Anterra vs Prophix vs Vena vs DataSelf vs Office Connector: Which Is Better for Construction WIP Reporting and Forecasting

Margins in construction are fragile. They hinge on how precisely you track job costs and manage your WIP report. 

And relying on point solutions or scattered spreadsheets for that job is why things slip through the cracks. 

You need purpose-built financial planning and analysis software (FP&A) and add-ons for that. 

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at five FP&A solutions: 

• Anterra 
• Prophix 
• DataSelf
• Vena
• Office Connector 

You’ll learn what features each of these tools offer in terms of WIP reporting, forecasting, and overall usability. 

By the end, you’ll have a clearer sense of which of these could qualify as the best FP&A tools for confident financial decision-making.

Anterra Technology

Anterra Technology is a Construction Performance Management (CPM) platform that adds construction-specific capabilities to your existing ERP that lacks them.

Those FP&A solutions can turn your raw data into financial dimensions by applying tried-and-true CPM processes and methodologies following Gartner’s CPM framework. 

Whether you’re trying to find out where the margins are fading or how your cash flow’s holding up, Anterra can provide immediate visibility into that. 

And no, it won’t lag or crash just because you dared to ask for a multi-layered report.

Let’s show you what Anterra offers for WIP reporting and forecasting:

WIP Reporting

AnterraBI is Anterra’s cloud-based BI solution that automates WIP reporting to free you off manually reconciling project data. 

Here’s what it brings to the table:

• Fully automated WIP reporting that eliminates the back-and-forth between accounting and PMs

• Direct integration of project management and financial data to prevent conflict between what’s happening in the field and what shows up in the books. If there’s a mismatch, the system automatically posts offsetting journal entries to align financial statements with real progress.

• Auto-reverse entries for WIP management that are temporary (auto-reversing) and only correct the current period’s books, but reset in the next period to avoid double-counting

• Drill-down capability on consolidated financials, right down to the transaction level

• Customizable dashboards that each user can pivot on the fly to zero in on what they are looking for, such as:

• Job margin gain/fade
• Cash position 
• Labor costs
• Billing status
• Risk factors

Forecasting

Anterra’s Timed Cash Flow Forecasting feature helps companies stay ahead of the curve literally and figuratively. Here’s how:

• Forecasts are driven by advanced algorithms that predict cash fluctuations based on revenue, expenses, and job profitability over time

• You get visibility into how current project backlogs translate into future margin using the S-Curve feature

• There is financial guidance for companies juggling multiple jobs in order to help them anticipate and navigate cash crunches before they happen

• It can proactively identify risks and make appropriate adjustments based on real-time financial performance

• There are tools that determine whether a project is ahead or behind on cost and revenue expectations

Prophix

Prophix serves as a centralized FP&A software that brings together financial data from over 200 sources (official claim), which covers widely used construction ERPs like: 

• Viewpoint Vista™ 
• Spectrum® 
• SAGE CRE 
• Coins
• JD Edwards

With the level of integration that Prophix provides, users have an easier time accessing complete and consolidated information without jumping between disconnected systems.

Each user in Prophix gets a personalized dashboard complete with charts, graphs, and KPIs relevant to their role. 

For instance, if you’re a CFO, you’ll be able to track financial performance KPIs like inflows/outflows, cost variance, working capital, etc. On the other hand, a project manager will have visibility into cost trends and labor efficiency. 

Regarding WIP reporting, Prophix offers what they call FP&A Plus, a system that can speed up WIP report generation and keep reports responsive even with large datasets. 

These WIP reports provide visibility to loads of metrics, including:

• Billings 
• Earned revenue 
• Costs, and margins
• Over- and under-billings
• Accounts receivable and payable

One of the good aspects here is real-time detection of margin fade. 

Let’s say a project starts losing money. You can identify it quickly, isolate the phase where things are going off track, and pinpoint the root cause. 

You can perform these drill-downs with just a few drag and drops followed by filter and review. 

DataSelf

DataSelf is essentially a two-pronged setup: 

• BI-based Reporting for those who want better analytics
• A data warehousing solution, ETL Plus, for teams that need faster, more accurate reporting by consolidating and cleaning up data across systems.

Dataself also brings along a vast report and dashboard library (over 8,000 templates according to the official claim), which includes industry-specific content for construction. 

Now, when it comes to WIP reporting, DataSelf offers several capabilities that prioritize both speed and flexibility. The platform includes:

• Extensive WIP report templates with one-click drill-down into underlying tasks and transactions

• Single-page analytics layout that consolidates budget, variance, and general ledger data into a single view, with dynamic period selection and the ability to drill all the way down to GL batch-level info.

• Reporting that covers both current project data and historical actuals too to enable trend analysis and spotting recurring issues

• Contract dashboards that help identify which tasks and agreements are affecting timelines and financials

• What-if cash flow projections with dynamic filtering for teams to test scenarios before they impact the balance sheet

The search-based reporting feature deserves a separate mention. 

Instead of navigating menus or building filters manually, users can type something like “Sales by Salesperson by Month in 2019 as a text table” and get a clean and accurate report instantly. That ease of use extends to KPIs as well. 

Vena

Vena is a limited FP&A tool in a sense that it builds directly on Microsoft Excel only. 

The value proposition of the Vena software is to let finance professionals keep working in Excel while quietly adding a database layer underneath. 

In other words, through this plug-in, users can read and write data to the cloud without leaving Excel. 

As for reporting capabilities, Vena software does support detailed WIP reports with the kind of financial depth that’s useful for evaluating job health. 

You can break down performance by phase and cost code and track standard metrics like:

• Percent completion
• Forecasted vs. actual cost
• Gross profit
• Over/under spending
• Margin fade
• Project completion percentage

But here’s the thing. 

While Vena FP&A might be ideal for users who know Excel inside and out, not everyone in the organization does. The learning curve for non-finance users can be steep because you’re asking them to learn both Excel and the added layers of Vena’s planning tools. 

In practice, this can lead to an uneven adoption curve, where a few power users shoulder most of the work while the rest of the team struggles to catch up. 

And even then, Vena’s performance issues can create a bottleneck. Many users complain that its cloud syncing is notoriously sluggish. Something as small as updating a single cell can take 20 minutes or more to reflect in the system. 

Office Connector

Office Connector is a set of tools that extend the functionality of Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate (formerly Sage Timberline Office) by integrating it directly with Microsoft Excel. 

It makes it possible for users to access live Sage 300 data within Excel, update it, and push it back into the system when needed.

The product is split into three modules, each handling a specific type of interaction between Excel and Sage 300:

• Office Connector Query: This component lets users automatically pull data from Sage 300 into Excel. You can work with prebuilt queries or build your own, depending on how specific your reporting needs are. Presentable formats include standard worksheets, charts, and graphs.

• Office Connector Write: Users who need to do more than just analyze data can use this feature to write back to Sage 300. You can update fields directly from your spreadsheets, so long as they’re mapped to writable fields in Sage, which simplifies tasks like budget updates or data corrections.

• Office Connector Import: This handles the conversion and upload of Excel worksheets into Sage 300 and makes it easier to bring in bulk data without manual entry.

Another feature worthy of mention is Office Connector Financials, which is often treated as an add-on.

This add-on enables the creation of full financial reports inside Excel using Sage 300 data. 

This includes formatting, pivot tables, graphs, and other standard Excel features that make reports both functional and presentation-ready.

Now, Office Connector doesn’t see great usage for generating WIP schedules, and it’s clear why. Doing so would require you to build your own query, as there’s no built-in support for generating WIP reports. 

And as we know, a WIP report would take a complex network of queries, and not all construction firms have the manpower to design that.

Which Is Better for Construction WIP Reporting and Forecasting?

If ease of use and automation matter the most to you, Anterra should be at the top of your list. It works fast and requires no complex setup or learning curve. 

Then, we’ve got Prophix, which is good for bigger teams that want deep integrations and tailored dashboards. 

DataSelf is a strong option too, especially if you’re looking for flexible reporting with plenty of templates and a search-driven interface.

Vena is ideal for Excel power users but might slow things down for the rest of the team.

Office Connector fits well if you’re already deep into Sage 300, but building a full WIP report with it takes serious effort.

So which one is overall better than the others on this list? The answer is Anterra! It provides the best mix of forecasting power, WIP depth, and usability for construction firms. Book your Anterra demo today and see what it can bring to the table for your construction firm.