Customer Success Story

Customer Success Story
Jonas Software Review helps Bockstael
Construction Limited maximize the
functionality of Jonas Enterprise.
Company Profile
Founded in 1912, Bockstael Construction Limited is a
family-owned construction company serving
institutional, commercial and industrial clients
throughout the province of Manitoba. With annual
revenue in the $80 million range, this growing
company is on track to hit $120 million in revenue by
2015.
“As I delved into it,” Bisson says, “I realized the
software works quite well, but you need to first
understand what it’s supposed to do.”
He continues, “We were using Jonas for A/P, A/R and
G/L but were not taking advantage of its operational
components, such as Purchase Order and Job Cost.
“From the outset, I knew that if we were going to
make a switch, it had to be really worthwhile,” he
states. “After investigation, I felt the functionality
Based in Winnipeg, Bockstael has nearly 150
employees offering general contracting, construction offered by competing programs was inferior to what
management and design-build services to customers Jonas had. People are already familiar with Jonas,
and a total conversion was too resource-intensive for
including hospitals, schools, office and retail spaces,
public gathering spaces, theatres, light industrial and us. We would have gained nothing by buying a new
system.”
manufacturing plants.
“For more than 100 years, we’ve built our reputation
on positive word of mouth,” says Rémi Bisson, CFO,
Bockstael Construction, who has been with the
company for two years. “Our customers trust us.”
Business Challenge
To keep growth firmly on that upward
trajectory, Bockstael asked Bisson to guide the
company through a review and assessment of Jonas
Construction Software, their long-time construction
accounting software. At the time, Bisson estimates
they were using “just about 10% of its functionality.”
Options included staying with Jonas, or migrating to
a new solution such as Maxwell or Viewpoint.
At many companies, user training is not revisited after
the initial purchase. As a result, the software is often
greatly underutilized. For example, licensed users at
Bockstael believed the Jonas Purchase Order and Job
Cost modules cash flow system simply didn’t work.
Jonas Software Review
Bockstael decided it was time to book a Jonas
Software Review. In just four days, Jonas trainer Gary
Nowak was able to demonstrate the true power and
potential of Jonas Construction Software to
Bockstael.
In addition, Bockstael had been limited in their ability
to extract information from more than one module
simultaneously. They only knew how to build reports
from either A/R or A/P. Now, they can combine
information into one report from any number of
modules across the company.
Investment in the Future
Bisson believes that the Jonas Software Review was
“definitely a worthwhile investment. We are finally
getting up to speed on knowing what Jonas is
capable of.” That knowledge will be further enhanced
by a return engagement with the Jonas trainer in
Project Views was another underutilized feature. Now, November.
from one centralized screen, users can easily drill
into different aspects of any job such as purchasing,
“Change is always difficult, because you’re asking
collections or billing details.
people to step out of their comfort zone,” he adds.
“However, the more things make sense, the more you
Improved Productivity
want to learn – and that’s where we’re heading. I’m
pushing for better use of technology at Bockstael.”
“We weren’t using the majority of what was already
available,” Bisson admits. “By investing in the Software He adds, “Jonas is a big tool that offers a lot of
Review, I can now generate the reports I need, saving functionality. The more you understand about the
whole package, the more it benefits your company.”
time and improving productivity”.
Thanks to the training, Bockstael is now aware of the
tremendous value of managing the job from start to
finish through the Project Management system.
“Before the Jonas Software Review, Bockstael was
using about 10 percent of Jonas and compensating
for that by doing manual reports,” Bisson reports. “We
just didn’t understand the full functionality and what
the software was capable of doing.”
Since the Review, Bockstael has increased the number
of licensed users from five to seven. They have also
recently added the Data Mart and Digio which
improves their ability to generate reports and
maintain documents in electronic format.
“By investing in the Software Review, I can now
generate the reports I need, saving time and improving
productivity.
“
Jonas Construction Software
www.jonas-construction.com
Email: [email protected] Tel: 1.888.789.9073