Contractors manage many moving parts on a daily, even hourly, basis—from crews and subcontractors on jobsites to equipment, materials and continuously changing conditions. To keep things organized, most construction companies use technology in some capacity to simplify day-to-day workflows for project management, scheduling, accounting, estimating and other functions.
But document management remains a challenge for construction companies worldwide. In the M-Files 2019 Intelligent Information Management (IIM) Benchmark Report, construction sector employees admitted to the following serious issues.
- 67% say they are often unable to find a document because it has been badly named or tagged when filed.
- 68% say it’s difficult to reliably find the most recent version of a file.
- While 68% say they need access to corporate documents on a mobile device, 46% admit it’s challenging to do so.
Inability to access information is the core issue while maintaining quick access to important information is crucial for virtually every construction company. Moreover, effective project management, automated workflows and engaged employees are critical to the success of any lean construction initiative. The first step taken by many progressive construction companies is adopting an IIM framework. IIM is solving today’s most pressing challenges for construction projects by taking a strategic approach to managing information and addressing the industry’s document-related challenges.
Creating efficiency in the project management process
To manage jobs and projects efficiently, organizations must become more sophisticated in managing information. Poor information management practices steal productivity from companies, costing time and money. Nearly half of IIM Benchmark Report respondents (45%) find searching for documents and information challenging and time-consuming.
An IIM framework allows construction companies to create, process and access important job-related documents at any time, easily automate employee and subcontractor workflows and produce project closeout documents in minutes.
Outgrowing the need for paper documents
Mountains of paper documents signify that it’s time to embrace paperless solutions. IIM streamlines the way construction companies accumulate documents by converting existing paper documents into digital files that can easily be sorted, catalogued and transferred, creating a line of sight across an entire organization.
Employees can scan invoices, purchase orders, HR documents, project budgets and project plans from anywhere. Furthermore, integrated scanning with optical character recognition makes paper files text-searchable.
Jobsite access to important documents
The ability to access information from a jobsite on a mobile device is becoming more important as the mobile workforce continues to grow. The modern construction employee demands efficient access to information to work productively when away from the office.
An IIM solution allows access to documents with a smartphone, tablet or computer from anywhere at anytime. Employees can scan documents and receipts from a jobsite, and managers can review, approve and sign documents in real time.
Cumbersome invoice routing
Dated methods of handling construction paperwork aren’t just tiresome but also potentially catastrophic. Without the control of a document management system, invoices quickly become cumbersome and difficult to sort through. Additionally, customers often make change requests, and without IIM, important iterations of documents can easily get lost.
With an IIM solution, back-office workers can streamline the process of cost coding, processing, approval and payment. Workflows enable the centralization of invoice processing in one place and reduce invoice processing from days or weeks to minutes.
Documents scattered across multiple systems
Increasingly, company information continues to proliferate across multiple systems and repositories. Using an IIM framework provides a central repository for documents and files from different silos. Employees can access, store and manage documents from network folders, CRM, SharePoint, ERP and other systems. This also gives users a singular 360-degree view of data from otherwise disparate content repositories.
Since many construction employees work off site, the most popular information management system is email, cited by 70% of respondents in the IIM Benchmark Report. This is followed by information saved locally to desktops or laptops (58%) and/or shared network drives and folders (48%). Using email as the de facto, makeshift storehouse for project information presents tremendous inefficiencies in searching for and finding the right document at the right time, as email systems tend to be inherently primitive in their contextualization of attachments and documents. Construction companies that want to stay ahead of the curve must find more efficient ways of managing information.
Construction companies face numerous pressures—some of which can be mitigated by a simple information management strategy. Through a unified, consolidated document management system, construction companies can streamline workflows, increase project efficiency, automate administrative tasks and improve employee productivity.
