Overview

Manganaro is a large, diversified specialty interiors contractor operating in multiple markets. They initially approached Rhumbix to solve for the challenge of field change management and tracking the large volume of work executed on a time and material basis. Upon investigation, it was identified that the opportunities for digitization at Manganaro were potentially much greater than this one critical workflow. 

The Back Story

Manganaro relied on traditional paper-based processes for capturing field data for key workflows such as timekeeping, time and material tickets and production tracking. While T&M was the initial focus, Rhumbix quickly identified the opportunity to digitize all of these processes in a single solution. The benefits of this would be substantial: A single place for foremen to report all of their time (for both base scope and non-base scope work), and the ability to validate that work with field-reported installation progress and installed quantities. 

Time and Materials & Out-of-Scope Work

As a diverse specialty interior contractor, some Manganaro projects can have up to 50% of the contract construction labor value be executed on a T&M basis. Performing work on a T&M is usually a contractual requirement on Manganaro jobs, however tracking on paper was creating many challenges. Some of the major pain points are outlined below:

Time taken to complete and share with the home office: 

When completing paper T&M slips, a lot of time was spent transcribing the data into a digital format (usually excel) and sharing the T&M tickets with project and home-office management. 

Lack of shared awareness and insight:

T&M tended to be processed on a project by project basis, and there was not a system in place that permitted executives to understand how T&M cost, processing and recovery was impacting the enterprise. It was critical to find a solution that would provide management oversight of the whole process. 

Timely and accurate allocation of cost and revenue

Manganaro is a union contractor in most of their markets, and to ensure complete cost recovery and accurate accounting of T&M scope, T&M cost and revenue needed to be accurately calculated and reported within the ERP. This meant separate reporting to general contractors to report T&M cost for approval and change order review, approval and processing, and a separate workflow to report cost and revenue accurately within their accounting system. 

In addition to T&M, Manganaro reported challenges with both the capture of timekeeping and production tracking from the field. Timekeeping had a lot of latency, and weekly payroll was a constant struggle of information gathering, timely processing, and accurate payroll. Production tracking was accomplished via the ERP, however Manganaro was quite unique insofar as they track production at the individual level to understand how crew dynamics, experience and other factors impact production across projects. This data was used to forecast projects, incentivise performance, and identify opportunities for improvement with training and resourcing across the company. 

ERPs typically do not support tracking and reporting at this level of detail, so another requirement of the digitization initiative was to improve this key workflow and reporting. 

What was done: 

This was a complex deployment involving multiple key workflows:

1. Design mobile and web based workflows to accommodate timekeeping, time and materials management and production tracking in the mobile application. 
2. Configure the web and reporting solutions to deliver the necessary insights needed 
3. Execute integrations to bidirectionally integrate Rhumbix with Manganaro’s instance of Vista to exchange project, budget and payroll information, and to push completed timekeeping, installed quantities and time and material data back to the different modules within Vista. 
4. Implement and train all field personnel

What are some of the highlights of the current system? 

Timekeeping

Manganaro’s payroll is now fully digitized, with foremen in the field using the mobile application for daily cost coded time entry across the entire company, with ~600 workers whose time is entered daily. Payroll processing is integrated into Vista removing the need to manually upload weekly time cards prior to payroll. 

Time & Materials

T&M tickets are now created digitally in the field by Manganaro’s field leaders. Completed tickets are shared with the GC for electronic verification ensuring acknowledgement of the work performed in a timely and definitive manner. Manganaro benefits from enterprise visibility of T&M risk, status and cost across all projects in a single holistic view. 

In terms of T&M processing, Manganaro has been able to accommodate a surprising amount of reporting and processing complexity within the system. T&M costs are cost coded not only to the project cost breakdown structure and contract schedule of values, but are also distributed to the general ledger accounts for key elements like state and federal payroll taxes and union payroll reporting requirements. Prior to Rhumbix these processes were calculated for each T&M ticket in an excel workbook, and the resulting data uploaded for each transaction to the ERP. Now, excel has been removed from the processing and all of these calculations, transactions and ERP processes have been accommodated in the cloud via business logic and integrations within Rhumbix and the ERP. 

Production Tracking

Understanding work in place in a timely manner using accurate field-reported data is key to efficient and reliable labor productivity data. Manganaro saw an opportunity to enrich the improved timekeeping workflow with real-time installed quantity data to drive labor productivity metrics. 

Manganaro are also unique insofar as they track production and productivity at the individual worker level, and use this information to identify performance and planning issues, to resource load crews and projects, and to incentivize performance. ERPs track production at the cost code level, and could not deliver these same insights without much data manipulation. Rhumbix supported this advanced reporting out of the box, and enabled the data to also flow to the ERP for the more traditional job cost reporting workflows. 

What have been the results? 

Rhumbix has been a game-changer for Manganaro with its configured workflows and foremen user experience at its core. The seamless mobile connectivity between the field and office has empowered data capture, while the integrations move data rapidly and reliably between systems. Rhumbix prioritized the needs of foremen, ensuring efficient data collection and management. Through its highly configurable platform and robust API integrations, Rhumbix provided actionable insights for informed decision-making.

The integration of mobile time and materials solutions marks a significant milestone in the evolution of field change management. By embracing digitization and leveraging platforms like Rhumbix, construction companies can streamline operations, enhance productivity, and drive sustainable growth in a dynamic industry landscape.

Integration and Streamlined Operations: 

The implementation of Rhumbix at Manganaro brought about a transformative shift in T&M management. Custom Vista tables were leveraged to populate Rhumbix with project-specific rate data, enabling synchronization for pricing accuracy. API integration facilitated the seamless transfer of completed T&M data across various modules, enhancing operational efficiency and data accuracy. Additionally, Rhumbix generated professional T&M documents, simplifying processing and fostering better collaboration with general contractors.

Timekeeping, Production & T&M

• Digitized critical workflows for tracking labor consumption and performance

Workflows to Drive Accountability

• Multi-party workflow shares T&M data between all stakeholders & records approvals and document status

Data Driven

• Cloud reporting surfaces T&M status and outstanding risk

Synchronization with Vista for Pricing

• Custom Vista Tables Populate RMBX with Project-Specific Rate Data for all T&M Cost Elements 

Integrations Into Vista for Cost & Revenue

• API push of completed T&M data to multiple modules (timekeeping, production, cost, changes, revenue)

Highly Configurable

• Also generates professional formatted T&M documents to streamline processing with general contractors

Benefits and Future Outlook: 

The impact of digitization on T&M management was profound. Manganaro experienced significant time savings, with approximately $400k saved in processing per T&M ticket. Moreover, processing time improved by approximately 90%, with a notable increase in the number of tickets processed per week. These tangible outcomes underscored the effectiveness of integrated mobile solutions in driving operational excellence and fostering a culture of innovation in construction management.

About Manganaro Building Group

Manganaro Building Group is an award-winning subcontracting firm specialized in quality masonry, drywall, acoustical ceiling work, concrete and masonry restoration in commercial buildings. Our long list of completed projects includes schools, health care facilities, commercial, government, and multiple occupancy residential buildings. Our success is based on our close partnerships with our clients working together to ensure the highest quality of work, delivered on time and on budget based on more than fifty years of experience. 

Headquarters: Woburn, MA
501-1,000 employees

Specialties: Drywall, Masonry, Concrete Restoration, Masonry Restoration, Acoustical Drywall, Multi-Housing, Healthcare, Education, Specialty Subcontractor, Historic, Waterproofing, Design Build, Engineered Projects, and Municipalities. Visit website.