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How P1 Construction Connected Field and Office Operations with Access Coins
P1 Construction is a specialty contractor headquartered in Kansas City. Established in 1919, it operates across the US, providing facility solutions, off-site construction and full MEP construction.
With an outdated legacy ERP threatening to affect growth, P1 moved to Access Coins in 2023 as their all-in-one platform for financials, operations, payroll, and service management. Today, the business has real-time cost visibility, dramatically reduced administration, and a connected operation that has eliminated silos between the back office and the field.
Business size
Large
Industry
MEP Construction
Product
Access Coins Construction ERP
Challenge
- Outdated legacy ERP threatening to impact growth.
- Need for cost visibility and a lighter administration burden.
- Silos between back-office and field personnel.
Approach
- Chose Access Coins ERP as an all-in-one solution after reviewing many other ERP providers.
- Implemented financials, operations, payroll, and service management modules across operations.
- Rolled out mobile apps and role-specific dashboards to field and office teams.
Results
- Back-office staff see now job costs in real time.
- Project turnaround times reduced by weeks.
- Field service apps significantly reduced foremen administration.
- Invoicing reduced from a week to hours.
Results At-A-Glance
- Real-time cost control: Back-office staff now see job costs in real time, giving P1 a single source of truth to forecast job costs and catch outliers.
- Faster field payroll: Field personnel submit payroll for their staff and crews in a matter of moments, a task that used to take hours.
- Invoicing in hours, not days: Invoices can be emailed as soon as work is completed, speeding up cash flow.
- A mobile-first field team: Over 250 foremen and over 25 technicians use Access Coins’ field service apps nationwide, replacing hard-coded timecards.
- Connected office and field: AP invoices are now sent automatically to Project Managers for approval, cutting project turnaround times by weeks.
- Smarter service delivery: technicians now have access to historical job information and automated service reports, cutting paperwork and improving response times.
- Automated reporting: Operational reports now run automatically, saving days a month for those working in finance and operations.
- One version of the truth: Project managers, accounting, and leadership now work from the same WIP data.
- Fast, role-based adoption: Role-specific dashboards put each user's daily tasks front and centre, which P1 credits as a major reason the implementation succeeded.
It would take us a week to get an invoice out the door, and now it’s taking a day, maybe even hours.
Established in 1919, P1 is a single-source specialty subcontractor headquartered in Kansas City and operating across the US, providing facility solutions, off-site construction and full MEP construction.
P1 Construction’s longevity can be credited to both to its embrace of both changing conditions in the market and its dedication to an enhanced customer experience.
No stranger to digital transformation, it was an upgrade to the Access Coins ERP offering in 2023 which began a significant transformation in its processes which made P1 Construction more productive and efficient than ever before.
Access Construction spoke to Gloria Keating, CFO, and Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager at P1 Construction, about their experience with Access Coins.
“Coins has been perfect for us because it meets all the needs that we have as a contractor. We're seeing increased job productivity across the board. Field personnel submitting payroll for their staff and crews – which would have taken hours before now - just takes a matter of moments.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Choosing Access Coins as an ERP Provider
P1 Construction were seeking to make a major change to their operations in 2019. With an outdated legacy ERP threatening to affect growth at P1, their team decided to switch their ERP to the Access Coins platform to cover financials, operations, payroll and service management.
This included adopting Access Coins remote apps to help integrate their core finance and operations ERP platform.
“We needed one version of the truth with our data. An ERP system where the WIP report was available for our Project Managers to forecast and manage their costs against that could also be used to create and generate our financials.”
Gloria Keating, CFO, P1 Construction
The team at P1 Construction found that the end-to-end nature of Access Coins, with its wide range of functionality from financial management and accounting through to equipment management and field applications covers every aspect of the construction lifecycle.
“We researched numerous options, and it became clear early on that Access Coins was the absolute all-encompassing, all-in-one solution. As a complex MEP contractor, we needed a platform that could handle HR, payroll, job status, service, mobile applications, and field applications. Coins was the perfect option for us.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Implementing Access Coins at P1 Construction
ERP implementation can be a hard process. Alongside data migration, workflow builds and process changes, staff also require training and a steady hand to help confidently embrace the change ERP brings.
P1 Construction worked closely with the experienced construction technology consultants at Access Construction to ensure a smooth process, including providing advice on processes and introducing the new system to the office and the field.
“Implementing any change comes with many challenges for a company of our size. Access Coins continues to be an incredible partner for us and our overall experience was fantastic. The amazing staff at Access Coins ushered a seamless transition from our legacy system. We had a trusted, reliable partner in Access Coins during our implementation and we very much appreciated that at P1.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
An important part getting staff onboarded with Access Coins was using role-specific menus and dashboards. While Access Coins is intuitively designed, the added layer of each user being able to see their essential tasks and data after signing on helps them focus on the most vital parts of the platform to their role.
“Dashboards were crucial for us when we went live with our implementation because they can be tailored to specific roles and responsibilities. Change is always challenging, but having the ability to customize dashboards and say, “Hey, your role is X, and here are all your daily functions that you need and can access quickly,” was an incredible tool for us and a major reason for the success of our implementation.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Real-Time Visibility and Cost Control
Post-implementation, one of the core benefits P1 Construction has experienced with Access Coins has been the platform’s ability to track company data from multiple sources in real-time. This includes financial data and construction-specific data such as RFIs, submittals and GRNs.
With a single source of the truth for all cost data, P1 now have the ability to confidently forecast job costs, catch outliers and have much stronger cost control across their operations.
“Access Coins ERP provides incredible visibility of costs. Now, our back-office staff can see job costs in real-time, which has been an amazing change for us at P1 Construction and an incredible benefit to the company.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Risk Mitigation
Access Coins has also helped with risk mitigation within P1 Construction. Common construction risks include project delays, errors which lead to costly rework, documentation mistakes, miscommunicated scope or project changes, supply chain disruptions and cost overruns.
All of these risks can be tackled using a centralized platform like Access Coins, which gives total visibility across projects and provides a single source for teams to gather information, review data, share documentation and coordinate effectively.
“P1 was looking for a platform for management to review and approve timecards in the system before time was submitted to payroll. Being a union contractor, there is normally only 24 hours available to process payroll before having to submit records to the bank. We were needing a fully integrated system between HR, Payroll, Manpower, and Project Managers and Access Coins offered that.”
Gloria Keating, CFO, P1 Construction
Operational Efficiency
As part of the Access Coins ERP implementation process, P1 Construction ensured the system was integrated across P1’s process and workflows.
Access Coins’ ability to automate many common workflows found in construction businesses, such as approvals or creating service reports, has led to myriad operational efficiencies across P1 Construction.
Examples highlighted by P1 Construction included the elimination of payroll processing issues, and the ability to email invoices as soon as work is completed. Not only does this save administration time, but also helps boost cash flow and improves client relationships.
“Operations now has the platform to continue to grow our business and make key decisions faster than ever before. The wealth of data and tools available is enhancing the client experience as well. For staff, the ability to access their job data on any web browser anywhere, anytime is just an immense benefit for P1 and our clients.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Enhancing Collaboration Across P1 Construction
Since implementing Access Coins, P1 Construction has found that collaboration across both back office teams and those in the field has improved significantly. Morgan Lassise highlighted three reasons why:
- As everyone using Access Coins have access to the same wealth of data and information relevant to their role (with data access protections in place when needed), and can drill-down into that data at every level, they can quickly find what they need to keep projects moving forward.
- The automated workflows within Access Coins allows numerous departments to seamlessly complete tasks between each other. For example, AP invoices are now automatically sent to Project Managers for approval. This new level of collaboration has cut project turnaround times by weeks.
- The silo between the back-office and field is now streamlined with Access Coins mobile applications, allowing for smoother collaboration. The mCDR (mobile Crew Daily Reports) and mTech (Mobile Technician) field management applications have transformed collaboration for field personnel.
“Our communication and collaboration have improved greatly since moving to Access Coins ERP, collaboration within our staff has increased in so many ways. That silo from the back office to the field is completely eliminated.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
Transforming Service Delivery with Access Coins Mobile Tech
One of the biggest transformations at P1 Construction on Access Coins was the implementation of field service mobile applications.
Over 250 foremen at P1 now use Access Coins mCDR (mobile Crew Daily Reports), and over 25 technicians use the MTech (Mobile Technician) remote app nationwide.
mCDR empowers supervisors to handle administrative tasks quickly as they work on-site. They can quickly generate daily reports that contain hours for crews and equipment, quantities installed, materials used, and expenses. This information flows from the field to the Access Coins system for payroll, equipment usage, and other charges to the job.
“We have so many good things to say about mCDR. Previously, all our field personnel had to submit hard-coded time cards, but now everything is completely mobile. These benefits reverberate throughout the company in so many positive ways”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
MTech gives technicians easy access to important job information and documentation to boost productivity and improve response times. Features such as access to historical information on work done for the client and automated service reports gives field personnel everything they need to deliver their best work and save time on administration and handwritten reports.
“We're using almost every aspect of the (MTech) application. Our customers appreciate the level of detail that's available and we're putting more resources into this going forward for our field personnel and operations because of just how powerful mobile tech is and the amount of data you can collect. Clients want more data alongside accurate billings and invoices.”
Morgan Lassise, Accounting Manager, P1 Construction
How Access Coins Helps Management at P1 Construction
From procurement to cash flow control, Access Coins has helped management at P1 Construction gain total visibility and control over their projects.
Access Coins' dashboards and report builders help management gain both at-a-glance and detailed overviews of key financial information which helps leaders make intelligent, well-informed decisions quickly.
Operational reports are also now automated, saving days a month for those working in finances and operations.
“Access Coins ERP has helped us facilitate one version of the truth on our WIP between project managers, accounting, and leadership; this allows everyone to be on the same page.”
Gloria Keating, CFO, P1 Construction
The Future of Access Coins at P1 Construction
The partnership between P1 Construction and Access Coins has contributed to consistent growth at P1, who are now looking to expand their Access Coins platform to incorporate further functionalities and workflows in HR, CRM and business intelligence.
“We are excited to continue to grow our partnership with Access Coins and invest in future integrations. They have played a pivotal role in ensuring an easy system adoption that was tailored to our organization’s needs.”
Gloria Keating, CFO, P1 Construction
