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INDUSTRY WATCH
software was that we believe it is agile and
has the flexibility to cope with our growing
needs,” said Charlie Bolt, Chief Risk Officer
at Multiplex.
“We’re not using all of the components yet
but there is a level of confidence that if we
can define what we want, IFS will work with
us to deliver it in the most efficient way.”
IFS understood the importance of cost
control through all stages of a project, one
with other accounting functions, including
the finance and general ledger requirements
for international reporting.
That integration “has gone very well with IFS
Applications”, said Bolt.
Specialised support for
complex contracts
To achieve this goal, Multiplex needed more
than a strong project solution. It also needed
THE WAY THAT YOU’RE
LOOKING AT A PROJECT IN
AUSTRALIA IS THE SAME
WAY YOU’RE LOOKING AT
A PROJECT IN THE MIDDLE
EAST OR IN THE UK.
of Multiplex’s key focus areas. It offered a
strong project solution, an essential tool in
managing project costs.
“At Multiplex we use IFS Applications to
manage the end-to-end process of multi-
million dollar projects,” said Lidia Ribarovska,
Global Business Systems Manager at
Multiplex. That includes managing customer
orders and contracts, subcontractor
management, purchase orders, project
planning, time and expenses, procurement,
materials handling, progress tracking, and
project accounting, with full electronic
document management and approvals.
Additionally, IFS Applications can handle
Multiplex’s other requirements such as
providing a platform for integrating new
technologies like building information
management (BIM) and virtual reality.
With Multiplex’s global project portfolio,
of particular importance is a focus on
project accounting with multi-country,
multi-currency capabilities. Since the
implementation of IFS Applications,
Multiplex has successfully integrated the
management and cost control of its projects
90
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IFS’s contract management solution to
manage its many types of contracts. This
includes complex contracts, where client
variations and application for payments
are the norm, and complex subcontracting
activity, both of which Multiplex required.
“Our construction is complex, using a
subcontracting model with lots of interaction
and claims both upstream to clients and
downstream to subcontractors,” said Bolt.
“IFS Applications handles our management
of subcontracts and the variations that go
with them very well. We can manage the
variation orders as one row or a hundred; IFS
Applications allows us to go into as much
detail as we want.”
Integrated solution with one source
of truth
Applications has become a valuable
business asset. “IFS Applications has
created an unprecedented global repository
for us,” said Ribarovska. “We’ve got our data
in one system and it is one source of truth.”
This has streamlined the management
of Multiplex’s projects, saving time in the
production of reports and in everyday
tasks such as managing payments and
variations for subcontractors.”
Benefits in contracts,
subcontractors and purchasing
Since implementing IFS Applications,
Multiplex has reaped the benefits with
more accurate and up-to-date cost
reporting. It has increased efficiencies
in managing contracts, subcontractors,
purchasing and materials and can deliver
better services to its customers.
IFS Applications has also been designed
to manage project change, a perennial
challenge in the construction industry.
It offers a range of integrated features,
including change requests, document
management, project baselining,
project budgeting and forecast revisions,
contract change management and audit
trails and approval workflow. Being able
to clearly identify scope changes and
manage them with a proper integrated
workflow can significantly improve a
project’s profitability.
“Our quantity surveyors and contract
administrators out on our construction
sites are seeing the value that IFS brings,”
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