What do you use for data analysis on your projects? I prefer Excel for a lot of things. I use it to create pivot tables, sort long lists, re-create forms, financial statements and other financial spreadsheets and charts. I think the only other programs that I use as much as Excel are Photoshop and Outlook, but that is another topic for another day.
Excel can be used for so many things and yet it can be used on very complex spreadsheets, graphs and charts and dashboards. I am still working on a dashboard specifically for contractors that would keep owners updated in a one-page report to show them where all areas of their company is at.
Some of the things that I am needing is feedback from companies to tell me what they want to see and what they don't want to see. I know every company is different and am working on a way to be able to hide what some don't want to see, and still have it available to the ones that do want to see it.
I know people in charge of Operations will want to keep their hands on the pipeline of projects coming and the status of projects in all stages. They will also be a little concerned with the accounting of projects and marketing.
Project analysis on a single project basis would definitely be a large part of this project. Every project should have it's own page complete with graphs and charts showing the complete breakdown of budget vs actuals, costs and billings to date, overhead expenses allocated and used, over or under billings, costs to complete and any pending changes or modifications.
The big challenge is pulling this all together and making it expandable to companies that want to use this who have over 100 projects all the way down to the company that has a handful of projects. The challenge will be pulling all of the data into one sheet to consolidate the information.
This wouldn't necessarily be for the larger companies that are running Timberline or other programs like this since they have these reports built into the system and would most likely not have a need for it. I have just had several people request something like this who don't run the bigger accounting and project management software programs such as Timberline.
Give me some feedback on what would help you and your company to be more efficient every day. You can even email me privately if you prefer.
Thank you,
Charlene S. Reed, Owner/Author
www.MyConstructionOffice.com
"Construction Administration Handbook"
PS -- check out my other blog: mymindwanderedtoday.blogspot.com -- always interesting things happening there :) recipes and tips. Thanks,
Project cash flow needs would be something PM would need to know, and could be beneficial for them to use. I also like to see profit fade analysis. For instance, a PM says a project will end at 10%, yet over time the profit begins to fade due to material increases, negative change orders, etc. What impact did these changes have on the bottom line? I think it is best to have an ideal profit margin, more than likely profit margin, and worse case profit margin (not a loss though). As a PM begins to tell you where their project will land, you will know whether you can believe them, or if adjustments should be made.
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