Sage Coretime Powers Award
Winning Commitment
Coady Partnership Architects, an award-winning
architectural practice, is committed to serving the many needs of
its diverse client base. Here, we see how Sage Coretime helps this
company protect profits in challenging economic times.
About the Company
Coady Partnership Architects is an established practice renowned
for its commitment to design excellence, and provides comprehensive
consultancy to private and public sector clients in master
planning, architecture and urban design. The firm has a track
record in cutting edge design within diverse sectors including
education, sport, health, housing, office refurbishment, leisure,
and building conservation projects. Coady Partnership
Architects also has particular expertise in project initiation,
brief development, building design and procurement.
While many of the projects are procured in a conventional
manner, Coady Partnership Architects are known for their
imaginative, qualitative and effective design solutions that have
won many competitions with PPP and Design Build Consortia.
‘We aim to add value to our projects by designing
innovative,
energy efficient buildings,’ Coady Partnership Architects Managing
Director Anne Fletcher explains. ‘Passive techniques combined with
state of the art technologies are incorporated into the detailing
of our buildings to lower maintenance costs. We have successfully
applied for grant finance from SEI to cover capital expenditure on
“green” building features for clients, providing healthy and
delightful spaces that users enjoy, which is a critical factor in
our success. A good building will enhance not only the environment
but also the resources of the client.’
The firm has continued to work for clients over a span of twenty
years. A high proportion of their work is through repeat
commissions and that work consistently attracts awards. The primary
imperative of the firm is the provision of a client-focused
service, resulting in top class buildings. The awards
received in past years are a testament to the Partnership’s success
in de-signing and procuring exemplary and innovative projects:
Leitrim Arts Centre: LAMA Award for Best Arts Building 2007;
John Hume Building, NUI Maynooth: Winner of S.E.I Sustainability
Award for Excellence of Design, Spec-ification, Co-ordination and
Integration of Services; House at No. 1 Dartmouth Road:
Winner of PLAN Conservation Award; Leitrim County Council Offices:
Construction Excellence Awards 2000 – Commendation (Sus-tainability
Award); Maryborough House Hotel: Construction Excellence Awards
1999 – Commendation (Leisure/ Tourism); Letterkenny IT – Phase 2A
Extension selected for publication in OECD ‘Buildings for Living –
55 Exemplary Educational Facilities’ to name only a few.
The commitment to the delivery of a quality service has also
resulted in Coady Partnership Architects receiving certification
under ISO 9001 (for Quality Systems) and ISO 14001 (for its
Environmental Management Systems). The firm is one of the only
Irish practices to receive such independently audited environmental
certification.
The Challenge: Increasing Efficiency
In early 2006, Coady Partnership began to look for software
systems that would increase internal efficiencies in order to
maintain profitability, and also to bid for work bid more
effectively. Business Manager, Owen O’Leary explains.
‘We were using a time and fees software system that frankly
wasn’t up to the challenge. We knew that if we could track our time
more effectively, we might uncover methods to increase staff
efficiency and productivity. This would enable the firm to compete
more effectively in the marketplace, while allowing us to maintain
our present levels of service and design excellence.
‘For those reasons, we decided to purchase a new software
solution that could help partner us into the future.’
The Solution: Sage Coretime
In mid-2006, Coady Partnership installed Sage Coretime, the
powerful time and billing solution from Sage. Since then, the firm
has enjoyed substantial increases in its levels of efficiency and
productivity.
Sage Coretime is a powerful and easy to use time recording and
project management software solution that enables users to track
all costs that are relevant to specific projects. Users can easily
record time spent on any project, as well as relevant third party
expenses and overtime. The Coretime solution auto-matically
maintains a record of staff costs, as well as activity
descriptions, carried out during specific project phases, while
also archiving past projects for quick and easy access to detailed
historical cost analysis, for future use.
Instant data availability allows for accurate invoicing, while
also providing managers with an accurate, and instant overview of
real time project costs, resource deployment, and activity levels.
In this manner, Sage Coretime not only acts as an effective cost
control solution, but also provides managers with a detailed
history of any given project.
‘All twenty-five of our employees use Sage Coretime to monitor
project time,’ Owen states. ‘Before we installed the Coretime
solution, our designers were using manual timesheets. Our staff had
to fill these in by hand every week, which was a headache.
Similarly, my back-office team had to download those timesheets
into our existing accounting solutions, which was both
time-consuming and prone to inaccuracy.
‘Now, all staff members have instant access Coretime on their
PC’s. They have embraced the
system because it is so easy to use. And we gained substantial
back-office efficiencies by eliminating the need for double entry
of time-related data.’
But the real benefits of Sage Coretime lie in its time
management and cost control data management capabilities.
In Challenging Times, Accurate Cost Data Protects
Profitability
The recent turbulence in Ireland’s economy has illustrated the
power of Sage Coretime.
“While we have used Coretime for years, it is only now that it
has shown its power,’ Owen explains. “For instance, our managing
director walked in only this morning, asking me to generate a Work
In Progress Report that would illustrate costs incurred on each and
every project currently on our books. I was able to do so at a
click of a mouse.
‘Coretime’s reporting capabilities allow us to review cost data,
on an almost real-time basis, line by line, and for every project.
This means that we are able to compare actual costs to budget
quickly and accurately.
“Using Coretime, all of our managers are now budget holders.
Data provided to them by Coretime allows them to make certain that
each and every project that we undertake is profitable. In
challenging times like these, Coretime is indispensable in
preserving profitability.
Instant Access to Critical Project Data
Sage Coretime provides instant access to critical project cost
data, allowing the directors Anne Fletcher, Jim Coady, Tomas
Sexton, and Mark McCann, as well as other designated staff members,
to closely monitor the ongoing progress of any project. ‘By
accessing Sage Coretime data, we now have a greater sense of
control,’ Owen explains. ‘For instance, we can quickly compare
actual time spent on a project – and the cost of that time – with
the established project budget. This enables the firm’s directors
and project managers to sit down with team members to assess those
costs, and in the event of a possible cost over-run situation, to
take action quickly to minimise further costs.
‘Because every member of staff can access fundamental cost
information, the Coretime solution promotes teamwork: staff members
have a greater sense of responsibility to every project. The nature
of a designer is to spend whatever time it takes to design and
re-design in order to achieve excellence. With Coretime, our firm’s
managers can point out that such design comes with a cost. Now, our
designers work more efficiently, without sacrificing design
integrity.’
Sage Coretime not only provides accurate in-house cost data to
minimise the possibility of project cost over-runs, but also allows
straight-forward tracking of third party costs: expenses can be
quickly recorded, and re-invoiced if required. Additionally,
ex-ceptional design costs can be quickly calculated and
re-invoiced, as Owen explains. ‘On many projects, we might be asked
by the client to make exceptional changes or additions to the
original project spec-ification. Coretime allows us to quickly cost
those exceptions, and to accurately invoice those, when agreed with
the client.’
Historical Data for Accurate Budgeting &
Bidding
Sage Coretime’s automated archiving capability also enables
managers to quickly access past project cost and time information
in order to accurately budget – and bid for – future projects.
Coretime project histories also enable users of this powerful
solution to search for additional efficiencies leading to
cost-effective budgeting.
‘The archive facility has come into its own, particularly as the
market has become more competitive,’ Owen states. ‘For instance,
recently the government changed its tendering process. Now,
architects are being asked to bid for new projects on a fixed
basis, rather than on a percentage of build costs. This new process
has required firms to gain a real understanding of the true cost of
past projects, in order to allow competitive bidding for new
projects, while maintaining profitability. Coretime provides Coady
Partnership Architects with the data that we need to do this.
‘As an example, let’s assume that we want to tender for a
school. We’ll access project costs from, say, six past projects of
a similar size. We’ll then analyse those historical costs: How much
time did the projects take? What were the salary costs? What were
third party expenses? How much profit did we earn based on the
revenues invoiced to the client that were relevant to those
projects?
‘That data allows us to search for new efficiencies: How can we
re-allocate staff resources in order to lower the overall time –
and subsequent costs – for the job for which we want to tender?
Will we still be profitable for a given budget that we wish to
submit, without sacrificing our commitment to design excellence?
With this vital historical data from Coretime, we can submit
competitively priced fee bids for which we are confident: we know
that we can still make a profit while not sacrificing our
commitment to the client’s design.
‘Price has become a huge factor in the tendering process,’ Owen
states, ‘and Sage Coretime provides us with the information we need
to compete effectively.’
Integration Made Easy
Coady Partnership Architects also uses other powerful software
solutions from Sage including Sage Micropay for Payroll and the
Sage 50 management and accounting solution to help drive its
back-office requirements. Sage Coretime has been designed to
seamlessly integrate with other Sage software solutions in order to
increase internal productivity, efficiency, and accuracy.
‘Our Sage Coretime solution is integrated with Sage 50,’ Owen
explains. ‘This seamless solution helps us to streamline
back-office tasks, while decreasing the need for double entry.
‘Sage has been instrumental in helping us to achieve further
benefits,’ he states. ‘For instance, Sage “tweaked” the solution
for us in order to avail of special VAT regulations applying to
treatment that architects and other service companies working in
Ireland receive. Now, we can easily account for VAT both on an
accrual and cash receipts basis. This has helped the firm to
improve its cash flow, as well as VAT accuracy.’
Would Recommend
When asked if he would recommend the Sage Coretime solution to
other companies, Owen was frank: ‘I already have, and I will again.
Sage Coretime allows us to accurately track current project time
and costs, and to compare those against agreed budgets, in order to
ensure ongoing profitability. Its archive system allows us to
search for additional efficiencies, and to bid for projects using
realistic cost data. Its user-friendly design is easy to use, has
been embraced by our staff, and is now an integral part of our
daily workflow.
‘The solution has therefore empowered the company. It partners
with us every day, and will help us to empower our future. In
short, it is an integral solution that will help us to bring our
award-winning commitment to excellence to many more clients.’
For More Information
For more information on Coady Partnership Architects, and their
award-winning design capabilities, contact them.
Tel: 01 497 6766
Email: admin@coady.ie
Web: www.coady.ie
For more information on Sage Coretime, Sage 50, Sage Micropay,
and other powerful management solutions from Sage, contact us: 1890
88 20 60.