Project management in the construction area isn’t without challenges, the most obvious of which is a collaboration among the various assigned groups and task forces to carry out a particular activity or program. Only the interface of the right technology and processes in place can bring about effective collaboration in the already capital-and labor-intensive construction area. Let’s discuss by dividing the topic into 4 phases of construction.
Design:Â
The design phase of a construction project in a project management software suite should integrate road mapping and visualization capabilities. They should visually create, and help understand project plans, long-term goals, milestones, timelines, schedules, resource planning and allocation and identification of potential risks in the design stage itself. All relevant documents including e-documents, blueprints, contractor info, certifications, permits, supplier agreements, vendor selection documents based on RFQ responses, and contractor/sub-contractor terms must be readily shared and accessed across all devices, all at one place so that project members, sponsors, and stakeholders can share information and updates in real-time.
Pre-construction:
Ideas turn into action in this phase when usually a contractor admin, project manager, field engineer, and superintendent are assigned. Team members are assigned roles and responsibilities. Tasks are added to the project workflow, responsibilities plotted and action plans developed via creating or cloning work-breakdown structure (WBS). Relevant documents that are reviewed and contracts finalized should be shared and accessible by the team members. Contractors and field engineers would prefer uploading documents to cloud storage, where it can be accessed and retrieved as and when required by those granted with privileged access rights.
Procurement:
This phase involves a lot more collaboration as the details of the procurement of equipment and materials must be readily accessible. There may be a need to prioritize purchase orders, check last-minute purchases, and plan future purchase orders based on availability. Ordering and delivery of material and equipment requires equipping the team with the right tool. Documentation management involves tracking purchase invoices and sharing them across the team for informed decision-making.
Construction:
Usually execution phase requires the greatest collaboration through monitoring the assigned tasks, sub-tasks, and their level of progress (in the order of priority) usually with project managers, contractors, project sponsors, and stakeholders. This will help streamline process pipeline, optimize workflow, and update process status in real-time across the team.Â
Furthermore, the project collaborative tools would indicate ongoing, stuck, and completed tasks, assignments kept on hold due to internal and external risks, and thus the corresponding project reports.Â
To conclude:
As we discussed above, project collaboration for construction is significantly enhanced through the deployment of cloud-based storage, secure document management solutions, optimization of tasks, streamlining workflow and automation, customization of generated reports, advanced reporting tools, custom dashboards, and an intuitive web and mobile-based app.
Request a one-to-one demo today on how Tactive, project management software for construction, can drive project collaboration and improve communication & reporting in your next construction project.
