Contractors look to PM tech

In today's difficult times, updates to technology will most likely offer contractors an easier way to use software while improving process efficiency, according to Construtech magazine.

One example comes from ConEst Software Systems, www.conest.com, which released the newest version of its JobTrac project management software.

The technology allows electrical, low voltage, and cabling contractors to manage change orders, alternates, submittals, correspondence, daily logs, and documentation, among other items, on a job. It also tracks a schedule of values for payment and budgeted estimates versus actual costs.

RCM Technologies announced the acquisition of Project Solutions Group (PSG), states dBusinessNews.

PSG, a Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner with multiple offices and sales locations nationwide, will be part of RCM's Enterprise Business Solutions group under the leadership of Dale Mansour, RCM senior VP. Former PSG principals Tom Westcott, Tod Monchecourt, and Anisha Mason will manage this new unit.

The RCM Enterprise Business Solutions group's core mission is to create value-oriented offerings that produce proprietary customised solutions and include intellectual property by bundling software, systems, tools and services into integrated and comprehensive business and technology solutions.

Project management is emerging as one of the most important phases of a new facility or materials handling system, right along with system design and performance, says Modern Material Handling.

“More and more companies are using projects to meet their corporate objectives,” says Mike Ensby, director of interdisciplinary engineering and management at Clarkson University. “That's true whether they're building a warehouse to increase their capacity, enter a new market, or put in a new IT infrastructure.”

Of course, implementing a new system has always been a major project. But how those projects get accomplished is changing. “What you're seeing is an urgency that wasn't there in the past because time to market is so critical and technology shifts happen so frequently,” says Ensby.