How Collaborative Cloud-Based Software is Changing the Game for Contractors

Today’s modern construction project demands have contractors deploying the latest technology and software to not just keep pace, but to innovate — finding new ways to boost productivity, reduce waste and work better together across entire project teams.

Modern construction management software is being designed to be more collaborative, allowing everyone involved with a project to work from the same set of data, in real time. And with cloud-based delivery of information effortlessly between the field, office and project teams on the go, contractors are eliminating organizational silos that once slowed projects down and left project teams guessing at information like job progress, costs and more.

Here’s a quick look at two pillars of project management that are getting a facelift thanks to collaborative software — transforming from challenges to opportunities.

 

Connected Construction Drawings

Drawings are foundational to construction project management. Sheet counts in the approved construction set are often large to begin with and grow even larger as a project progresses. While dedicated drawing management capabilities are the best way to keep sheets organized and accessible to the extended project team, the reality is that paper processes and cloud drives are still the norm.

Managing, organizing and keeping an audit trail of complex project documents can overwhelm paper-based processes and cloud share app functionality. Contractors need to be confident that the entire project team is accessing the most up-to-date version of a drawing to avoid error and rework.

Viewpoint Team, a powerful collaborative project management software, organizes drawings by set and discipline from the get-go. Revisions and versions are tracked and managed via a powerful drawing log. Additionally, drawings and metadata are stored alongside other project management processes such as daily logs, submittals and RFIs. This ensures that project managers and project engineers have all their construction project management information and tools in a single location, instead of scattered amongst manual processes and disconnected apps.

 

Real-Time Operational Reporting

Having access to real-time information is critical to a construction project’s success. Cloud-based construction enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms like Viewpoint Vista or Viewpoint Spectrum that integrate with software solutions like Viewpoint Team, give users immediate access to the data and reports they need to see how jobs are faring and where corrections might need to be made. Viewpoint Team gives project managers, field users and the expanded project teams a steady flow of near real-time data from Vista and Spectrum for current projects that aids their tactical day-to-day decision making.

Viewpoint Team’s Contract Summary at Complete report, for instance, provides job cost estimates that lets project managers know how their projects are performing vs their projections. The Billings-to-Date report shows project managers how much they’ve billed, their actual costs and percentage complete to date. The true data these solutions deliver provides a concise picture of whether contractors are over/under billing their customers and if they’re on track for completion on time and on budget.