Dolphin is the ideal tool that makes it so simple to all project managers & team members for tracking the project’s evolution, and for accessing all necessary information on a project, no matter where they are. The use of excel or other personal files saved on individual computers are not allowed any more. ONE centralized system consolidates all data from various departments: Cost estimators, Business developers submitting quotations & securing RFIs/new projects, Cost Controllers, Procurement, Material & Purchase requisitions, Quantity Surveyors, Management of sub-contractors, HR for resource planning & labor assignment to projects, Workshop monitoring of Heavy Vehicles & Equipments used different sites/locations , Variation & Change Orders, Finance & account team for Billing and Payment Certificates (with control of down payments, retentions, A/R, A/P, cost of material on site..).

Used to define projects and sub projects (various sections & phases). All types of documents may be attached to each project such as drawings, deals, notes and memos… Project brief, and project’s coordinators are recorded at the Job level.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers a tendering function needed in any construction industry. It involves the issuing of several requests for quotation (RFQ) to suppliers, comparing the proposals submitted, deciding on the most suitable bid and using the offered prices to prepare the client quotation. Further to that, during the job’s execution phase, these approved supplier quotations or even new bids can be used to issue the actual purchase orders and receive their corresponding goods or services to be spent on the project. Additionally, easy tractability of the history of prices received from various suppliers on a certain item or service is also available.

At the level of each cost element of the BOQ, selling prices may be set based on standard rating, or, on a percentage markup of the cost estimates. Quotations may be sent to clients directly, online from the system, without the hassle of exporting PDF files and then attaching documents to the traditional mail exchange. History of mails sent with content & revisions is traced at the level of each job.

It may be imported from excel, duplicated from standard templates, or entered manually. The BOQ defines all activities of a project with unit of measurement, quantities and technical specifications.

It is a list of cost elements, coded with the hierarchical structure. It includes the usual 16 or 33 divisions covering all activities of a general contracting project.

The entry of the total quantities of each activity (in Meters, Sq. or Cubic Meters) is detailed by the original source of information leading to such measurements. It may be broken down for example by floor, by room or by area.

Each cost element (activity from BOQ), has cost estimate details broken down into the 5 cost elements: Bill of Material, Labor, Subcontracting, External purchases and equipment. The system keeps track of the suppliers’ price proposals submitted during the cost estimate phase. Depending on the type of operation, cost rates may be imported from suppliers’ initial catalogue price list, to which we add the suppliers’ discounts & shipment expenses (when exist).
Cost estimates & cost rates of some activities may be inspired from other projects previously realized.

The cycle starts from a Purchase Requisition formulated by the remote sites. These are submitted to the Procurement department through a workflow system. “Requests for Quotations” may be issued & sent simultaneously to various suppliers. Received prices are entered and compared for the best price/conditions’ appraisal. History of rates previously collected on other projects is a valuable information to the buyers in their decision making. Confirmed Purchase Orders (LPOs) are controlled against initial budgets, supplier credit limits and users’ privilege levels with ceilings on purchase amounts.
Dolphin offers a friendly monitoring of the long lists of Purchase Requisitions that are under processing (RFQ status), of the confirmed LPOs still outstanding, and, of the ones fully or partially delivered.
RFQs and LPOs are mailed to suppliers directly from the system, benefiting from the contact management features available in VD. Accordingly, a history of all mails sent to suppliers may be retrieved instantaneously.

Requests for Quotations & LPOs may be submitted & tendered to sub-contractors (for outsourcing tasks &Jobs). Their price rates may have been previously predefined the suppliers’ levels, by type of activity. Dolphin controls the suppliers’ deliveries, their advance payments and retained amounts. Suppliers’ accounts payable are split in outstanding balances by project.

Fully integrated with Visual Dolphin Inventory Control System, where items are stored in warehouses, and used on projects.

Is monitored through a time sheet system that controls the time and type of workers assigned to each section of the project (activity of the BOQ). This time maybe regular, or overtime, with various cost rates by level of qualification of the labor.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing provides time sheet entries and the tracking of on-site & back office employees’ attendance. The time spent by the employees available in these entries is considered as part of the cost incurred on the corresponding projects. Nevertheless, time sheet also gives employees’ productivity analysis and measures efficiency by cost activities.

For the Equipment assigned to any project, when the cost is related to the duration time spent on the site, it is calculated based on the standard cost rate per equipment, per day, per week or per month.

Is handled through Dolphin by matching the expected quantities in a BOQ with the achieved ones. Two levels of QS may be generated: The one effectively realized, and the one agreed with the client’s consultants (that generates a payment certificate)

May be issued periodically, based on the payment certificates issued from the Quantity Survey (QS). Such invoices take into consideration a ratio of the material on site, Down Payments previously received and client’s retentions.
Choices of invoicing methods are based on:

• Full or Partial amounts
• Percentage of accomplishment
• Annual Fees (applied for property management)
• Cost Plus & Time/Service billing

Several reports and rich analytics permit the monitoring of the actual cost against the achieved quantities (in comparison to the initial cost estimates). Such reports may be detailed to extreme levels of a single transaction related to labor, material, subcontracting or miscellaneous expenses. These consider LPOs or commitments already done to suppliers where invoices not yet received.

During the execution phase of a job, it is imperative to follow up on the work achieved and the cost realized up to date in comparison with the expected, estimated and planned figures. For this, the Cost Control Per Job report in Visual Dolphin Job Costing offers detailed account on where each activity of the job stands and where it is going; starting from the planned quantities and amounts and going to the already achieved and projected figures as well as the profit margins.

Dashboards & Business intelligence tools add to the traditional reports more graphics and better drill down analysis, by compiling all data from the system’s transactions. Dimensions could be the Years& Months, Project types, Expenses Types, Project Activities & Cost elements, Clients & Client’s activities, Locations (Regions and Countries), Project managers & Account executives, …
All these elements are melted together for displaying helpful and constructive graphical analysis covering all management needs.

Visual Dolphin Job Costing provides time sheet entries and the tracking of on-site & back office employees’ attendance. The time spent by the employees available in these entries is considered as part of the cost incurred on the corresponding projects.Nevertheless, time sheet also gives employees’ productivity analysis and measures efficiency by cost activities.