Electrical Contractor Successfully Goes Digital
The Challenge
Duro Electric tried using spreadsheets to manage their workforce. When spreadsheets failed, they tried a giant magnetic board with color-coded projects. However, there was no way to communicate this manual information between the office and field. Duro knew there had to be a better way.
The Solution
Procore Workforce Planning helps Duro strengthen communication and monitor certifications. Both are critical as the electrical contractor operates in multiple markets with different conditions and labor needs.
The Results
Improved Certification Tracking
Electricians’ skills are easily viewable so leaders can stay up-to-date on certifications.
Digitized Scheduling Processes
Gone are the spreadsheets and magnetic boards — with a single, digital source of truth.
Sensitive Information Secured
With a variety of permission levels, HR and leadership teams are able to keep personnel information visible to the right people.
Electrical Contractor Seeks Digital Transformation
Mark Stark needed a way to efficiently manage the workforce at Duro Electric. Duro, part of MDU Resources Group, Inc., was growing rapidly, but wasn’t quite at the point where it required a full-time labor coordinator. They made do with spreadsheets.
Stark, Vice President of Operations, pieced together a series of solutions to try to manage the electrical contractor’s workforce on design-build jobs across Colorado.
“Spreadsheets weren’t dynamic enough,” Stark says. “If you’re dealing with 100 plus employees, then you’ve got to sort through hundreds of lines of information to see where they are.”
After spreadsheets, Stark turned to a giant magnetic board with color-coded projects. The oversized board could roll through hallways, but was a literal obstacle for office-to-field communications.
“I was looking for an application that could track where everybody was going and make sure that jobs were getting filled properly,” Stark says.
Stark chose a digital workforce management platform because Workforce Planning offered significant process improvements without costly downtime. Once Duro made the decision to move away from physical boards to Workforce Planning, the new system was up and running in less than two weeks.
“We were done with the boards in a week and a half,” Stark says. “It was really well done. The Workforce Planning team was organized and responsive.”
Secure Personnel and Project Information
While Stark wanted to make process improvements quickly, he also needed to ensure that employee information stayed secure since MDU Resources Group Inc. is publicly traded. Workforce Planning enables Duro to maintain the appropriate lines between human resources, accounting, and labor management.
Stark also used the platform’s ability to set different permission levels to make sure the right people have the right information without having to worry about sensitive details remaining confidential.
Communication and Certification Improvements
Workforce Planning has made conversations about labor simpler for Duro because the field and office are operating with the same numbers.
“We can look at the jobs we have and the jobs we’re proposing and know our bandwidth,” Stark says. “I pull up Workforce Planning all the time to get quick totals of our employees at different levels.”
Duro uses Workforce Planning to ensure that employees have up-to-date certifications and avoid potential down time on active project sites.
“Workforce Planning is useful for tracking certifications,” Stark says. “We now can look at certification information and remind employees they need to re-up their certifications.”
With a single source of truth to navigate labor decisions, Duro is able to confidently build into the future.
