Do you need NEC software? Not always. If you run one small contract with little change and one careful person owning the tracker, a spreadsheet can be enough, and buying a system would be hard to justify.
The answer changes with how many dates are running at once and how much depends on one person. So instead of a feature list, here are three tests you can run this week using your own contract. Our side-by-side comparison of NEC software and spreadsheets covers the features, and the wider NEC contract management software guide covers what a system should do.
Test 1: count your running clocks
Work out how many separate contract periods start in a typical month. These two fictional NEC4 ECC jobs use illustrative numbers, so replace them with yours.
| Source of clocks | How to count | Small job | Busy job |
|---|---|---|---|
| Compensation events | New events a month × 3 (reply to the notification, the quotation, reply to the quotation) | 1 × 3 = 3 | 8 × 3 = 24 |
| Revised quotations | Revisions instructed a month | 0 | 3 |
| Programme | Submissions a month (each needs a reply within two weeks under 31.3) | 1 | 2 |
| Payment | Certificate and the pay less date, for each assessment | 2 | 2 |
| Early warning meetings | Revised register after each meeting (15.4) | 1 | 2 |
| Other replies | Submissions and questions needing an answer within the period for reply | 2 | 10 |
| Clocks started a month | 9 | 43 |
The first job can be held in a tracker and a diary by someone paying attention. The second, with those clocks overlapping and split between both sides, is a part of someone's job. Multiply by the number of contracts you run. There isn't a magic number at which you need software, and anyone offering one is guessing, but this count tells you which kind of problem you have.
Test 2: take the owner away
Pick the person who keeps your tracker. Without warning them, ask somebody else in the team to answer these from what is available today:
- What replies are we due to give in the next five working days?
- Which compensation events have gone past a reply date on the other side?
- When did we first become aware of the most recent event, and where does that fact come from?
- Which revision is the Accepted Programme, and when was it accepted?
- Which actions from the last early warning meeting are still open?
If they can answer in a few minutes, your method works, whatever it is. If they have to ring the owner, the risk isn't the spreadsheet. It is that the contract's memory sits with one person. Software is one answer to that. A better shared tracker and a written weekly routine are others, and they cost less.
Test 3: replay a near miss
Take the last time a date was missed or nearly missed, and ask why. The reason tells you what to fix.
| What went wrong | What would actually have helped |
|---|---|
| Nobody saw the reply date coming | Dates calculated from the record and an action list. A system helps here. |
| Everyone saw the date, and nobody thought it was theirs | Clear ownership. A system helps if it shows whose turn it is. |
| The date passed because the decision was difficult | Agreeing more time before it runs out (13.5, 62.5), or a quicker route to a decision. Software won't help much. |
| Site knew; the commercial team didn't | Habit and communication. A system helps only if site staff will use it. |
| Nobody knew that rule existed | Training. See NEC time bars explained. |
Reading the results
A spreadsheet is probably enough if your clock count is low, test 2 went well, and your near misses were about decisions or knowledge. Spend the effort on a sound tracker, and make sure the notices go out properly, because the tracker isn't the contract record. See tracking NEC contracts in a spreadsheet.
A spreadsheet is stopping being enough if your count is climbing across more than one contract, test 2 relied on a phone call, or the near misses came from dates nobody saw. Mixing editions is another pressure, because NEC3 and NEC4 have different rules, such as treated acceptance of a programme existing only in NEC4.
You may have no choice if the Scope or Works Information names a communication system. Then the question is how you work with that system, not whether to have one.
One more thing to weigh
A system needs a shared habit. Contract Status, like any record-based tool, only shows what has been put on its registers, and whether an event is a compensation event remains your decision. If your team can't agree to use one, you are better off with a spreadsheet that everybody trusts than a system half of them ignore. To put figures on the decision, see building the business case.
Related guides
- NEC Contract Management Software
- How Software Helps You Avoid Missed NEC Time Bars
- Avoiding Treated Acceptance by Keeping Replies on Time
- Why an NEC Contract Needs a Single Audit Trail
- Why Use NEC Contract Management Software?
- The Benefits of NEC Contract Management Software
See how this works in practice
Click through Contract Status with sample contracts: raise the notice, reply to it, and watch both sides of one record.
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This guide is general information in our own words, not legal advice. Your contract and its Contract Data always govern. NEC, NEC3 and NEC4 are trade marks of Thomas Telford Ltd; Contract Status is not affiliated with or endorsed by NEC.