Implementing capital project management software (CPMS) is essential for large organizations and complicated projects to facilitate good internal communication and coordination between stakeholders. For a CPMS to be effective, it must integrate well with a company's existing IT systems and strategies. When choosing a CPMS, it is important to select one that uses open standards, is easily customized for different projects, and can export data in a variety of formats to allow interoperability between the CPMS and other software used by stakeholders. Aurigo's Masterworks CPMS meets these criteria and has demonstrated significant improvements in productivity and cost savings for customers.

1. In any organization, good internal
communication is required for long-
term success. And in large companies,
or companies that take on complicated
projects, good internal communication
is typically facilitated digitally by means
of several interlinked software solutions.
These may include enterprise resource
planning (ERP) software such as
Microsoft’sDynamicAx,enterpriseproject
management software (EPM), geographic
information systems (GIS), and dozens of
smaller bits of software, like accounting
and invoicing programs. Implemented
properly, all of these work together and
are coordinated by a comprehensive
information technology (IT) strategy.
Owners, contractors, and other
stakeholders in capital improvement
programs have to keep this in mind
when choosing any system to fit into
their corporate IT strategy. Effectively
managing complex infrastructure projects
requires the use of capital project
management software (CPMS). CPMS—
also known as building construction
software, construction management
software, or construction project
management software—cannot be
replaced or emulated by other IT systems
used by a firm, such as ERP platforms.
Construction management’s unique,
project-based requirements, such as
quantity takeoffs, digital inspection
reports, and project estimation, require
a purpose-built solution designed by
experts who understand capital project
management and contracting. But on
the other hand, construction project
software simply must integrate tightly
with a company’s existing information
infrastructure; otherwise, the company
misses out on far too many opportunities
to save time and money.
The Best Available CPMS
For example, consider this scenario:
a contractor’s payments may be tied
to specific project milestones, such
as cubic yards of concrete poured, or
lineal feet of paved roadway completed.
Inspectors working on behalf of the
owner may track these milestones. If the
inspectors are using CPMS to digitally
capture inspection results, the software
can automatically pass the milestone
information to other stakeholders as
needed. Ideally, milestone data tracked
by the CPMS will be automatically
supplied to the accounting or ERP
systems, payments will be made
automatically and synchronized as
needed with other departments, and
relevant reports will be generated and
distributed as needed, without a lot of
extra man hours. Many enterprise-wide
software systems may be involved in
such a scenario. But, the CMPS system
is the source of the relevant information;
therefore it’s critical that the CPMS be
able to integrate with all of them.
CPMS should also work well with
pre-project information; for example,
Implementing CPMS
as Part of an Overall IT Strategy:
Why is it Essential?
3 IMPORTANT CPMS
CRITERIA
• Open Standards
• Easily Customized
• Highly Interoperable
KEEP IN MIND
CPMS should work
well with pre-project
information; for example,
quantities generated by
a CAD program should
import easily.
CUSTOMERS SAY
“Aurigo has helped
Lincoln to automate
and streamline all of
our estimation, bidding,
contract management,
and field inspection
processes, and has
increased productivity and
information retrieval speed
by almost 70%.”
Tim Pratt, CEIS manager
of Lincoln, Nebraska

2. quantities generated by a CAD
program should import easily into
your CPMS, as should estimates
supplied by a subcontractor. The
digital data collected by the CPMS
can then be used for necessary
tasks, like estimating and budgeting,
without needing to be reformatted or
reentered.
The automatic distribution of project
data saves time and money by
eliminating repetitious reentry of
information. It also helps organizations
to track projects more accurately and
quickly publish relevant information to
whoever is making decisions about
budgets and schedules. Mistakes and
errors are reduced, and companies
leverage their existing investment in
enterprise software.
Unfortunately, relatively few CPMS
solutions are able to provide this level
of integration. Some are very good
with project-based matters, but store
data in proprietary formats. Others
don’t track the information required by
parts of a company that aren’t directly
related to project management.
Therefore, when considering a CPMS
investment, companies should
consider how well it fits into an overall
IT strategy. Here are a few points to
consider:
• Built on Open Standards: If a
CPMS solution stores data in
proprietary formats, with little or no
provision made for easy export to
other programs, then it will never
work well with other components of
an overall IT strategy. It’s like having
a highly skilled employee who
antagonizes other employees—
even if he’s good at his job, he’s a
liability and must eventually be let
go. Instead, look for CPMS based
on open standards, such as XML
and Web Services. When open
standards are part of a system’s
architecture, even future IT
decisions will continue to integrate
well with the CPMS.
• Easily Configured: In CPMS
terms, most construction project
management tasks can be
accomplished by forms, reports,
and workflows. That is, information
(such as inspector’s daily logs) is
collected by means of forms, routed
to the right people for approvals and
reviews by means of workflows,
and analyzed by means of reports.
Therefore, a good CPMS will make
configuration of forms, reports, and
workflows easy, fast, and intuitive—
projects differ each from each, and
different management tasks apply.
A good solution enables flexible
management of changing projects.
• Highly Interoperable With Other
Software and Formats: Capital
project management firms have
to coordinate the activities of
multiple stakeholders, including
subcontractors, investors, future
tenants, etc. It is simply not possible
to anticipate the IT strategies of
multiple firms, or to try and enforce
data standards that work for all
firms. Therefore, a good CPMS will
be able to export critical data in a
variety of formats, so it can be used
by all stakeholders as needed,
regardless of the systems they use
to store and analyze data. Flexible,
powerful data formatting is essential
for CPMS that must coordinate with
multiple capital project firms.
At Aurigo, we’ve built our CPMS
solution, Masterworks™, from the
ground up with the above requirements
in mind. We use open standards,
provide easily customized forms and
data formats, and all Masterworks™
data can be exported in a variety
of industry standard formats. Our
solutions are used around the world to
automate project management, and
we have years of experience working
with other enterprise software. Aurigo
Masterworks™ is the only CPMS
to offer ERP integration right out of
the box, and we offer integration
connectors to SharePoint, Oracle
Primavera, Microsoft Project Server,
and Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP.
Other vendors require expensive, third
party adaptation to work with standard
ERPs.
Simply Put
Simply put, Masterworks™ is the best
availableCPMS.AurigoMasterworks™
is widely used and substantial data
exists to verify cost savings and
shortened project timelines. In fact,
Tim Pratt, the CEIS manager of
Lincoln, Nebraska, says that, “Aurigo
has helped Lincoln to automate
and streamline all of our estimation,
bidding, contract management, and
field inspection processes, and has
increased productivity and information
retrieval speed by almost 70%.”
We hear that from project managers
all over the world, and we’re confident
that Masterworks™ can help you
achieve similar results on your projects.
Call us today for a free demonstration,
or visit www.aurigo.com.
CONTACT US FOR A DEMO
email: sales@aurigo.com
call: 631.824.4050