Automation Quick Wins for Construction Firm
A Major Construction Group has over 20 offices throughout the United States. The company faced significant pain points in managing its back-office and operational processes, several of which had fallen into major backlog. The Accelirate team assessed the processes and determined that these low-value activities would be a waste of human labor, and thus ideal “quick win” candidates for automation. Accelirate developed two RPA solutions to streamline data entry for the client’s Construction Planning and Accounting units, enabling the client to easily keep project timelines up to date and maintain accurate records.
Change Construction Dates
The Construction Planning Unit is responsible for keeping project start dates updated. The team had over 3,000 backlogged lots that needed to be updated, which would require 3-4 weeks of human labor to handle. During its first run, Accelirate’s Bot was able to update all the backlogged project dates in 48 hours. The Bot now runs on a daily basis to keep all project timelines updated. The Bot runs a query of the company’s database each day to find all projects with Start Construction dates that must be changed, then generates a report containing the projects, lot numbers, and new start dates. The Bot puts the report file in the Change Construction Dates folder. To update the data, the Bot logs into the company’s ERP system and finds the corresponding lot for each project, then updates the Start Construction date. The Bot logs into the company’s payment service application, finds the project and lot, and enters the new Start Construction date. After each run, the Bot sends the SME a summary report detailing all transactions performed. The report includes project and lot numbers, old Start Construction date, updated Start Construction date, and whether any issues were found that require manual review.
$43,200+ Saved Annually
83% Reduction in Processing Time
Closing Zero Balance Purchase Orders
The Accounting Unit is responsible for closing purchase orders. The team had about 40,000 backlogged purchase orders that needed to be closed, which would require weeks of human labor to handle. Accelirate’s automated solution was able to update all the backlogged purchase orders in about 32 hours. The Bot now runs on a daily basis and processes 1,000 transactions per month, on average. The Bot runs a query of the company’s database each day to find all purchase orders with a balance of zero, then generates a report indicating the purchase orders are to be closed out. The Bot reads the report and logs into the company’s ERP system, finds each of the purchase orders set to be closed out, and sets them to closed status. After completing each run, the Bot sends the SME a summary report detailing all transactions performed, whether the run was successful, and if there were any exceptions requiring review.