Oracle Aconex vs. Trimble GC WinEst

Large, Multi-Party Capital Projects
Scenario: Major construction or infrastructure projects involving owners, designers, multiple contractors, subcontractors, and regulators. Why Aconex Fits: Provides a neutral, single source of truth across many independent organizations. Strong permissioning and data ownership model builds trust between parties. Scales well to very high document volumes and long project durations. Example Use: Design development and construction documentation for a multi-year infrastructure project with hundreds of external users.

Incentivized

WinEst is truly built for everyone. Their assemblies/database linking is perfect for self perform and subcontractors while their database management and custom reporting is perfect for GCs. While Excel set the bar, WinEst is on another planet. With the immediacy required by today's markets, WinEst allows you to deliver a superior product while being more accurate.

Incentivized

• The existence of insurance and permit tracking.
• Budgetary control measures and expense monitor.
• Job costing and logistical management.
• Skills and competencies improvement.

Incentivized

• It's very flexible when building an estimate and selecting items to include. You can either click your way to the datebase or quickly copy and paste similar items.
• The numerous ways to view and estimate whether it's by CSI, Uniformat, Master Format, or any view you'd like to see. One of ours is by program area, i.e. Sitework, Tower, Parking Deck, etc. After that, you can sort by Bid Package, CSI, etc. Quick buttons can be created far all the views you'd need which allows changing between views a breeze.
• The visual interface is pleasing and easy to read.
• It's easy to create your own database using Excel. Once you tag an item with unit costs, sort codes, etc., Winest will import it. You can also build it manually within the program but Excel was faster.

Incentivized

• Sharing of projects comments and document can be more efficient.
• Estimation capabilities can be improved.
• The initial configuration can easily confuse the beginners.

Incentivized

• At times, WinEst controls feel counter intuitive. Also the tools available for actually developing the database can feel clunky. This means that if you do not take the time to create a robust import file, you will spend a serious amount of time fixing your errors.
• WinEst is also an object based database which means that it is difficult to do mass dumps of information (mainly takeoff) into the program. While this is great for ensuring that everything is done purposefully, it does lead to extended hours of data entry
• It takes hours upon hours of use before you begin to realize the true potential. The sheer number of tools is overwhelming and their help resources are very basic and only explain how to correctly enter the data but not the feature's best use cases.

Incentivized

Requires a better interface that allows you to find all tools in order to utilise all functions.

Incentivized

Doug Quinn was our trainer and travels all over the country. Whenever I have an issue I shoot him an email and he quickly responds as soon as his training gets a break.

Incentivized

Aconex's document control workflow allows for multiple versions of the same revision, enabling markups to be seen and document history as appropriate. This is on par with SOLIDWORKS EPDM, and is by far better than InEight's TeamBinder, as the originator and uploader of the document are able to change the version without the need for an administrator.

Incentivized

WinEst simply blows excel and Timberline out of the water. The shear depth of functionality is unparalleled. Not only does WinEst deliver a better product, it also shortens the amount of man hours required for each bid, alternate, pricing exercise, etc. On top of this, it has a number of redundant safeguards for catching errors that the others don't have.

Incentivized

• Reductions in print costs alone (subcontractor bid process) paid completely for the use of the product. Further benefits to all project participants included process streamlining and 100% access to all project documentation (Drawings, Specifications, Contracts, Notices of Change, Change Orders etc.) from any online source including mobile devices. Benefits probably accounted for 150% of product cost.
• Intangible benefits included reduced exposure to claims as a result of good (and agreed process tracking).

Incentivized

• We've not measured the rate of return but WinEst has made us much more efficient and organized.

Incentivized