Planyard is perfect for construction teams ready to move away from spreadsheets and streamline their financial workflows. It’s particularly valuable for companies experiencing growth and looking to establish efficient processes for scalability. If you’ve already implemented popular accounting tools like Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, or MYOB, Planyard can take your project cost control to the next level.
For teams familiar with complex ERP systems, Planyard offers an easy-to-use alternative that eliminates unnecessary complexity without sacrificing essential project cost control features.
Why Choose Planyard?
Project managers and quantity surveyors developed Planyard to automate project financial management and reduce redundant data entry. It simplifies tasks like processing invoices, tracking budgets, raising purchase orders, and much more. With Planyard, you can easily control costs at a granular level, manage change orders and variations, and monitor financial commitments in real time.
Key Features and Benefits
- Eliminates Data Entry Duplication: Automates workflows, freeing time for project managers and quantity surveyors.
- Centralized Dashboard: All projects are managed consistently and accessible through a single online dashboard.
- Real-Time Financial Tracking: Offers an overview of project costs and commitments to build accurate forecasts.
- Improves Project Profitability: Ensures thorough approval processes with costs linked directly to budgets, orders, and invoices.
- Avoids Financial Surprises: Minimizes last-minute issues that can disrupt project profitability.
- Enhanced Team Collaboration: Allows management, project managers, site engineers, and even clients to access relevant financial information in real time.
- Streamlined Approval Workflows: Centralized control over POs and expenses, ensuring that approvals are based on project budgets and profitability targets.
How Planyard Differs from Traditional ERP and Accounting Tools
The idea for Planyard emerged when a group of project managers sought a simpler way to manage project financials. After exploring various ERP and accounting tools, they found that most solutions were just reporting tools that didn’t align with the way construction professionals work. As a result, the idea for Planyard was born.
Getting Started with Planyard in Hours, Not Months
Planyard is designed to be easy to implement. When a project begins, you upload the starting project budget and follow the setup guide along with online training videos. For teams familiar with the software, the setup should take just 1-2 hours. There’s no need for consultants, sales reps, or IT specialists. If any issues arise, Planyard's support team is available to assist.
Unlike traditional ERP systems that often require months of setup, consultant involvement, and complex training, Planyard can be set up quickly and allows your team to focus on actual project control.
How to Get Started with Planyard
Appoint a "Champion"
Choose a team member responsible for setting up the Planyard and ensuring that the rest of the team is onboarded smoothly. This “champion” should have management’s backing to implement the new processes successfully.
Free Trial and Self-Teaching
The champion can start a free trial and learn to use the tool on the go. Planyard’s knowledge base, setup guide, and concise workflow videos (3-4 minutes each) provide helpful insights and comprehensive feature guides.
Planyard’s Paid Implementation Program
For a more structured approach, Planyard offers a paid implementation program that includes (Write at support@planyard.com to learn more):
- Setup Meeting: A 1-hour session where a Planyard consultant assists the champion with initial account setup.
- Team Training Session: A 2-hour training session where all team members log in, upload the budget, and process an invoice. The team also learns to access the knowledge base for workflow videos.
- Follow-Up Meetings: The champion and Planyard consultant schedule 3-4 follow-up meetings to ensure a smooth implementation and address concerns.
Upload the Starting Project Budget
Once the account is set up, the champion uploads the starting project budget and assigns it to the project manager. The budget is typically locked to prevent unintended changes.
Establish Project Management Policies
If your team is transitioning from spreadsheets, start by using Planyard to:
- Process all relevant purchase invoices.
- Raise purchase orders.
- Manage change orders and variations.
- Conduct monthly forecasting.
Once these core workflows are in place, explore additional features to streamline operations further, such as:
- Automating vendor and subcontractor RFQ and bidding processes.
- Managing subcontractor payment applications.
- Streamlining cash-flow forecasting.
- Utilizing approval workflows.
- Organizing subcontractor and vendor databases and performance tracking.
Conclusion
Planyard is a straightforward tool that can be set up in just a few hours, providing a seamless experience for the entire team. It aligns with how construction professionals work, eliminating spreadsheet reliance and data entry duplication while offering management real-time insights into project costs and profitability forecasts.