Interconnected Touchpoints: The 4-legged Stool for Managing Data Sharing

Data is an incredibly powerful tool in construction — but the more data being produced and collected, the more room there is for errors.

A four-legged stool approach can minimize data-entry and data-analysis mistakes while maximizing efficiencies. Each leg represents an entry point where every piece of data should find a home, whether it’s in office management and communications, enterprise resource planning (ERP), project management, or document storage.

This article examines how each leg supports operations, the advantages of interconnectedness, and the keys to planning for strategic growth.

The 4 Legs of the Stool

Depending on the size of the business, a communication system can have many legs, but four is a good place to start for midsized businesses seeking scale and growth.

Categorizing every data point collected into one of these four business functions prevents them from spiraling into the unknown.

1. Office Management and Communications

   Office management constitutes the central nervous system of any business. The ability to communicate via all channels keeps field and office functions in sync with developments and findings that impact project quality, scope, and budget.

2. ERP

   Budgets change and costs are incurred in a daily ebb and flow, directly impacting the decisions made by accounting and project management. Connecting the two teams keeps costs contained, allows real-time cost-projection adjustments, and maintains a timely system of accounts payable and receivable.

3. Project Management

   Project management software’s power to develop functional, reliable BIM models and digital twins relies on a steady stream of information from all corners of the company. Opening files from office management, incorporating drawings from document storage, and integrating costs from ERP are essential to models that keep the project on track, on budget, and up to quality expectations.

4. Document Storage and Management

   Contracts, drawings, site diaries, meeting notes, and reams of other materials formulate the backbone of construction operations. Moving them from file folders into living documents such as BIM saves time and money by enhancing clash detection, dispute resolution, and precision installations.

The Advantages of a 4-legged Stool

In construction, the four legs of the stool provide a structure for containment and sharing of information essential to the progress of projects and companies.

Proper storage makes data retrievable and actionable across divisions, delivering these advantages that feed continuous cycles of improvement and growth.

• Visible Entry Points

  A tech stack that is interconnected, but also shaped into identifiable sectors offers distinct choices for shuttling data to the right place.

• Real-time Updates

  Until recently, team leaders had to wait for updates that might arrive daily, weekly, or monthly. Interconnectedness promotes a flow of real-time updates, for up-to-the-minute views into costs, budgets, progress, and deliveries.

• Cost Savings

  When the four legs of the stool are established properly and working in balance, the company spends less on internal or external tech support. No one has to be called to close a gap that hampers the distribution of information.

• Extra Efficiency

  Even in the digital age, construction companies rely on human intervention to move data from one screen or system to another. These double and triple entries are error-prone, time-consuming, and costly. Interconnected systems use application programming interfaces (APIs) to bridge the gaps and automatically distribute information among systems.

• Fewer Log-ins

  Field team members don’t have time to log in to every piece of software. Logical interconnections create access without separate logins for key functions. For instance, a PM or superintendent constantly on the project management software can access ERP budget data and real-time cost information — a regular need — without losing focus or jumping between systems.

Keeping the Stool in Balance

Through careful management, interconnected data stays powerful, fresh, and positioned to align operational efficiencies and risk mitigation with strategic goals. Higher-order functionality emerges from attention to essential tasks and functions.

It begins with interoperability. Apply the functions of popular construction-specific or -adapted software to move information with minimal steps. Automatically reshape meeting notes into emails, develop attendee lists for meeting invites, or push documents from a content collaboration system for subcontractors into BIM for superintendents to check progress in the field.

While speed is essential, real-time information carries a flip side – the danger of overreacting or responding too quickly. Spur-of-the-moment decisions based on a blip can miss the big picture, and real-time but erroneous information can trigger misguided decisions. Instead, develop a cadence for spotting trends.

Creating interconnections offers the opportunity to elevate operational staff into construction technologists.

As construction-specific software evolves, the IT position of the past — someone managing the server — may not have the operational expertise needed to manage construction business systems.  Construction technologists understand the industry and the company’s internal needs, harnessing the power of technology to develop field teams to their maximum capabilities.

The same thinking applies to choosing tech partners. The ones that come from construction don’t need training on the inner workings of the industry, for accelerated implementation of, and ROI from, the technology purchased to resolve major pain points.

When buying new tech tools, make sure they can connect to one of the legs of the stool. Also, probe into the details of integration. How does it work? What does it do? Can it be customized with APIs if it doesn’t inherently connect? Find out how the integrations function, which data is used, and what’s doing the pushing and pulling.

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Expanding Reach, Adding Legs

As a construction company grows, four legs might not be enough. Additional legs can be added as new functions are integrated or redistributed. 

But beware:  Like a stool, the more legs you add, the harder it is to balance.

Keeping systems in balance as they grow demands strategy and customization. With carefully designed containment and synchronization, interconnected information sharing will continue to drive operational efficiencies and risk mitigation in all aspects of every project.

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