Item: Procore
Rating: 8
Author: Verified User

Implementation Rating

It is really pretty easy to figure out how to use. As you get more in depth with the use, like creating all the submittals or entering a budget, we found it helpful to send the information to someone at Procore for them to bulk add it. There are always training videos and support is always very helpful with any question you have.

Ease of Integration

It is really pretty easy to use, but some tasks take more searching to figure out everything that needs to be checked or filled in to get the full functionality that you need. Procore support is always very helpful and easy to access for any questions you have while getting started. They also check in and do a conference call at least once a year to go over new functions and to help with any issues you may have. They are always more than willing to help you solve any issues you may be having.

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

All of our project managers and superintendents use Procore. We use it to manage submittals, RFIs, drawing updates, document distribution, PCOs, change orders, and for managing our budget. Our superintendents have access to the plans including all updates onsite on their iPads. We also grant access to our subcontractors to submittals, RFI documents, and plans. It is also used to submit RFIs and submittals to our consultants and the owner can view as little or as much as we allow them to. Our superintendents and subcontractors onsite really like how easy it is to get to the documents they need at the touch of a button without having to drag papers and big plans around the job site. They can pull out their phone or tablet and easily see exactly what they need right in the location they are standing.

Pros and Cons

Submittals. Subcontractors can easily upload them, and then they are reviewed up the chain. Once the final reviewer makes comments it is automatically sent back to all who have been part of the submittal. The process is very efficient once you get everything set up.
Drawings. It's very nice to have all the drawings at your fingertips. And when you have an update, it takes little time to upload them and you will always know everyone is looking at the most updated drawing. It also has a feature that links drawings, you can click on a section cut and it will take you to that page.
RFIs. A subcontractor can create an RFI and then the GC can review and send on to consultants. If there is an issue on a plan sheet, you can actually cloud that area on the plan sheet and link it to the RFI. Once a response is given, the GC can mark it as the official response and everyone that was part of the RFI is notified.

Financials. The payment application process is not very streamlined. There is not much detail that can be entered or easily enter a % complete or $ complete. They have made some improvements, but it still needs some work.
Changing Dates on COs. There is no way to input a date that a CO was approved. We could get a CO from an owner on the 31st, but not have a chance to enter it till the 2nd or 3rd. This can mess things up for billing purposes. It would be nice to at least be able to enter a date received and still have Procore track the date entered.
O&M and Closeout tabs. It would be helpful if there was a separate tab for O&M and Closeout documents. Currently we are having to use the submittal tab for tracking this and it's confusing to Subcontractors and Suppliers.

Collaboration Benefits

Absolutely, our subcontractors, for the most part like being able to access all the information onsite as well as our Superintendents. We have several Owners that really enjoy using it as well. We just finished a project for a University and at the beginning of the project they said they wanted to track everything through their own Sharepoint site. We told them we would load the info into their site, but we were still using Procore for tracking between us and subcontractors. We gave the owners Construction Project Manager access to Procore and within a week he was sold! We still had to load everything into their Sharepoint site, but the CPM did not use their Sharepoint, he used Procore. He said if we ever did a project with them again, he was going to suggest only using Procore to his bosses.

Return on Investment

Definitely a paper saver. We no longer have to print out every RFI, Submittal, ASI, or change to the plans that is made.
Efficiency. Instead of walking back and forth to a job trailer every time the guys need to look at something on the plans, they have it right at their fingertips on tablet or phone
Productivity. Instead of searching emails and potentially forgetting to download a submittal document and upload or email to a consultant, the documents are tracked and submitted in Procore. You are notified through email when something has been done with the submittal or needs your attention, or if it's past due. You are also notified of this in Procore on the dashboard.

Alternatives Considered

Prolog

The Prolog we used was not web or cloud based. This puts Procore far ahead of Prolog in productivity with submittals, RFI, and document management. Where Prolog exceeds Procore is on the financial side. Tracking contract invoices and Pay applications works much better in Prolog. If Procore could streamline their financials to work more like Prolog, it would be the best Project Management system out there.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is great for easy access and management of drawings, submittals, RFIs and PCOs. There are some things that could use work, like finding a way to make the submittal workflow apply or select several submittals that have the same workflow so you don't have to set it up in each individual submittal. Being able to set dates yourself in the COs. The financials need quite a bit more work in order for us to start using it. They also need to create tabs for O&M and closeouts so you can track when they are submitted and they don't get lost in the submittal tab.

Procore Pro

Overall Satisfaction with Procore