Field Materials AI has given us back a lot of time, and is a huge organizational asset for our field team.
Walker Telecomm is a California-based telecommunications contractor specializing in complex infrastructure projects, including data centers, network cabling, AV, security, fire alarms, and wireless systems. They manage high-volume procurement and material deliveries for a diverse portfolio of clients across the Federal, DoD, Commercial, Aviation, and Life Sciences sectors.
Operating on a nationwide scale, Walker handles a high volume of supplier quotes, purchase orders (POs), deliveries, and invoices. To maintain their standard of excellence, they needed a much better way to manage their material procurement process between the back office and the job sites.
Field Materials AI has given us back a lot of time, and is a huge organizational asset for our field team. Jennifer Walker, CFO.
Before Field Materials AI, Walker Telecomm’s procurement process was highly manual. It often started with the project managers requesting several quotes from suppliers for each job. Once suppliers emailed the quote PDFs, the team manually reviewed each one to determine best prices, exclusions and lead times for certain items. This was a tedious process.
Once project managers selected a quote, they forwarded it to Brandi, who manages purchase orders (POs). She often called the supplier to double check the provided information. Then, Brandi manually created a PO in Sage 100 Contractor by copying and pasting individual line items with units and prices from the quote PDF into Sage 100 Contractor.
On the AP side, Jennifer, the company’s CFO, had to constantly review credit card statements to reconcile receipts. When field crews picked up supplies from Home Depot, for instance, they often brought the receipts into the office with a substantial delay. Reconciling invoices was very tedious as well. The AP team had to find the corresponding PO in Sage 100 and manually verify the invoice accuracy without the ability to check what was actually received on site.
Field crews never brought any packing slips to the office, making it very hard for PMs to verify which materials had been delivered to the job site.
The packing slips never got to us. We’d have to go through statements and try to figure out where everything went and which job they were associated with. It was like piecing together a puzzle to make the numbers fit together. - Jennifer Van Dorn, CFO
Field Materials AI helped Walker Telecomm streamline its entire procurement process. PMs now use the Quotes module to request e-quotes from preferred suppliers. Once suppliers submit the e-quotes, the AI automatically analyzes the bids and recommends the best option. If a supplier uploads a quote PDF instead of submitting an e-quote, the AI agents help match the supplier quote items to the items requested by Walker Telecomm.
Brandi no longer has to do any manual data entry when creating POs. Now she either accepts a supplier e-quote or uploads a quote PDF to have AI agents instantly create an itemized purchase order. After spot checking the results, Brandi saves the PO in Field Materials, which automatically exports it to Sage 100 Contractor through a seamless integration.
Field Materials has also helped the field crews easily submit using the mobile app all packing slips and receipts in a timely manner. All they have to do is snap a photo and submit it - the AI does the rest. Brandy and Jennifer can now instantly see any unplanned spending.
The AP team has also seen a tremendous increase in efficiency. Field Materials now automatically downloads the supplier AP invoices and reconciles them with the corresponding PO and packing slip for a 3-way match.
Finally, PMs no longer need to call the office and the field to check on what was ordered, delivered, and invoiced on a job. The Job Cost report keeps track of all costs on their project.
I can just drop a quote in, the AI reads it, and pretty much does the work for me. It takes a lot off my plate. — Brandi Tucker
With the adoption of FM material management software, Walker Telecomm has streamlined its whole procurement process. Field teams, project managers, procurement and AP staff are now spending a fraction of the time they used to when requesting quotes from suppliers, creating POs, and reconciling invoices.
