In the construction industry many of the most critical business decisions happen on the jobsite. This interactive e-book shows construction executives how mobile technology can provide greater access to decision making data in the field. Learn about what to consider before purchasing mobile devices and solutions, the role the "cloud" plays in providing greater business visibility on the jobsite, and suggestions for creating a mobile policy. The e-book includes a spotlight on how to mobilize the collection and approval of field employee time.

1. The Construction Executive’s
Interactive Guide to Business Visibility
PART 5: MOBILIZINGPART 5: MOBILIZING

2. In the construction industry, decisions aren’t confined to a desk or executive boardroom. Many of the most critical
business decisions happen on the jobsite. Consequently, it’s not surprising that it is here—amid the mud, brick
and rebar—that the use of mobile devices is exploding. In fact, according to a McGraw-Hill industry survey, 93% of
respondents use some sort of mobile device on their construction sites.
How are the best-run construction firms
deploying mobile solutions? What are the
most important considerations before
purchasing tablets, smartphones,
and mobile solutions? And what business
benefits can you expect to gain from
anytime, anywhere connectivity? This e-book
aims to answer these questions and provide
Job Ready tips you can use to ensure your
business visibility is as mobile as you are.
93% of construction professionals use
some sort of mobile device on their
construction sites.
2
WHENEVER. WHEREVER.WHENEVER. WHEREVER.

3. IN THEIR OWN WORDSIN THEIR OWN WORDS
Whatyourpeers and experts sayabout mobility.
“Field personnel can access plans, documents, and
other job-related data from their mobile devices. It is less
expensive in both the short and long term to invest in the
technology that keeps our team productive in the field.”
Maeva Mayes
Office Manager
Dean Crowder Construction
“We see two big trends in the construction industry today:
mobility and collaboration. By putting the data in the
cloud, building team members can gain access to project
information on mobile devices. This helps keep all project
participants involved.”
Jon Witty
General Manager and Vice President
Sage Construction and Real Estate Solutions
“The increased popularity and use of laptops, smartphones,
and tablets means that a contractor’s IT network can now
extend to virtually any location, whether it’s a remote job
site, hotel room, or office trailer.”
Brian J. Thomas
Partner Advisory Services
Weaver LLP
“We can now lower cycle times on projects and integrate
wireless mobile applications to full back-office systems.
We are sure that those contractors who select these
solutions will see dramatic productivity benefits.”
Tom Gebes
President
BuilderMT
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4. 4
WHY MOBILITY
MATTERS
LEARN THE
THREE C’S
WHY MOBILITY
MATTERS
LEARN THE
THREE C’S
Mobility is without a doubt changing the way we work. Case in point: Three
out of every five workers say they don’t need to be in the office anymore
to be productive.1
When asked how “anytime, anywhere” connectivity
helps them be more efficient, construction professionals most frequently
responded with one of three answers: convenience, communication or
collaboration.
1 Convenience
When field personnel have to call office staff for the latest project information
or are tied to the job trailer to request or submit reports, it can interfere with
project progress. Mobile solutions enable these frontline workers to access
details and execute tasks with a smartphone or tablet. It’s convenient and it
keeps projects moving.
2 Communication
According to a 2012 ENR survey, communication is the number one way
mobile tools improve jobsite productivity2
. This communication can entail
simply taking pictures with the mobile device and sharing them online
with the project team. Or the level of communication can include deeper
capabilities, such as accessing back-office financial data on demand or
submitting and approving employee time worked on a project on mobile
devices.
3 Collaboration
General contractors ranked collaboration as the second most important
overall factor for using mobile tools in an ENR study. It’s easy to see why:
A construction project can involve thousands of decisions, made by dozens
of people, from multiple companies. Time is money. So when a significant
issue arises, such as a flooded foundation that requires engineering and
retrofit, the speed at which the issue gets escalated and communicated to
the engineering firm, subcontractors, owners, and other stakeholders has
a direct bearing on how profitable the project is.
1 http://mashable.com/2011/08/09/mobile-workers-infographic
2 Engineering News Record, August 2012 construction survey

5. The shift from email in the office to “email everywhere” was the first baby
step in what is becoming an all-out sprint toward connectedness. With the
widespread use of smartphones and tablets, contractors are looking for
new ways to access information and execute tasks on the go. Cloud-based
software and apps—particularly those connected to back-office systems—
are key to enhancing workforce productivity and the expediency of informed
decision making using mobile devices.
The most useful cloud applications for construction are those that push
meaningful information to field personnel in digestible bites to support decisive
decision making at the job site, and those that enable project leaders to
execute tasks (such as collecting and approving labor time remotely) and
instantly share information with the home office. No matter what the cloud
solution is used for, simplicity is a must.
THE ROLE OFTHE “CLOUD”
IN MOBILIZING
THE ROLE OFTHE “CLOUD”
IN MOBILIZING
Top 5 Motivators for Adopting
Cloud Technology:
58%1. Flexibility and scalability
2. Reduced operating expenses
3. Efficiency
4. Reduced capital costs
5. Redundancy and disaster recovery
45%
42%
40%
35%
Source: 2011 IBM Tech Trends Report, published by IBM’s developerWorks.
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6. 6
MOBILITY SPOTLIGHT: COLLECTING AND
APPROVING FIELD EMPLOYEE TIME
MOBILITY SPOTLIGHT: COLLECTING AND
APPROVING FIELD EMPLOYEE TIME
A cloud-based solution for time entry and approval can boost business performance.
Workers get paid via
direct-deposit—on time,
and accurately.
Project managers are able
to understand the true
impact on the budget.
The payroll administrator,
at the office, processes the
information.
The project manager,
working from home, reviews
and approves timesheets.
The superintendent, working
in the field, approves the
time report on his tablet.
An employee enters his
time from a jobsite using
his smartphone.

7. The productivity benefits of mobility are clear. However, as the number of
employees who do their jobs outside the secure boundaries of your home office
increases, so too does the risk of compromising your company data. What follows
are four suggestions for developing an enterprise mobile security policy plus a short
video that illustrates how Microsoft technologies simplify the security challenge.
Suggestions for creating a mobile policy:
1. Determine if you will issue company-owned devices, enable employees to
bring their own device (BYOD), or do a combination of both. Understanding the
costs involved and your risk is very important in this step.
2. Specify which devices your company will support, including which mobile operating
systems. If you are supplying the devices, clarify who is eligible to receive them.
3. If your employees are able to use their own devices for work, consider using a
container approach, such as mobile device management (MDM) software, which
keeps corporate information separate and appropriately secured.
4. Specify and communicate security guidelines to guard against a data or
security breach. These guidelines should include password protection, auto-
locking, and encryption. Put into place the ability to enable a “remote wipe” if a
device is lost or stolen.
SECURING MOBILE DEVICES AND
YOUR COMPANY DATA
SECURING MOBILE DEVICES AND
YOUR COMPANY DATA
Learn how the cloud
will reshape construction:
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8. 8
BUYER’S
CHECKLIST FOR
MOBILE AND
CLOUD
SOLUTIONS
AND APPS
BUYER’S
CHECKLIST FOR
MOBILE AND
CLOUD
SOLUTIONS
AND APPS
The era of business mobility has arrived. But investing in mobile and cloud solutions
for the construction industry requires special consideration. To achieve maximum
value, use this checklist to help ensure you’re investing in a solution that will hold up
to the demands on the job site and wherever else your work takes you.
The solution:
Is designed for the construction industry.
Has the ability to connect to your office systems, such as your job costing
and payroll software.
Enables your selected construction project team to work together with
shared information.
Provides full administration control over who sees what project and which details.
Maintains projects, people, documents, and/or back-office financial and
operations data securely.
Makes it easy to invite new people from various companies to a project.
Documents projects from preconstruction through post-construction services.
Requires little or no training.
Is accessible anytime, anywhere.
Three factors to consider
before buying a mobile device:
1. Durability—Can the device stand up to
the rugged conditions of the job site? Some
mobile device manufacturers are introducing
more durable models. There are also rugged
cases you can purchase as accessories.
2. Screen size—If you are going to review
documents and drawings, it’s important to
choose a device with a screen that’s large
enough for proper display.
3. Network speed—Project managers won’t
wait around for connectivity. Look for a 4G LTE
device that can handle the data-intensive apps
and programs.

9. Read the entire
five-part series on
business visibility:
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when new eBooks
are available:
Share the Sage Job
Ready website with
your peers:
1 Reporting
2 Monitoring
3 Analyzing
4 Predicting
5 Mobilizing
Download the
business visibility
basics poster:
Business without blind spots.
Five Types of Visibility Every Construction Firm Should Have
Get Job Ready visibility with Sage.
Reporting
See what happened already.
Monitoring
Learn what’s happening now.
Analyzing
Understand why it happened.
Predicting
Know what might happen.
Mobilizing
Access it from anywhere.
High-performing construction firms
can synthesize large amounts of
data into snapshot reports, summary
reports, and financial statements.
• What variances exist between
project costs and the contract?
• How many safety issues have
there been?
• What is my debt-to-equity ratio?
• How long does it take to collect
receivables?
• How productive is my labor?
• What is labor costing me per hour?
• What is my gross profit margin?
• Does one of my subcontractors have
insurance that expires this week?
These reports show project activity at a
glance, including change orders, safety,
labor, equipment, schedules, and more.
Bankers and bonding agents demand
audited statements that measure the
health of your company.
To ensure information accuracy, it’s
important to be able to drill down to
the source data.
These instant notifications are triggered
when certain conditions are met and
sent through email or text message.
A strong project dashboard can
display important project metrics
on a single page.
KPIs help you know where your
projects and company stand on a
variety of issues.
Knowing what’s happening across all
your projects can help you think more
strategically about the future.
Using standard spreadsheets to
crunch numbers and display data
can be helpful in evaluating business
performance.
The ability to create custom reports
ensures you don’t have to wait around
for over-burdened IT folks to build
reports for you.
To evaluate future projects and
buyouts, it’s essential to be able to
look at past performance and adjust
based on shifting variables—such
as material costs, labor costs, and
interest rates.
The ability to access key project information
securely on mobile devices can help your
people make informed decisions—even
while away from their desks.
Project and Field Reports
Financial Statements
Drill Downs
Alerts
Dashboards
Key Performance Indicators
Cross-Project Analytic Reports
Spreadsheet Analysis
Ad-hoc Report Query
Historical Data Mining Mobile Reports
Construction executives must be able
to filter through data to track major
risk areas and act quickly.
With a clear line of sight into project and financial data,
your construction or contracting business can think
boldly and act decisively.
Strong analytic capabilities help
executives assess the company’s
performance and plan business strategy.
Spotting trends and forecasting
costs are critical to ensuring project
profitability.
If project leaders and executives can’t
access key details while on the road,
it can bring the work to a halt.
Helps you answer
questions like:
Helps you answer
questions like:
• What type of work is most
profitable for my business?
• What impact are change orders
having on my projects?
• What subcontractors are
performing at the highest level?
• How closely do my estimated costs
resemble my actual costs?
Helps you answer
questions like:
• What is my projected margin?
• What might happen if labor costs
continue to run over by 10%?
• How at risk is my project for cost
overruns?
• Am I better off buying or renting
equipment?
Helps you answer
questions like: • Labor productivity
• Labor cost per hour
• Projected margin
• Change orders
Gives you anytime, anywhere
access to details like:
©2012 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. SPK 12-02417 10/12
©2013 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc., or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FIVE TYPES
OFVISIBILITY EVERY CONSTRUCTION
FIRM SHOULD HAVE
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FIVE TYPES
OFVISIBILITY EVERY CONSTRUCTION
FIRM SHOULD HAVE
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