Optional Workflow Change
This change is optional to add to your existing workflows and is currently in Early Access.
Project Insights gives construction project managers pre-job projections and mid-job visibility into productivity by installed unit and man-hours, so labor overruns and margin slips can be caught and corrected before a job closes — not after.
Note
Project Insights workflows and data are independent from standard time tracking and item allocation.
What's changing with Project Insights?
Previously, construction managers had no way to track crew performance or forecast profitability by production unit while projects were in progress. When a job missed its margins, it was usually too late to do anything about it.
Project Insights changes that by letting you flag a Productivity Rate Item (PRI) inside each kit in your catalog. Before the estimate is won, the Pre-Won Report forecasts costs, revenue, and profit. Crew leaders log installed quantities and man-hours from Aspire Mobile at the visit level, and project managers then review estimated-versus-actual productivity in the new Project Insights report. A category-level variance threshold flags potential issues so project managers can review and approve flagged data from inside the report.
Before & After
Before (Current)
An estimator builds a fixed-price construction estimate with time and materials.
The opportunity is won and handed off to a construction project manager. When the opportunity is won, the kits are dissolved, and all labor is lumped into one total. This means that project managers can't correlate which kits are associated with the hours being worked.
Crews work the job and labor hours are logged against tickets through normal time tracking.
The project manager has no production-unit view of how the job is tracking against the estimate mid-job.
Margin misses are identified after the job closes, with no opportunity to course-correct while work is ongoing.
After
An estimator builds the estimate. A Productivity Rate Item flagged inside each kit drives unit tracking by category.
Before the opportunity is won, the estimator reviews the "View Insights" report in-estimate to consider productivity targets by category and make any necessary adjustment to the estimate before completing.
If an opportunity shouldn’t have Project Insights enabled, it’s easy to deactivate it in the opportunity.
Crew leaders log installed PRI quantities and man-hours per visit from Aspire Mobile.
The project manager reviews the Project Insights report daily to track actual versus estimated productivity.
Entries that exceed the category-level variance threshold appear on the Needs Review tab for line-by-line review and approval.
Impact: You can manage large construction jobs by installed unit, not by raw hours, and catch productivity slips while there's still time to act on them.
Who's affected?
Market segments: Construction — specifically large bid-build firms running fixed-price construction work.
Roles impacted:
System Administrator
Branch Administrator
Estimator
Project Manager
Crew Leader (Aspire Mobile)
Controller
How to prepare
Review your item catalog: Identify which material item inside each construction kit should be designated as the Productivity Rate Item. For example, the tree inside a tree-install kit will be flagged as the Productivity Rate Item.
Confirm your category structure: Project Insights aggregates and reports by item category, so make sure your item categories reflect how you want to track productivity. Example: Large Trees, Small Trees, Shrubs, Turf.
Decide on variance thresholds: Choose a category-level Variance Threshold that's tight enough to flag real problems but loose enough that crews aren't reviewed every day. You can adjust thresholds after seeing initial data.
Train your crew leaders: Crew leader input drives the accuracy of Project Insights. At the end of each visit, make sure they're logging as close to actual installed quantities and man-hours as possible at the end of each visit. Even ballpark numbers make a difference. Also keep in mind that Project Insights works independently from standard time tracking and item allocation, so what crew leaders log is separate from your company’s usual workflows.
Update training materials: Revise your internal construction workflow documentation to cover the new estimating, mobile, and reporting steps.
Train your team: Conduct hands-on training sessions with estimators, project managers, and crew leaders before the release date.