Housing Giants - May 9, 2008 - (Page 11)

TECH Photo: Morrison Homes Calgary, Canada-based Morrison Homes overhauled its variance purchase order process, a move that allowed employees to make the most of technology and save money. various back office systems. After the vendor came back with a price, a new purchase order was created and sent out. Some of our employees spent their days just standing by the fax machine sending out VPOs.” DITCHING PAPER Robichaud and Morrison Homes have since taken the process entirely paperless, and the data exchanges among supers, the back office and vendors are now entirely electronic, with no reentry of data — all thanks to process mapping software. The software ran around $30,000 and paid for itself with the savings it created from the VPO process alone. “It has saved us a great deal of money already,” says Robichaud. HOW IT WORKS Today, process customization can be done with a graphical drag-and-drop interface that allows company users to adjust the process or add and remove steps, such as notifications or file transfers. They can also insert authorized data directly into the firm’s back office system or the vendor’s back office system. “Now, when a super wants to create a VPO, he uses his BlackBerry (through the Canadian Telus system) and accesses a VPO form to enter a job number and a description of the work to be completed,” says Robichaud. He then picks a vendor 5.9.08.HOUSING GIANTS TOOLS TO USE Here are the software programs, hardware and online services Morrison Homes uses: Sage Timberline Estimating ■ Sage Timberline Office ■ BlackBerrys on Telus ■ BlackBerry Enterprise Server ■ BuilderMT Business Process Management ■ BuilderMT Workflow Management Suite • Scheduling • Purchasing ■ WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM 11 http://www.sagetimberlineoffice.com/software/estimating/default.aspx http://www.sagetimberlineoffice.com/ http://www.telusmobility.com/on/business_solutions/blackberry_browser.shtml http://na.blackberry.com/eng/services/server/exchange/ http://www.buildermt.com/business-process-management.html http://www.buildermt.com/wfms.html http://WWW.HOUSINGGIANTS.COM

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Housing Giants - May 9, 2008 Contents Viewpoint News and Moves Tech M & A The New Housing Demographics

Housing Giants - May 9, 2008

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