Oracle Aconex vs. Trimble GC WinEst

For outstanding project managing and operational assistance, Oracle Aconex is an incredible program. The budget that suits every project are met and followed. More so, Oracle Aconex takes the permits required, for instance, the insurance permit and the license tracking. The contractor management feature is also encoded on Oracle Aconex, making the investor and the contractor have the same objective.

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

• Time tracking functionality is amazing.
• All the features are easy and active.
• The Cloud services offered by Oracle Aconex is efficient.

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

• Mail close out features.
• Document searching.
• Document selection for transmittal.

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

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

I am currently using file sharing such as Egnyte and ShareFile which are useful but don't have much of a transmittal or inmail functionality so I can't really speak to other products in the same league as Aconex. I don't typically like proprietary contractor solutions due to their non-neutrality and embedded agendas, which often are not consistent with the owner's interests.

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

• It has given excellent and fast ROI.
• Quick delivery of services to our organization.

Incentivized

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

Incentivized