Acto software

Acto's defining characteristic is that it offers an information system based on your entire business process, from acquisition up to and including service and maintenance. The software is finely tuned to the practice of project-oriented companies in the mechanical and electrical engineering branches. For example, the costing program for electrical installation contractors considers whether cables are installed along walls, under floors or in cable channels along the ceiling when calculating the cost of cabling. Details such as this are certainly appreciated. In this way, Acto offers attractive alternatives not only to inadequate standard packages but also to uncertain, time-consuming custom solutions. The "tuition fees" incurred for developing our products have already been paid. Experience is built-in. People who work with Acto recognize that immediately. Some departments may find that they need to adopt a more flexible attitude with respect to old habits and routines when they start to work with a modern information system such as Acto's. Efficiency, after all, has everything to do with working methods. Acto will meet your people halfway when it comes to their personal working style, but an inefficient procedure will, of course, remain inefficient, even if you are using a PC. Many businesses which appear to be doing well recognize that their project preparation and organization procedures need to be improved. But their workload is too heavy and their returns are continuously under pressure. They often lack not only the time but also the willingness to look critically at their working methods. And that is precisely the point at which automation gets bogged down.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RECORDING RESULTS AND GENERATING RESULTS
No doubt you've already put financial-administrative software to work for you. These days bookkeeping packages are common enough. Our software, however, not only gives you information on efficiency-monitoring tasks, but also on efficiency-defining tasks. That means that in the new situation, you not only monitor and "make discoveries" after the fact, but that you have Acto's support in planning, organizing and in logistics, actively helping you to generate better results. The applicability of these techniques is still a subject of debate on many different fronts; at Acto, however, these techniques are operational -- and tried-and-tested in the field.

Too few companies realize that project efficiency can only be maximized if care is taken in the acquisition, planning and job preparation phases. Anything you neglect in these phases can never be recovered later, no matter how hard your technicians work.

Change supported by the organization
Acto is not a software company out to sweep away existing structures in one fell swoop. We want improvement, introduced gradually. Our strategy is based on our years of automation experience among electrical and mechanical installation contractors. Change can only be successful if supported by the entire organization. Quality-awareness and quality efforts must come from within. That is one of the reasons why we never view automation in isolation. Automation is not a one-way street; it is a process of give-and-take, one that requires dialogue. Without close cooperation, we can achieve nothing. We take into account your company's culture and everyday practice. We have deliberately written our system in a hardware-independent fourth-generation language, ensuring that the software can always be adapted to company-specific situations. Thanks to the modular structure, the introduction and augmentation can take place in stages, in line with your priorities. We ensure that the consequences of each step are entirely clear.

Acto at work
Acto supervises the introduction according to a clear plan of approach which encompasses the entire spectrum -- from the initial decision-making stage, which puts down the basis for the success of the operation, up to and including training and the final transition to the new system. But Acto doesn't simply bow out at that point. Even after your new information system has become operational, you can count on Acto support twenty-four hours a day.

Right from the start, Acto gives you the opportunity to judge for yourself just how effective the programs are. Our workshops are set up to allow users to look critically at software functionality, and under no obligation. Participants have the chance to see for themselves, in the simplest way, how Acto can solve problems in his or her line of work. The many conspicuous advantages go to convince them and their colleagues. They come away being able to work more effectively with the information made available to them. Communication becomes more specific and quicker. Any initial wariness is soon replaced by appreciation, taking the first step on the road to further efficiency improvements in your organization with the assistance of automation.


THE CORE PROCESSES

Logistics: your most powerful weapon
In its automation projects, Acto focuses mainly on the project stages that actually define efficiency, for example project preparation and logistics. That frequently means adopting a fresh perspective: in the beginning, automation was limited to bookkeeping. Initially computers were used only to make financial administration easier. Later it became possible to monitor efficiency, after the fact, by checking paid invoices and time sheets in order to assess where the project had failed or succeeded. Acto turns the spotlight on the logistical process and helps you explore how the various links in the chain of project preparation and project organization can be reinforced. We do this because we have observed that those who prepare projects carefully have already ensured half their returns. Joint optimization of what is called the 'total supply chain' in industry is advantageous for all the various parties involved in a project: it gives the company as a whole (i.e. management) a trump card in its struggle to achieve cost leadership. The solution must not be sought in working harder than ever, but in using information quickly and efficiently.

Logistics is no more and no less than process control. In the art of war, logistics means all the preparations and activities required to furnish an army (on the move) with food and ammunition in the most efficient way. In order to find out which movements of goods and flows of information might be managed more efficiently in your company, you need an outline of all the processes that contribute to a project. This outline is what we hope to give you in this booklet.


Acto distinguishes the following core processes:

Efficiency-defining:

1. Acquisition and costing
2. Project preparation and logistics
3. Project installation
4. Service, maintenance and technical management

Efficiency-monitoring:

V Administrative reporting and project monitoring

Acto's information system is based on an extensive inventory and analysis of the information requirements within these five operational processes. There are compatible software building blocks (modules) available for each process which support specific functions and activities. The system forces the user to document and transfer information, so that the success of the project depends less on individual improvisational abilities. The frequently-heard argument that improvising costs less than organizing 'because no two projects are alike anyway' doesn't hold water. Modern information technology, however, distinguishes itself by making changing circumstances manageable. Troubleshooting should be more of an exception than a rule. The effect of everyone's combined efforts is greatly increased in this way, and the simplicity, logic and user-friendliness of the system will quickly win everyone's sympathy.


I. Acquisition and costing
Every day you uncover new evidence that competition is growing ever-fiercer. The advantage goes to those who can get a commercially responsible quotation out the door before anyone else and with the least amount of effort. Commercially responsible because the maximum efficiency your company can hope to achieve is already defined in the project acquisition and project costing phase.

Specific acquisition planning, systematic account management and an understanding of how your order book is put together will increase your opportunities. In addition, you can make an important contribution to the continuity and stability of your organization if you take (long-term) overstaffing and understaffing into account in your Engineering and Installation departments. Company representatives who succeed in coming to specific terms with principals about the length of the approval procedure not only do their Job Preparation department a good turn, but can also offer a more competitive selling price in return for the assurances they have received. They naturally have to be able to distinguish clearly between the actual cost components in their calculations and the market price.

Effective communication and coordination between the various departments, and between the company representatives -- especially if they work at different locations -- is an absolute prerequisite for efficient operations. It will be clear that nowadays, exchanging all those essential figures and data requires a quick, reliable information system.

For its Acquisition and Costing core process, Acto has developed four 'modules':
I.1   Acquisition Information System (ACTO-AIS)
I.2   Material Base File (ACTO-MBB)
I.3   Costing System (ACTO-CALC)
I.4   Key Figures Monitoring System (ACTO-KEN)

The advantages of having a comprehensive information system are evident: winning new accounts has everything to do with costing, and costing, in turn, has everything to do with the price of materials and assembly standards. The material base file, however, also plays an important role in the ensuing operational processes -- think, for example, of job preparation and purchasing. It therefore makes sense to recognize cross-connections. By making it possible to select, copy, and change quotation entries at a later stage, Acto can save you a lot of double work.

Information modules

I.1 Acquisition Information System (Acquisitie Informatie Systeem, ACTO-AIS)
ACTO-AIS is a standard software package that encourages specific acquisition planning and systematic account management. It offers the following options, among others:

• One-time, central registration of account and project data
• Timetables for systematic account management per company representative.
• Timetables for systematic project acquisition per company representative.
• Outlines of potential projects and project quotes, organized by scale, duration and probability estimates
• Information on how Engineering and Installation do their planning by looking at historical figures per project category
• Efficient mailing programs and management of complimentary business gifts.

I.2 Basic Material File (Materiaal Basis Bestand, ACTO-MBB)
Acto MBB is a standard software package that places all the relevant material and supplier information within reach. It offers the following options, among others:

• Centrally-controlled data management, both for costing purposes as well as for job preparation and purchasing
• Full display of purchase prices, discounts and preferred suppliers, all in a single system
• Capable of reading price disks with supplier data furnished by external parties; in the foreseeable future this will be done using EDI via the Instalnet and ETIM foundations
• Full standards control: Gustav Ende, Uneto and customer-specific standards
• Search structures allowing you to search on name, brand, STABU code, technical features: supplier's illustration numbers, type codes and item codes
• Aids such as costing dummies, material parts lists and definition of checklists.

I.3 The Costing System (Calculatiesysteem, ACTO-CALC)
ACTO-CALC is a standard software package which allows you to draw up structured calculations and budgets without delay. It offers the following options, among others:

• Clearly distinguishes between the actual cost and the minimum selling price: you will immediately see the impact on your materials prices, rates and adjustment factors
• Has multiple input methods (levels of expertise): through standard budgets, materials codes and search names (type or illustration numbers), STABU codes, supplier's item code and through material features from the basic material file.
• Structures the project by dividing it into quotation items made up of combinations of construction components and system components (details filled in at your discretion)
• Allows you to fill in the composition of new quotations at your discretion (alternative quotations can be quickly drawn up by combining quotation entries)
• Adjusts the standard assembly norm per quotation entry (depending on environmental factors, the nature of the project, the construction team, etc.)
• Lets you choose between nine different descriptions per material code, in various languages
• Produces a mandatory checklist for other project costs
• Gives you quotation summaries specifying standards, additional charges and rates.

I.4 Key Figures Monitoring System (Kengetalcontrolesysteem, ACTO-KEN)
ACTO-KEN, a standard software package linked to ACTO-CALC, makes it possible to monitor the accuracy of the cost and sale price. It offers the following options, among others:

• Monitors key figures by type of installation, system and building (based on similar projects)
• Tests the cost price against internal standards
• Compares the sales price with key market figures.

II Project preparation and logistics
Those who prepare projects carefully have already ensured half their returns. The acquisition and costing stage (I) defines the maximum potential efficiency that can be achieved. Higher levels of efficiency are simply not possible.

The project preparation and logistics core process determines how high the actual feasible efficiency will be. The main point in this stage is to anticipate possible twists and turns in the project. The road ahead should be mapped out to such an extent that all activities in the installation stage will run absolutely smoothly. That means controlling circumstances as tightly as possible; very little, if anything, must be left to chance.

The top priority in this connection is the drawings planning. The approval procedures (ideally agreed during the acquisition stage) must be monitored closely. That's because project managers often have a hard time getting a grip on the approval procedure. Timely approval of information is a prerequisite for delivering quality at a reasonable level of efficiency. But how do you know where a drawing is at any given time and which stages of the approval process it has or has not passed? How do you prevent the consultants, the utilities company, municipal works or one of the many other parties involved from blocking progress unnecessarily?

If your aim is efficient installation, then you must set out in your plans precisely when (which week) and where (which construction level) specific activities are to be carried out. To ensure that the necessary materials are on site precisely when they are needed, the orders must be placed well in advance, depending on the delivery time and the distribution route. You also need to know how the Installation department is planning to deal with capacity: are there enough employees available during a certain period? The same goes for reserving tools and equipment. Everyone involved, from technician to supplier, should know when they are expected to act. If you decide to organize the project in a similarly professional fashion, every link in the chain must be fully informed, i.e.: receive as much information as they need to perform the job at hand. Not too much and not too little. And you won't get there by 'making a few phone calls'.

Acto has developed six modules for the Project Preparation and Logistics core process:
II.1   Information and Drawings Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*I)
II.2   Installation Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*U)
II.3   Installation Specification System (ACTO-UVS)
II.4   Project Purchasing System (ACTO-INKOOP)
II.5  Tools and Equipment Management System (ACTO-MAT)
II.6   Prefabrication Planning System (ACTO-PREFAB)

The added value of having a comprehensive system is evident here as well: clearly, the basic material file (MBB) and the costing system (CALC) from core process I can also be of service in core process II. The job planner will make grateful use of data contained in the quotation entries when setting up the installation specifications; the purchaser will benefit from how accurately and completely the job planner has specified the materials.

Project preparation determines the effectiveness of installation (core process III) and lays the foundation for the administrative reports (V). At any given moment, or whether they are dealing with a backlog. Internal and external parties are more closely involved in the project and the meticulous way everything is organized will boost your quality image.

Information modules

II.1 Information and Drawings Planning System (Informatie- en tekeningenplanningsysteem, ACTO-PLAN*I)
ACTO-PLAN*I is a standard software package that can be used to plan and coordinate approved information (drawings, licences). It offers the following options, among others:

• Visual planning and progress monitoring of drawings production and approval phases by indicating your current position
• The Engineering department's capacity planning
  
• One-time input of drawing definitions, revision numbers, competent bodies and approval stages
• Initialization of lists specifying number of collotype copies required and quantity to be forwarded to each relevant address
• Drawing-related reports intended to note additional work or deductions in work per revision number; monitoring whether the quotation provided for additional work or deductions in work.

II.2 Installation Planning System (Uitvoeringsplanningsysteem, ACTO-PLAN*U)
ACTO-PLAN*U is a standard software package that is used to coordinate project organization and planning with the parties involved. It offers the following options, among others:

• Capacity planning by the Installation department
• Determination of starting dates for planned activities
• Determination of delivery times for materials, equipment, tools and contracted work
• Visual representation of the organization and installation planning (assembly flows); determination of the 'route'
• Progress monitoring by indicating your current position
• Order deadline warnings.

II.3 Installation Specification System (Uitvoeringsspecificatiesysteem, ACTO-UVS)
ACTO-UVS is a standard software package that is used to determine which means (materials, tools, third-party work, prefab) are necessary to execute the planned activities. It offers the following options, among others:

• Documents the selected materials standard, selected suppliers and purchase contracts concluded per project
• Allows for one-time input of progressive records covering installation specification per planned activity
• Makes it possible to select, copy and alter data drawn from the quotation entries
  
• Uses texts and checklists from the basic material file
• Has a single distribution code for goods and information flows
• Progressive documentation of actual installation targets per planning activity (hourly norm x adjustment factor).

II.4 Project Purchasing System (Projectinkoopsysteem, ACTO-INKOOP)
ACTO-INKOOP is a standard software package that automatically generates order recommendations and orders based on information drawn from the Installation Planning and Installation Specification Systems. It offers the following options, among others:

• Offers timely and complete order placement and delivery
• Monitors delivery deadlines and quality per project and supplier
• Produces rescheduling notices when the planning is updated (forward or backwards in time)
• Eliminates the need to copy and sort order forms on the building site
• Offers an immediate survey of all outstanding orders (which goods have been ordered, which are under way).

II.5 The Tools and Equipment Management System (Gereedschap- en materieelbeheersysteem, ACTO-MAT)
ACTO-MAT is a standard software package that allows you to reserve tools and equipment using the Installation Planning and Installation Specification Systems. It offers the following options, among others:

• Lets you know which tools and which equipment will be present at which project and when
• Includes the costs associated with leasing tools and equipment in your calculations.

II.6 Prefabrication Planning System (Prefabricageplanningsysteem, ACTO-PREFAB)
ACTO-PREFAB is a standard software package that structures technical job preparation as well as prefab order planning. It offers the following options, among others:

• Technical job preparation of light and heavy prefabricated parts (pre-assembly racks and distributors, etc.)
• Initialization of specified bending and sawing lists based on isometric drawings
• Capacity planning and lead-time management for prefab orders.

III PROJECT INSTALLATION

Project installation, which involves assembly or production on the building site, is still viewed by many installation contractors as their "real" work. They are correct in the sense that it is in this phase that the preparations made on paper by costing engineers, planners, engineers, job planners and purchasers become visible. The technicians are the ones who turn the ideas into reality.

But it would be misguided to consider the first two core processes as 'overheads'. The efficiency standards which are achieved in the project installation phase are derived from project planning, project preparation and logistics. Those initial stages involve determining both maximum and optimum efficiency; the installation stage involves getting as close as possible to that optimum, i.e. preventing efficiency losses during install ation as much as possible, without requiring anyone to make a superhuman effort in the process. Since the cards have already been shuffled, there is no need to set up separate modules to supervise this third core process. Project progress and installation efficiency can be controlled by means of:

II.1   Information and Drawings Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*I)
II.2   Installation Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*U)
II.3   Installation Specification System (ACTO-UVS)
II.4   Project Purchasing System (ACTO-INKOOP)
II.5   Tools and Equipment Management System (ACTO-MAT)
V.1   Project Administration System (ACTO-VC/NC)
V.2   Project Monitoring System (ACTO-TAAK)

At any given moment, the project management can consult these modules to obtain information about the presence of approved drawings, materials flows, project progress and cost estimate-historical costing comparisons.

Information modules

II.1   Information and Drawings Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*I)
II.2   Installation Planning System (ACTO-PLAN*U)
II.3   Installation Specification System (ACTO-UVS)
II.4   Project Purchasing System (ACTO-INKOOP)
II.5   Tools and Equipment Management System (ACTO-MAT)
V.1   Project Administration System (Projectadministratiesysteem, ACTO-VC/NC)
V.2   Project Monitoring System (Projectbewakingsysteem, ACTO-TAAK)

Among others, these modules offer the following options with respect to the Project Installation core process:

• Monitoring of project progress (by means of "finished" messages) in line with the project planning system's current position indicator
• Monitoring of delivery times by means of materials receipt messages input from the purchasing module
• Feedback indicating the number of hours worked compared with the target for the planned activity, both for project monitoring and project administration.

IV Service, maintenance and technical management

The Service, Maintenance and Technical Management department is really a company within a company. Indeed, this department is divided into the same operational processes as the company as a whole: costing, planning, installation and administration. It will be clear that a smoothly run service organization has a positive impact on your company's quality image and, indirectly, on its acquisition process.

The core task of the service organization is to define existing contractual obligations and plan routine maintenance, along with systematically documenting and remedying failures. Principals are making increasingly complex demands on the process of reporting routine inspection and maintenance. Wherever planning, documenting, reporting and invoicing are involved, information systems can perform useful work. Acto has developed a single module to cover this fourth core process:

IV.1 Service, Maintenance & Technical Control System (ACTO-SOTB)

Because the service department is an independent unit, there are only a few points of interface between this module and the others. For example: the link between the service-parts warehouse and the basic material file (MBB) and between cost estimates/historical costing of maintenance contracts and jobs on the one hand and project administration (VC/NC) on the other.

Information modules
IV.1 Service, Maintenance & Technical Control Management (Service, Onderhoud & Technisch Beheer-systeem, ACTO-SOTB)

ACTO-SOTB is a standard software package for service organizations which allows you to organize documenting, costing, planning, work allocation, reporting and invoicing. It offers the following options, among others:

• Documenting of installation types, location and condition
• Costing and issuing quotations for the various forms of maintenance (inspection, prevention, correction and combinations thereof)
• Documenting work descriptions based on a central file
• Medium-term capacity planning by skill/capacity group
• Short-term planning for scheduled routine maintenance by skill/capacity group or by technician
  
• Various work allocation lists (detailed and restricted work descriptions; signatures list)
• Reports intended for principals
• Documenting and dealing with failures
• Instalment invoicing for subscribers/maintenance contracts and time-and-material invoicing of time sheets.

V Administrative reporting and project monitoring
Core process I (acquisition and costing) delineates the maximum potential efficiency. Core process II (project preparation and logistics) optimizes the actual feasible efficiency. Finally, the level of efficiency actually achieved in the installation phase (core process III) is documented in the project monitoring and financial administration modules -- this is recording results in a very literal sense.

Most installation contractors will have automated their financial administration to an extensive degree. Acto's work in this field is essentially not so very different from what you already know. However, using Acto has one main advantage within this core process: the project administration, financial administration, time accounting and wage and salary administration are fully integrated. Changes in hours or in purchasing and sales invoices need only be entered once, and are immediately processed while still keeping an eye on outstanding orders. The following modules are available for this fifth core process:

V.1   Project Administration System (ACTO-VC/NC)
V.2   Project Monitoring System (ACTO-TAAK)
V.3   Time Accounting System (ACTO-UVA)
V.4   Personnel Information System (ACTO-PERS)
V.5   Wage and Salary Administration System
V.6   Financial Administration System (ACTO-FIN)
II.4   Project Purchasing System (ACTO-INKOOP)

ACTO-INKOOP and ACTO-FIN can be used to process purchase invoices.

For each project, these modules allow the project manager, the management and the accountant to obtain a clear picture of the yields in terms of contract sums, additional work and deductions in work, instalment schemes, invoices and payments; of the costs in terms of cost estimates and historical costing (divided by cost category); of the target per project activity, and of the orders en route (in other words, not yet entered into the financial records). Journal entries into both the project administration system and the general ledger are tabularized, allowing your company to select the amount of detail required.

Information modules

V.1 Project Administration System (Projectadministratiesysteem, ACTO-VC/NC)
ACTO-VC/NC is a standard project administration software package (cost estimates and historical costing). It offers the following options, among others:

• Documents yields (contract sums, additional work/deductions in work; instalment schemes; invoiced instalments; payments received)
• Documents costs (cost estimates by cost category-level; historical costing by cost category-level; summary of outstanding orders)
• Issues warning lists with invoicing instructions
• Issues instalment invoices
• Performs time-and-material invoicing
• Management information: value of work in hand, financing of work in hand, amount of work per branch.

V.2 Project Monitoring System (Projectbewakingsysteem, ACTO-TAAK)
ACTO-TAAK is a standard software package which monitors efficiency per planned activity. It offers the following options, among others:

• Documents hours worked versus targets per project activity
• Documents percentage "finished" per project activity
• Documents "No. of hours yet to go" per project activity.

V.3 Time Accounting System (Urenverantwoordingsysteem, ACTO-UVA)
ACTO-UVA is a standard software package which documents and processes all hours worked by employees and other employee-related expenses. It offers the following options, among others:

• Produces weekly time records including a 40-hours check
• Processes kilometre compensation payments and reimbursements for expenses
• Integrated into project administration (VC/NC)
• Integrated into project monitoring by planned activity (TAAK).

V.4 Personnel Information System (Personeelsinformatiesysteem, ACTO-PERS)
ACTO-PERS is a standard software system which documents all relevant information on all employees. It offers the following options, among others:

• Documents all employee information (salary data, terms of employment, sickness)
• Documents hired-in staff and temporary workers from employment agencies
• Simulates salary prognoses for budgeting purposes
• Documents training courses and subsidies.

V.5 Wage and Salary Administration System (Loon- en salarisadministratiesysteem, ASAP/ADP/CTB/PRISMA)
ASAP, ADP, CTB and PRISMA are standard software packages designed by other suppliers which can be linked to the Acto information system. This makes the following options possible:

• Links to time accounting (ACTO-UVA)
• Links to personnel information system (ACTO-PERS)
• Links to financial administration (ACTO-FIN).

V.6 Financial Administration System (Financiële-administratiesysteem, ACTO-FIN)
ACTO-FIN is a standard software package which allows you to perfect your financial administration. It offers the following options, among others:

• Profit and loss account
• Balance sheet
• Assets documentation
• Project cost estimates/historical costing sub-administration (VC/NC)
• Accounts receivable/payable sub-administration (automatic payments; automatic blocked account divided between Inland Revenue and industrial insurance board)
• Warehouse sub-administration
• Cost spreadsheet
• Accrual spreadsheet
• Consolidation.