Toronto, Ontario, June 30, 2023 – CMiC recently announced a new partnership with Harris, a leader in design and engineering, construction, manufacturing, building automation, service, conveyors, and end-to-end building systems.” To support the unprecedented business growth they experienced in recent years, decision-makers at Harris developed a plan to find a robust, industry-specific solution to help them optimize key areas and processes – specifically, project forecasting, labor productivity, and change order management.
After doing their due diligence and conducting a thorough evaluation, they found the solution that would help them meet their business objectives: CMiC’s leading construction ERP.
Harris: A Leading US-Based Mechanical Contractor
Established in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1948, this organization solidified its foothold in the mechanical contracting space, boasting over “118 years of commercial, industrial, and institutional experience.” Today, it employs over 2,000 professionals and has 15 offices across the US. Their breadth from a project size perspective is vast, ranging from a few thousand to hundreds of millions. With a high growth track record, they have shown no signs of slowing down.
Key Challenges: Outdated and Non-Integrated Systems No Longer Supporting their Pace of Growth
Despite the changes in the business landscape over the years, Harris not only went through accelerated business expansion but also took on projects with increasing complexities. Understanding that they needed to revisit existing processes, tools, and teams their leaders realized that it was time for a change. The ERP solution they implemented over 20 years ago was no longer able to support their business expansion. According to David Barnes, Chief Financial Officer – Harris, one of his key responsibilities was to get their business “processes, people, technology … and infrastructure in place to support the growing pace of business.”
Equally as important, they wanted a tool that was designed to fully integrate with all other systems — after all, “what you’re doing in operations and forecasting for your projects are the basis for all of your financials,” says Barnes.
Keeping an eye on this long-term vision, the decision makers kickstarted their journey of finding a new ERP designed for construction firms.
The End Goal: A Robust ERP to Help Drive Scalability and Help Manage Self-Performing Contractors
With the mission of trying to manage and drive scalability, all while maintaining headcount, their leaders consolidated their list of business needs and technical requirements.
In terms of business needs, they prioritized automation, robust forecasting, and KPI measurement capabilities, advanced change order management features, advanced analytics (to transform data into actionable insights), and better visibility into labor productivity. As subcontractors, managing and optimizing productivity was critical to long-term profitability. Asserts Barnes, “The game changer … is having better visibility on a project to labor productivity … speaking not only as a subcontractor but also being in the mechanical business.”
From a technology infrastructure perspective, they opted for the private cloud option, one of CMiC’s key deployment offerings. This catered to their key business needs, including 24-7 accessibility across all devices.
With a new system in place, Barnes and his team were confident that this would lead to better margins and ROI, a win-win for all parties.
The Software Evaluation Journey: Homing in on CMiC’s Robust Construction-Specific Capabilities
Casting a wide net, their initial search also included generic software providers, which they soon came to find out, lacked project-based capabilities. Realizing that they need an industry-specific solution, they shortlisted key players in the market, including the likes of Penta and Microsoft Dynamics. What really came to light was to find a partner who has a solid understanding of the construction industry.
Enter CMiC.
With almost 50 years of experience in construction software, CMiC is a leader in delivering complete and unified ERP and Project Management software solutions for construction and capital projects firms. CMiC’s advanced software has a proven track record in transforming how firms optimize productivity, minimize risk, and drive growth by planning and managing all financials, projects, resources, and content assets —all from a Single Database Platform™.
To align its tech stack with its long-term goals, Harris selected the following CMiC applications:
Key Applications within CMiC Financials: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Job Costing, Job Billing, Purchase Order Management, and Equipment and Inventory Management. These are designed to help optimize revenue, cost, and financial management practices and provide robust financial reporting.
Key Applications within CMiC Project Management: Change Order Management and Subcontractor Management. These have been proven to drive integrated project delivery, mitigate risk and help manage project schedules by addressing cost and schedule overruns.
With a breadth of applications on their implementation roadmap, they were preparing to gain a competitive advantage and take their business to the next level.
Demonstrating Customer Success Early On: CMiC’s Leadership Team Rises to the Occasion to Accelerate Implementation Timelines
Originally, Harris was slated to go live on July 1st. However, in early March they were notified that their current ERP provider was moving up the sunset of the system. Obviously, this caused concern amongst their leadership, Michel Michno, Chief Executive Officer at Harris, contacted Gord Rawlins, the President and CEO of CMiC, who then engaged a super team to support Harris for the entire month of March, including designating an on-site programmer. With a solid plan in motion to accelerate the integration timeframe by 3 months, Harris was able to successfully go live in April.
As summed by Barnes, the “all hands on deck situation … was truly confirmation that we had the right partner. It has been a huge success story.”
About Harris
Harris is a leading national mechanical contractor specializing in design and engineering, construction, controls, service, manufacturing, conveyors and end-to-end building systems. Customers who partner with Harris benefit from our national reach, regional offices, local expertise and more than 70 years of experience. From stadiums to manufacturing facilities, power plant to hospitals, concert halls to classrooms, Harris handles projects of all sizes and scope across the country. Founded in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1948, Harris has grown to become one of the largest mechanical contractors in the United States with over 2,000 employees in 15 locations throughout the country.
For more information about Harris, please click here.
About CMiC
As an industry pioneer, CMiC delivers complete and unified ERP and Field solutions for construction and capital projects firms. CMiC’s powerful software transforms how firms optimize productivity, minimize risk and drive growth by planning and managing all financials, projects, resources, and content assets—from a Single Database Platform™. With customers throughout North America, CMiC serves one-quarter of ENR’s Top 200 Contractors and hundreds of small and mid-sized construction firms, from general and specialty contractors to heavy/highway and project owners.
For more information about CMiC and its industry-leading solutions, please visit www.cmicglobal.com.
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