The Procore Platform’s Top 10 Product Releases to support construction’s digital transformation
The need for project teams to collaborate virtually became crucial for project success as COVID restrictions went into effect and the construction industry was recognized as an essential workforce. While project teams were in the field adding layers of on-site safety, Procore worked to find opportunities to make field-to-office communication smoother and more collaborative with the goal of keeping your project teams on track, even while remote.
COVID has accelerated the construction industry forward, making digitization necessary, while highlighting the need to connect project stakeholders onsite, offsite, across processes, and around the world on a single platform. For those already using construction technology, it has pushed adoption and expansion further, faster. For those who haven't, it's a wake-up call. For all, it's clear future success depends on more efficient processes. Construction is looking for what's next, now.
Here are the Top 10 platform enhancements over the past year to ensure project teams are connected and managing projects more efficiently than ever.
#1 Advanced Forecasting for the Budget Tool
Manage financial risk and reduce manual data entry with actionable monthly cash flow forecasts right in your Procore budget. With the new Advanced Monthly Forecasting tool, you can aggregate financial data and generate automatic monthly spend curve forecasts. Learn More
#2 Enhanced Budget Detail Reporting
Access actionable data and manage detailed financial reporting with the Budget Detail Report. You can now see all detailed financial information in a single view, group and filter based on your needs, and generate reports with detail-level information included. Learn More
#3 Real-Time Labor Costs and Unit-Based Budgets
You can now understand the financial impact of labor the moment a timesheet is submitted. Increased visibility into your most expensive resource–labor–, enables you to identify at-risk scopes of work and act fast to make decisions that positively impact schedule, project budgets, and profitability. Robert Krueger, VP of Operations at Fessler Bowman was able to increase efficiency; “We need this information in real-time in order to make important decisions around resource allocation. In today’s construction industry, manpower is the most precious resource. Tracking hours and labor costs with Procore helps us manage that resource more effectively. Across a portfolio of projects, we can aggregate productivity and cost data so we have insight into the overall efficiency of the company.” Learn More
Preconstruction teams with leading solutions win more bids. In 2020, we launched features and functionality to connect the bidding and estimating process to financials setting preconstruction teams up for success.
#4 Procore Prequalification
Reduce the time it takes to collect and evaluate a company’s capability and capacity to perform work so you can quickly identify the lowest risk partners and subcontractors. Procore Prequalification provides companies with tools to increase efficiency during the bidder evaluation process so they can maximize time and minimize risk during the critical preconstruction phase
We made it easy to create and configure your company’s default prequalification form with a robust list of questions selected by industry professionals; simplifying the collection of general information, safety, insurance and bonding, and financial data. For Amanda Finnerty, Director of Internal Operations at Commodore Builders, this meant, “Information is immediately accessible to [our] Estimating and Project teams, so they won’t waste time sending emails trying to get information, our teams have a lot on their plate and they don’t have time to jump from one software to another in order to find the information they need to get the job done.”
#5 Esticom joins Procore
Esticom helps the construction industry streamline the traditional paper and spreadsheet based process of estimation and takeoff. This acquisition adds powerful estimating functionality to the Procore Platform, enhancing Procore’s preconstruction offering by enabling greater accuracy in cost estimates, helping general contractors and specialty contractors win more bids, increasing productivity, and reducing risk throughout the lifecycle of a project. Learn More
#6 BIM - Real Time Collaboration
The most performant model viewer in the industry got even better with industry breakthroughs aimed to unlock the collective knowledge of project teams. With Follow Me, all project stakeholders can view each other’s location in the model and collaborate in 3D or 2D in real-time. And field teams can now view and add Coordination Issues directly from the model. Learn More
Documenting project information as it happens is critical to meeting scope, schedule, and budget requirements. And the ability to capture the data that you want, and finding it when you want it is vital. In 2020, we made strides to ensure project documentation was easy to use and find.
#7 Procore Correspondence Tool
Capturing communication through all phases of the construction life cycle is essential to project success. Create one hub for communication from design and construction through closeout by standardizing back and forth correspondence between stakeholders with an easy-to-manage system of record. Thanks to the power of the Procore Platform, all correspondence is fully searchable and reportable, helping you resolve disputes faster or avoid them altogether with well-documented project communications. Matthew Slaughter, Project Manager at Victory Woodworks, Inc., quickly identified the benefits of the Correspondence tool. “With Procore’s Correspondence tool, we can elevate key communications outside of email and place them in their own, more formal system of record. This enables us to get the attention and response we need when issues or delays threaten to impact the project.” Learn More
#8 Time and Materials Tickets
Document, track, and enable visibility into out-of-scope work from any mobile device ensuring project budgets stay up to date. With Procore’s simple and intuitive mobile application, field personnel can easily capture a description of extra work as well as the labor, equipment, and materials associated. It’s easy to attach photos and capture customer signatures while notifications and automatic ticket status updates keep project managers back in the office informed and ahead of risk. Sam Nutting, Project Manager at Kember Interiors Inc., found process improvements with T&M Tickets; "The T&M Ticket tool improves our process because we can see the ticket instantly and the notifications give me, as the Project Manager, and our accountants, better visibility. The convenience of not having to keep track of a paper ticket is fantastic. At times, our employees have misplaced tickets and we have experienced problems recuperating those costs. I can spend up to 70% of my time chasing down tickets. Now, it's all in Procore." Learn More
#9 Platform Enhancements: Custom & Configurable Fields, Procore Search
Customizations are now possible and searchable no matter where you are in the Procore Platform. Procore’s new Custom and Configurable Fields functionality gives users the ability to collect the data they want, where they want it; increasing accuracy and efficiency. Procore Search gives users the ability to find project information across the entire platform. Finding and collecting project data has never been easier. Learn More on Procore Search Learn More on Custom & Configurable Fields
Data is only as valuable as the solution you have to report on it. Procore now gives users the ability to more accurately track project health, making data-driven decisions that benefit their business.
#10 Procore Analytics
Procore Analytics brings all of your information together to give you the complete picture. Maximize the value of project data and gain deep insights into projects and portfolios. Procore Analytics is a turn-key solution, with over 120 out of the box Power BI reports. For Scott Polsen, Managing Director at Benmax, this meant, "Operating in multiple locations requires accurate information that can be immediately accessed. Procore Analytics is easy to use with exceptional support that provides visibility for us to analyze and validate information quickly, to allow us to make decisions faster and with more confidence.” Learn More
Bonus: Integrated Video Conferencing
Procore was the first construction technology solution to announce integrated video conferencing supporting Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and GoToMeeting. This was essential in supporting a remote workforce! From directly inside the Meetings tool project stakeholders can schedule and launch a meeting, enabling field teams to share exactly what they are seeing in the field from right inside of Procore. Learn More
This is just a glimpse of the hundreds of enhancements to the Procore Platform. This pace of innovation is unrivaled by competitors in our industry, and led to Procore winning multiple industry awards in 2020. TrustRadius named Procore the only construction technology solution to the 2020 Essential Tech Stack award. Capterra listed Procore as the #1 Construction Management Software in 2020. And the 2020 Construction Technology Report named Procore as the #1 Project Management Solution.
As the industry continues to grow and evolve, we stand alongside the construction industry and partner with you to build what’s next.