experience with our SI platform. Therefore, it behooves you and your team to explore these (and other features) as well by securing time with our Professional Services Group of SI/industry veterans in order to maximize your team’s ability to succeed with the software.
In Summation…
-Update to v21 if you have not already.
-Review, utilize, and deploy the features listed above here to ensure success as a “commercial” integrator.
-Sign-up for webinars, training, or visit our online documentation “wiki” for tutorial assistance.
And, as always…
-Get focused, get serious, and make money.
Enjoy!
With all of that said, there’s still plenty more in store for you with SI and forthcoming product releases so keep an eye out for future updates.
We are always reviewing your Feature Requests to determine our best step forward and next course of action with future SI product releases so…“keep’em coming”!
In closing…
For more information on these and other features of SI, please see this link: D-Tools v21. You can also review our other videos and our usual support documentation.
You can also get more detailed information about v21 via our upcoming webinars and by enrolling in SI training with our PSG team. Please review our What’s New in v21 webinar that is now available.
And don’t forget, that’s why we are here…to ensure your success with our product! Be sure to check back here next time for more on v21!!!