Marathon Realty, Mumbai, has been using Newton Software’s BOQ estimation tools for accurately and quickly calculating the quantity of steel, concrete and other materials required for buildings and other structures, and developing the Bar Bending Schedule. “With Newton’s estimation module, the steel wastage for projects is usually cut down to 1-2 per cent from the 5 per cent that typically happens by manual estimation, representing a significant saving,” says Priya Nevagi, Executive Director, Newton Software. Mansi Construction, Mumbai, a road contracting company, wanted a solution to minimise pilferages during the transfer of excavated material to dumping grounds. With SuperWise, the details of each dumping truck arriving at the site are captured in realtime and a challan is issued to the transporter to ensure information isn’t misreported or manipulated. While implementing a road project worth Rs 10 crore, Mansi Construction achieved savings of Rs 100,000 lakh per month during the excavation phase.  Best practices to make your IT investment count One of Nissi Infotech’s biggest customers with a 3,000-strong workforce is using its end-to-end solution Infraconsoft to manage work on 22 sites, including the Chennai airport.When installing a solution at multiple construction locations, an important aspect to consider is that the “software should be easily and speedily replicable at every new site,” suggests Wilson Manuel, Managing Director, Nissi Infotech. Buying a construction industry-specific solution can help speed up deployment by cutting out the time (cost and effort) spent on software customisation, something Capacit’e considered while selecting BuildSmart, a web-based cost control solution from Construction Computer Software, according to Alex Mathew, Director, Sales & Marketing (India), Construction Computer Software. Capacit’e Infraprojects implemented BuildSmart at more than 30 sites and three offices in less than six months, with just one person each in IT, accounts and stores driving the process under the executive director. One must ensure the solution will not require more manpower. “After implementing BuildSmart, Capacit’e was able to reduce the head count in purchase, accounts and stores,” says Mathew. After installing the most essential modules, think bigger to improve your gains. “Payroll, inventory and integration with accounts are the most popular modules deployed but some companies are climbing the utilisation curve by deploying pre-project management modules to prepare tenders and post-project management modules to control the utilisation of key inputs,” says Manuel. Marathon Realty, Bakeri Group, Rohan Builders and Kolte-Patil are using Newton Software’s estimation module while Siddhashila Group, Maruti Group, AR Constructions and others are using Newton’s Simplify ERP modules facilitating rate analysis and cost estimation, onlineconstruction site management, sales management, etc. Sometime after Capacit’e installed BuildSmart, it implemented Candy to exercise real-time budget control in the procurement of goods and services and to compare budgets with the actual profitability and cash flow. - CHARU BAHRI