Service Electrical, a Port Elizabeth-based electrical contractor that focuses on large industrial-class installations, has slashed manual paperwork in its job costing processes and improved visibility into its business by adopting the Job-SYS job costing module for Sage Evolution.
Job-SYS is a third party solution that seamlessly integrates with Sage Pastel accounting software. Service Electrical specialises in large electrical installations, especially government tenders, and has complex job costing requirements. As Service Electrical’s business grew, it realised that it would need to automate this process to save time and get better visibility into the costs and profits of its projects.
Says the company’s Financial Director, Neil Dickson: “We need to take a range of costs – including travel, labour, materials and more – into account as we bill our clients each month for the work we complete on their behalf.
“This used to entail a lot of manual effort, including double capture of our data. As our business grew, so did the need to implement a proper job costing solution to maximise our business productivity and realise our growth potential. After discussion with our Pastel reseller, HH Advanced Solutions, we decided that Job-SYS would be a good fit for our needs.”
Job-SYS helps Service Electrical manage its resources, sub-contractors, stock and purchasing. Real-time integration with the Sage Pastel accounting system means it always has a true view of its business.
The solution is now live at Service Electrical and is already delivering significant benefits by giving the company more visibility into job costing data and streamlining the process of costing jobs. “One feature that we’re really enjoying is that we can order materials for each job right from the system,” Dickson says. “The orders are sent from Job-SYS to our suppliers in an email.” What’s more, the system has made it easier for Service Electrical to show its costing calculations to its clients and invoice them for work completed. “We can also easily see our cost exposure within each project and across all projects,” says Dickson.
The benefits of the system are likely to compound as Service Electrical becomes more used to the software and taps into more of its functionality. “We are still learning,” says Dickson. “We are excited to start using features such as automated quotations for our customers and prospects in the future.”
“Over 100 South African Job-SYS clients are currently enjoying significant improvements in their cash flow, job visibility, inventory control and cost management,” says Job-SYS’s Mike Stefanski. “One of the benefits to clients is that our software is so tightly integrated with Sage Pastel that the products work seamlessly together. There is no need to recapture data or train users in a new system.”
Mohammed Mosam, Divisional Director at Sage Pastel, says: “The growth of your small business may demand the ability to add new functionality to your current accounting system. This is why we have created a platform that allows niche providers such as Job-SYS to create specialised solutions for our customers.
“By using Sage Evolution as the core engine, you can add specialised ERP modules to cater to your industry-specific requirements. These add-on modules offer complete integration with the core accounting system, as well as a common interface and user experience.”