Why we specified: Asta Powerproject software

Robin Percy, planning manager, J Breheny Contractors

As a privately-owned civil engineering company we carry out both main contracting works and subcontracted groundworks and paving contracts working alongside the likes of Skanska and Simons Group. Asta is used by more than 80% of construction firms in the UK, so licensing the same software as these firms makes it easy to integrate our parts of the project with theirs.

As planning manager I work with our estimating department preparing construction programmes at tender stage, it’s not something clients require, but we like to provide the extra detail in the hope of winning work. Asta allows users to develop a basic tender-stage construction programme, then if the tender is won, it can be refined using data from our construction department and configured to monitor and manage progress based on the conditions of the contract.

On a live project, Asta can generate reports at each stage of the programme to update the client and the project manager on progress. There are a number of standard reports, which include all the relevant info on a single sheet of A4.

Another useful feature is the project viewer that enables the client to access a read-only version of Powerproject and view all the project information without us having to convert it to a PDF.

We can apply different filters, so when you are dealing with different subcontractors you can isolate the relevant programme details for each one without having to go into the detail of the overall project programme. It is compatible with Excel, so you can cut and paste figures in and out of spreadsheets.

Cost was a concern as we have to invest in licences for each person using the software, and Asta was very amenable to our requirements.