Tag Archives: collaboration

Getting started with your projects

03 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by in Information Management, Project Management, Project Planning, Team Collaboration

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Overcome the initial barriers

When talking to businesses that want to get started with projects, one of the most common approaches towards finding a project methodology and project management tool is: “No, we’re not ready for that yet”. I do not believe this is the right approach, since you are missing out on significant benefits that you could gain by using a project methodology and project management tools, even at this early stage. So, here are some tips for how to get over the initial barrier of not feeling ready to start working with projects.

1. Ensure a well-reasoned document structure

Initially, make sure to focus on the most important aspects of the project and start off with a straightforward approach to keep it manageable. Start with the documents that you will constitute the base of your collaboration. Create a smart folder structure, without complicating it too much. This structure could be based on different project phases or different areas within the project. Make sure that this structure, with the assigned folders, is set up already from the start. Then, simply get to work! Once the project is up and running you can advance your structure. Essentially, it is important to see your project from a document perspective and to ensure that there is a sensible structure of the documents. With the documents in order, the project members can easily store what they are working on and collaborate efficiently.

2. Start with a simple project model

Moreover, I do not believe it is necessary to put a lot of effort into choosing a complicated project methodology. At least initially, when starting the project. Start with a simple approach, perhaps by choosing a generic project model that is composed of just a few steps. You can then expand this model later. Another obstacle for working with projects is the common misconception that managers and teams need education and certifications of project methodologies. This is not how it works! There is no need to complicate it further than just choosing a simple project model and start working. As your project expands you may feel a need of more advanced project methodologies and tools, but this is something you can adapt to in a later stage in the project.

3. Collect fundamental information of each project

When working with projects, it is important to determine the level of fundamental information to gather. Instead of generating an information overload, keep to some key aspects about each project. It may be who the project manager is or what business area the project concerns. Avoid collecting all conceivable information, as this would complicate the project work already from the start. If you have a tool that supports a gradual build-up of information, it is easy to build on your information and add information areas in later stages of your project.

4. Capture value from surrounding activities

To achieve momentum of your project work, try to make the most you can of the available information. An example would be the status report, where you monitor project progress. Another possibility is to actively work with issues and information that arise during the project work. This will help to not complicate the projects more than necessary and extract further value of the project tool you are using.

5. Achieve results through structured collaboration

The key to getting started on projects is a focus on getting results through structured collaboration. Do not start too complicated or too large. Focus on what matters, and not on selecting the right project methodology. Make sure to first get the project up and running, with an approach in which you can gradually expand the support and needed functionality for each project phase.

Good luck with your projects!

New insights from Webforum Collaborate 2016

09 Saturday Jul 2016

Posted by in Information Management, News, Project Management, Team Collaboration

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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!

A project extranet to maintain the information flow

09 Tuesday Feb 2016

Posted by in Construction, Engineering, Information Management, Project Management, Team Collaboration

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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.

Demo Page Workspace_Screen 2

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

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Construction, Engineering, Information Management, Project Management, Project Planning

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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

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

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Construction, Engineering, Information Management, Team Collaboration

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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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