Total Synergy’s latest SaaS product, Enterprise, features advanced forecasting and resource planning tools for architects, engineers and construction design firms.
In time for last week’s Digital Construction Week show in London, North Sydney, Australia-based AEC project management software developer Total Synergy launched its new Synergy Enterprise platform, targeted at architects, engineers and construction design professionals.
This latest Software-as-a-Service product, which features advanced forecasting and resource planning, has been in development for some months, helped by recent product development recruit Paul Hemmings (formerly at RIB after it acquired ProjectCentre), and extends the core Synergy SaaS product launched in November 2017 (see Total Synergy targets AEC designers).
Core practice management platform
EMEA regional manager Damiaan van Zanen said Synergy is making waves as it grows to become a globally adopted product:
“Since launching the new cloud version of Synergy in November 2017, we’ve seen more than 130 AEC businesses, totaling over 1100 users, adopt it for their AEC project delivery management — from sole operators on our Professional and Business products to companies with over 150 staff.”
Synergy supports built environment design businesses throughout the entire project delivery lifecycle — from opportunity to work breakdown, forecasting and resourcing, and document delivery. Its project delivery management functions are underpinned by a comprehensive project accounting capability to ensure visibility into project and practice profitability throughout the lifecycle.
Synergy Enterprise
The latest advanced forecasting and resourcing features released with Synergy Enterprise allow directors to look ahead in their business to see revenue forecast at phase and stage level, and individual staff capacity and utilisation in a simple, drag and drop Gantt chart.
While the Synergy Enterprise release brings new capabilities in practice and project management, further functional growth is planned. Hemmings says:
“The release of Synergy Enterprise helps design practices answer two key questions: Do I have enough revenue in the pipeline to run my business, and do I have enough staff to deliver the projects? Synergy Enterprise is the third tier of our project and business management platform. From here we’re actively developing features that suit design businesses with diverse portfolios and reporting needs, multiple offices, foreign currency billing, and continued enhancements to online document management and delivery.”
I also talked with Total Synergy CEO Scott Osborne this week and he invited firms to look closely at the platform’s drag-and-drop planning board. “Project accounting is not everybody’s favourite activity, but being able to quickly manage how and where project design work gets undertaken does get people excited,” he said.
He also mentioned the firm’s work with Microsoft to take advantage of Azure storage and build project portals for digital storage of information used by small- and medium-sized businesses (topical and interesting in light of Microsoft Azure’s continued expansion to power Bentley’s Connected Data Environment – see previous post).
