Project Management Resources for Land Surveyors

Project Management Resources for Surveyors

Contents

Reasons Surveyors Need Project Management Software

Project management software can help land surveying companies improve their profitability, accountability, and sustainability. Project management software makes it possible for surveying companies to invoice quickly, catch underbilling, and know how jobs are going in real-time. By streamlining their workflow and improving efficiency, surveyors can spend more time doing what they love instead of administration.

Essentials for Surveying Project Management Software

  • Job database that tracks client information, job locations, line items and budgets.

  • Allows crews to record both time and equipment for jobs, and collect signatures in the field.

  • Automatically create invoices.

  • Makes it easy for project managers to approve time sheets and invoices.

  • Provides reporting for project managers to make decisions.

  • Supports Daily Work Records (DWRs) and Labor Equipment Material (LEMs)

Reports that Surveying Project Managers Need

  • Work in Progress (WIP) Reports

  • Charge-Out Rate Reports

  • Job Health, Profitability and Status Reports

  • Utilization Reports

  • Staff Effective Rate Reports

  • Crew Time Card Reports

  • Expense Reports

How Project Management Software Helps Administrators at Surveying Companies

  1. Administrators will spend much less time:
    • Collecting daily work records and other paperwork from employees.
    • Preparing for payroll and reimbursement activities.
    • Getting project information and approvals from project managers.
    • Creating invoices and keeping track of what work still needs to be billed.
    • Keeping different rate sheets organized across different customers and different kinds of jobs.
    • Generating reports and KPIs for management.
    • Getting data into your accounting system.
  2. Administrators will find it reassuring that the system automatically coordinates project manager approvals of invoices and other processes to dramatically reduce the amount of mistakes that could show up during billing.
  3. It will be easier for Administrators to support your customers, with all job information being a few clicks away.
  4. Administrators will be able to get their weekends back.

How Project Management Software Helps Managers at Surveying Companies

  1. Managers will be able to see the status and financial health of your jobs in real-time.
  2. Managers will be able to see when a job is going off-track, so you can make that call to your client now, instead of waiting until the end of the month or the end of the project when the hours are tallied up.
  3. Managers will be able to easily search past jobs by area or any information, so that you can easily put together estimates for new jobs.
  4. Managers will be able to catch errors in records submitted by your team, and improve the profitability of your jobs.
  5. Managers will be able to delegate your job activities to other managers, as project information is centralized and easy to pick-up.
  6. Managers will no longer have to wait for Accounting/Bookkeeping to tell you if you are making or losing money on a job.

How Project Management Software Helps Technicians at Surveying Companies

  1. Technicians will spend much less time filling out paperwork.
  2. Technicians will find it easier to enter hours and equipment against their jobs.
  3. Technicians will spend less time asking their manager about which line items they should be using.
  4. Technicians will be able to easily view all of their hours and the status of their expenses.
  5. People will stop bugging technicians about their handwriting or losing paper in the truck.

How Project Management Software Improves a Surveying Company’s Profitability

  1. Reduce the mistakes that lead to under-billing.
  2. Invoice your customers much more quickly.
  3. Reduce the amount of overhead across all roles in the company. Administrators will now have more time to do crew organization, scheduling, safety, make marketing materials and book-keeping.
  4. Learn what your best kinds of clients and jobs are, so you can focus on what makes you the most money
  5. Find where you’re coming up short on estimates and where you need to raise your rates.
  6. Reduces the pain of growing your company by automating processes and keeping information centralized and organized for everyone who needs it.
  7. Makes it much easier to merge with or acquire other companies by having everyone work on the same system.
  8. Make more money from your equipment, learn which equipment are most utilized or are bottlenecks.
  9. Staff can more easily work remotely, with less communication with the office.
  10. When the company makes more money, you will be able to hire the best surveying talent to work different kinds of jobs or increase capacity.

How Project Management Software Improves a Surveying Company’s Accountability

  1. Staff are given the tools and are incentivized to enter hours accurately.
  2. The system keeps track of what actions must be completed and by whom, so nothing falls through the cracks.
  3. Improves visibility on jobs and operations across the organization, and shines a light on problem areas to allow faster correction.
  4. Improved clarity around roles and responsibilities results in less conflict between employees.

How Project Management Software Improves a Surveying Company’s Sustainability

  1. It will be easier to on-board new hires, and integrate them into a solid existing process.
  2. Reduce the pain and lost knowledge from the departure of key staff, as all project information is centralized and easily reassigned.
  3. Increasing the amount of time staff spend on what they love and reducing the time spent on tedious overhead will dramatically improve employee retention.
  4. When survey companies are more profitable, it improves the stature and sustainability of the whole surveying profession!

Why Project Managers Should Approve Time Sheets

  1. Billable time goes up.

  2. Accountability goes up.

  3. Fewer invoice errors and disputes.

  4. Invoicing is quicker.

See our blog article Why project managers should approve time sheets for more details.

How to Improve Accountability in a Surveying Company

Raising the visibility of job data is the best way to improve accountability in a land surveying company. When everyone can see how jobs are going in real-time, performance can be tracked and everyone is incentivized to enter time accurately. All staff benefits from tools to keep them accountable and help prevent errors.

The Best Land Surveying Management Software

Cyanic Job Book is an easy-to-use project management and workflow system specifically designed for land surveying companies. Job Book is the result of years of working with survey companies and implementing the very best practices across the whole profession and industry. It helps to automate the flow of value through your company, gives staff the tools they need to stay accountable, and allows you to make better business decisions with realtime analytics and reporting.

Cyanic Job Book - Timekeeping, Invoicing, Project Management, Built for Surveyors
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