Executives and managers at all levels are constantly challenged to maintain and track construction projects. Team members are burdened with the task of continuously looking for drawings and other project related information and reporting their completed tasks to managers. And of course, architects and contractors need to be involved so that you can meet your construction commitments on time, on budget and with the quality that is expected.
Traditional collaboration tools in the construction industry have been developed to allow building owners to share documents. Some solutions have recognized the need for task management and now offer task “folders”. These cumbersome tools do not support the process of construction collaboration. Collaboration Suite starts with a project management paradigm from which you can “link” documents and folders to tasks and timelines.
Many construction management tools are web-based, for obvious reasons. It allows all distributed team members (internal, external) to easily access the necessary and up-to-date project drawings, documents, schedules, etc. This accelerates project management decision-making, and reduces overhead and administrative costs.
Some of the business applications within Collaboration Suite for Construction management include:
Project Management — Manage a complex matrix of documents, processes and tasks across a geographically and functionally dispersed Construction team, when architecture and even engineering are outsourced. Project management solutions orchestrate, track and make these processes more collaborative in order to maintain margins, reduce costs, increase quality, and deliver sites into service on spec and on time.
Tender Management — Efficiently evaluate and select suppliers to perform the general contractor and sub-trade work. Construction management solutions streamlines the communication and tendering process so that all potential contractors are better informed, turnaround is faster and bids are more complete. It also enables companies to easily and quickly involve contractors earlier in the design process when input can have the greatest impact.
Design Review — Simplify the process of conducting periodic meetings to appraise design, architecture and engineering activities and track completion milestones. Construction management enables customers to hold more frequent, productive design reviews in less time than traditional methods—regardless of where the participants are located. Construction management solutions also centrally records action items and meeting minutes, and provides process, task and status visibility to all members of the extended construction team.
Document management — Confidently deliver sensitive information securely to one or more recipients via the Internet. Construction management solutions not only provide secure and reliable transfer of large data sets such as drawings, it can also provide tracking and notification, as well as collaborative tools to aid in understanding and using the data.
Collaboration Suite Construction Management Solutions
These solutions that augment and extend existing CAD, Project Management, Document Management and other information systems, include:
Collaboration Suite Project Navigator™
Create on-line collaborative project spaces that serve as central hubs for orchestrating each stage of the construction process, from real estate through design, construction and opening. Hierarchical task management is provided, which encompasses participants, roles, permissions and data.
All Collaboration Suite collaborative functionality is available with the ability to link any Collaboration Suite process solution directly to tasks and relevant data. Status rollup and tracking with Gantt chart display is provided within, and across, projects and subprojects.
Using the unique “linking” capability of Collaboration Suite, high-level projects can be setup by job site and broken into various phases of the construction process, giving visibility into every aspect of a project, while seamlessly securing the information as required.
Collaboration Suite Tendering/RFQ
The tendering/RFQ capability of Collaboration Suite gives architects and/or project managers a powerful and easy-to-use tool for controlling the bidding process from contractors. Using a flexible workflow, Collaboration Suite reduces the time spent to create and deliver tenders and improves the process of receiving and analyzing quotes.
Collaboration Suite Quick Collaboration™
Quickly create on-line collaborations where members of the extended construction team can access, understand, collaborate on and resolve issues. A secure central repository provides access to all types of data and allows participants to view, markup and interrogate even native product data (CAD) with only a Web browser. Discussion threads, decision polling, action item management and history tracking are provided in an extremely easy to use user interface.
Collaboration Suite Quick Conferencing™
This module adds real-time collaborative capabilities. Live application, desktop and document sharing is provided along with whiteboard and conference recording capabilities. Includes automated management functions such as scheduling, invitations, meeting summaries and action item capture.
Collaboration Suite Viewer
Upload CAD files in a compressed format for viewing, measurement and markup. The built-in viewer allows users to view files without a CAD system. Markups can be stored in the project attachments section for future reference.
Collaboration Suite Document Management
Making sure your co-workers, contractors and site owners have the correct file version has never been easier. Built in document management capabilities allow you to track your version history, lock files and secure documents.
Collaboration Suite delivers significant business value to the Construction process:
- Faster and better decision-making shortens time-to-value.
- Eliminating missed or repeated process steps speeds development cycles.
- Easy reference to latest versions of documents eliminates errors in design, purchasing and manufacturing
- Greater visibility into design processes increases site owner confidence and management tracking
- Greater accountability for tasks improves on-time delivery across all programs
- Earlier and more effective collaboration between designers, engineers, architects and contractors enables reduced and more accurately understood costs.
- Flexible process templates ensure that all process protocols are documented automatically
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