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Here’s What Good Capital Project Management Software Looks Like in 2023
In the modern business world, the more you can automate basic processes the better. Your employees have better things to do than keep track of which Excel file represents the correct budget or sift through dozens of emails trying to find the one with updates on project status. It is much less frustrating for them, and more efficient for the company, if employees have software tools to support them as they work.
One of the financial processes that benefits from software automation is capital project management. Managing long-term projects that require capital investment is a challenging task. It’s also
one of the areas where companies routinely lose money; experts say about 30% of the capital budget is routinely wasted. With good capital project management software, you’ll have more control over capital expense (CapEx) projects.
But what does “good” capital project management software look like today? What features should you look for when shopping for CapEx software?
Integrates with Other Software
It’s rare that you’d be using capital project management software (CPMS) on its own. Usually, you’ll be integrating it with other software including an ERP and accounting software. When picking out CPMS, make sure it’ll work well with other software you’re already using and/or plan to implement soon.
This is one of the big advantages of using NextProcess for your CapEx software. All of our software modules work seamlessly together, so you can automate capital project management, accounts payable, and other financial processes together. We also have extensive experience successfully integrating our software with ERPs including NetSuite, SAP, and many more.
User Friendly
User-friendliness should be a basic expectation for financial processing software. Business process automation is supposed to make things easier, and that’s only going to happen if it’s easy for people to use.
When you get user-friendly CPMS, employees should be able to learn the system quickly. If you’re working with a good software supplier, intuitive features and responsive customer support help smooth the learning curve.
Enables Collaboration
Being able to collaborate on large-scale capital projects is key to managing them successfully. Everyone on the teams needs access to the same information. It’s so helpful to have one centralized spot to manage all project data, updates, files, and communication. Ideally, the project software will also update in real time.
Cloud-based software like NextProcess’ capital project management module makes it easy for the whole team to work together even if they’re not all in the same place. Employees working from home, traveling, or in different office locations can all log in to the platform from any internet-enabled device and see real-time updates. Security protocols ensure that your data stays both secure and accessible for those working on the projects.
Simplified Project Management
Capital projects are often long-term and require ongoing management. CPMS should make it easy to set up projects, create subprojects, loop-in collaborators, and track changes and progress. Streamlining and automation tools come in very handy here.
With NextProcess’ software, you can quickly create subprojects by pulling overlapping data from the existing project. The system automatically routes projects for review and approval to streamline capital project management. You can also configure these automation tools to match your company’s exact needs.
Configurable for Your Company
The time is gone when you needed to settle for a one-size-fits-all software package. Good capital project management software (and other process automation software) is flexible. You should be able to incorporate custom fields, variable routing, automated reporting, and more. And the system should be able to scale with your company as it grows.
During implementation for NextProcess software, you’ll work with our team of experts to create a scalable system tailored to your company’s capital project management process. We’ll help you configure the budgeting, routing, and reporting tools. You can even customize what tools different users see when they log in to the software. And there are even more options that we don’t have time to cover here. The best way to learn about the customization possibilities is to set up a free demo and chat with us about them.
Provides Budgeting Tools
Capital project management typically involves working with significant capital investment. Being able to manage budgets effectively is essential for success. That means accurate, real-time budget reporting, the ability to configure budgets to meet your needs, and budgeting tools that enable collaboration.
NextProcess offers configurable layers of budgeting detail to meet your organizational needs and structure. You can choose to create budgets for the year, the month, the location, and more. You’ll also get accurate, real-time reporting on capital budgets through our collaborative budgeting and planning tool. These management and reporting tools make it much easier to manage capital project expenses.
Total Visibility
Good capital project management tools make it easy to access information about CapEx spending. The more reliable and accessible the information, the better equipped you’ll be to make strategic decisions. You’ll also have better control over the projects when you’re able to access reliable information.
A good CPMS system will let you quickly and easily search for any project, open or closed. You should be able to “zoom in” and look at the tiniest details or “zoom out” to see the big picture. For example, with NextProcess software, you can view large projects, individual orders, or invoice details with just a few clicks. Plus, the online platform means real-time information.
Tracking and Reporting
Tracking and reporting on capital projects are essential to long-term success. You need to know how the project is progressing and quickly recognize problems when they show up. Detailed reports can also act as an early warning system so you can notice if something changes before it becomes a big problem.
With good CPMS, the capital budgeting tools help keep projects on target in terms of both spending and time. You can track your capital expenses across multiple budget periods or years and report with granular detail on your capital project management. Whenever you create a new project, the software assigns it a unique ID for tracking. Plus, event and change logging make your next audit run seamlessly.
If you’re interested in seeing how NextProcess’ Capital Project Management System can work for your company, click here to get in touch. We’ll be happy to answer your questions and set up a time for a free demo.
