Construction & Engineering

Unlock Process Innovations & Cost Reductions
with the ETCETERA® Platform

NAVIGATE FUTURE BUSINESS OPERATIONS WITH ADVANCED DIGITAL SOLUTIONS.

The ETCETERA® Platform facilitates rapid internal development of solutions designed to streamline processes, increase efficiencies and ensure regulatory compliance across the enterprise.

Facilitate: Make (Something) Easier, Help Bring (Something) About

ETCETERA® is the platform for configuring solutions tailored to your project management, operational workflow and administrative workflow requirements that replace enterprise system customizations, legacy applications, technology silos, software subscriptions, orphaned systems and paper-based processes. Construction and Engineering businesses accomplish more with ETCETERA®, the flexible no-code/low-code platform that adapts to your unique requirements, compliments your enterprise applications and serves as the platform for simplifying, integrating and optimizing your business processes and data requirements

ETCETERA® Enterprise Content Management (ECM)

Etcetera Vendor Invoice Processing

ETCETERA® ECM is your browser-based document and file management system for nearly any department and any purpose. It provides for storing and accessing over 100 file types through a Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) viewer supporting HTML5 and access on mobile devices. Documents include everything from receipts to E-size drawings, DWG files and reports from host systems. Zoom capabilities make viewing easy, even on small devices in the field. ECM is used to enable other applications and business processes with content and supporting documents.

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ETCETERA® Enterprise Process Management (EPM)

Etcetera Expense Management

ETCETERA® EPM is the browser-based platform used to design, develop and implement online work processes for nearly any business process that include automated processes, comprehensive online user interfaces, data capture and validation, content capture, work routing and validation, rules-based workflows and offline to online work process synchronizations. With EPM, organizations manage the quantity, quality and velocity of applications deployed while minimizing the need for other software products and avoiding the costs of multiple systems.

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Examples of Optimized Processes

The ETCETERA® Platform can enhance operational efficiency and project management. By integrating the ETCETERA® ECM and EPM modules, construction organizations can streamline processes in nearly any area of their enterprise. The platform’s flexibility allows it to adapt to various departmental needs, ensuring that data is consistently managed and accessible. This comprehensive approach improves collaboration among teams, reduces administrative burdens, offers just one platform to learn for dozens or hundreds of applications and enhances overall project delivery, ultimately leading to better outcomes and operational excellence. See further information on some of these area uses by clicking the toggles below.

There are many parts to Project Management. One requirement is the organization of all subordinate activities in the project. ETCETERA® ECM organize each element of the project into tabs of related documents, from acquisition if applicable, to engineering/design, permits, solicitations for bids (RFP), purchase orders, delivery receipts, vendor invoices, labor, engineering drawings, as builts, sales related activities, billings to customers, and more. ECM is one place for all information pertaining to each project, with the unbelievable ability to search for items across projects (like all work contracted to a vendor, all Project Management time of a PM overseeing multiple projects, purchases of a particular product and more). ETCETERA® EPM allows for the management of project processes and the tracking of all in-process activities. This can include engineering changes with review and approvals by all required parties. EPM can provide for automatic spawning of Application User Interfaces (AUIs) to track all in-process permits and can place permitting activity into different work queues. All labor is tracked against the project with details to support cross billings to customers, if applicable. What process do you need tracked? What data is required? Use EPM as the single platform for tracking all project activities.

Authorizing purchases and providing an opportunity to determine the best quality and price is important to any business. The ETCETERA® EPM platform is used for Purchase Requisitions/Requests and approved requests can automatically create an ANSI X12 purchase standard data file for vendors, or alternatively a purchase order that is either digital and delivered by email or delivered by another method or printed. If for construction processes, the Purchase Order Request and Resulting Purchase Order can include individual detail lines with applicable Project/Phase/Task (or your version of project accounting) accounting codes. Purchase Orders can also be published on a Vendor Portal using ETCETERA®. A Purchase Order request can include sections for evaluating multiple vendors before the preferred vendor is selected and the purchase order rendered.

Manage all the data, documents, files and processes applicable to the Employee Lifecycle and to other HRM requirements. From onboarding and offboarding, to training, employee development plans, performance reviews, time & attendance, applicant tracking, incident/accident reports, disciplinary management, worker’s compensation and more are managed in a digitized form. Other common uses include HR surveys, salary change requests, awards & recognitions and tuition reimbursement.

Automating vendor invoice coding and approval is SOP but expand your concept of A/P to include a vendor portal with vendors submitting and “coding” their invoices, relieving A/P of that function, time & attendance, journal voucher review and approval workflow prior to postings, cross billings to customers managed with automated accumulation and generation of digitized supporting documents, capital budget planning and capital purchase reviews and approvals prior to review by capital committee and more. Use ETCETERA® to increase the velocity of throughput of vendor invoices and cross billings to customers resulting in better cash flow, thereby reducing use of funds or requirements for business financing. Manage W-9s and W-8s, fixed asset tracking and management, treasury functions, employee expenses, requests for travel, and more, etc.

Become an integrated part of employee onboarding and offboarding while also using the ETCETERA® platform for IT Training programs, IT Capital Requests, Work Order Management, Help Desk, Project Tracking and more.

Initiate a project with an understanding of permits required with an assignment of permitting requirements into individual or group work queues, with tracking of status of permits and linking of permit documents to projects as received. Let the system track the status of permits providing a comprehensive view of all pending work at all times.

Why do you think we named our platform “ETCETERA”?!?! Your organization can develop document management and process management solutions with velocity. No more waiting for vendors nor for capital expenditure or operating expense approvals. Just new solutions when you need them to help drive business performance. Contact one of our representatives today and start experiencing the ETCETERA® difference!

Software – Licensing (own) vs Subscriptions (rent)

There are significant differences in the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) between a software license and software subscription and the differences are similar to any other own vs rent scenario. Software licensing often involves an upfront purchase fee which can make the lure of the low entry cost of software subscriptions appealing. Each has its implementation costs if providing solutions unique to the customer, while generic process subscriptions level the playing field removing competitive advantage for those businesses seeking to benefit from their innovation and talented employees.

Subscriptions also come with price accelerators that usually start after years one to three, just like rent. Experiencing a 10% increase in cost year over year for the same subscription will typically double its cost in just 8 years outpacing the business’s margins produced and value received from the subscription. Subscriptions will typically negatively impact business performance in multiple ways, and the escalating cost is just one of those ways.

ScerIS’ banking partner finances ETCETERA® software costs at between 0.00% and 3.99%, offering our customers a monthly cost comparable to subscriptions. Whether using this financing or not, customers achieve a significantly better TCO with an ownership approach rather than with a subscription approach. Better yet, unlike customization services provided in subscriptions, either with the software provider or third parties, ETCETERA® implementation services can be included in the financing package, eliminating upfront costs in favor of a simple monthly cost spanning three to five years.

While the first three to five years of monthly prices may be similar to a subscription, after acquisition of the software license is completed, the ongoing fees drop to software maintenance, which tends to run about 60% to 70% below subscription prices, more when considering the escalations in software subscription prices. If TCO matters to you, you really want to be an owner and not a tenant.

Licensing – Concurrent User vs Other

ScerIS licenses its applications based on “Concurrent Users”.  Why, because only the number of users that need access at precisely the same time drives use.  Software products and subscriptions that charge for “Named Users” are charging for the availability of access rather than actual use.

Think about a subscription to a hosted application.  Does the application server, database server, domain controllers, firewall, network switch or any of the other infrastructure needed to support use actually get used when the user is not logged into the hosted application? Of course not – so why are you paying for software subscriptions and access for named users for part time, once in a while, access?

Likewise, when a user has access to multiple subscriptions but can really only do one thing at a time, does it make sense to have all these subscriptions if the same can be accommodated with one platform?

When you think about it, it just doesn’t make sense, does it?

Featured Success Story

Case Study: TRC Companies, Inc.

Challenge: TRC faced delays and inefficiencies in managing their A/P invoice processing, affecting cash flow, flow-through billings to customers, forecasting, and compliance. This plus handling their Concur activities and online purchases provided an opportunity for significant process improvements and optimizations.

Solution: ScerIS implemented ETCETERA® ECM and EPM to automate A/P invoice processing, improve financial controls, and streamline workflows.  Additionally, ScerIS manages all Concur expenses, produces data files for vendor invoices and Concur transactions for TRC’s ERP, evaluates sales taxes charged by vendors to determine if use tax obligations are applicable, manages vendor invoice retainage and repackages all vendor invoices and expense images for rebilling to customers.

Results:

  • First-year cost savings in excess of $1,000,000 (initial project delivered over $4,000 per Project Manager in savings per year).
  • Improved cash flow and compliance.
  • Faster invoice processing and reduced manual errors.
  • Enhanced vendor relationships and negotiation capabilities.
  • Faster bill-throughs to customers resulted in improved cashflow
  • Faster customer payments produced faster vendor payments (Pay When Paid terms).
  • Reduction of financing and interest expenses.

Testimonial: “We needed a way to gain control of invoice processing that would reduce our costs, improve our processes and allow our people to perform their responsibilities without unnecessary interference. That has been accomplished with ScerIS.” – Accounts Payable Manager, TRC Companies, Inc.

Download the TRC Case Study

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