The Cost of Information Complexity
Unpacking the inefficiencies and expenses that come along with technology challenges in construction.
It is very common to see a variety of companies participate and engage in the creation of a diverse set of documents throughout the construction lifecycle of any residential, commercial, or even infrastructure project. Architects and engineers contribute to the initial plans, which undergo multiple revisions.
The need for ROIs (requests for information) and RFPs (requests for proposals) ultimately lead to bids and contracts. Builders and contractors are required to submit material and work orders. There are also a variety of change orders, work schedules, and even permit applications that are created, leading to permit issuance, before work can begin.
Let’s not forget payroll. There is also a plethora of jobsite activities like tracking timecards, order tracking, daily invoicing, and statement generation that are essential every day. This is all coupled with accounts receivable and payables, job-cost tracking, and subcontractor progress reporting. Sometimes it even requires visual documentation as a critical part of the process.
The real job of the general contractor, builder, subcontractor, architect, and all the trades, is collaborating and satisfying the customer requirements by delivering the project on time, within budget, and to the desired specification.
Information is typically entered into various applications and systems, each of which relates to a specific portion of the overall process. No data of the various document contains all the information associated with a project. And these documents don't always "work together:" data from one, for example, can't always be transferred to another. As we talk about silos of information this will break down the silos between departments, bringing growth, operational efficiency, and enabling construction companies to keep all the teams on the same page.
However, this has not always been the case. Individual pieces of information about a project are entered into documents multiple times. This redundant data is then stored multiple times. As changes inevitably occur during a project lifecycle, updated versions of documents are created, exacerbating the problem. This data entry process is redundant, tedious, and leads to numerous errors and storage problems.
In addition, documents travel between team members in a variety of ways, some faster, some slower. Proposals can be emailed, texted, or shared in the cloud. In the past faxing was wildly used. Today many materials orders are called in or simply emailed, or an order is added through an app and ordering completed via a shopping cart. Many of these materials websites can be found through online services or search engines, following a website link, entering a URL, or scanning a QR code/ ecommerce shipping services notify customers of the state of the shipment.
Today’s construction firms have construction sites where materials and logistics are managed. In the late 1990s, for instance, progress reporting and other information was just starting to gain momentum via email. And the internet burgeoning as a project management resource in construction opened many new options for information sharing. Today construction companies leverage trend reports, material reports, cost reports, field reports, work-in progress reporting, data-driven reports, and more.
What's the net of redundant data entries? Inefficiency, inconvenience, and potential costly delays. Construction firms, staff, and trades incur unnecessary expense and costly delays in entering and storing the same information multiple times. Project collaboration and control processes can be greatly enhanced, and managers no longer need necessary material or construction information to proceed with the project.
With today’s technological advances, documents that were once ignored and not reviewed prior to breaking ground or proceeding can easily be examined in the cloud or onsite. In time, advances in AI (artificial intelligence) should help reduce redundancies in staff time, opening up to reductions in incremental construction costs. Whatever the amount, these additional costs have exacerbated the problem, making it tougher for some trades to be competitive in highly competitive markets.
The Solution
When talking about a project being built, according to design plans—physical or digital—they are typically part of a what is kept in a plan room. A library of sorts, where construction professionals can view BIM (building information documents) bidding documents, and more. Nothing has really changed from the past if you really think about it, a plan room is only good until you leave it. Thus comes the changes. Construction teams require agile planning, increased communication, data support, and greater visibility. As the industry continues to evolve, teams need more data instantly at the fingertips when they need it—in the office or at the jobsite.
Construction firms need all the data about a construction project from the start, with compatibility and collaboration in mind. Leveraging greater collaboration would streamline processes and drastically improve communication. If everyone collaborates seamlessly in a timely fashion, just imagine how productive a project would be from the top down.
The ability to prioritize open-design software that offers flexibility and compatibility with various systems is vital. This means by collaborating with all construction professionals well-versed in the construction industry it allows all team members to tailor solutions to the specific needs of each project. By doing this and making compatible across all systems, they can be shared and collaborated with the appropriate project members accordingly. Today, for instance, this means complementary applications and integrations for specialized software allows civil engineers, planners, and designers to leverage tools to design virtually and share information across any civil engineering project.
The tools go from concept, to detail, to analysis, to visualization, to digital delivery. It's not uncommon for users to leverage a common set of "tools" or more often referred to as components that are used to work with information. These efficient and productive work environments, where trades and other construction project participants collaborate with each other quickly and easily, share up-to-date information and solving problems in realtime, has now moved far beyond the typical concept stage. The architecture to build it in your company is available today.
For instance, early on Microsoft created "common tools" or otherwise called COM (component object model). COM was the architecture for building software applications from reusable pieces instead of from scratch. Today, much has been replaced by .NET framework and Windows Communication Foundation. But that’s a discussion for another time. A few decades earlier, COM had been analogous to using pre-manufactured trusses for a home instead of stick-building the trusses onsite at the jobsite. This begs the question how do construction firms benefit from using software built from reusable parts? They can count on applications that are more available, more cost-effective, and easier to build, maintain, and upgrade.
Largely because of this COM tools, information was usable with a variety of
software products and hardware, so users would extend the useful life of their in-place technology investments. One of the major reasons for this is COM kicked off the programming language-independent world, so developers working in a variety of environments could contribute their expertise to solutions that work.
Today’s Tools Come to the Rescue
A lot has changed since the early days of working in just Excel and not sharing documents in a more efficient work environment, where all construction project participants can collaborate quickly and easily. While collaborating with everyone on the project team still has a lot of room to grow in sharing everything in realtime, most construction project members have moved far beyond that initial concept stage and are embracing a host of digital tools. And even some are working on platforms that give the flexibility to create common APIs (application programming interfaces) to share data among vendor solutions.
The construction industry is changing quickly. Whether you are new to construction or simply an old timer, the real key is understanding how desktop productivity software tools, email requirements, internet access, security, AI, and other emerging tech innovation are all changing the way you just might work and collaborate in the office or at jobsite.