BY DEBRA WOOD

Computer Guidance Corp.’s cloud-based Hosted eCMS v.4.0 offers reliable business-critical data to whoever needs it, when they it, where they it and how they need it.

"They converted to a 100 percent web-based application, and that was important for us," says Scott Reid, chief technology officer at Weis Builders in Minneapolis, a member of AGC of Minnesota. Weis has used Computer Guidance’s eCMS® for accounting, payroll, job costing, other financial reporting and project management for more than a decade. But now it finds savings with the cloud-based service, since it does not having to purchase and maintain a new server.

"It made more sense," Reid says. "It makes it easier."

The performance and reliability of the cloud-based offering has been solid for Weis. To build upon this experience, Weis recently began scanning invoices and routing them to managers for approval using eCMS and its enterprise content management application suite.

Computer Guidance’s Enterprise Content Management suite allows contractors to import, upload, review, revise, manage and distribute their documents electronically and incorporate them into standard company-wide workflows or processes, reducing manual handling of paper-based documents and increased demand to meet a number of compliancy requirements.

"I cannot imagine not having it," Reid says. "Because it is all integrated, everything talks to everything else. It’s a benefit of the software."

Herzog Contracting Corp. in St. Joseph, Mo., a member of multiple AGC chapters, began using Computer Guidance accounting software in 1998, but with the introduction of eCMS v.4.0, it’s become a valuable enterprise resource planning tool.

"We’re still implementing new ideas within the system," says Ryan Van Meter, director of finance and risk management at Herzog and a member of the Computer Guidance advisory council.

Van Meter asked Computer Guidance to develop a mobile application for documenting remote time and attendance, payroll, and data entry of percent complete and installed quantities. Herzog has implemented mobile technologies at a number of project sites now and is pleased with the collaborative development effort that has taken place.

"It’s going to be the new standard for companies to manage at the jobsite level," Van Meter says. "One of the good things about Computer Guidance is its customer focus."

Herzog credits the software’s flexibility with allowing it to properly allocate human resources across companies.

With the latest eCMS v.4.0 release, Computer Guidance responded to customer needs with comprehensive business intelligence and analytics software, some self-service applications and ECM. These applications and many of the other productivity tools provide meaningful data to the users so they can make informed decisions, review past performance trends and forecast future outcomes.