Allegheny Contract Flooring – Streamlining The Process

In the heart of Winchester, MA lies Allegheny Contract Flooring, one of the largest commercial flooring contractors in the country. Generating annual revenues in excess of 80 million dollars a year they have established themselves as leaders in the industry. Back in the early 90s when they were looking to streamline their accounting practices they decided to purchase STRUCTURE. They were also interested in improving their bidding process. Eventually, they collaborated with C/F Data Systems to develop a program that many commercial flooring contractors across the country use today.

Goals

1. Streamline their accounting operations

2. Quickly see all of their financial info

3. Ability to manage bids from beginning to end

4. An easier way to manage and schedule labor

5. Increase the efficiency of project managers

6. Streamline payroll

7. Cut down on data entry

Results

What surprised Allegheny was not how many goals they were able to instantly accomplish by implementing STRUCUTRE, but how many additional benefits they received. Payroll was able to be done in-house and any union reporting/wages were taken care of in the system. Allegheny Contract Flooring’s president was determined to stay on top of A/R over 90 days. With a quick glance at the Executive Center, all of that information could be easily found. They love that you can further drill down all the way to the invoice.

Due to STRUCUTRE’s full integration, they are able to do things like:

• Create AIA bills instantly

• Streamline the month-end closing process

• Accurately track the cost of a job

• Automatically run change order aging reports

• Put notes on particular purchase orders

Early in the 90s, they relied on Microsoft Word and a custom internal program, Paradox, to manage their bidding. What they love so much about STRUCTURE is that it is a fully integrated system. Payroll, Accounts Receivables, Accounts Payable, Job Cost and General Ledger are all tied together. They wanted to somehow tie in the bidding to STRUCTURE. Working with C/F Data, they were able to design one of the most revolutionary programs for the Commercial Flooring Industry, the Quote Proposal Module. This module allows them to manage the bid from its creation all the way through to the awarding of the job. Once the bid is accepted, they can turn it into an active job with a contract amount and budget. Materials from the bid can be turned into Purchase Orders in the system, eliminating the need to enter the information again. They can copy bids and send them out to multiple customers, the program also tracks all of the bids won and lost.

Streamlining the payroll process was a big goal for them, with up to 200 workers in the field, having to deal with paper was becoming quite the burden. Allegheny invested in the STRUCTUREmobile Suite, a collection of mobile apps that offer users in the field the power of STRUCTURE. They used TimeLinc to ensure accurate and fast time reporting and eventually they took it one step further by pairing the WorkForce Scheduling Module with TimeLinc, creating an efficient labor scheduling system, this cut the payroll process down by over 4 hours per week.

Project Managers have become much more efficient and effective at their job. With STRUCTURE they are able to now see everything about a job in one easy to navigate dashboard. Weekly Work in Process meetings are now able to be held to ensure that the jobs are progressing well, they especially love that you can see everything in real time.

Conclusion

Allegheny Contract Flooring set out with multiple goals when implementing STRUCTURE. Using the system these past 25 years has allowed them to reach every one of those goals and then some. Today they are partnering with C/F Data Systems to create new innovations for the Commercial Flooring Industry like a Barcoding system for inventory and creating Change Orders in the field. Without a doubt, Allegheny has become a much more profitable and efficient company since purchasing STRUCTURE 25 years ago.