Customer Solution Case Study
/ / Construction House Expects to Reduce Operational Costs, Minimize Delays
Overview
Country or region: India
Industry:Construction
Customer Profile
RDS Project Ltd. is one of the premier contractors with exclusive infrastructure projects all over the country. It brings into each of its project state-of-the-art technology and innovation at par with global standards.
Business Situation
RDS Project was using Tally and Excel spreadsheets forproject and financial information. However, managing growing data, inventory and assets across multiple sitesbecame impossible with existing IT infrastructure. The company wanted to exercise total control over its business.
Solution
With the help ofAurigo Software Technologies, RDSdeployed Microsoft® Dynamics™AX2009 integrated with Aurigo’sMasterworksto deploy a unified technology infrastructure. The new system facilitates construction management along with ERP features.
Benefits
Exerts totalcontrol
Increases financial awareness
Facilitates strategic decisions
Reduces timelines, controls project cost
Reduces inventory and assets cost / "Our accounts team is able to retrieve information far more quickly. This means we are able to close our balance sheet 25 percent faster, saving 30-45 days in the process.”
Mayank Goyal,Director, RDS Project Ltd.
RDS Project, a leading engineering and contracting firm, offers build solutions for a broad range of construction and engineering projects. RDSworks with clients across sectors, developing state-of-the-art infrastructure, deploying modern technology and practices.With steady growth,the company’s legacy disjointed applications couldn’t maintain business momentum. With help of Aurigo Software Technologies, RDS Project deployed Microsoft® Dynamics™AX 2009 along with Aurigo’sproduct,BRIX (now Masterworks) toadminister all the projects nationwide, automate and streamline the existing business processes, instill globally adopted best practices and sustain long term growth. The rare combination not only makes it easier for the team to work more efficiently but also reduced the total cost of ownership by saving money and controls project costs. In addition, centralized audits will increase controls and thus accountability across the organization.
Situation
RDS Project Ltd is a leading contractor, with industry experience of over 50 years and a portfolio of exclusive housing, IT and infrastructure projects. This Delhibased company started as a small and unregistered company in early 60s and grew phenomenally. It was incorporated into a public limitedcompany in 1992. Its diverse industrial construction includesindustrial buildings, roads and highways, dams, bridges, marine works, housing complexes as well as in real estate development. The company even received a prestigious award called‘50 Years Experience in Construction’ from the Chief Minister of Kerala.
The company has pan-India presence with corporate office in Delhi and multiple regional offices in Agra, Cochin, Port Blair, Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram. To be an active player in infrastructure development projects in the country, the company has acquired a fleet of earth moving, road and airfield construction equipment and utility plants. The annual turnover of the company in fiscal 2010-11 was U.S.$50 million (INR 220crore).
RDS Projectmanages an array of projects across the country. The legacy system itusedto manage these consisted of accounting ERP Tally 9.0 for financial accounting and Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheets for lead and data management. The business dealt with hundreds of vendorsand contractors encompassing a range of activities. All these were tracked each month on Excel spreadsheets.With offices and job sites spread around the country, managing contracts and financialssuch as purchase orders, material delivered or remaining, fund transfers or funds utilized, minimum balance, inventoryand assets was a nightmare.
Information stored in separate Excel sheets by multiple users lacked standard formats. Financial data and other details from site offices of different projects were emailed to the head officeeach week. Collating all the financial information for final review was not only a mammoth task but also resulted in decisions based on obsolete information.
Operations at RDS Project are project-centric and geographically spread. Legacy applications were inadequate to serve complex processes. Lack of real-time project information, standard systems and centralized controls resulted in inefficiencies, poor collaboration and delayed communication.
The company recognized the need of a robust yet flexible solution that offers the advantage of a construction management solution integrated with a complete ERP suite.
Solution
The IT team at RDS Project observed the gravity of the situation and explored the ERP solutions specifically suited for the constructionindustry. The goal was to get a 360-degree solution to construction as well as enterprise resource planning processes. It considered Oracle and Microsoft products. “Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009offered integration capabilities and a lower total cost of ownership,” states Mayank Goyal.
The organization also looked around for skilled implementation partner. Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, Aurigo Software Technologies was chosen as the implementation partner because of its extensive experience in real estate and construction industry. “After a certain point, all standard ERP platforms are more or less the same; the key is finding a good implementation partner. We were confident that Aurigo would help customize the solution to meet our business requirements, as well as, ensure hand holding during the critical phases of implementation,” saysMayank Goyal, Director, RDS Project Ltd.
Aurigo addressed all the challenges listed by RDS Project by offering a seamless integration of technology, i.e. Dynamics AX with Aurigo’sMasterworks 2009.The implementation startedinOctober2009. The suite of applications was deployed for four server licenses, eightDynamics AX user licenses and nineMASTERWORKS licenses.Itwas deployed at the RDS head office in Delhi, regional offices in Chennai, Port Blair, Gurgaon and multiple site offices.Modules deployed include General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable and Inventory Management.
Tight integration of Microsoft Dynamics AXwithMASTERWORKS offered RDS Project an ERP with a construction management solution. In-depth workflows mirrored business processes. Automated processes delivered complete visibility and transparency. “At present, all the solution customization is complete. The solution is currently being deployment in phases across various projects in India. The suite of construction-specific and ERP solution should offer comprehensive 360-degree view of all the projects across multiple sites and geographies,” states Mayank Goyal. “With control over day-to-day construction activities, the solution will unify the entire project lifecycle and provides complete visibility into all aspects of the project.”
The solution automates 25 project-specific reportssuch as batching plant, crusher utilization reports, material receipt note, for each cost center. The management can review and analyze performance based on these reports.
Integration with MASTERWORKSallows pulling information from vendor master, issue work order to contractors and sub-contractors with automatic generation of purchase order and generation ofdaily progress reports (DPRs). Likewise, materials issued and balance on site, assets and inventoryacross locations is available. Work allocated against work done, cost and labor involved, material purchased etc. areitemized each day. The solution confirms the actual quantities against the task complete.All the projects are simultaneously defined thus providing a single platform for the complete data access.
Invoices are generated in Dynamics AX andapproved in MASTERWORKS. Also, advance or balance payment is effectively tracked.
Integration with Microsoft Project synchronizes project data and provides the detailed information required to manage project resources effectively. It assists project managers in developing plans, assigning resources from multiple locations to tasks, tracking progress, managing budgets and analyzing workloads.Similarly, integration with Microsoft SharePoint Server adds project related events, creates tasks, assigns it to users with due date and synchronizes with Microsoft Outlook calendar.
Benefits
With new system, project management and construction processes are standardized. The integrated applications unify all aspects of business.
Exerts Total Control
An increase in efficiency allowsthe same set of employees to effectively managemore projects.The management exercises complete control simultaneously across all projects.
Also, the company is able to meet statutory reports and financial compliance far more quickly and accurately. "Our accounts team is able to retrieve information far more quickly. This means we are able to close our balance sheet 25 percent faster, saving 30-45 days in the process,” says Mayank.
Increases Financial Awareness
RDS Project’s operations are project-centric. The solution allows comparison of cost incurred and revenue earned for each project budget in real time. Also, payments and purchases are centralized which bring down costs considerably.
And, the company believes greater accountability will be delivered with centralized audits.
Facilities Strategic Decisions
The management team has access to updated information in real-time. They can track each project’s progress and access project progress each day. “We are hopeful that this system will enable us to takeinformed business decisions andalignresources,” says Mayank Goyal, Director, RDS Project Ltd.
ReducesTimelines,Controls Project Cost
With integrated construction project management, receiving, billing and a host of other operations, there is an increased visibility for all managers across the company. “With greater visibility we can take corrective measures in time to reduce project overruns. For high investment, large infrastructure projects, this will resultin lower construction and operation costs,” statesMayank Goyal.
Completion of projects before the due date results in boosting the image of the organization and adds new clients. The solution not only controls the project execution andcontrols costs but also reduceswaste, identifies anomalies at the job site and initiates immediate corrective actions.
Reduces Inventory andAssetsCost
The ERP solution tracks items from receipt to issue, to tracking its storage and transport. It provides complete automation of the material inventory and consumption process. “We work with large quantities and expensive equipments. The value of assets and inventory at a time can be of a sizeable amount,” explains Mayank Goyal. “With unified view of all the sites, fixtures,equipmentsand othersassets; we can judiciously move these toin-demand locations.Thus, eliminatingthe need for high inventoryand equipment at multiple locations which in turn reduces costs.Systematic usage and traceabilitysignificantly frees the capital for the company.
“Post complete deployment of MASTERWORKSand Dynamics AX, RDS Project is hopeful of managing complex job sites while significantly improving the customer service,” concludes Mayank Goyal. “We have seen initial results and expect to recover our investments within a short period.
Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enables you and your people to make business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like familiar Microsoft software such as Microsoft Office, which means less of a learning curve for your people, so they can get up and running quickly and focus on what’s most important. And because it is from Microsoft, it easily works with the systemsthat your company already has implemented. By automating and streamlining financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes, Microsoft Dynamics brings together people, processes, and technologies, increasing the productivity and effectiveness of your business, and helping you drive business success.
For more information about Microsoft Dynamics, go to:
About Aurigo Software Technologies
Aurigo is a leading business consulting, software product, technology services and outsourcing company. It delivers innovative products, solutions and services that provide comprehensive value to its customers. Aurigo’s business and technology solutions cater to Infrastructure Owners, Contract Firms, Power Plants, Ports, and Education. Aurigo’s offerings help enterprises in business process re-engineering, methodology implementation, IT infrastructure management and functional resource augmentation.
Aurigo is a private equity funded Delaware corporation with offices in New York and Phoenix (United States) and Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore (India). Its products are available both directly and through a select partner network in the United States, Canada, Middle East, Africa, Asia and India