How Can I Reduce Duplicate Data Entry for My Construction Company?

April 4, 2023

In many businesses, the same data is entered over and over again into multiple different systems. If we take just the basic job information like customer name, address, etc for example: you might plug this in when you create an estimate, and then again if you get the job and add it to your schedule. If your schedule is separate from your timekeeping software you’ll need to add the information to your timekeeping software as well. Then if you supply materials for jobs, you’ll need the job info in your inventory system. Once you’ve finished the job, the same information will need to be plugged into your accounting software once again so you can send the invoice.

Eliminating some or all of your points of duplicate data entry can save time for you and your office staff. It will also improve efficiency and reduce costly events like paying a crew to drive to the wrong side of town because an address was entered incorrectly, or having to take a second trip to a job because that extra item that was requested at the last minute was added to your accounting system, but didn’t get put on the schedule.

If you know you’ve got some duplicate data entry that you’d like to eliminate, here are some steps you could take to get started.

1. Go through the lifecycle of a job or project in your business from the point when you get a call from the customer (or potential customer) until you send the final invoice, making a note for every time you enter data, what data you enter and where you enter it.

2. At each point where you enter data, ask yourself the following questions:

Do I need this data entered here?

There’s no point entering data somewhere if you don’t need it, or if you can access it just as easily somewhere else. An example might be if you put job files and images in a Google Drive folder, but also add them to your scheduling software so your employees can access them.

Can this system be replaced with any of the other systems I’m already using?

An example of this might be if you are using separate timekeeping and scheduling apps. Many timekeeping systems will also have a scheduling component, and while they are often fairly limited, if it will fit your needs, you could avoid having to enter a lot of information into a separate scheduling system. Another example would be if you do your estimates in something like Excel, but create and send your invoices from your accounting software. Almost all accounting softwares will have some sort of estimating system, and if you can create your estimates in it, you’ll potentially be saving a lot of time when it comes to create the invoice, especially if your invoice closely matches the estimate.

Can I consolidate this system and any of my other systems into a single solution?

Here at Lithium, we love to take a bunch of different processes and systems and consolidate them into a single easy-to-use custom app built for your company's individual needs, but you don’t necessarily need to go that route to consolidate many of your systems into a single solution. If you are a service company, for example, there are several full software systems that may be able to provide everything you need from sending estimates to scheduling the job to collecting payment.

Can I set up automations to pull the data entered here from one of my other systems?

Setting up automations sounds intimidating, but you actually don’t need to know how to code to automate many systems. If you are fairly tech savvy, you can use a tool like Zapier to do things like automatically adding a customer in QuickBooks whenever you add a job to your Trello board. If you aren’t too excited about setting up and maintaining these automations yourself, we’d be happy to help out!

Is removing this point of duplicate data entry actually going to be worth the effort?

As a general rule, removing duplicate data entry is worth the effort since it will save time and reduce errors. There are times when it doesn’t really make sense, however. An example might be if you are using QuickBooks Desktop for accounting and you only send a few invoices each month. Would it be possible to set up an automation to create those invoices automatically? Probably, but working with QuickBooks Desktop is difficult, and maintaining an automation like that might not be worth the headache. If you are sending tens or hundreds of invoices each month on the other hand, it might be worthwhile to set up some sort of automation!

3. Take action. Depending on how you answered the questions for each of your points of data entry, eliminate, replace and consolidate wherever you can (and where it makes sense).

It’s not going to do you any good to know you have points of duplicate data entry and that there are ways you can improve it if you don’t follow through and make the changes!

Removing duplicate data entry will save you and your team time, and will save your business money. Hopefully these steps will provide a framework for where to start.

If you’d like to sit down with us and go through this process, do not hesitate to reach out! We’d be happy to walk through this step and talk about the possibilities around building some automations to tie your systems together or consolidating some of your systems into a custom app.