Resource tracking/mapping software

[BigJavy]

I work in the IT Dept of a construction company and my boss has asked me to find a certain type of software - but i'm not having much luck. Hopefully someone here has come across or used something like what I need.

Basically, he wants to:

1) Map all of our job sites
2) Create a database of various types of assets/resources (people, vehicles, equipment)
3) Assign assets to various job sites
4) View the map of all job sites, drill down and view what's assigned there
5) Re-assign assets from the map (preferably by dragging and dropping them from site to site - but if it's through some other means, that's fine)

I hope that makes sense! I'm downloading Microsoft MapPoint trial right now to see what that lets me do. I'm kinda hoping to find something that won't require too much development to get going. Just wanna be able to use it out-of-the-box.

Thanks!

 

[Demon10000]

Sounds like you're looking for a cross between an asset management program and a project management program.

The asset management program would let you create a database of your assets. It could allow you to check them out (vehicle is at site x). I guess you could treat people as an asset, too.

The project management software would better handle keeping track of your people and projects.

As far as the map requirement -- I'd probably take that on myself if I were you, especially if you find some software that you like but doesn't have it. You could easily stand up a web page that pulls the job sites from your asset management database and plots them on a google map...

Actually, the whole thing shouldn't be that difficult to put together. It's been a while since I've written a web app, put a php page with that information should be pretty easy to put together.

 

[BigJavy]

We're actually purchasing software next year that will do everything except the 'dragging and dropping items from job site to job site'. The company I work has an absolutely horrible track record of buying two or three different programs that overlap but don't integrate. We end up having to repeat data entry, look in 3 different places to see collect data, etc, etc... it's a mess. As soon as I thought they were pulling their heads out of their asses by buying the new software next year, my boss asks for this.

Thanks for the advice. We're trying to get away from developing our own solutions because we'd rather not have to support it ourselves. If there's nothing else out there that does what we need, we might not have another option though.

 

[Kataki]

We use Latitude project management software for surveying and monitoring our job sites. Basically it can map job sites and all surrounding jobs within a radius, it can also handle equipment lists, team-task creation, billing and quotes for every project. I would advice you to look into it.