There are two ways that a project can get off track–going over budget and going over schedule.
Throughout each stage of a project, benchmarks and forecasts must be closely monitored using budgeting tools to ensure that costs are on target. The newest and most up-to-date schedule must also be regularly compared to the baseline schedule, since it will change hundreds or thousands of times throughout the course of a project.
Procore’s construction project management software not only assists with monitoring costs and schedules, but also optimizes them for efficiency. Here are a few steps to keeping construction projects on track.
Identify any bottlenecks.
Between permitting, inspections, and obtaining materials and equipment, it’s important to identify any possible bottlenecks before you can figure out how to prevent them. For example, as a submittal is sent to a series of different people, (architects or subcontractors), there are several potential scenarios that could result in a schedule delay. Without a way to track the status of your submittals and who needs to take action, the entire project could fall behind.
Procore makes it easy to maintain a full history of every submittal. Within each submittal, users can see who created it, the date is was sent out, and the date it was received. Using the ‘required onsite date’ function also allows users to keep a close eye on the schedule and ensures materials are delivered on time.
Know when the ball is in your court.
While construction project management software will indicate who is responsible for a submittal at a certain job, Procore specifically has what is called the ‘ball in court’ feature. This feature allows users to see who is currently sitting on the submittal and could potentially be holding up the process. The workflow tool in Procore allows tracking of the duration of time elapsed, how long each person in the step took, and how long they have been in possession of an item. The slow parts of a workflow can be pinpointed and optimized to make sure that these items come through more quickly.
Procore’s cloud-based project management software has the ability to send reminders based on current, time-sensitive tasks. The centralized repository prevents delays by sifting through emails to find relevant information. Additionally, all items in Procore can be assigned a due date. Administrators are able to log in and see at a glance which items are overdue. On the opposite end, overdue notifications can be sent to relevant parties or they can be viewed directly in Procore’s dashboard.
If several approvers are involved in a submittal, and construction management software isn’t being used, information must be manually tracked and monitored to ensure it gets passed along in a timely manner.
Manage your schedule.
Procore works directly with your scheduling software to create, edit, and share schedules. Integrating with Microsoft Projects and Primavera, data becomes instantly accessible and visible to everyone on a project. If Microsoft Project was used in isolation, sharing schedules would become a potential problem. Schedules would need to be converted to PDF and sent to all relevant parties by email. Recipients would then have to keep track of the PDF manually.
Procore’s cloud-based project management software allows schedule information to be viewed by anybody who needs access. Users are able to see exactly which tasks are taking place throughout any specified time frame. Procore can also be configured to send out weekly look-ahead schedules automatically. If desired, Procore will disseminate resource schedules so that tasks are only given to the specific person that is responsible for them.
The newest and most up-to-date schedule must also be regularly compared to the baseline schedule, since it will change hundreds or thousands of times throughout the course of a project.
With Microsoft Project’s task dependencies running in the background, a realistic idea of upcoming dates is available at a glance. Task dates will be adjusted automatically as they run ahead or behind schedule.Users who are holding up the process can be identified and updated schedules are available to be compared with the baseline to see if tasks ended up taking longer than intended. After a project has ended, a postmortem can be done to find out why that was the case.
Construction projects will stall, but meticulous planning and scheduling can prevent some of the more common delays. Adequate documentation and up-to-date project information can keep your project running smoothly so you can focus on everything else.
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