Company Overview
The company provides a range of fire protection solutions and services to the Western Australian and Victorian Markets and employs over 350+ staff.
Odoo
I&A developed a mobile application as a customisation to the Odoo system, enabling each employee/subcontractor to input their work hours through their mobile phones. The app links to Projects and Payroll. The solution includes:
- The ability to input hours by building floor and individual tasks within each project.
- Approval steps for Site Supervisors to confirm entries and
- The centralisation and processing of timesheet information by individual employees/subcontractors
UiPath
The entire process described below was automated with the Admin Assist RPA Service. A summary of the steps processed by our bots is outlined below:
- The Excel based tender register is updated with the details contained on the email invitation received from the EstimateOne portal.
- A folder within the public fileshare is created as specified to save the original email and the associated tender documents.
- The “Invitation Status” on the portal is updated to “Quoting”.
- The assigned tender number is Hyperlinked in the Excel Tender Register to the applicable folder in the Public Fileshare.
- The “Tender Administrator” is sent an email outlining the tender details and a table requiring updating for implicated Firesafe Business Units, their assigned roles in the tender response e.g., “Lead”, “Support” and the assigned Estimator from each business unit.
- Once completed, the “Tender Administrator” sends the email with the updated information back to a designated mailbox for the bot to access and continue processing.
- The bot updates the Excel based tender register with the additional information provided by the “Tender Administrator” in the email.
- The bot creates the opportunity incorporating all the relevant information from the Tender Register in the Project Management System in the name of the business unit lead and then creates additional tiles for the supporting business units involved in the process.
Challenges & Business Objectives
Timesheet Automation
Collection of hours worked from multiple sites
Firesafe relied on manual methods to collect the hours worked by both employees and subcontractors at each site. Typically, on-site supervisors were tasked with gathering individual hours, which were then communicated to headquarters via phone or fax. HQ would then compile these hours for the purpose of individual payments.
Tender and Project Setup Automation
Firesafe are invited via email to participate in providing pricing for a Tender to undertake specified works on projects by Prime Contractors who are bidding for the entire project. A significant proportion of these tenders are advertised a construction specific Tender portal, the main one applicable to Firesafe being the EstimateOne portal. On some occasions, Firesafe may be invited to bid on a project by more than one Prime Contractor. The processing of these invitations to tender was an entirely manual process where designated staff were notified via email that Firesafe had been invited to participate on a particular tender. This would trigger a need for the staff member to access the online tender portal several times a day and download the relevant information. With the information that was downloaded from these portals they would undertake the following:
- Setup up any new projects downloaded by adding them to their internal project management systems and saving the downloaded information into their document management system.
- Assign the project and send emails to relevant personnel within the company alerting them to the new project and request they take necessary actions.
- Add addendums to existing projects to the project setup in their internal project management system, save the documentation in their document management system and alert relevant personnel via email.
Solution Benefits
This not only simplified time entry but also enhanced data capture at a more detailed level. Individuals were now required to specify the time spent on each project, floor within the construction project, and the specific task undertaken. This solution significantly streamlined the client’s payroll process and introduced a level of analysis that was previously unavailable. Managers could now track project progress and identify cost overruns more accurately and promptly, allowing for quicker corrective actions than before.
Reduced Administration: With a centralised solution, the time spent on chasing payroll-related information has substantially decreased. This has led to a reduction in associated risks, and overall staff productivity has increased.
Benefits:
- Reduced risk through better human resource management
- mproved, timely, and less manual reporting
- Enhanced visibility over staff activities
- Lower administrative costs
- Greater flexibility in deploying resources where needed
- Lower administrative costs
- Greater ability to deploy resources where required
Significant time and cost savings were achieved by automating this process using Robotics Process Automation freeing up valuable human resource to undertake higher yielding activities on behalf of the organisation.