09/21/2009 - QuickPen Announces Short Interval Planning Tool

AutoBid® Mechanical 2010 v1 Feature Benefits Project Managers

Scottsdale, AZ, Sept. 21, 2009 - QuickPen today announced the release of the Short Interval Planning (SIP) tool in AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1, QuickPen's Mechanical estimating software. The SIP tool - the first to generate short-interval planning information directly from a piping estimate - empowers project managers to easily improve efficiency in field construction scheduling.  

The announcement was made here today at the QuickPen 2009 Educational User Conference, a hands-on training event for QuickPen customers featuring more than 50 sessions from product and industry experts.

Mechanical and plumbing project managers are dealing with increasingly tight schedules and narrow margins. Studies have shown that a significant amount of a field worker's eight-hour day is non-productive waiting time. Increasingly, contractors are turning to short interval planning - planning one to two weeks in advance - to more effectively manage project labor and ensure both costs and schedule stay on target. Unfortunately, manual short-interval planning has proven to be time-intensive and inaccurate.

The SIP tool in AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1 lets project managers easily retrieve short interval material lists and labor hour information. In AutoBid Mechanical, a project manager can quickly select any portion of a project, review the components to be installed and the budgeted labor. With SIP, Project Managers have at their fingertips the data they need to set goals for field personnel, monitor labor productivity, and track material requirements. The AutoBid Mechanical SIP tool increases project managers' ability to control costs and keep projects on schedule.

"Increasingly rushed work schedules and tighter margins are a reality for mechanical and plumbing contractors today," said Stacy Zerr, QuickPen's Director of Product Management. "Short interval planning is critical to staying on schedule and on budget. The AutoBid Mechanical Short Interval Planning tool makes it easy to generate and manage short interval schedules for optimum jobsite productivity."

AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1 will be made available to customers in beta in October and in general release by the end of 2009.