Toronto, Ontario, July 31, 2023 – CMiC, a leading Next Generation Construction ERP provider, recently announced a new partnership with Southern Land Company (SLC), a national, full-service real estate developer of award-winning master-planned and mixed-use communities.
As a result of their impressive growth trajectory, company performance, and geographic expansion, decision-makers at SLC realized that they needed an industry-specific ERP with cloud capabilities to help automate existing workflows, deliver real-time reporting and provide a strong user experience.
The ERP that fit the bill was CMiC: an all-in-one solution with an exhaustive suite of capabilities built on a Single Database Platform™.
Southern Land Company: A Visionary and Innovator in Real Estate Development
Established in 1986, Southern Land Company has been instrumental in shaping the future of real estate development. Led by a diverse team of industry-leading, in-house experts, this Nashville-based firm delivers large projects across the nation and has regional offices in Greenwich, Philadelphia, Plano, Denver, and Vallejo. To illustrate the size and complexity of projects under their belt, their current project pipeline is valued at $4 billion.
From a service offering perspective, SLC is a fully vertically integrated developer, with all disciplines in-house, including development, homebuilding, infrastructure, design, construction, property management, garden services, and lifestyle services.
Having established themselves in their space and experienced significant business expansion over the years, the leaders at SLC knew that they had to evaluate their existing tech stack to support this growth.
Key Challenges: Lack of Real-Time Project Data, Sub-Par Reporting Capabilities, and Integration Problems
In recent years, various teams at SLC were experiencing challenges with their existing systems and tools, which forced leadership to take stock of the situation. To summarize, the key challenges they faced included:
Sub-Par Reporting Capabilities: Their existing systems did not have strong reporting capabilities which leaders require to make data-driven decisions and build forecasts in real time.
Lack of Real-Time Project Data: With employees working in different states and time zones, the inability to provide up-to-date data was not conducive to real-time collaboration.
Lack of User-Friendly Features and Workflows: Citing that the existing tool was not user-friendly, adoption rates were lower than expected.
Third-Party Software Integration Challenges: Their existing software systems posed challenges in terms of integrating with third-party software, which had direct impacts on their homebuilding division.
This spearheaded a thorough software evaluation journey of all the major players in the construction ERP market.
The End Goal: An Industry-Specific Solution with Cutting-Edge Capabilities and a Superior User Experience
According to Mary MacDonell, Construction Controller, SLC Commercial Construction, “Following the evaluation of several other construction accounting software platforms, our entire search team agreed CMiC would best fit our needs.” With CMiC’s exhaustive suite of Financials and Project Management solutions to support SLC’s various business needs, their SaaS software deployment offering to cater to their technology infrastructure, and robust reporting capabilities, SLC set the wheels in motion.
Adds MacDonell, “CMiC’s customization capabilities for reports are great; everything is customizable, so we can pull exactly the information we need, at any time. Additionally, CMiC’s dashboard capabilities are extremely valuable; the ability to access information quickly and in real-time will benefit everyone using the platform.”
In terms of launch timelines, the plan in place is for a staggered rollout, with a final go-live date scheduled for May 2024. Included in their product roadmap is an expansive set of applications and capabilities, as shown below.
Financials:
This suite of applications will help the SLC team manage accounting, human capital and payroll, inventory, and equipment — effortlessly. Through its cutting-edge, industry-specific functionality with proven workflows, CMiC Accounting will provide them complete visibility of real-time data in complex environments with shifting cost structures — equating to persistently reliable financial reports and projections, from the corporate office to field operations. On top of that, these applications, built with “layered-in” business intelligence software, will help management make sound data-driven decisions in real-time.
Applications on their product roadmap include: General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Project Costing, Human Capital Management & Payroll (including eTime and Employee Self-Service), Opportunity Management, Project Billing and Asset Management.
Project Management:
CMiC Project Management software will enable SLC teams to collaborate with project stakeholders, control project changes, manage subcontractor tasks, stay on top of material suppliers, and simplify the bid process. From a business benefit perspective, this suite of solutions is designed to help SLC complete complex projects with tightly managed costs and timeframes. In addition, their managers can track labor productivity, manage labor budgets and payroll, and seamlessly maintain the schedule of field teams.
Applications on their product roadmap include: Bidding & Procurement Management, Subcontractor Management and Pre-Qualification, Change Management, Document / Drawing Management, Communication Management and Collaboration Management.
Platform:
Other applications and features they have signed up for include:
Site Management
The CMiC solution will also help SLC elevate their reporting capabilities. “We are highly focused on improving our reports, both custom reports and ad-hoc reports. CMiC’s customization capabilities for reports are extensive; everything is customizable, so we can pull exactly the information we need, at any time,” asserts MacDonell. “Additionally, CMiC’s dashboard capabilities are extremely valuable; the ability to access information quickly and in real-time will benefit everyone using the platform.”
In addition to this, SLC will also be leveraging CMiC’s expansive integration partner ecosystem as the ERP provider’s platform easily accommodates a variety of ways to connect with complementary technologies, including pre-built integrations, API bundles or an automated translation engine, PMXchange. The list of adapters and bundles they have selected include:
RTI adapters (Docusign, Comdata and Kofax)
API Bundles
PMXchange
In terms of early wins, MacDonell asserts, “initial benefits include streamlining and paring down in key areas which will only help us going forward. For example, we have been able to have team members clean up cost codes, and we have ensured we are not carrying over dead projects and accounts that have not been used in recent years.”
CMiC’s Complete Servicing Offering: Adding Superior Customer Service into the Mix
In recent months, key members on the SLC side expressed high levels of satisfaction with respect to the service and support that has been provided by their dedicated CMiC integration specialist and project manager. This further demonstrates CMiC’s proven customer-first approach to doing business.
MacDonell sums it up best: “wW will continue to source best practices and lean on both CMiC and our outside consultants to make important decisions and move forward so we can best utilize and benefit from the software.”
To learn more about CMiC’s solutions, please click here.
About Southern Land Company
Southern Land Company is a national full-service real estate developer that has been reimagining the industry since 1986. Rooted in the belief that visionary design and cultivation of community are at the heart of every successful development project, the company brings extraordinary living spaces and experiences within reach in the form of master-planned, single-family, multifamily, mixed-use, and hospitality developments, all created by a diverse team of industry-leading, in-house experts.
Headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, Southern Land Company has market-leading projects in nine states, with regional offices in Greenwich, Connecticut; Plano, Texas; Denver, Colorado; and Vallejo, California. Southern Land Company’s current project pipeline is valued at $4 billion. To learn more, visit www.southernland.com.
About CMiC
As an industry pioneer, CMiC delivers complete and unified ERP and FIELD software solutions for construction and capital projects firms. CMiC’s powerful software transforms how firms optimize productivity, minimize risk and drive growth by planning and managing all financials, projects, resources, and content assets—from a Single Database Platform™. With customers throughout North America and overseas, CMiC serves one-quarter of ENR’s Top 400 Contractors and hundreds of small and mid-sized construction firms, from general and specialty contractors to heavy/highway and project owners. Over $100 billion in construction revenue is handled by CMiC annually.
For more information, about CMiC please click here.