Excel stops keeping up
Files are convenient while there are few of them. As volume grows, separate files stop talking to each other and the overview is lost.
An anonymised case study of an engineering-systems installer. No names and no prices, only the market, its data-consolidation problem and how it could work better.
This study is based on a real conversation with someone in the market. All data is anonymised.
Engineering-systems installers build and renovate ventilation, heating, air conditioning and cooling systems, mostly on industrial sites. Every enquiry is a separate, different project, so the data has to stay flexible rather than be forced into one rigid template. In many companies the basis is still Excel, because it is fast to enter, change or delete. But as volume grows, the separate files stop talking to each other, and the lack of synchronisation becomes the biggest bottleneck.
The estimate is built in a separate program, where a complex quote can spread across many tabs, each calculating a part, all rolled into a final report. A simple quote takes up to half a day, and a detailed estimate ready to hand over takes 2 to 3 days. There are around 3000 material lines, and their prices have to be tracked by hand across roughly ten suppliers. Once a project is won, the material list is compared against the warehouse by hand to work out what needs to be bought.
Suppliers send prices neither as Excel nor through an interface: they sit behind a login in their own catalogs and change quietly, with no notice. So prices go into the estimate with a safety margin rather than exact figures.
Files are convenient while there are few of them. As volume grows, separate files stop talking to each other and the overview is lost.
Supplier prices sit behind a login and change without notice, so they go into the estimate with a safety margin.
To know what you have and what to buy, the material list has to be compared against the warehouse by hand.
The same material is named and coded differently by each supplier, so the system does not recognise it and the accounts get lost booking it in.
Preparing an accurate estimate for a complex project takes 2 to 3 days, and there are many such enquiries.
Work acts differ by project, and writing materials off an object and the reports are done by hand.
Imagine a tool where prices refresh on their own, and the estimate instantly knows what is in stock.
Supplier catalogs are reviewed periodically and only the positions you actually need are updated.
The material list is matched against stock at once, so it is clear what to buy, with no manual searching.
The result: more accurate prices, faster estimates and clear profit per project, with no manual re-entry.
Prices and stock levels no longer need constant manual tracking.
Prices in the estimate do not go stale, so there is less guessing and less risk of working at a loss.
When the data is connected, an accurate estimate can be prepared faster, and more enquiries handled.
Planned and actual results are visible, so it is clear which project earns and which does not.
An estimate holds around three thousand material lines, while the prices, the stock and the estimate itself sit in separate files.
The same items carry different codes at different suppliers. Even with all ten supplier price lists in hand they cannot be matched automatically, so it is done by hand.
Prices refresh themselves from every supplier and the estimate can see what is already in stock, so acts and write offs are no longer retyped by hand.
A detailed estimate that used to take two to three days is ready faster, the margin becomes more precise, and profit is visible per project.
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If your estimate, prices and warehouse also fail to talk to each other, let's talk. Together we will look at how this could work in your company.