Operational dashboards for construction
Construction dashboards for work in progress, billing and project forecasts
Vantage Systems builds construction dashboards that put each job's contract value, cost to date, committed cost, billings and collections on one screen, updated from your accounting and project systems. Owners and project executives see work in progress, over and under billing and every project manager's forecast without waiting for the month-end schedule.
How does a construction dashboard calculate work in progress?
It uses the same percentage of completion logic your accountant uses, run daily instead of once a month. Cost to date divided by the current estimate at completion gives percent complete, that percentage times contract value gives earned revenue, and earned revenue against billed to date shows whether a job is overbilled or underbilled. The arithmetic is visible, so a controller can trace any figure back to the job cost ledger.
Committed cost matters as much as cost to date. Signed subcontracts and purchase orders that have not been invoiced yet are pulled in, so the estimate at completion reflects money already promised and not only money already spent.
Why do project managers' forecasts drift from the books?
Because the forecast lives in a spreadsheet updated when the project manager has a spare hour, while the books move every week. We give each project manager a forecast screen inside the dashboard: they confirm or revise cost to complete by cost code, add a note, and the change flows straight into the fade and gain report. Executives see whose forecasts are stale and which jobs are fading before the margin loss reaches the financials.
Which construction systems does it connect to?
Usually the accounting system plus whatever runs the field. We connect to Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate, Viewpoint Vista, Foundation, Procore, QuickBooks and Excel exports, and to a custom CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system for construction where bids and change orders are tracked. Where a source offers no application programming interface, a scheduled export fills the gap. More on how we approach the sector is on our construction and engineering page.
What we build for contractors
Live work in progress schedule
The schedule your surety and bank ask for, with percent complete, earned revenue, billings and the over or under position per job.
Billing and collections view
Pay applications submitted, approved and paid, with retainage receivable aged by owner and by job.
Project manager forecast screen
Cost to complete by cost code, entered by the person who knows the job, with a history of every revision.
Equipment and crew allocation
Which machines and crews sit on which job this week, and what each is costing against budget.
More for this industry and service
- Operational dashboards: the full service
- Construction and engineering: everything we build
- Customer relationship management for construction companies
- Operational dashboards for healthcare groups
- Operational dashboards for home services companies
- Operational dashboards for logistics and distribution companies
- Operational dashboards for manufacturers
- Operational dashboards for private equity firms
LiveSaudi holding company, Saudi Arabia
A contractor operations view in production in Saudi Arabia
For a Saudi holding company that delivers government projects, we built an operations dashboard that follows every project's money from contract value to earned, billed and collected, next to the equipment fleet and the crews on each site. It is live and used by leadership to run the department from a single view, alongside a tender agent we built for the same company. The full story covers both systems.
Read the full storyHow an engagement works
Start with the jobs that worry you
We take the active jobs leadership watches most and the month-end schedule your controller already produces, then agree how each column is calculated.
Connect accounting and field data
Job cost, commitments, pay applications and equipment records are pulled in and reconciled against last month's closed schedule.
Put project managers on it
Forecast screens go to the project managers, and we adjust them to the way each team actually reviews its cost codes.
Hand over and maintain
The dashboard becomes the source for weekly job reviews, and we keep its connections current as jobs open, close and change systems.
Frequently asked questions
Will this replace our month-end work in progress schedule?
It can, once your controller and outside accountant agree the logic matches. Most contractors keep producing the formal schedule for the first few closes and compare it with the dashboard until the two tie out.
Does it work for both lump sum and cost plus contracts?
Yes. Each contract type gets its own revenue rule, and time and materials work is kept apart from fixed price work. Unit price jobs can be measured by installed quantities when that is how you bill.
Can owners see pending change orders?
Yes. Approved, pending and rejected change orders appear separately, so pending value is visible without inflating contract value before the owner signs.
How is retainage tracked?
Both ways: retainage owners hold on your billings and retainage you hold on subcontractor payments. Each balance is aged by job and by counterparty, so release requests are not forgotten at closeout.
Do you work with contractors outside the United States?
Yes. Our first construction operations dashboard runs in Saudi Arabia, and we work with contractors in the United States and across the Gulf. Project data stays in the region agreed with you, as described on our Saudi Arabia page.
Who owns the dashboard after launch?
Your company owns it, code included, and we maintain it under an agreed scope. When your accountant changes a revenue recognition policy, a new job type appears or you switch accounting software, the logic and connections are updated by the engineers who wrote them.
Related
- IndustryConstruction and engineeringTender agents that read every file in a bid package, plus dashboards for projects, cash, equipment and crews. Built for contractors and engineering groups.
- ServiceOperational dashboardsVantage Systems builds custom business dashboards on live pipelines from your ERP (enterprise resource planning), field and finance systems, with one definition per number. See how they work.
- Customer relationship managementFor construction companiesA custom CRM (customer relationship management) for construction firms that runs the bid pipeline, tracks prequalification and owner relationships, and shows which bids you actually win and why.
- Operational dashboardsFor private equity firmsPrivate equity portfolio dashboards that put every company on one set of metric definitions, track the value creation plan and feed lender and board reporting.
- WorkSaudi ArabiaReads every tender file and runs the department from one live view.
- PricingHow we priceFixed scope and a fixed price for each phase, and what drives the cost of a build.
Built for operators with real scale. Most engagements are scoped in the tens of thousands of dollars and up.
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