The Unanet A/E Engine: A Modern, Flexible ERP

In a previous post, I reflected a bit on my first year and how thrilled I am to be here. I unpacked a bit around how well customers are supported and how fair our pricing and policies are as compared to other products in our space. I also hinted at how exciting it was to find a ‘Super Car’ engine under the hood when I got here.

In my prior life at a large consulting practice, we prided ourselves on filling gaps and extending what was really a clunky engine in a legacy system that hailed from the late 1900’s. It could get the basics done – but it was just never built to run fast in a modern way. To be fair to the historical ERP vendors in the Architectural/Engineering/Professional Services space, part of the issue is having to migrate legacy firms forward that may have customized things around the edges and inside the product that wouldn’t port forward in an elegant way. It is hard to take a fresh approach with a clean canvas. Unanet A/E powered by Clearview was fortunate that they could really build their engine correctly from the ground up in an elegant fashion that allows us to run fast and play well in a modern world. Plus, customizations port forward the way our system was built. Engines matter. In fact, their quality will matter more and more in the coming years. You can add or change interfaces to look nicer and appear more modern. However, not having a solid engine that integrates well will eventually restrict your growth prospects.

I know, I know, saying something like “built correctly” and “in an elegant fashion” sounds like marketing-speak. So, let me give just a few examples that may help you get a glimpse of the tangible aspects of that elegance:

• Unanet A/E supports an unlimited project work breakdown structure with an unlimited length alpha-numeric number/name. Granted, you don’t want to have a 12 level work breakdown structure (WBS) if you can avoid it – but it is nice to have if and when you need a 4th or 5th etc. level. We can also have multiple profit centers or companies share/split a node of a project without the need for you to add another level just to break out revenue/cost assignments. So, we can help you keep a simple/tight project structure while also having incredible flexibility where and when you need it. Better Software. Better Company.
• Adding to that first bullet, from day one, our opportunities and projects have been in the same table. Other vendors are just now catching up to the fact that you need to have them in one table so you can look at projected revenue across both under contract projects and potential projects. You need to be able to put time and expenses against an opportunity and plan/budget the project prior to it getting awarded. We have also always had client and vendor contacts in one table so you can look across the relationships you have. Better Software. Better Company.
• Our system is real-time. I am not talking about just labor here. Our analytic dashboards show what is happening right now, not pulled from a stored database or cube of data from last night or two hours ago. If your current system relies on stored data from the past it is a sign that it doesn’t have the structure or horsepower to perform. Better Software. Better Company.
• If you created a custom invoice or report in version 1 of our software back in 2008 it would still run fine in version 47 today, eleven years later! In fact, it is really more like ‘personalizing’ your system. This makes updates seamless. No re-implementations or having to stay on an old release to keep something working. We build enterprise, solid, stable software so you can worry and focus on other things in your business. Better Software. Better Company.

Everybody claims that they have great technology. The ‘proof is in the pudding’ and eventually your engine will reveal its’ weakness. Give me a call and I would be glad to show you the difference. There is a real sea change happening in the industry. We would be honored to earn your business and have you join our rapidly growing list of customers. Thanks for your time and consideration.

Steve McTavish

866-553-0330 ext 225