O’Neill Mechanical & Electrical Services Ltd:
- Real-time tracking of project costs
- Labour tracking saved significant time & effort
- Streamlined invoice processing
Watch: Video Testimonial
About O’Neill Mechanical & Electrical Services Ltd
O’Neill Mechanical and Electrical Services are based in Drumore, County Tyrone and provide the electrical and mechanical services for the commercial and industrial sectors throughout Ireland and the UK.
Visit www.oneillmes.com
Challenges
What problems were you trying to solve before LiveCosts?
So, our main problem was that we were massively paper-based and all our purchase orders were handwritten into books and emailed over to each supplier and the goods would then be delivered to site and we wouldn’t know in the office what exactly was delivered until the delivery dockets came back at the weekend. So, we were relying on the foremen a lot to make sure that all the dockets were sent up and there was none mislaid or else there would be a lot of phone calls being made back and forth each day to try and keep track of what went to site and what didn’t and that ate up precious time on both sides of everything. Also, we needed to submit valuations for our clients each month and trying to get accurate information and figures for those was a nightmare because it was a case of manually totalling up each purchase order on a weekly basis and even then it wasn’t totally accurate because some materials might not have even been delivered that month.
How were those problems affecting your job?
Because everything was so manual the paperwork that built up each month was crazy and we had no real proper system in place then to store all the paperwork together like purchase orders and delivery dockets would be here and invoices would be here and there was no link between the two and obviously the accuracy and speed of the information coming through for our monthly valuations had a major effect if something happened to be missed or not added in in time which in turn then could lead to incorrect amounts or guesstimates being submitted like each month.
What reservations did you have using LiveCosts?
Well, it’s going to be daunting bringing any new system into the workplace, especially a fully computerised one. We had to think about like how much training would be needed for it, would it add more work for the employees instead of helping them, would our employees be able to handle it and then relying on all the employees to fully commit to using it properly. For example, like making sure the dockets were uploaded each day from site to keep everything live and up to date and then not to mention the financial aspects of implementing a complete new computerised system. You know would it be worth it in the long run, would it grow with us over the years.
Results
What are the main benefits of using LiveCosts for your business?
The most beneficial aspect of LiveCosts has to be the cost and reports for each project and the live profit margins. They’re being shown right there on the home page once you log in so it’s easy and clear to see all the real-time information with the reports just being pulled up within minutes and because we were processing our supplier invoices a month after they were issued there was always that delay of information for the cost inside of things whereas now with LiveCosts everything is processed on a daily basis so there’s no more delay and all the information is in real time which is really good. And secondly, the tracking of purchase orders is so beneficial since it shows us exactly what has been delivered and when and our foremen can mark off the deliveries on their mobile app and it’s on our screens instantly. Also, the delivery docket then can be uploaded by taking a picture so there’s full transparency with it. Major bonus is my desk is finally nice and tidy with no paperwork lying around.
The most beneficial feature LiveCosts offered to you?
And for me it’s definitely the processing of the invoices it’s so much smoother now since I just drop the invoices over to the LiveCosts inbox and the system then automatically reads the information for me so I just have to quickly scan my eye over the details and approve them and then the system will flag up any mismatches of price or like a non-delivery and then at the end of each month I can just upload a batch of invoices over to our Sage accounting system with the click of a button like it’s so handy. Another great feature would be the labour tracking feature. Our foremen can upload all employee hours daily or weekly using the mobile app and you can set permissions for each user on the app so that you can decide what each user has access of viewing so privacy of information as well is maintained there. And the mobile app’s really simple and straightforward to use also which is great for our foremen out on site.
How much time has LiveCosts saved your company?
Since we were doing everything manually like from writing out a purchase order, emailing it over, waiting on delivery dockets to come in and then matching up all the supplier invoices with the purchase orders to make sure everything was charged correctly and it was such a labour intensive exercise with like multiple people involved from start to finish. Whereas now with the LiveCosts the information’s all there like a few clicks of the mouse and it takes two or three people to complete it.
What is the most measurable benefit?
Definitely, the accurate and the real-time information for our monthly valuations has been a game changer for us. There’s no guesstimating anymore and we can submit accurate valuations each month helping our cash flow immensely like since we can predict every month what’s coming in because we know the valuations are correct and also I’d say the customer catalogue has been brilliant since we have up-to-date customer prices and don’t have to double check to make sure that we’re not being overcharged for materials and it just makes producing the purchase orders so much easier as well since the information it’s all there already. You just have to pull it across into the purchase order so really handy.
Share your experience of integrating LiveCosts with sage 50.
Once you set up your profile on LiveCosts and put in all the cost codes and your tax codes and make sure that the supplier codes all match what’s in Sage already once you do that it’s pretty much a simple few clicks to transfer all the data over and I would just filter my invoices for that particular month and export them to an excel spreadsheet then import that data onto Sage and then you can bookmark all the invoices on LiveCosts so that you know what’s been sent and what hasn’t been sent it’s really really cool feature.
“The most beneficial aspect of LiveCosts is the cost and reports for each project and the live profit margins. They’re being shown right there on the home page once you log in so it’s easy and clear to see all the real-time information with our reports being pulled up within minutes.”
Advice
Your advice for people who are considering using livecosts?
We would definitely recommend going with LiveCosts if you’re considering it at all like it is so streamlined to use from start to finish. The training provided when you join is phenomenal. Like we had so many zoom calls with Niall and Patrick teaching us everything we needed to know and no question was too silly. The support feature on the app as well is really handy if you’ve ever got a query they reply to it within minutes and there’s also loads of wee handy help videos on each page if you’re ever stuck with anything you just click the wee help button. It’s been a system that just makes our day-to-day working so easy now and it will save so much time in the long run.
“It’s been a system that just makes our day-to-day working so easy now and it will save so much time in the long run.”