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From Excel to The Cloud: Why The Best Contractors Digitize Workforce Management

July 27, 2020 by Ben Schultz

Contractors often turn to Excel spreadsheets for workforce management, but that doesn’t mean it’s what should be used. Excel is a labor-intensive program that adds a greater possibility for errors and unnecessary layers to making informed, real-time decisions. 

The effort and time it takes to manually input data and manage increasingly complicated formulas can be retasked to other, more pressing needs with a cloud-based workforce management solution. By digitizing workforce management, contractors can access project and people information instantly, improve internal communication, and eliminate costly mistakes. 

4 Reasons Why Excel is Not the Answer 

1. Excel is Numbers-Based (not people-based) 

Excel is great with numbers, but your organization is filled with people (who tend to break your perfectly-built formulas). Workforce management needs a flexible solution that can account for all of the unique and dynamic aspects of your team while also ensuring the accuracy of your information. 

2. Most Excel Docs Contain Errors 

With 90% of all large spreadsheets containing serious errors, using Excel could lead to labor shortages, incorrect forecasting, and costly overruns. As formulas get more complicated, there’s a higher likelihood of manual data entry mistakes as multiple people work in a spreadsheet. 

3. Maintaining Spreadsheets is Serious Work

Maintaining Excel also requires specialized training. Updating a spreadsheet is also time-intensive. All this can result in outdated data before you’ve even finished inputting your numbers. Excel demands more of users when you should be realizing efficiencies, pulling resources from critical areas that are more deserving of your attention. 

4. Excel Locks You Up 

Excel is static while the needs of your workforce change. It’s locked on a desktop in the office, which means there can be substantial lags in communication with project teams. Managing your workforce in Excel keeps the information about certifications and labor availability from flowing properly throughout your organization. 

Get Ahead with the Cloud 

Contractors are digitizing workforce management in the cloud because they know that information needs to be readily available. Teams are geographically spread out as more offices have had to go virtual in response to COVID-19. A cloud-based workforce management solution is mobile and accessible everywhere. Real, measurable progress in workforce management happens when you stop supervising and start actively managing the process. 

Integrating Workforce Management 

Construction-tech companies and contractors need the flexibility to adjust to fluctuating work environments and plan for future growth. Instead of daily or weekly Excel updates, a cloud-based workforce management solution lets you access information in real-time and automates data entry. 

LaborChart’s platform integrates with project management, accounting, time tracking and more to pull in current wage, location, availability, and certification details for your labor. Aligning your systems gets team members in every department on the same page. Information can be more widely shared while still being protected with LaborChart’s custom permission levels. Having access to real-time, accurate data eliminates mistakes and makes decision-making more transparent and fact-based. 

An intuitive, cloud-based workforce management platform is assurance that key details are available when and where they are needed in the field and on project sites.  

The LaborChart integration pulls Procore projects into LaborChart to prevent duplicate entry and keep data up to date.

Learn more about it here.

Categories: Business, Featured, United States, World Tags: Project Management

Ben Schultz

Ben Schultz is the founder and CEO of LaborChart, the construction industry's leading workforce management software. Prior to founding LaborChart, Ben was a fourth generation electrical contractor at Schultz Electric for 12 years.

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