As we head into a new year, a review of construction administration processes could uncover opportunities to reduce hidden project costs. Some of the most overlooked areas include team communication, training, and manual data entry processes.
The Cost of Over or Under Communicating
Many project teams outline communication procedures for meetings but fail to address communication requirements for notifications during the review process. There tends to be two schools of thought around email notifications: notify everyone for everything, or only send email notifications on a "need to know" basis. Over communication via email notification is very common. For example, does the structural engineer need to receive an email notification for all interior design submittals? And does the contractor need to receive an email notification every time a submittal or RFI is forwarded from the design team to an engineer or consultant? If a team member's inbox is flooded with automated email notifications from the software application, there is a high probability that they will miss the notifications that are most important for them. On the flip side, emails sent only on a "need to know" basis may be misdirected to the wrong person causing a delay in communication. Or people who need the information are left off the distribution list completely.
Skipping Over Training
Training on the software application is one area that is often overlooked or hurried through. Although many project teams view training as unnecessary, when errors occur due to lack of training more time is lost correcting issues. In addition, training also allows the entire team to discuss and agree on people and process components, including communication protocols and workflow. Training sessions where the contractor and design teams can jointly discuss and agree upon workflow, organization, and communication provide an additional opportunity for everyone to get on the same page.
Manual Processes for Exchanging Information Between Systems
Manual processes for moving data between different construction administration systems is another area that is often overlooked. Contractor teams and design teams usually have a preferred software application for construction administration as CA solutions are designed to support a particular role or function. When multiple systems are in play, administrative teams are required to manually upload, download, and rekey information between systems. These manual processes add time to the project, but they also introduce human error.
How Moseley Architects Simplified Their Construction Administration
Architectural and engineering firm, Moseley Architects struggled with the complex landscape of construction administration solutions required by owner and contractor teams. Over the past several years, they saw some consolidation on the contractor side with Procore's construction administration software, however, Moseley Architects' team still struggled with duplicate data entry.
They utilize Newforma Project Center as their primary project information management system and wanted to streamline the exchange of submittal and RFI information and eliminate duplicate data entry.
By implementing the Newforma Project Center Connector for Procore, an extra layer of complication was removed from the construction administration process by eliminating duplicate data entry with the automated workflow. In addition to reducing the amount of time spent on data entry, Moseley Architects also saved time by eliminating the need to train their new staff on the double entry process. By freeing up time spent uploading and downloading files between systems, the team was able to spend more time reviewing content.
Moseley Architects currently has 28 projects using the Procore Connector processing over 3000 submittals. Using the Newforma ROI Calculator for the Procore Connector, this equates to a saving of 600 hours and $30,000 for the firm.
Revamping Current Construction Administration Processes
Automated solutions for construction administration are designed to reduce the administrative burden, improve productivity, reduce errors, and proactively manage risk. By planning, organizing and addressing the people and process aspects of construction administration, project teams can realize the full value of the software.
Click here to learn more about recognizing a return on your construction administration software investment.
