How Evans uses the power of payment data to improve revenue forecasting

As a national and international design-build, general contracting, and construction management firm, Evans General Contractors provides cost effective solutions and comprehensive project development to clients across a broad spectrum of markets. As they state: Whether the requirement is for cold storage, a state-of-the-art distribution center, a high-performance additive manufacturing plant, mission critical data center, or an ISO level cleanroom, Evans creates solutions and provides turnkey facilities to some of the best minds and companies in their industries.

To keep their edge in a highly competitive market, Evans invests in innovative tools and technology both in the field and the back office. That’s why they made the decision to implement Oracle Textura Payment Management in 2015 and have since standardized on the Oracle solution across all their projects.

For our readers familiar with Oracle Textura, you know it to be a cloud-based application that simplifies construction payment management, increases productivity, and mitigates risk. But this story isn’t about how much more efficient Evans is at processing payment applications, or tracking and managing lien waivers, or ensuring compliance and payments go off without a hitch (although they do get all those benefits from Oracle Textura).

The value of data

This is a story about the value of data. For context: Any application creates masses of data as a byproduct of what it does. That data is stored somewhere and used in other parts of the application, and most often also used for reporting. Oracle Textura is no different. In fact, given that we process over $11.5 billion a month in payments overall, Oracle Textura generates A LOT of payment-related data! The beauty of data is that it’s the only type of resource that can be used and re-used without ever being exhausted. You can consume it over and over again for different purposes, like analytics.

Which is precisely what Evans does with Oracle Textura data.

Unapproved invoice data in Oracle Textura and revenue forecasting

For this story, let’s explore one very specific use case that Emily McFarlin, BI analyst at Evans, shared with me: using unapproved invoice data to better forecast revenue. For this use case, Evans wants to use Oracle Textura data for all the unapproved subcontractor invoices, which show a snapshot in time of how much the organization may pay their subs once that draw cycle is closed and so also aligns with how much revenue should be expected from their client.

“The unapproved invoice amounts only exist in Oracle Textura. Once the invoice is approved, the data of course automatically goes into our ERP via the Textura integration, but we need to grab that transient data before the invoice is approved,” says McFarlin, “That data is invaluable in helping us forecast revenue at any point in the month.”

They then blend that Oracle Textura data with other financial data from their accounting system using their enterprise-wide BI tools, generate their reports and metrics, and make that accessible to all stakeholders who need to see those numbers. This includes people in senior management who would have no need to log into the Oracle Textura application itself but do indeed check their mobile analytics app daily for key metrics like the revenue forecast number.

As McFarlin says, “I estimate that because of the easy access to the data that our BI tool has through Oracle Textura Data Services, I’m saving about five hours a week by no longer having to manually blend and scrub data in Excel.”

Oracle Textura Payment Management offers a wide variety of reports, dashboards, and analytics. You can track status and performance with more than 90 predefined general contractor, subcontractor, audit, and draw reports, including supplier and sub-tier diversity tracking. Project dashboards and analytics let you analyze projects, subcontractors, draw budgets, invoices, payments, and subcontractor status. And Data Services allows you to access data with your own analytics applications, to support your enterprise data, reporting, and analytics strategy.

Evans, through their well-designed enterprise-wide data and analytics strategy, is able to capitalize on data that only exists for a fleeting moment. In addition to the revenue forecast, they can also spot trends or outliers and work with the various project teams to diagnose and solve potential issues before they become problems.

“Since we all use the same BI tool, we can use the data to have those conversations with each of our project teams about forecasts that look too high or too low, and to draw patterns and trends to then make better business plans,” says McFarlin.

Learn how to prevent errors with process automation and gain visibility into downstream payments to lessen the risk of disruption. Register here Oracle Textura Payment Management for Delivery Teams/Contractors webinar on Tuesday, March 7 at 10 a.m. PT.

Having the right tools and ensuring project delivery teams are using the best solutions to provide the information customers need, when they need it, gives them the control and assurance you need. Register here for the Oracle Textura Payment Management for Owners webinar on Tuesday, March 14 at 10 a.m. PT.

The Oracle Smart Construction Platform combines our industry-trusted applications with a common data environment and an ecosystem of partners to help owners and delivery teams work together and continuously improve performance. The platform connects teams and data, synchronizes work, and empowers individuals to make informed, proactive decisions. Power performance with proven Oracle Construction and Engineering solutions for scheduling, portfolio management, construction project management, project controls, construction payment management, and more.

Read more about payment process management:

• GW Real Estate makes Oracle Textura construction payment management a top tech priority
• KBD Group secures its payment management solutions with Oracle Textura
• Four Peaks Building Group is building its business with Oracle Textura
• Oracle Textura helps Alston Construction keep payment processes smooth amid supersonic revenue growth
• Digital Realty aligns its global construction finance processes with Oracle Textura
• Gilbane Building Company pursues a better way of doing things with Oracle Textura