How Gramercy Gains Better Insights Faster with Raken

The problem: Complex reporting needs

Gramercy serves customers as a GC and as a subcontractor, which meant they needed versatile reporting tools that work for both sides of the business.

Their ideal solution is one that’s easy to learn and use, so their field teams can consistently complete reports and time cards without adding extra hours to the work day. 

The solution: Easy-to-use tools and seamless integrations

Gramercy uses Raken to make daily reporting easier, capturing detailed field data via mobile devices. Field crews share important progress updates with the office in real time, and—thanks to our integration with Sage 100 Contractor—payroll is processed more accurately and efficiently, too.

Easy-to-use mobile reporting tools

Zachary Ames is Technology Innovation Manager at Gramercy and a board member of the Contech Alliance, a group for technology advocates in the construction industry. On a recent project, he witnessed how helpful Raken has been for crew members who need to complete daily reports without access to a trailer or office.

“Being able to input all the information on a phone or iPad as opposed to having a work desk setup is where the industry is going and where the successful companies will be,” says Zach. He appreciates Raken’s field-friendliness and the app’s ability to quickly capture data on the go for field crews. 

Ultimately, the Gramercy team embraced Raken because of its intuitive design. 

With Raken, Gramercy can pick up the app and start maximizing the benefits without extensive training. It simplifies reporting workflows and turns what could be a complicated process of improving compliance into one of the easiest parts of the workday.

Data to manage budget & production resources

For many companies, the biggest risk to a project is cost overrun. Before each project starts, Zach uses Raken to set up budget tracking parameters that will help inform his cost reporting once the project gets going. With this set up from the beginning, he can see how labor is tracking against budget at a high level—a metric that now is a daily check for the project team.

For Gramercy, this visibility has improved the way they manage their resources, particularly their workforce. “Workers by project has been helpful in allowing us to see where people are and how the labor is trending on each job. That allows us to move people around and plan allocation,” says Zach. 

Raken automatically organizes and standardizes the data captured by the field into actionable production insights. With this, Gramercy can measure progress using visual feeds, charts, and graphs to see how a job is performing against estimates. This data is also used to inform the types of future projects they should continue to pursue.

Zach and his team see immense value in the way Raken translates field data for the business. “I think this is a section that a lot of companies might not have a system for looking at internally,” he explains. “The platform can bring them information in a way they may have never considered before.” 

Instead of having to create a process from scratch while chasing down data, project managers can use Raken to automatically create professional documentation of progress and more easily identify trends from the data.

Faster payroll processing

Zach describes how important Raken’s integration with Sage 100 accounting software has been for Gramercy. He says, “The best part for us is doing the payroll in the same location as our daily reports."

Gramercy uses this integration to help field crews quickly capture time card data with fewer errors in Raken’s mobile app. Completed time cards are then automatically shared with the accounting team, who process payroll seamlessly using Sage 100 without any duplicate data entry.

Scalable benefits 

The value of Raken extends beyond daily reporting and time cards. Gramercy has recently started to adopt the app’s material and equipment tracking features and safety management tools, planning to utilize them more fully in the near future.

“Being able to track materials, equipment, and safety checklists in a way that is more organized than emailing status reports back and forth will be really big for us, and has already been helpful for us in different ways,” Zach says.

As more employees are trained to use Raken and Gramercy continues growing, he envisions these capabilities scaling with the business. 

Want to hear more from Zach about how they've grown their business and use Raken? Watch this webinar on Strategies to Grow a Construction Business.