No - one single database for all modules

Transcription

1 General Questions How many different software products are required for a complete implementation? 1 Is support delivered through a single source, or does each product provide it's own support? Single source Does each product require a separate database / licenses? Can the software be cloud-based? Can the software be self-hosted? Are enhancements / updates included with support or purchased separately? Included with support How frequently are enhancements released for each required product? Quarterly Do all modules retain the same consistent "look and feel"? Can the system be customized for our unique needs? Does the system support multiple companies within the same software / database? Software Product: Company Name: Mark Systems Website: Sales Contact: John Rogovich Phone: Cell Phone: Does the system include a full Document Management System? Are documents included in the same database as other data? Does the software company offer business management consulting services delivered from software experts? Has the software company been in business for more then 30 years? Does the company have more then 100 other customers like us? Is the software company located in the United States? Sales System Traffic / Prospect Management Does sales require a separate system or database from production or accounting? Can sales be assigned to communities within divisions? Can multiple priceouts be created for each prospect? Can unique sales contracts be created per division? Can unique sales agreements be created per community? Can traffic data be broken down by community and/or region? Can traffic questions be customized? Can customer surveys be created? Can marketing campaigns (task lists) be defined? How are marketing campaigns triggered? Is there any limit to marketing campaigns? Can the same mechanism (campaigns) be used for post-sales communication? Are both hard copy and communications supported? Can sales personnel schedule there own tasks? Can additional comments / notes be tracked by prospect and salesperson? Sales Documents Is there any limit to the number of buyers that can be included in a sale? Are sales documents automatically generated? Is there any limit to the number of sales documents defined? Can sales documents be community specific? Can sales documents be user-defined, or must they come from the software company? Is sales document generation a standard part of the software or does it require another step / product? Can electronic documents / files (scans of signed contracts, plans, markups, pictures, etc.) be attached to each prospect or customer? - one single database for all modules By user-defined traffic responses User-defined Standard

2 Are electronic documents automatically available to other users such as the field (based on permissions)? Can pictures / specifications / other electronic documents be attached to options? Can home buyers view attached documents? Selections / Change Orders Can home buyers create a web-based selection sheet or "wish list"? Are non-priced (standard) selections included? Are sales prices calculated by cost + margin? Are prices locked in once selected? Are available selections controlled by community / model / elevation? Are available selections controlled by stage of construction? Do selections and sales comments flow directly to Purchase Orders / Work Orders? Is management notified when a sales agreement is created? Are change orders supported within the same system as changes to the original agreement? Are change order selections controlled by community / model / elevation / stage of construction? Are custom options supported? Are sales management / purchasing automatically notified when a custom option request is made? Can customer / prospect information be easily exported? Can prospect information be easily imported? Is financing information tracked for each sale? Are realtors tracked separately within the sales system? Can we provide a login for the buyer's mortgage company to view designated financial information about the sale?

3 Purchasing / Estimating Contracting Does the system support single-step fixed price contracts? Software Product: Does the system support material list take-offs for suppliers? Can contracts and material list take-offs be defined at the community level and / or a global level? If contracts are defined globally, can community contracts override? If material list take-offs are defined globally, can community takeoff requirements override or add to the global take-off? Does the system support "wild carding" of contracted costs? Do accepted contracts automatically update master base and option budgets? Can multiple subcontractors be accepted for the same trade (backup contracts)? Can we store pricing from multiple suppliers and decide who to use by development or house? Can contracts be specified for individual houses only? Are contracts controlled by effective / expiration date? How much contract history is available? Unlimited Are vendor bid worksheets automatically generated from contracts / estimates? How are bid worksheets delivered to vendors ( / fax / web portal)? / fax / web portal Can bid worksheets be created for all products being offered in a community at once? Can bid worksheets be created for specific products or a range of products? Can bid worksheets be created for base house and option products, together or individually? Can bid worksheets be automatically imported back into the system? Are contracts created automatically from bid worksheets? Can bid worksheets be accepted from multiple subcontractors within a trade? Can one contract be defined as the "budget" contract per trade? Can "Scope of Work" be defined individually for each trade / pay point? Can electronic documents (contracts, scope, specifications, plans) be attached to each contract? How are options defined independently of the underlying base house? Can a single option be used on multiple house types with different costs / sales prices avoiding the requirement of using multiple options? Are option costs managed in detail, by option and house type? Can "wild carding" be used to specify option costs across house types / elevations? Can option costs be defined globally, then overridden at the community level if required? By sub-code within category Contracted Work Orders Are work orders generated automatically based on the sales agreement, change orders and trade partner contracts by stage? On average, is the work order generation process a 1 minute or less task? Do work orders automatically include both base house and option costs for each construction activity? Are work orders automatically turned into AP invoices once approved by the field super? Can work orders be automatically ed to the trades? Can trade partners get copies of work orders from their portal? Can work orders be re-assigned to different vendors after they are released?

4 Do work orders contain color and style selections selected during the design process? Take-Offs / Material Lists Can material lists (take-offs) be defined globally, with only the differences being maintained by community? Can material lists be imported and exported? Can prices lists be imported from suppliers? Can each supplier have a separate part number related to the builder's part number? Is there a limit to the number of suppliers pricing for a given part? Can supplier pricing be compared by material list / takeoff rather than piece by piece? Can parts be easily replaced across all / a range of material lists? If a change is made to a global (parent) material list, does that change automatically appear in the subdivision (child) material lists? Are all material lists for an option grouped within that option? Do option take-offs combine with base take-offs to produce the combined net result on a purchase order by cost code? Are take-offs for base and options handled differently for spec houses? Is "wild-carding" supported to reduce the number of required takeoffs? Custom Options Is purchasing / estimating automatically notified when a custom option request is generated by sales? Is approval routing for custom options supported? Are custom options developed uniquely for each house? How long are custom option estimates available? Can custom option estimates be created from standard options and/or previously created custom options? Is there any limit to the number of custom options on a house? Purchase Orders Is the purchase order generation process automatic based on defined take-offs and selections from design? Can job budgets be created automatically before a job is accepted for a "pro-forma" profit analysis, or must they be created manually? On average, is the purchase order generation process a 1 minute or less task? Can automatic, "included" sales options be applied per community? Are purchase orders created at net eliminating part quantity arithmetic showing +'s and -'s? Does each purchase order retain the intelligence of which options are included, and the net cost for each option? Are option selections restricted as purchase orders are produced to reduce or eliminate changes to PO's? For multi-family construction, can purchase orders be created at both the building and the unit level, with pro-rated costs allocated to each unit? Can PO's be reassigned to different vendors after they're released? If a PO is reassigned, does the system allow the user to either keep the original cost or use the new vendor's prices? Variance Purchase Orders Can superintendents generate VPOs from the field via phone, tablet, etc.? Are individual VPO limits set by user? Are VPO approvals defined by a hierarchy based on the variance type? Are users automatically notified when a VPO requires their review / approval? Unlimited

5 Job scheduling Can schedules be assigned by plan / division / community? Can trade partners view their schedules on the portals? Can supers view / update schedules on their phone? Does the system support both "system push", "no push" amd "evenflow" scheduling? Does the system support multiple predecessors in a critical path? Does the system support option schedules integrated in with an existing house schedule? Are option schedules automatically integrated into base house schedules based on change orders? Does the system support quality checklists for each activity for both vendors and supers? Are payment approvals defined by activity? Can a super progress an activity WITHOUT approving payment? Is schedule information available to customers via their portal? Does the system support summary (milestone) schedule reporting? Can user-defined schedule reports be created? Website / Portals Can data be tied to existing sales data? Are their specific portals for: Superintendents? Trade Partners? Customers? Mortgage Lenders? Do web portals use the same database as all other modules, or must data be uploaded to the web? If uploaded, how frequently is the data transferred? Must updated information from the web be downloaded and processed, or is the database instantly updated as it happens? Can all web users see job start and selection information (without prices)? Can all web users see appropriate attached documents (plans, specifications, markups, etc.)? Automatic notification to subs of insurance expiration, schedule changes, new purchase documents, lien waivers, etc.? Automatic delivery of work orders, purchase orders, service orders, VPO's, backcharges to web portals? Automatic of workorders, purchase orders, service orders, VPO's and backcharges to the appropriate trade partner? N/A Updated instantly

6 Accounting Job Cost Are job budgets created automatically from the sales agreement / change orders? Are variances tracked separately from standard costs? Are options tracked separately from base house costs? Can reports be generated for variances only? Can job profitability reports be generated at any time? Is performance (volume, profit margin) tracked for both base house models and options? Are indirect costs captured by subdivision? Can indirect costs be allocated to each job? Are job closings automatic? (Cost to complete calculation and setup of reserve) How are cost codes assigned/created? Can cost codes be added/changed once created? Are budgets by pay point within each trade and job? User-defined General Accounting Can multiple periods be open at the same time? Multiple years? How long is financial detail maintained? Can we "drill up" from a GL transaction to the source entry screen, and from there to the source document (invoice / PO)? Does the system support batch control for auditing? Can one transaction effect multiple companies? Are automatic inter-company transactions supported? Does the system provide cross-company GL reporting? Can journal entries be imported from Excel? Can GL budgets be imported and exported from/to Excel? Can GL budgets be created automatically from prior year actual? - unlimited Unlimited Accounts Payable Are EFT payments to subcontractors supported? Is MICR check printing supported? Can Invoices be distributed to multiple companies? Auto-pay based on super's approval from web portal? Are super approvals instantly updated in the database, or must they be uploaded? Automatic lien waiver generation and tracking during check processing? User-defined lien waiver format and verbiage? Automatic check-hold based on expired insurance, outstanding lien waivers, etc.? Can invoices be paid at any time without changing the due date? Can invoices be selected automatically or individually? Can invoices be selected by house? Multiple purchasing addresses per vendor? Communications preference by vendor ( / fax / web / etc.)? Instantly Financial Reporting Can financial report be created per division/company? How flexible are the financial reporting templates? Are standard pre-coded financial statements included (P&L, Balance Sheet, etc.)? Does the system support GAAP financial statements? Does the system support user-defined financial statements? Does the system support user-defined "cross tab" financial statements (excel format)? Can consolidated reports be generated even if each company has a different chart of accounts? Completely user-defined Reporting

7 Can ad-hoc reports be created? Can custom reports be created? How are standard reports viewed? Can reports be exported to XLS/PDF? Can reports be distributed through ? Software Product: Via report viewer, pdf or Excel Can we use any report writer or are we limited to a specific one? Any System Administration How are security profiles created/maintained? How is divisional security handled? Can security by assigned by job tasks PO administrator, office manager, sales, corporate? Can security profiles filter community or regional data? By type, then individually by user Data security by region / company / subdivision Implementation What is recommended timeframe? What is the cost? What is the timeframe once contract is signed? Will we have any preparation materials? What can we do now to prepare? Is there an implementation schedule? How will data be migrated into the system? Does the software company offer project management services during implementation? Does the software company offer data gathering services during implementation Cost General Is the software paid for up-front or as-you-build? Are software changes incorporated for FREE? How often are changes implemented? How are software changes determined? Do we have any say on software changes? One-time Licensing Training Data Conversion Implementation As you build Monthly Support Software Maintenance Other Upgrades / enhancements Per-unit charges Travel Other