Steven Wood Software is a small company providing specialist Project Management  and other software for use in the construction industry.

Based in Northampton, in the heart of England, the company also undertakes bespoke commissions and training in the use of its software.

Founded in 1983, to write a bespoke production and accounting system for a small engineering works, the company moved into Estimating and subsequently Project Management software.

During the last thirty years it has primarily concentrated on its ChainLink software, which produces Time Location (Time Chainage) Charts from data generated by most of the current popular Project Management systems.

With over 40 years experience in construction and 50 years in computing, the companies owner and chief programmer, Steven Wood, fully understands the needs of the industry.

History

In 1983, following 12 years experience in the construction industry, Steven Wood decided to put to good use an interest in computers developed whilst studying Civil Engineering at college.
 

Having spent 9 years developing an in-house Project Management system for use on a main frame computer, the first commission undertaken, from a major construction company, was to provide a Project Management software system that would run on the recently introduced Personal Computers for use on a contract in Hong Kong.
 

This success was closely followed by a second commission to provide a fully integrated Accounts, Marketing, Production and Stock Control system for a small street furniture engineering company.
 

In 1988, following a request from a ex-colleague, an MS-DOS based computerised estimating system aimed at the construction industry was developed and released on the the market and the company began trading as Steven Wood Software.

InterEst, originally aimed at the small construction company, was soon adopted by some of the UK's major construction companies, and expanded into a suite of multi-user programs, providing the complete answer from tendering to successful completion of contract. This system has been discontinued

The 90's saw the company return to it's roots and re-enter the project management software market with the release of ChainLink, a program for creating Time Location (Time Chainage) Diagrams from data produced by todays leading project management software systems. Version 2, developed in conjunction with Asta Developments in the UK and Mangement & Software im Bauwesen in Germany, added Power Project compatibility, Version 3 improved the links with Primavera P3,  Version 4 took on board the introduction of Primavera Enterprise from its inception as P3e to the current P6 release, incorporating MPX and XER file import facility and improved graphics. Version 5  added Scheduling, Resource/Financial Histograms and Graphs. Version 6 added a new dimensions of Centre Line offset and Clash Detection

Version 7 now adds Logic drawing capabilities and a Dashboard showing a Logic Analysis of the project, together with a Progress Chart, plotting an early and late start envelope against baseline and Start and Finish Dangles tables, click here for further details.

Running under Windows 10 and 11, ChainLink is firmly established in this niche market worldwide and is being employed on a variety of construction projects.