In 2009, The Cram Group began hosting Meridan Systems' Prolog Manager and Prolog Converge for GPX Global Systems, Inc. This helped the company better manage construction of its data centers. My background is in construction management, and I've used Prolog for a number of years. "We wanted to run the construction of our data centers more efficiently, and ensure that our employees have access to our systems from anywhere in the world."

By using The Cram Group's ProjectXnet Cloud Hosting Services, GPX Global Systems, Inc. can better manage all aspects of its data center construction—including controlling project costs, reducing paperwork, increasing employee productivity, and providing real-time collaboration to geographically dispersed project teams.

We didn't look at anyone else except The Cram Group for our hosting needs. We selected them because of their solid reputation in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry and their experience working with different types of companies and a variety of software systems.

GPX Global Systems, Inc. appreciates the security, stability and support that The Cram Group provides. We've been very pleased with the security and connectivity of our business applications. The Cram Group understands our need to work efficiently. It's great to know that we can get help when we need it, regardless of what time zone we're in.

As we continue to grow and move into other countries, we can easily add other business applications in the future. "We plan to continue working with The Cram Group for our hosting needs."

John Joyner, Vice President of Facilities Development
GPX Global Systems, Inc.

In 2005, The Cram Group began hosting all of The J Companies' IT needs remotely. It designed a solution that allowed The J Companies' employees to access an integrated package of software that included Office Suite (Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange bundled with Columbiasoft's Document Locator), Sage's Master Builder, and Prolog Manager from Meridian Systems.

This solution gave online access to an integrated package of virtual desktop, document management, accounting, and project management tools. And employees could access them from the main office, a job site, or their home office. "The Cram Group demonstrated great knowledge of the Architecture Engineering and Construction industry, and the products that we use every day," Brot said. "They are sensitive to the nature of our business and understand the importance of being 'up and running' all the time."

The J Companies appreciates the high quality, reliable support The Cram Group provides. "We know we have tech support 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Brot added. "If there's a problem, we can call a qualified person who can help us right away."

Allan J. Brot, Principal
The J Companies

In 2004, Projacs came to learn of The Cram Group and their capabilities, and they felt secure that despite the geographic distance between them, The Cram Group could provide superior Microsoft Exchange e-mail for over 600 hundred users, as well Internet communications. After a smooth transition to The Cram Group's hosting services, Projacs reaped the benefits immediately.

According to Yasser Khreis, an IT manager for the firm, "The Cram Group had newer technology and provided the stability we needed to improve our services. Any concerns about latency due to the distance between us were quickly set aside. In fact, The Cram Group's service was more reliable with better up-time and higher connection speeds than anything available close to home."

In fact, the switch was so successful, Projacs turned to The Cram Group for additional IT assistance. To begin with, The Cram Group developed and hosted a comprehensive web site for Projacs, and in doing so, helped them to expand their business further in an age when a strong Internet presence is critical.

Yasser Khreis, IT Manager
Projacs

Robinson Industries, headquartered in Miami, Fl., is an electrical construction firm with offices in New Orleans, La., and Dallas, Tx. Not long after Hurricane Katrina, Robinson Industries was awarded the contract to maintain the nearly 55,000 street lights in New Orleans. Such a light system is logistically complicated, to say the least. And with the chaos and devastation of Katrina still fresh in everyone's minds, Robinson knew that it needed a service management system that would be hosted remotely, away from any further potential natural disasters.

The Cram Group began hosting Robinson Industries' system management needs remotely when they were awarded the city contract. It developed a solution that gave Robinson project managers an integrated software suite with Timberline Service Management system at its core.

A veteran to the industry, Dwight Robinson questions how such a job could have been done well without such an efficient system in place:"Even though I've been in this field for 35 years, having to maintain the light system in New Orleans without The Cram Group is hard to imagine. It's just impossible without the right software, and The Cram Group has made sure that our Timberline system is always up and running. They make sure there is no down-time for the system. Tracking the system is more real-time for us, and less down-time for the lights.

" The Cram Group has also provided Robinson Industries with cost savings by acting as their IT department. "They are always available and very knowledgeable," adds Robinson. "Even if it's not their system specifically, they can handle the problem and help us keep our software up and running."

Dwight Robinson
Robinson Industries

Since the company’s projects can be located anywhere in the world, IMTC-MEI chose to utilize a third party hosting service for their Prolog software. Project 3 Technologies recommended ProjectXnet hosting from The Cram Group, a Meridian authorized System Integrator (SI). ProjectXnet provides secure, Web-based access to Prolog from any Internet connection. “No matter where our people are, as long as they have Internet access, they can get to our Prolog data,” Thomas says. “ProjectXnet backs up our data every hour and The Cram Group offers spectacular 24/7 support.”

With the Project 3 Technologies and The Cram Group teams handling IMTC-MEI's Prolog implementation, the process moved forward quickly. "It amazes me how fast we were able to implement a fairly complex system like Prolog because of the knowledge and experience of our implementation teams," Thomas states. "We were online within 72 hours. Two weeks later, myself and three or four other users were comfortable enough to function within the software. Five months later, we were running a $48M project."

Shane Thomas, Senior Project Services Manager
IMTC-MEI

The Cram Group provided their ProjectXnet Hosting Services to Improve Cost Management and Collaborative Workflow for Bright Horizons Family Solutions. After one weekend of implementation and a short time period for the necessary testing and training, Bright Horizons has seen an improvement in information sharing, cost management, and the approval processes required by the organization. ProjectXnet also helps with Bright Horizons' construction and facilities cost tracking and projections.

Now the company gets projections in real time and do better budget reporting now. “I can't under estimate the time savings ProjectXnet has given us.” 

Carole Meehan, Construction Department Manager of Controls and Procedures.
Bright Horizons Family Solutions

"ProjectXnet is much more than a high performance hosting environment. It is backed up with first class support via phone and online forums. When a problem is encountered, they always find a solution.

This enables me to administer a robust, web-based project management system for more than 600 users with a one person department. I can focus on developing new processes and educating the users on our core competencies."

Rich Cummins, Hensel Phelps Construction Co.

The Cram Group provides Prolog Training and Implementation to NSLIJ, New York City's 7th Largest Employer. "The Cram Group gave us exactly what we needed: a firm that could understand our Project Management philosophy and deliver quick technical solutions.

The Cram Group's consultants allowed our Facilities Management Department to finalize the transfer of budget data for about 300 projects into Prolog Manager. Once our migration was complete, we utilized their expertise to produce our first ever real-time Monthly Status Report of project conditions and financial projections to senior executives."

Bernard Dubin, VP Project Management

When I joined Shapiro & Duncan, Inc. seven years ago, the company had been utilizing Prolog about four years with minimal assistance from Meridian.

In order to better understand this program, we project coordinators took several courses and joined meetings with outside groups who utilized Prolog. It was in one of these group meetings where we heard of The Cram Group.

We contacted The Cram Group who sent a team of experts to review our program. During our initial meeting with them, they made us realized that no one in our construction department was using Prolog to its full potential. So in 2003, The Cram Group team completely overhauled and customized the program to our specifications. It took about six months of hard work for The Cram Group to revamp the program and train us project coordinators so that we could in turn train the rest of the construction department personnel.

For the past five years, armed with the knowledge The Cram Group has given us, we have maintained a highly efficient product and construction team. Through their website we are kept well informed of any changes or updates. We are confident in the fact that should there be any problems or questions regarding our custom program, The Cram Group is only a phone call, email or personal visit away.

Felicia Forster, Project Coordinator

Torcon required additional flexibility to control our project management application, Prolog in a hosted environment. Therefore, approximately 3 years ago, Torcon selected to migrate to The Cram Group‘s ProjectXnet solution.

The Cram Group‘s very talented staff have helped us customize the look, feel and functionally of the ProjectXnet portal. This customization allowed our employees to have better access to our systems, new functionally with features such as Global Reporter and Self Support (A direct link to TCG‘s support staff) and it has provided access to Torcon‘s on-line Manuals. With this new portal solution we can also allow our customers to view many of the same features that our employees use along with an increased visibility to Torcon‘s branding that was not previously available.

Torcon needed to leverage the power of Prolog into many of our daily activities such as RFI‘s, Daily Work Journals and Punch List Items. The Cram Group was instrumental in helping us test and implement a new mobile solution that expands the use of Prolog out into the field. The Cram Group has also supported Torcon in the testing of a new document repository system. This system will allow the linking of documents directly to a Prolog Manager record and will increasing the communication and efficiency of our personnel.

The Cram Group has helped Torcon‘s Prolog solution keep pace with or stay ahead of our competitors while maintaining a very fair market value for their services

Richard Zavali, Engineering Applications Manager
Torcon, Inc.