On the Job
Software packages increase the efficiency of jobsite functions, saving project managers hours of paperwork
Contractors are tapping an array of electronic tools to foster greater jobsite collaboration and automate tasks so jobs run more smoothly and efficiently.
When John Calvin, senior project manager at Skanska USA Building in Raleigh, N.C., Carolinas AGC, meets with team members, subcontractors or owners, he finds that the SMART Board Interactive White Board, from SMART Technologies in Calgary, Alberta, improves communication and understanding of issues facing crews in the field, and he doesn’t have to leave the trailer.
“It’s an interactive panel, so we can have people walk up to the board and mark up things,” says Calvin, who is using the board on the $23-million Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University’s Institute for Critical Technologies & Applied Science II project in Blacksburg, Va. “Everybody is collaborating around a table together, solving problems.”
Skanska uses the board for 3D- and 4D-model coordination, punch lists and reviewing schedules and environmental updates. Calvin says using the board holds people’s attention and encourages team participation.
The company also conducts teleconferencing through the SMART Board, so people at the jobsite can participate in meetings held at the main office in Raleigh. Skanska paid about $6,000 for the board, wall mounting and electronic pieces, but Calvin says he has justified the cost time and again. SMART Board prices range from $1,299 to $8,399.
“I would hate to have a job without it,” Calvin says. “It promotes and enhances coordination and communication, which are key aspects at all levels of the jobsite.”
SharePoint
Other contractors have found the SharePoint document-management application that comes with their Microsoft server enhances many jobsite functions.
“SharePoint is an online collaboration tool,” says Joe Olsen, information manager for Clyde Cos. of Orem, Utah, Utah Chapter AGC. The firm has business units in multiple locations.
The company uses SharePoint to create dashboards for Excel documents, automate work flows and forms, share documents, schedule the corporate airplane, centralize employee handbooks and forms, and create an Intranet home page.
“One of the most important things is the navigational taxonomy—how the site is going to be structured—and to do it in a way that can be expanded over time,” Olsen says.
Clyde invested about $80,000 implementing SharePoint and spends about $25,000 each year maintaining it. But Olsen estimates the company has saved $68,000 annually by not printing and mailing pay stubs. Furthermore, it has saved thousands of dollars by automating employee seniority lists and avoiding penalties for not laying off the most junior union employees. Olsen says, “It has exceeded our expectations.”
rePORTAL
Clyde relies on rePORTAL, a SharePoint overlay from Shahrabani + Associates of Moraga, Calif., to schedule and run reports for management to review. The program pulls in data from its approximately 150 accounting, sales...
