Procore, and its Integration API, is simply awesome

Calance joined the Procore Beta program in the 3rd quarter of 2015.  We had a long-term client who was moving to Procore and they needed some integrations with Sage 300 CRE that Procore did not provide out of the box.  This client has been using our Dimension Integration Framework to integrate data between Oracle Primavera Contract Management 13 and Timberline  Accounting (aka Sage 300 CRE) since 2009.   They were in the process of migrating off of PCM and replacing it with Procore, and asked us to help out.   

While we were a tiny bit sad to see yet another customer move off of PCM, that little sadness was greatly offset by the excitement we felt once we started working with the Procore team and got the opportunity to see Procore in action. It not only has a clean, modern user interface, but it has an equally modern and well-documented API, making integrating with it actually pleasurable!

Let's get the obvious out of the way first - what are the benefits of Procore from customer's point of view?    Well, it lets you manage contracts, vendors, commitments, submittals, RFIs, bids, punch lists, and more.  All the things you need to manage construction projects, making it ideal for General Contractors.  You can even manage Prime Contracts, which is a very nice feature.  It is hosted, so you don't have to purchase hardware and go through painful installations (I'm looking at you Oracle!).  

Also, you can use it anywhere.  It's designed for modern web browsers, working great on PCs, Macs,  and tablets.  And while it's not ideal on a  phone, you actually  can zoom in pretty well and  still get things done.  Procore also provides free apps for mobile and tablets.  Right now these are mainly for reading information, but we expect Procore to improve on them with time.  

Procore provides a set of integrations with Timberline which provide basic functionality.  Where we get involved is where clients need solutions not provided by Procore, such as insurance updates and payment holds.  We are looking to take our complete Timberline integration suite we have developed over the years for PCM and adapt all of it for Procore. This includes projects, cost codes, extras, estimates, budgets, change orders, commitments, commitment change orders, payments, pay rates, and much more. It's a big project, but well worth it.

Another feature we love is demonstrated by the image below, a pop-up which appeared as we were working in the system one day:

As you can see,  the Procore team is constantly improving its product, and they are being very transparent about it.  As updates happen, everyone gets them, and are notified  in friendly messages like this.  They don't make a big deal of it, this consistent, continual improvement is key to their success. This mixture of technical drive and open communications makes Procore stand out as a product designed for the next generation of users.  And even old-timers like myself really appreciate it!

Boulder, CO
Oct 2015

PS: Our new website is now  live - check it out here:
http://www.calanceus.com/development/integration/