Construction daily reporting is used to track and monitor the progress of an ongoing construction project. Usually, the job foreman, superintendent, or project manager fills out the logs, collecting input for each day of work and noting everything that happens on site. Construction daily reports can include everything from weather conditions to who was on site, materials received, equipment on site, and a general summary of the day’s activities. This also means including what got done and what, if anything, was delayed and why. In the old days, this information was all collected manually and stored in a three-ring binder, but the process has been largely digitized.

Construction daily reports help keep a project on track and create a detailed archive of a project’s progress without relying on the memory of a project foreman compiling a week’s worth of project notes on a Friday afternoon. Most importantly, construction daily reports can help head off project disputes. The more detailed a log is, the better evidence it will serve if the contractor ends up in court.

Procore's Daily Log tool gives every project stakeholder access to information about a project's progress without ever needing to visit the site. Construction daily reports automate much of the process, for example, automatically logging weather conditions, so site supervisors can focus their reporting on the major day-to-day happenings. Daily reports also add a layer of accountability since it keeps detailed track of who was responsible for what. Daily logs also let project managers track planned versus actual costs to identify discrepancies. If there’s a change in management or other personnel, daily logs kept by the previous manager serve as a record of everything that’s gone on so far so a job can pick up where it left off.

Procore’s Daily Log tool is much more sophisticated than simple field notes. It automates many aspects of the logging process, freeing up supervisors to focus on other tasks. Within Procore, a supervisor can get a holistic view of a project with ease, thanks to its dynamic filtering and search capabilities. Everything from how many manpower hours were used over the last week to which subcontractors performed the work is easily accessible. Procore Daily Log lets you easily collect this information to share, report, print, or export to a spreadsheet.

The three-ring binder had its time, but it’s being replaced by software like Procore’s Daily Log tool for obvious reasons. First, the information entered is automatically archived and saved across multiple servers, eliminating any chance of missing pages or illegible hand-written notes. The Daily Log tool is also tightly integrated with Microsoft Project, and works with various scheduling software formats. Keeping logs in a digital format makes them easier to share, impossible to lose, and ensures every stakeholder is working from the same up-to-date information.