QuickPen recently announced the release of the Short Interval Planning (SIP) tool in AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1, QuickPen’s Mechanical estimating software. The SIP tool—the first to generate short-interval planning information directly from a piping estimate—empowers project managers to easily improve efficiency in field construction scheduling.

The announcement was made at the QuickPen 2009 Educational User Conference in September, a hands-on training event for QuickPen customers featuring more than 50 sessions from product and industry experts.

Mechanical and plumbing project managers are dealing with increasingly tight schedules and narrow margins. Studies have shown that a significant amount of a field worker’s eight-hour day is non-productive waiting time. Increasingly, contractors are turning to short interval planning—planning one to two weeks in advance—to more effectively manage project labour and ensure both costs and schedule stay on target. Unfortunately, manual short-interval planning has proven to be time-intensive and inaccurate.

The SIP tool in AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1 lets project managers easily retrieve short interval material lists and labour hour information. In AutoBid Mechanical, a project manager can quickly select any portion of a project and review the components to be installed and the budgeted labour. With SIP, project managers have at their fingertips the data they need to set goals for field personnel, monitor labour productivity, and track material requirements. The AutoBid Mechanical SIP tool increases project managers’ ability to control costs and keep projects on schedule.

AutoBid Mechanical 2010 v1 was made available to customers in beta in October and will be available in general release by the end of 2009.

For more information, visit <www.quickpen.com>.