New insights from Webforum Collaborate 2016

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Webforum Collaborate started this year as a new annual convention where we spent a full day with our users. The purpose of the event is that we provide a forum to learn and be inspired by one another to generate new ideas within the areas of project and structured collaboration.

Webforum Collaborate 2016 - presentation to user group by Bo Tonnquist from Baseline ManagementThought-provoking presentations

To stimulate the thought process, we listened to insightful presentations with a focus on project work and the critical role it plays in today’s fast-moving society. Erik Sjöberg from Moment talked about how the project office should be viewed as an enabling department, while Bo Tonnquist from Baseline Management identified project management as a key competence for successful companies. Our own CEO, David Björk, shared experiences and challenges that may arise in the implementation of a project office of a larger organization. We also had many informative discussions between the presenters and users throughout the day.

Webforum Collaboration 2016 user benefit workshops

Workshops focusing on user benefits

With Webforum Collaborate we are looking to strengthen our customer relationships and capture innovative ideas and wish-lists on the future functionality of the tool. Split into focus groups we facilitated interesting discussions on how to best take advantage of the features of the Webforum tools. All the discussions helped us gain many valuable insights about how customer value can be further increased.

Webforum CEO David Björk addresses users in Webforum Collaborate 2016 workshop group

Looking forward to Webforum Collaborate 2017

We always enjoy exploring Webforum’s potential together with our end-users in an interactive environment and are very grateful for the input we received during this day. We are already looking forward to next year’s event and hope to see you there then!

Effectively monitoring projects in a challenging environment

Status Reporting is the biggest annoyance

Organisations that run many projects at the same time need to constantly keep track of the status and potential issues in all their projects. A project office is often created that acts as a hub for all projects in the organisation. When Webforum talks with various companies, the topic that comes up again and again is that updating the status of the project is one of the biggest annoyances during the course of a project.

In order to get an updated picture of the project’s progress project offices are forced to frequently chase the project leaders to give their status. This is an ongoing cycle which wastes both time and energy, which could be focused on more vital tasks linked to actual project delivery.

Avoiding unstructured collaboration

The main reason for the problems is often that project status updating is done as a separate process that is not part of the regular project cycle, but rather comes as an ad hoc request from the manager. Sometimes this is handled through a status update entered in a separate tool from the main project management tool, creating an even larger overhead and barrier to adoption when you need to remember specific login information and location, not to mention the need to manage additional systems.

Confidence decreases, irritation increases

This manual chasing of project status, leads to a huge frustration in many companies and organisations with long-running projects and a there is always the uncertainty whether the information is up-to-date or not. Often this becomes a real hindrance where the project office risks losing confidence in understanding the current project status when they constantly have to nag people about updating the project status, but also the senior management team can doubt whether they have a true picture on the project’s progress.

Three steps to achieving effective project tracking

To solve this problem, you can work with either the “push” or “pull” approach.

Status Reporting using a smart “pull” approach

Push, the usual method, means that resources are pushed to addressing the problem. For example, this takes the form of individual employees who are communicating with project leaders about the status of the project give an update for them. This is an option but a costly and inefficient solution. The harder way to boost participation involves management giving a directive with deadlines and impose sanctions if these are not met. A not very pleasant solution, which is also not very effective.

Pull, the nasty way, involves a “name and shame” exercise where those who have not followed the directives are exposed. It is not a particularly good way of promoting a positive company culture, but it depends on what works for your organisation. Looking instead for a friendly way to create the pull, we are now looking at something altogether more interesting. This means that the benefits of an updated information solution – and its use – are shared with the project leaders. Status Reporting completed in real-time in meetings and where it can be lifted directly from the tool to be used for direct reporting to management.

Finding a project management tool that meets your needs

It would be best to put a tool in the hands of project managers which is not too simple and equipped with the necessary features and support, but that is also not a huge and complex system that is hard to work with. The tool should provide genuine support to the team, enabling a professional way to collaborate on projects to achieve the desired results. A solution should also be provided for the accumulation of information, making it easy to compile status reports for project portfolios to management. Status Reporting thus becomes a natural part of the project work and combined with bringing the information to life by creating effective communication streams and a work routine.

Systematic project management

To allow the project manager to freely choose their own project management tool will become problematic. It creates a jungle of different formats and ways of working, and at worst of all it will also be difficult to compile status reports as they may look completely different. Project team members, who are often involved in several different projects, are also negatively affected when they have to keep track of various login to any system which can be frustrating. Over an entire business, this can create significant hidden inefficiencies.

To achieve good project results – be sure not to lose the opportunity for effective tracking and make it happen through a reasonable process of status reporting which is embedded into the project model template and other standard steps. Make sure to work with a tool that strikes the right balance on the one hand between being too easy and on the other too complex and expensive. The objective should be to support collaboration and to achieve the goals. Keep in mind that the tool has support a portfolio of projects, making it easy to accumulate status reporting when all the information is gathered in one place and in the same format.

Good luck with delivering your projects!

A project extranet to maintain the information flow

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Being a project manager is no longer just about communicating your message to the group in weekly team meetings. This is especially true of larger complex projects. These projects may have hundreds of people involved in different locations and often from different companies or having different levels of engagement with the project.

With large projects the need for communication is especially relevant as you often will bring in people for different phases of the project to carry out their specific tasks but they need to get started quickly and ideally be able to self-serve much of the information they need.

This article explores some of the different ways of communicating effectively with your project community.

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The latest News and Events in the project life-cycle

Every project has a story to tell and a vision of the end goal. Whether this is constructing a new iconic building, a new railway line or a new IT system there will be key events in the project life-cycle that are worth sharing with the project teams whether internal or subcontractors.

Having an easy way to publish such news and events and advertise open meetings can give a true sense of what the overall objective is as well as informing people so they can keep up to date when they find a few minutes to spare. This can also serve to support introduction briefings and also wider stakeholders such as asset owners and advisors can be better engaged.

Internal Social Media-type engagement to increase the knowledge base

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We are all getting more and more used to exchanging information via social media in our personal and increasingly in our professional lives. This can involve posting questions we need answering or being able to search discussions that others have been having of topics of interest. Why shouldn’t this apply to the projects you work on too? After all how often in the past are the same problems repeated over and over again that often is something that someone on the project knows how solve?

Enhancing collaboration by allowing posting of questions on discussion threads and getting some answers quickly by searching for similar topics can make things run smoother. Even innovative ideas can be collected that HQ can think or rolling out further.

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The use of Apps and Mobile web clients in construction projects

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Apps – working independently on your mobile

Most of us are familiar with installing apps on our smart phones and also the process of getting these from the relevant app store.

Mobile App on a construction site

An app is a standalone program that can hold data locally on your smart-phone as well as call the host system to refresh data at certain points depending on the design.

This often means that apps can hold only a subset of data and need to sync with the central system and this works particularly well when working on individual tasks planned in advance.

Since they operate on mobile devices for the end-user it is important to have a simple to use interface with large bold text and a clear flow of functions to enable completion without instruction.

 

HTML5 web client – giving full online access to your data  

A mobile web client (using HTML5) is much like an app in that it can be added to your ‘home Screen’ on your phone appearing alongside apps and when run can look and feel very much like you are using an app.

There are some subtle but key differences since a mobile web client is in effect a web page in the mobile’s browser providing real-time information directly from the remote system of the service you are accessing. If this system is your central collaboration platform you potentially have a vast amount of information you can search for and gain access to.

For the end user a mobile web client provides the same benefits as an app with a visual interface and usability on a range of devices. The difference being that you have online access to a very large amount of data on the central system and the latest versions.

 

Accessing data on site – what to consider

Online collaboration cogsMobile access to data in field and mobile capturing of data may exist in a number of forms.  There may be a mobile app which is downloaded onto your phone or tablet and has a corresponding server side accessed via your laptop or desktop.  This is how the stand alone apps in construction work.

Both sides are kept up to date by synchronisation.

There are also mobile clients of the collaboration platforms.  Accessing these through a mobile device does not employ a separate mobile app but rather access is through a web browser which is opened on the smartphone or tablet.

The advantage of the latter is that since the collaboration platform is the central repository of all drawings and documents and the “one source of the truth” for those who use such systems, you can have access to all of this authoritative data depending on the design of the mobile client.  You could for example depending on the design and your permissions, access the latest revision of a drawing but also if necessary see the previous one or see other nearby systems also.

You could access any document, health, safety, CSCS status, induction, training, SOPs, methods, engineering forms or RFIs.

The issue with mobile apps here however is that you need to either duplicate work to upload of all these resources to the cloud again. For most sizable projects, however, collaboration platforms relying on real-time information exchange will be used. For these projects mobile web clients are a better alternative.

 

About Webforum Professional for Construction and Engineering

Webforum is a complete web-based service for all types of projects and collaboration. The system provides users with everything that supports a project available in one place: documents, drawings, issues, web pages and discussions, including the option to add support Project Planning, time sheets and Reporting. Webforum has chosen to work with a mobile web client in order to give you the full experience and access to real-time information.

To read more about how Webforum can support all areas of Construction Projects please download the Construction Product Sheet

Issues and Communication Brochure

See more on Issues and Communication

Project dashboard for Engineering and Construction

 See more on Drawing management

To see how Webforum can help you with your construction projects, please contact us

 

The master construction plan – a version of progress and reporting for the entire team

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Project Planning tools have been around a long time and many have an array of features to facilitate planning, reporting and visual Gantt charts. The choice between applications can be difficult as often they offer very much the same features. Traditional installed software project planning software such as Microsoft Project relied on expensive individual licences making it only viable to provide the software just for project managers leaving the project team or other stakeholders often being shown a Gantt chart in a project meeting or via email if an when the project manager chose to share it.

Gantt Chart Webforum

The same applies to Oracle Primavera also used widely in construction and engineering. When this software moved on to servers the main improvement was that the project plan could be updated centrally within the same organisation if they were all connected to the same file network. But still the information was held closely by a select few in the organisation.

The Master Construction Plan within building projects

The end client or asset owner needs to be kept up to date of the latest construction schedule and not just on time but importantly on cost. They may already have their own systems and processes in place but the lead sub-contractor may have different needs but still has to take that schedule and run their own project plan to meet their deadlines and to report their status at key points in the build. Being able to import that plan from the client is important in a standard format (such as the commonly used MS Project XML export which many other tools can create).

Construction Collaboration

The subcontractor can then add their own specific detail to their version of the plan while still being able to report back to the client on the progress in time and budget. The needs of the subcontractor themselves may be different in that they are likely to need a lower level of detail down to which resources are allocated to each activity, any key documents that are involved at each stage as well as giving this information often to a wider group of people either to just refer to or to make updates.

The cloud – bringing collaboration to project planning and reporting

Can the cloud do the same for project planning that it does for file sharing and document management? The situation is promising since these plans are just as current as documents that are relied upon to show us the current situation. Certainly for a subcontractor and their teams should not be working to out-of date information and the teams should be able to access information on their part of the project to know what they are working on and how it is progressing. That may also include allowing time reporting against tasks, giving access to key documentation on the completion of key milestones and being able to update progress in real-time and via mobile devices. An example could be actual photos of the build at key points in the schedule.

Project Planning and BudgetFurthermore, being able to control the level of access to a plan gives a benefit.

For example, who can update activities or just view them, whether they can see associated budgets, rates and run reports or just enter their own time reporting information provides a valuable level of collaboration.

A single platform for documentation and planning – tracking progress alongside the design

Using traditional tools, you needed to manage the documents separately and this valuable asset is sometimes left with out of date copies on servers or separate systems, whereas in modern cloud based solutions the document management is integrated within the structure of the project which allows the user to focus on their tasks as the design builds up alongside the tasks in the plan. This level of control opens up the possibility to giving access to the wider team including external subcontractors to have access to the latest plans, designs and be able to enter their own time reporting data. All that without needing an additional licence to another copy of the planning software.

Cost savings can also be made with the ability to link together collaboration tasks that have a direct impact on the overall plan: for example if subcontractor drawings were submitted late this would be immediately shown on the plan as giving an overall delay in the project and an opportunity to really focus attention to complete the activity rather than waiting for other costs to mount.

About Webforum Professional for Construction and Engineering

Webforum is a complete web-based service for all types of projects and collaboration. The system provides users with everything that supports a project available in one place: documents, drawings, issues, web pages and discussions, including the option to add support Project Planning, time sheets and Reporting.

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To see how Webforum can help you with planning your projects, please contact us

Mobile and the future of collaboration platforms

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Collaboration platforms for construction date back to the start of this century when pioneers such as 4Projects and BIW got going in the UK following the Latham and Egan reports with their focus on replacing an adversarial culture with a collaborative one.  In time there were a number of new entrants such as Aconex from Australia and ASite. Both of the pioneer products now form part of larger firms, in the case of 4Projects through its acquisition by ViewPoint Software and BIW now forms part of the German company Conject.

The growth and diversity of the sector to its current state of maturity in the UK has been well tracked by Paul Wilkinson’s blog Extranet Evolution which is probably the most authoritative source of information and analysis of the sector online.  This post deals with future trends in collaboration platforms in relation to mobile IT.

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Collaboration platforms provide capabilities for allowing teams in the same or different locations to access “one version of the truth”.

They normally involve desk top or laptop based work on reviewing designs, distributing drawings, handling submittals, submitting tenders or raising issues.

Over the past few years a number of them have also added mobile clients but these seem not to have been promoted to any great extent.  At the same time there has been the rise of stand-alone mobile applications for quality issues and snagging, some of which like Latista (USA)  or Priority1 (UK) retained an enterprise software and enterprise sales model while others such as PlanGrid or Basestone were true “ enterprise apps” with a fully digital sales model and ease of use and acquisition.  Now in addition to the above, we have the advent of mobile BIM with some collaboration vendors such as Aconex introducing the ability to address issues in BIM models on the mobile client while Vela Systems of the US was acquired by Autodesk partly for its capabilities in mobile BIM.  It all looks like a very confusing picture.  So what might happen in the future?

Mobile BIM of course, does not just comprise BIM enabled mobile clients of the collaboration platforms but also mobile applications of the BIM vendors themselves.  Autodesk has through the acquisition of Vela, acquired what is in effect a mobile front end for Navisworks.  Bentley also has a mobile client although it is not yet as advanced as the Autodesk one. The development of BIM capabilities in the collaboration vendors with their BIM model servers now means that these capabilities such as raising issues, attaching images, assigning work and model viewing and merging can also be done on mobile devices.  The first stage of functionality here is viewing the model on the device and raising issues or closing out issues or commissioning plant from the mobile client.  But one can envisage that the mobile features of BIM will extend out into other areas such as for instance imaging the scheduling (4D BIM), use of Augmented Reality along with BIM and also handling of cost information.  Ease of use and easy navigation are going to be key considerations in driving the acceptability of such technology.

hero-3-ipadIt is not clear at this time how BIM in its mobile form is going to be used down the value chain on projects.  Certainly there has, and continue to be quite a range of barriers to the adoption of mobile IT in UK construction and one of them has been the cost of tablets if such software was to be deployed enterprise wide.

With the advent of larger format smartphones in both Android and iOS, it is possible that the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend could present one solution to this.  However construction is very conservative and BYOD is much less acceptable here than in other industries.  Any such BYOD deployments would need to be accompanied by use of some of the excellent Mobile Device Management applications to ensure security.

One other uncertainty about future trends here is the role of stand-alone mobile applications as against the mobile clients of the collaboration platforms.  The advantage of mobile clients (which of course will also have to work offline as well) is that access to the central database of drawings and information is available and not just data input from in-field.  To be really successful, stand-alone mobile applications are going to need to have interoperability with the collaboration platform or BIM model wherever it is held and/or drawings repository.  This issue of lack of interoperability has traditionally been one of the biggest headaches in the construction software ecosystem.  But with the advent of the cloud and in the era of web APIs this is no longer the challenge it once was.

To date most of the adoption of advanced construction technology including mobile IT has occurred by the big Tier 1 firms.  But in recent years we are seeing a new generation of start-ups introduce new lightweight digital apps which are easily affordable by SME companies.  There is great unmet need in that sector and one can expect to see this sort of technology being used increasingly down the value chain and not just by Tier 1 firms.  In relation to BIM this emphasises the need for the software to provide a great user experience and be easy to us.  Small firms are not going to be able to afford expensive mobile BIM training if that is what is needed.

In areas outside construction there has been a rapid growth of generic “enterprise apps” in the collaboration space such as for instance Yammer.  We have also seen the rise of hugely successful messaging apps such as What’s App. These trends and the communications technology which underlie them are likely to also have an impact on construction and engineering.   Not simply through the use of the above apps in those industries, but rather by the development of new construction specific apps or new functionality which allows instant messaging.

Apps such as What’s App are built using new technologies which allow for rapid, simultaneous transfer of data in both directions thus greatly speeding up and enhancing the communications experience.  This is interesting because it raises the issue of whether and to what extent construction can benefit from synchronous working.  Some design processes are synchronous i.e. they take place at the same time and in the same space whether that be a physical co-location for a number of people or a virtual one.  But some design takes place also in stages after various professionals have considered various inputs.

image-2-300x273In operations there is a lot of asynchronous work.  For instance a RFI is raised, sent and then one waits for a reply and acts on the reply.  With instant messaging type collaboration one could get immediate access via video to someone, get an answer with associated media and then proceed.  A group could informally view an image or video at the same time on mobile devices and each mark it up in real time.

Team collaboration in real time from different locations would enhance co-operation between the contractor and sub-contractors.  The meaning of “collaboration platform” could in time come to mean not just the cloud based document management and review system which is mainly desktop based but something wider which embraces mobile and real time as well and captures every communication. One US app company which is getting into this space is the construction app FieldLens while another more generic solution is the US start up Lua Technologies which sells to a number of industries.

So the future of mobile technology in collaboration platforms will likely see a mix of different systems being used, some office based and some mobile, all interoperable and all based around the common data environment.

In summary this is a very promising time for mobile IT in construction.  The pace of technological change is relentless and this will in time make projects more efficient, teams more harmonious and sites safer to work in.

Peter Daly was formerly the co-founder of mobile app company SmartBuilder Software (subsequently re-branded as Plan2Finish).

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Document and drawing attributes – how they save costs and improve project delivery

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If your project has hundreds or thousands of drawings and documents just being able to store them and share them online is not enough. You need to search for specific documents based on key information about the drawing and also you may be required to monitor or check the status of this information.

This article gives some examples of where advanced information management of drawings and documents can improve key processes in engineering and construction projects. This improves quality, saves time and therefore costs.

 

Housing project

Drawing design and management

So, what additional information is useful on a drawing and how does it help improve efficiency and reduce costs during the running of a project?

In standard file-sharing systems you may have the name, size and who created it or updated it last. That isn’t much information to be getting on with. So, if you were able to add some of the key information to it (e.g. Drawing type, Approval status, project name, phase, architect) then you have much more to help you find the right drawings and see those that haven’t been approved yet.

In particular, you can now track drawings for a part of a project or perhaps owned by a particular architect through the design process. Exports of this key information can be made directly from the system according to search criteria and discrepancies found. Other information may also be relevant for transmitting to the end client as part of the required contractual phases.

 

ByggmaterialProcurement process management

Another process that is integral to a construction project is procurement. This often is managed throughout the life of a project with information added as the materials are approved for purchase and then later checked against the actual delivery.

A contractual specification for example for some materials can be uploaded and initial information added against that document. As the project progresses a subcontractor will source some material he wishes to use, perhaps attaching a brochure. He can then update his intended purchase as attributes to the original specification document (e.g. make, model, size, weight, quantity etc.) and submit this for approval by the design team. The design team can approve or reject the request updating the same information if required.

With an approval in hand the subcontractor is then authorised to purchase the materials and update the date this was done. Later on delivery the materials can be rechecked against the specifications and the agreed quantity and measurements either as a review or second approval.

All the progress of this information is held as a handful of fields directly associated with a document and clearly visible next to the document. It can also be searched for and exported from the system to analyse alongside hundreds of similar materials orders.

 

husAs-built documentation and hand-over for facilities management

As an engineering and construction project moves through to a built phase towards completion a lot of information is gathered on all aspects of the As-Built structure including all the systems and equipment that forms the whole package.

These will contain key data such as physical dimensions and categories of drawings, manufacturer, warranty information, performance characteristics, operating and maintenance requirements on plant along with installed units and components.

If you are able to capture and readily display these next to the documents and export for O&M manual creation or later facilities management then you can ensure the quality of the delivery to your end client, the asset owner and reduce your costs in gathering together this information prior to hand-over or after hand over. Often surveys have to be conducted by consultants to ascertain the exact number of types of plant so that FM tenders can be received. The above digital capture of all this information on hand over greatly speeds this process and cuts costs.

 

About the Author – Colin Payne

Colin manages the UK operation for Webforum which includes working closely with current and future customers in understanding their needs, their own particular situation and those within different industry sectors including Construction and Engineering.

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More than just snag lists – online issue management links the Construction site to the office

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Managing issues and defects in fabrications or snag lists in finished buildings is a vital part of all phases in engineering and construction projects. Whether is it minor amendments to a design model or drawing that need alteration, defects found on a client inspection or general maintenance issues covered under a supplier warranty these all need addressing by the relevant responsible person or allocated resource.

  • How well are these issues managed in your projects and are they all visible in the same place for both the teams and management to work on?
  • Can subcontractors and inspectors from other companies also be involved in the workflow associated from initial identification through to resolution, for example?
  • What about time spent working on issues, can this be recorded and the responsible party then be billed easily for the work?
  • What about supporting information, can it be added on mobile devices and also original drawings and specifications referred to?

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What if there was a solution to address ALL of the above and more?

Comprehensive Issue management within a project planning and document management solution provides the features to streamline your handling of these defects.

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Here is what you can expect from such a tool:

  • Using documents stored in a document archive, relevant ‘As Built’ or design models relating to the latest version of the asset at fault can be linked to the issue for easy reference for the engineer assigned.
  • Issues can be raised and assigned on a mobile device including pictures taken on your smartphone, raised by email with relevant attachments sent directly to the issue management system or on a PC in the office.
  • Resources can be allocated, they can record time against the issues and this can be reported and billing invoices created.
  • Users are invited by email to a secure workspace and can if required just be given access to the issues module and only those projects relevant to them.
  • Issues can be categorised by project managers and the in-built charting used to give management and stakeholders an insight into trends and which areas problems are occurring and how efficiently they are resolved.

Webforum logo

First established in 1997, Webforum currently has 700 corporate clients and over 50,000 users in 20 countries. Customers range from small businesses or project teams to multinational companies in various industries. Engineering and Construction projects using Webforum include Construction, Infrastructure, Energy and Utilities companies both private and public sector.

Webforum is a new type of collaboration platform for clients, asset owners, contractors and the whole team on projects.

To read more about how Webforum can support all areas of Construction Projects please download the Construction Product Sheet

Project dashboard for Engineering and Construction

A new phase in project collaboration

To see how Webforum can help you with your construction projects, please contact us

The cloud – can it make software more personal?

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The very concept of moving software to and running your services from the ‘cloud’ can give an impression that there is a distance or remoteness about it. Perhaps this is also perpetuated by some global mass-market providers relying on high volume and simple generic features.

In many cases the situation is quite the reverse or should be with cloud providers now focussing more on the end-user and building long-lasting relationships. After all this is the measure of success for cloud companies to retain satisfied customers for a long period of time.

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Redefining service as part of software delivery
Somehow the process of getting software out of a box, putting a disk into a drive and waiting for up to an hour while it installs while responding to various questions just seems so last century. Did we feel closer to the vendors that produced the software or did we even have contact with them except waiting on the phone to their help desk?

Does the cloud offer the chance of an altogether different experience and relationship with vendors even for SMEs and the end user? I believe it does or at least it should be an important aspect in deciding which vendor to work with. After all, in many cases for core business functions a trusted partner is a desirable outcome. Especially as it is a relationship that typically will last for years.

Addressing specific company needs – aligning objectives
As a business owner or key decision-maker you are looking for your particular needs to be addressed and for any particular vendor to take time to understand them. This is especially true where you are operating in a specialist field. Furthermore, it is invariably not only a question of what you need but how it can fit in with what you have. In other words with your existing IT systems or processes.

Here are a few steps to help you get a better understanding of your cloud provider.

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Effective Issue and Defect management in Engineering and Construction

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Managing issues and defects in fabrications or snag lists in finished buildings is a vital part of all phases in engineering and construction projects. Whether is it minor amendments to a design model or drawing that need alteration, defects found on a client inspection or general maintenance issues covered under a supplier warranty these all need addressing by the relevant responsible person or allocated resource.

  • How well are these issues managed at the moment in your projects and are they all visible in the same place for management oversight?
  • Can subcontractors and inspectors from other companies also be involved in the workflow associated from initial identification through to resolution, for example?
  • What about time spent working on issues, can this be recorded and the responsible party then be billed easily for the work?
  • What about supporting information, can it be added on mobile devices and also original drawings and specifications referred to?

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What if there was a solution to address ALL of the above and more?

Comprehensive Issue management within a project planning and document management solution provides the features to streamline your handling of these defects.

Here is what you can expect from such a tool:

  • Using documents stored in a document archive, relevant ‘As Built’ or design models relating to the latest version of the asset at fault can be linked to the issue for easy reference for the engineer assigned.
  • Issues can be raised and assigned on a mobile device including pictures taken on your smartphone, raised by email with relevant attachments sent directly to the issue management system or on a PC in the office.
  • Resources can be allocated, they can record time against the issues and this can be reported and billing invoices created.
  • Users are invited by email to a secure workspace and can if required just be given access to the issues module and only those projects relevant to them.
  • Issues can be categorised by project managers and the in-built charting used to give management and stakeholders an insight into trends and which areas problems are occurring and how efficiently they are resolved.

 

About Webforum Professional

Webforum is a complete web-based service for all types of projects and collaboration. The system provides users with everything that supports a project available in one place: documents, files, project plans, issues, discussions, time sheets, risks, reports etc.

Webforum provides the project the means to collaborate in a secure and controlled environment for all project phases from planning to implementation and monitoring. Webforum is a trusted SaaS provider with over 700 customers in 20 countries operating since 1997.

To see how Webforum can help you with collaboration, please contact us or visit the website. Alternatively, read more in the case study about how Webforum helped ProHeat an innovative Engineering company.

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Download ProHeat Systems Customer Case Study

 

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