An update for Electrical Bid Manager SQL Plus/Pro has been released! This upgrade contains new features for both the residential and commercial versions of EBM. New commercial version features include: New print option for sending reports to a PDF file. User-defined lamp types (lamp descriptions) can be entered directly to the Fixtures Takeoff screen, rather …
Read more »(The following interview appeared in Oser Communication Group’s “Electric Daily News” at the Electric West 2006 tradeshow in Las Vegas, NV on 3/1/06)
VISION INFOSOFT DEMOS SQL ESTIMATING SOFTWARE, FREE PRICING SERVICE TRIAL
Derrick Delliquadri, Marketing Director for Vision InfoSoft, explains why electrical contractors continue to seek out Vision InfoSoft for electrical software since 1993.
Electric Daily News (EDN):
What does Vision InfoSoft offer the electrical contractor industry?
Derrick Delliquadri (DD):
Vision InfoSoft’s primary focus is offering estimating, billing and pricing software for the electrical industry. Our EPIC™ pricing software allows electrical estimators to update their estimating software with local supplier, trade, and target pricing. We also offer a website design and management service for electrical contractors. We currently have over 10,000 contractor software customers and over 200 custom website customers.
EDN:
You recently released a new version of your estimating software. What sets Electrical Bid Manager SQL™ apart from other estimating software?
DD:
Well, Electrical Bid Manager SQL is our newest estimating software built on the Microsoft SQL database platform. We chose Microsoft’s SQL technology because it allowed us to build our estimating software system to handle an enormous amount of job data. This means handling thousands of jobs and multiple estimator support with no slow down whatsoever. In the past, our estimating software focused on single-user support. Our new Electrical Bid Manager SQL focuses on both single-user and multi-user network situations. We can confidently say that our estimating software is the most robust currently available.
EDN:
Wow, that sounds like quite an accomplishment. Are there any particular features in Electrical Bid Manager that you’d like to highlight?
DD:
Well yes, there are several. For one, it is tightly integrated with our EPIC pricing software and service. EPIC offers weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual pricing updates. EPIC can update almost all estimating software, but since EPIC is our product, we’ve spent extra time integrating it with Electrical Bid Manager.
Another feature of Electrical Bid Manager allows multiple estimators to be in the same job at the same time as well as providing expanded labor factoring; it has new timesaving takeoff modules, and thousands of timesaving material. It also comes preloaded with a huge database of material items, all with prices and labor units.
While the built-in database is loaded with all you’ll need for most jobs, you’ll always run into a job that requires specialty electrical materials. With EPIC software installed, you can click the EPIC toolbar button in Electrical Bid Manager and have quick access to item lookups. You can then import the item into Electrical Bid Manger for use in your estimate and future estimates. To my knowledge, no other estimating software offers this flexibility.
EDN:
You’ve mentioned your EPIC pricing software several times now. How does EPIC help keep pricing updated?
DD:
Electrical prices fluctuated a great deal in 2005 particularly because of the Hurricane Katrina, increasing oil prices and increases in foreign construction. Our EPIC pricing software subscription offers two things. One, as I mentioned before, you get pricing updates on a regular basis. Some contractors like updating their pricing once a week. Others would rather only get updates once or twice a month. Two, you get the EPIC pricing software tool that helps you integrate the new pricing into your estimating and billing software. It also allows you to quickly search through over 1.4 million items in the blink of an eye.
EDN:
In the blink of an eye?
DD:
That’s right! And to prove it, we are offering a free 90-day trial EPIC subscription to anyone that visits our booth 614 at the show. So, come on by!
EDN:
Do you have any new products on the horizon?
DD:
As a matter of fact, we just released a new residential estimating software program called Electrical Bid Manager Residential™. It can be used as a stand-alone or can be integrated into our Electrical Bid Manager Plus and Pro programs. It includes a unique “counting the holes” process that makes residential takeoffs incredibly quick.
We also just released a new wireless version of the PlanWheel™. The PlanWheel Wireless™ integrates with the latest versions of Electrical Bid Manager SQL Plus and Pro. The new PlanWheel Wireless is the only cordless plan measuring tool currently available. It allows you to measure plans from up to 25 feet away from your computer. The PlanWheel Wireless includes rechargeable batteries and USB charging cradle. Come by the booth to see it in action!
We make it a point to listen to our customers. Combining our customers’ ideas with our years of experience in the industry, we are constantly continuing to develop our Electrical Bid Manager family of software. Electrical Bid Manager looks to continue its strong pedigree of easy to use, yet powerful, estimating software.
EDN:
Vision InfoSoft is a successful software company. To what do you attribute your success?
DD:
Beyond some of the things I just mentioned, we also have an incredible team of employees that keep our customers happy with new software updates and unbeatable customer service and support. We wouldn’t be where we are today without our dedicated employees. However, our customers are the primary reason for our success. Frankly, if they didn’t buy our software, we wouldn’t be able to continue creating industry leading software, add-ons and improvements the way we do. I’d like to thank all our Vision InfoSoft customers for continuing to support us while we support them.
>> Click here to view the “Electric Daily News” issue in its entirety.
Read more »One of the most overlooked resources for electrical contractors in improving their productivity and profitability is the estimate that was created for the purpose of bidding or negotiating the job in the first place. The purpose of generating an estimate is to calculate material and labor costs, yet too often this information is left aside in the crunch of getting the job started or the many other challenges of running what is inevitably a hectic business. Excuses aside, this information can be extremely helpful in tracking a job and even more beneficial in improving the productivity by setting goals which can motivate employees to higher production results.
With electrical contractors of all sizes, from 2 to 200 employees, it is usually the smaller contractors who are less likely to use the estimate to help them manage a job. Whether it is lack of time, lack of know-how, or even the lack of software tools to do this, it seems like the smaller contractors are more likely to miss this opportunity to make their jobs more productive and profitable. This doesn’t need to be the case because the concepts are important for all sizes of jobs and the know-how and software tools are available to any size of company.
Let’s start with the most obvious or at least more tangible information that comes from a bid. Most electrical estimating programs have the ability to sort the materials from a job in a number of different ways. A report that simply groups or sorts the similar materials together is a good starting point. For example, the following categories cover the majority of most electrical jobs: 1) Raceway, Fittings & Boxes, 2) Wire & Cable, 3) Fixtures, 4) Switchgear, 5) Wiring Devices and Covers, and 6) Underground. With subtotals for the material and the labor for each of these groups, it is easy to project manpower needs for each portion of the job. If an estimate indicates that the job requires 200 hours for the installation of the light fixtures, it is easy to plan how many electricians will be needed for the number of days allowed in the schedule. The material values are important as well. In these times of uncertain and skyrocketing pricing, as well as limited availability, it is important to know which parts of the job are the most costly so that purchasing can try to get a head start.
Most programs also allow the estimator to sort the materials in a job many other ways. It may be necessary or helpful to breakout the material and labor for a job for each floor, for each section or area, or even down to each room. Often, estimators or project managers will go back and edit the original bid or even re-enter it if they feel that a more detailed breakdown will help them organize, track, and run the job. Project managers may spend many hours re-inputting and/or reorganizing their estimate to prepare the types of reports that will help them through a long and complex job. Obviously, larger jobs have more potential savings for these efforts, but the principles apply to all sizes of jobs. Not being organized to startup and track a small job can be just as disastrous or even worse in that by the time you realize that the job isn’t going well, it is too late because the job is nearly or totally completed…
An even smaller number of electrical contractors use their estimates to establish goals to motivate their employees (or themselves). An employee without a goal will not be as productive as one who has a goal. It’s just human nature to work harder if we know what the goal is and can achieve a reward for attaining or surpassing those goals. An estimate has the basis for creating goals. Project managers often focus on the more general goals – the budgets for the material and labor for the more general categories discussed above. For motivating the actual workers, it’s best to break down goals to the smallest level possible. Instead of a goal of x hours for a section of the building, it’s better to establish a goal for the footage of pipe or wire which can be installed in a day, or even the number of outlet boxes per day.
Tying performance to goals and rewarding for performance is the most effective way to improve productivity. Rewards can be monetary, such as a bonus, a portion of the profits, or a raise; or they can be non-monetary, such as praise, recognition, a promotion, etc. Simple rewards like tickets to sporting events or a dinner are greatly appreciated by most employees, especially if the award is accompanied with recognition in the organization. Sometimes a job will lend itself to setting up competition between individuals or crews. The desire to win a competition will drive most people extremely hard. It’s human nature to want to win, whether it’s the monetary benefit or recognition accompanying that, or whether it’s just for the pride of winning or being the best. It’s almost surprising how little it takes to motivate people. It’s more surprising how seldom we utilize this.
There is a wealth of valuable information in an estimate. Start by using the information to organize and track your jobs. Then look at how this information can help you establish the productivity goals that can truly make your organization more profitable.
Click the link below to learn more about Electrical Bid Manager – Estimating Software:
http://www.visioninfosoft.com/products/electrical/ebm/index.php
written by Brian Hoffelder – Vision’s Software Training Professional
1-800-258-7752 x120
Vision InfoSoft has launched their new residential estimating software; Electrical Bid Manager Residential.
Estimate residential electrical jobs fast! Win more bids using Vision’s new Electrical Bid Manager Residential software. You can now keep all your bids, commercial, industrial, and residential in one software program with one familiar database of pricing and labor.
Click here for more information about the new estimating software for residential electrical jobs.
Read more »TIP: Using EBMUTIL for Data Compaction
SOFTWARE: Electrical Bid Manager SQL Plus/Pro
Feedback from those using our SQL versions of Electrical Bid Manager (EBM), in reference to increased speed and stability, has been tremendous. There is no doubt the efficiency EBM provides during job takeoff is enhanced when the program is installed in the SQL environment, especially for those who run the application across a network. However, over time one may notice that the disk space requirements for the database may increase greatly.
This is a common occurrence with SQL databases, where SQL Server will increase the database files to reserve space for future transactions. SQL Server will allow the database to be shrunk by using the DBCC SHRINKDATABASE command, through Query Analyzer, in order to regain unused disk space. Yet, this has been known to affect performance, forcing SQL Server to attempt new disk space acquisitions during each data transaction (see Microsoft Knowledgebase article #315512).
So, where is the happy medium in regards to the keeping disk space consumption to a minimum, while maintaining optimum performance? That would depend on the application. Should the need arise to regain disk space reserved by EBM data files, we suggest using the “Compact Database” function in our EBMUTIL program. This function takes into consideration the space requirements for the many data transactions EBM will perform during takeoff, while recovering unused disk space from SQL. Available disk space can be recovered, while performance during job takeoff is kept at an optimum level.
To learn more about using EBMUTIL, contact technical support at 800.605.2167, or email support@visioninfosoft.com.
To learn more about our Electrical Bid Manager SQL, click here.
written by Carlyle Poole – Vision’s Technical Support Professional
1-800-605-2167
