Training Guide Use our Training Guide to help find out which sessions you should attend. Hands-on Sessions Each attendee will use a computer to walk-through training material. Mobile App Content Sessions will include content around the B2W Mobile app. B2W ESTIMATE (BEGINNERS) This hands-on track consists of eight sessions that will lead attendees through the B2W Estimate application from start to finish. These sessions are sequential in nature, with each class building upon the skills learned in the previous classes. This is an excellent track for clients who are new to B2W Estimate, or new hires who wish to get up to speed with B2W Estimate. Resource Fundamentals Every estimator knows it s impossible to create an accurate estimate without a trusted library of costing resources. In this session, your instructor will introduce you to B2W Estimate s powerful Resources area, where components such as labor types, equipment, and materials are developed for later use within your estimates. Managing Your Subs and Vendors In this session, you will learn all about soliciting and analyzing third party quotes from subcontractors and vendors. Your instructor will guide you through creating packages of similar work items and materials for an attractive RFQ, entering and comparing prices that are returned to you, making last minute adjustments, and ultimately, how to make the best decision for your estimate. Creating Useful Templates Expanding on the previous session, your instructor will now guide you through the process of creating more advanced types of Resource cost structures such as crew, task, and item templates. Here, you ll learn how to create advanced cost structures which form the basis of the estimates you ll be creating later on. Closing Your Estimate See how to make the most of the powerful bid-closing engine through a variety of easy-to-use features that will ensure your estimate generates the expected amount of markup and properly distributes it across pay items. The skills learned in this session will guarantee that the hard work you put into your estimate translates into numbers that will win you the job. Creating Your First Estimate In this session, your instructor will teach you about default settings which apply to new estimates you create, and will also lead you through the process of creating your first estimate. You ll learn how to configure basic estimate information and will see firsthand how the resources and templates you learned about in previous sessions are copied into new estimates. Reports and Analysis This session brings all the pieces together by introducing you to a variety of reporting options available via B2W Estimate and B2W Management Reporting. You ll learn how to analyze information on-screen, print reports for specific scopes within your estimate, quickly locate the reports you use most often, and how to copy information into other formats for different types of analysis and delivery. Fine Tuning Your Estimate Costs This session teaches you how to ensure that your estimate s cost structure accurately mimics the work which will be performed once the bid is awarded and the actual job begins. Examples include modifying crews to fit the needs of your specific estimate, calculating trucking costs, performing global edits, replacing one component for another, and developing indirect cost structures. Efficiency in Estimating Now that you ve created your first estimate, our final session focuses on teaching you how to ensure all of your future estimates are created efficiently. Learn how to save estimate cost structures back to Resources for future use, safely copy information from one estimate to another, and search historical estimates for previous versions of items in your current estimate.
B2W OPERATIONAL SUITE (BEGINNERS) Our second hands-on track focuses on the elements found within the B2W Operational Suite. Here you ll find classes pertaining to each of the operational elements: B2W Track, B2W Dispatch, and B2W Maintain. Special attention will be given to the B2W Mobile App, first from the perspective of a field employee, and then from that of a mechanic. This track is an excellent choice for field employees who are new to the B2W Operational Suite, new to the B2W Mobile App, or for those who simply wish to see firsthand how these solutions bring value to a business. Turning Your Estimate into a Job In this session, you ll take a close look at how to send an awarded estimate to the B2W Operational Suite as the basis for new job. You will identify all the touch points and see how a wide variety of configurable export settings and coding options help you achieve nearly any level of granularity to best meet your company s field tracking, dispatching and equipment maintenance needs. Preventative Maintenance 101 This session leads you through hands-on exercises that demonstrate how to configure your B2W Operational Suite database to ensure an efficient rollout. In addition to demonstrating ways to create and manage efficient categories and parts lists, these exercises will lead you through the setting up preventative maintenance programs and linking them to your equipment records. Managing Needs and Assignments Your instructor will now guide you through exercises to streamline your dispatching process so that you always know where your employees and equipment are supposed to be, when they re supposed to be there, and for how long. By the end of this session, you ll have a solid foundation in efficient resource management by setting up job sites, creating and fulfilling needs, and managing assignments. Managing Repair Requests & Work Orders Our focus now moves to day-to-day operations such as creating repair requests and managing work orders. You ll learn how repair requests are created from the field, how to add work items to a work order, as well as how to plan and schedule the work order for completion. Moving Equipment & Hauling Materials In this session you ll learn how to ensure your equipment and materials are transported to the appropriate job sites in time for work to begin. You will learn how to assign trucks and drivers to equipment moves so that your heavy equipment arrives on time, how to properly assign trucking resources to permanent material orders, and how to schedule loads for transporting temporary materials. Mechanic Time and Completing Work Orders In this session, your instructor will demonstrate day-to-day operations from a mechanic s point of view. You ll see all the familiar processes in action, including interacting with scheduled work orders, entering time against work order items, completing items, and interacting with equipment. You ll also learn how mechanic time cards are reviewed, approved, and exported to accounting. Creating Field Logs In this session you ll learn everything you need to know about capturing data from the field. Your instructor will lead you through several methods for creating field logs that are designed to reinforce best practices, as well as include a variety of tips and tricks that will reduce the amount of time spent creating each daily log, while still capturing accurate and detailed information. Using the B2W Mobile App Here we ll walk through best practices for using the B2W Mobile App, emphasizing day-to-day operations. We will demonstrate the initial setup for syncing databases from mobile devices, the setup of a mobile device, and review options surrounding a lost or stolen device. Finally, we ll explore using a mobile device for data capture, from the perspective of both a foreman and a mechanic.
B2W ESTIMATE (ADVANCED) Long-time users find great value in the annual B2W Software User Conference through our more advanced sessions, such as those found in our deep dive tracks. This track consists of eight independent sessions that each showcase a particular area or concept within B2W Estimate, providing an in-depth look at ways to produce more efficient and profitable estimates. Fine Tuning Your Labor Costs B2W Estimate s first deep dive session highlights the importance of trusting the accuracy of your labor costs. Learn how to set up labor types, labor burdens, and labor rate classes so they work for you, not against you. By focusing on the new worker s comp framework, this session will highlight recent enhancements to help you monitor, adjust, and trust the labor rates in your estimates. Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) In this session, see how B2W Estimate s WBS feature can make your estimating process more efficient. Learn about working with WBS Databases, including how to import/ export levels of cost detail. You ll see everything there is to know about creating WBS estimates, with a special focus on how to apportion the costs from your WBS levels to the pay items in your estimate. Market Analysis and Bid Schedules Take a look at B2W Estimate s Market Analysis feature. See various ways to bring powerful information to your attention and learn how to analyze bid results to compare your pricing to competitors, at the estimate and pay item level. We ll also teach you about B2W Estimate s Bid Schedule feature, which brings a new level of awareness to your scheduled bid lettings and other planned events. Shortcuts and Best Practices Here we ll be looking at smaller features designed to improve the efficiency of your estimating process. Discussion will range from the new Search feature on the Estimate Detail tab to the ability specify report favorites, as well as tools that allow you to make last-minute changes to an estimate. Attend this session to learn how to shave valuable time off your estimating process! Customizing B2W with Tags, Saved Displays, and Custom Properties This session focuses on various customization capabilities within B2W Estimate. We ll review grouping and filtering strategies, and discuss stored views and how to create views that can be shared and reused by your estimators. Learn about tags and other grouping tools for hierarchies and filtering, as well as the new framework for creating custom properties on your Estimate Information tab. RFQ Management This session covers the intricacies of Subcontractor Management and Vendor Management. Learn how to set up permanent and temporary materials, the proper use of categories and subcategories, working with materials in Global Edits, dealing with partial quotes, splitting the assignment of an RFQ group across multiple vendors, and entering and distributing last minute vendor adjustments. Embedded Excel Workbooks In this session, you ll learn how to extend the power of B2W Estimate via Microsoft Excel workbook integration. We ll show you how to create Excel workbooks for use in B2W Estimate, import workbooks into Resources, and manage and update Excel data within your estimates. Attend this session to see how Excel integration can be leveraged to save you valuable time and money. Bid Closing Strategies Our final deep-dive session focuses on B2W Estimate s powerful bid closing engine. A brief run-through of the core process leads into advanced bid closing techniques, such as selective distribution of indirect items; the ability to impose unique markup schemes by work type, phase, or subcontractor; dealing with takeoff quantities; locking in item pricing; and how to handle contingency items.
B2W OPERATIONAL SUITE (ADVANCED) Our second deep dive track focuses in on utilizing the elements found within the B2W Operational Suite to their full potential. Here your instructor will guide you through real life examples that showcase the power Track, Dispatch, and Maintain as individual elements, but also teach you how an effective implementation of the Operational Suite as a whole yields results that are greater than the sum of their parts! Unifying Estimate and the Operational Suite The first B2W Operational Suite deep dive session demonstrates how to send an awarded estimate to the Operational Suite as the basis for a new job. You ll see how various configurable export settings and coding options will help meet your company s operational needs. You ll also learn how to handle change orders and communicate estimate sub and vendor information to the B2W Operational Suite. Equipment Warranties and Parts Inventories In this session, you ll learn how properly configured bins and locations in B2W Maintain will improve your equipment maintenance workflow and lead to accurate and detailed cost reporting. We ll discuss how to avoid your equipment being down for repair longer than necessary due to a delayed part delivery, as well as demonstrate B2W Maintain s built-in warrantee tracking system. Tracking Time and Material Work This session begins by showing you how to set up Time and Material rate sheets in Resources. You ll then learn how to set up a purely T&M job followed by a job that includes both contracted work and T&M performed at hourly rates. See how to enter hours and quantities against a job that has a T&M component, and how preestablished T&M rates streamline your billing process. Telematics and Meter Readings This session will show you how to extend the power of the B2W Operational Suite through integration with third party manufacturers. See what types of information can be imported, and learn how to manually trigger the data retrieval process or set it up to run on a schedule. You ll see how to connect to manufacturer sites, aggregators of your choice, or even to a CSV file. Leveraging the Power of Nested Coding In this session, learn how B2W Maintain s nested coding ensures detailed and accurate reporting from both a financial and KPI standpoint. You ll see how nested codes gives you valuable insight into how your equipment dollars are being spent, but also supports many other levels of analysis, as well as streamlining the selections your employees will be making on equipment work orders. B2W Schedule: Assigning Crews and Production Targets This session will show you how to schedule work crews on your jobs based the production goals set for each day. See how you can easily assign crews with the necessary resources required to achieve daily production goals to keep your jobs on schedule and on target. Setting Up Preventative Maintenance Plans This session will show you how to set up preventative maintenance programs within the B2W Maintain element. Learn how to create routines that automatically create work items for you based on defined intervals and meter readings, how to prescribe relative precedence to each interval, and even how to trigger preventative maintenance ahead of schedule when appropriate. Keeping Job Information Up To Date with True Up In this session, learn how B2W Track can keep your job costs accurate by trueing up your data with the actual costs from your accounting system. Resource costs in B2W Track are often based on estimates or averages, and can differ from actual accounting costs.. B2W Track s new Trueup feature will show you how your jobs are tracking while making you better equipped to manage your budgets.
WHAT S NEW AND WHAT S NEXT Another huge benefit of attending the annual B2W Software User Conference is the ability to see the latest new features in action, and to get a sneak peak of what s to come. In this track, attendees will interact directly with the teams responsible for designing and implementing new features within each B2W Software element though demonstrations that focus on features we ve been coding over the past year. Come take part in discussions that center on where we re headed in the months to come. Product Focus: Introduction to B2W Inform Get a firsthand overview of the brand new B2W Software element, B2W Inform. This exciting new solution brings you the flexibility to create completely customizable, electronic forms for collecting data in the office and the field, with any device. Don t miss out on this opportunity to learn how enterprise level analytics can keep your company focused on internal trends and business practices! The B2W Estimate Roadmap Now that you ve learned what we ve been up to, we ll take you on a tour of the roadmap for the balance of 2016, based on your first impression of what we re working on even as it s still taking shape! Interact directly with our B2W Estimate product management team, who are responsible for designing and implementing new features. What s New in B2W Estimate In this session you ll see a demonstration of all the latest B2W Estimate features, including bid schedules, weights and measures, efficiency factors, and much more! You ll also learn how to use the highly anticipated custom properties feature, which allows you to create a fully customizable template for information your company needs to capture on the Estimate Information tab. The B2W Operational Suite Roadmap Now that you ve learned what we ve been up to, we ll take you on a tour of the roadmap for the balance of 2016, based on your first impression of what we re working on even as it s still taking shape! Interact directly with our team of Operational Suite product managers, who are responsible for designing and implementing new features. What s New in the B2W Operational Suite Here you ll learn all about our latest enhancements to the B2W Operational Suite, including equipment warranties, parts inventory, an overhauled schedule view for mechanics, a brand new framework for leveraging subcontractor and vendor quotes from B2W Estimate, and many more features designed to bring new levels of efficiency to your field tracking and equipment maintenance processes! The B2W Inform Roadmap Now that you ve learned what we ve been up to, we ll take you on a tour of the roadmap for the balance of 2016, based on your first impression of what we re working on even as it s still taking shape! Interact directly with our B2W Inform product management team, who are responsible for designing and implementing new features. Feature Focus: Introduction to B2W Schedule In this session, you will be introduced to the NEW B2W Schedule. Much more than a dispatching tool, B2W Schedule is designed to enable collaboration and timely communication amongst the many people in your organization who contribute to every job s success. Learn how B2W Schedule can help take your scheduling and resource management activities to new levels of efficiency and effectiveness! B2W Mobile: What s New and What s Next? In our final session, you ll be taken on a guided tour of all the new features and enhancements added to the B2W Mobile App over the past year. We ll introduce you to the features that are on the roadmap for the balance of 2016, based on your first impression of what we re working on even as it s still taking shape!
EXECUTIVE TECHNOLOGY SUMMIT In this track you ll hear from a panel of experts sharing their experience and insight into the art of maximizing profitability within the ever-changing technological landscape of the construction industry. Big Data: Not as Scary as it Used to Be When the buzzword big data first started flying around, people were overwhelmed by the idea of sorting through all of a company s available digital information. In this session, learn some best practices from other industry professionals for getting the right data to the right people, and how to make all of this information work in your favor. Making the Most of Your Mobile Investment Now that you have introduced mobile technology to your workforce, how can you make sure you are getting the results you want? Learn about what it takes to turn the potential of your investment into tangible results beyond just replacing paper. Streamlining Maintenance to Minimize Risk and Impact Your Bottom Line Do you know exactly how much maintenance, repairs and downtime are costing you? In this session, learn how advanced approaches to maintenance management can drive profitability by helping you move from reactive to proactive, streamline processes, cut costs and establish effective replacement strategies. When to Make the Leap: Strategic IT Thinking As technology continues to advance, how do you know when to jump in and when to wait? Learn what factors to consider when making strategic IT decisions that work cross-departmentally. Ensure you re proactive and tactical without the risk of falling behind. B2W INFORM In this 4-session series, you will learn all about B2W s exciting new form building element, B2W Inform. With B2W Inform, your company can electronically capture, track, collaborate, manage, and analyze the huge amount of data being collected in all departments of your business. With powerful and customizable reporting and dashboards, your data becomes an incredible tool to alert, enlighten, and inform your team. B2W Inform: Administration The first session about our brand new B2W Software element, B2W Inform, will introduce you to a wide range of administrative functions within the B2W Inform platform. These fundamental skills will set you up for success, and include managing users, roles, activities, domains, licenses and alerts & notifications. B2W Inform: Templates Our second B2W Inform session focuses on the process of building templates, which will serve as the foundation for the forms you complete later on. See how to categorize templates, data bind components, and set up conditional sections and form bundles. You will also learn the basics of saving, publishing, editing, and previewing templates. B2W Inform: Forms Our next B2W Inform session centers on forms, with a special focus on the process of capturing data. See how to interact with conditional forms and form bundles, as well as how to save forms as drafts. You will also learn about submitting forms and the approval process. B2W Inform: Reports Our final B2W Inform session dives into the process of dashboard and report building. B2W Inform has a robust reporting engine, and in this session you will learn how to create a variety of dashboards and reports, including express reports, standard reports, and cross tab reports. We will also demonstrate how to schedule report deliveries. SOLUTIONS CENTER 8:00a.m. 5:00p.m. Monday & Tuesday The B2W Software Solutions Center is the place to go for individual assistance with questions that are too intricate or specific to introduce during a presenter-led training session, or for attendees who d simply like a closer look at one of our software offerings. The Solutions Center is available at key times throughout the conference including all times when traditional sessions are taking place and is manned with knowledgeable support and development personnel to help you get the answers you need.