Tap the Unused 90 Percent of Management Software

Design and construction companies seldom maximize their existing information technology resources to achieve the time and productivity savings that are possible.

by Edward Shiffer

Extracting the maximum value from a design or construction firm's information technology systems can be a daunting effort.

Complex projects, stiff competition, and pressure from demanding clients offer little time or incentive for the typical building industry company to explore the user's manual for information technology programs and systems. Instead, most companies use the easy 10 percent.

Yet, if you could plumb the depths of that untapped 90 percent, you would discover that your technology has the potential to bring major financial rewards, time savings, and vastly increased project quality.

The seamless transmission of electronic data can bring great rewards to owners, design professionals, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers. And when they are all on the same page, the information flow can be of untold value.

For example, the design professional can electronically incorporate manufacturer's information into a project's construction documents. The vendor can then electronically transform the design team's drawings into shop drawings. From there, the team can use the shop drawings to create electronically computer-aided manufacturing instructions.

By preserving the electronic information from step to step, the process can greatly reduce mistakes in translation and the potential for errors, omissions, or construction delays.

These benefits could also apply to Building Information Modeling systems, which can create three-dimensional plans and object attributes for every element of a structure, including architectural, structural, mechanical, and electrical components.

For instance, BIM can perform three-dimensional interference checks in the construction documents phase. The process of coordinating shop drawings could go much more smoothly while also limiting potential change orders.

Another area for potential technological improvement is in the scheduling of materials delivery. A typical New York City project has little or no storage space onsite, making the proper scheduling of deliveries critical.

Project management technology allows for the development of detailed and flexible schedules that can be quickly shared and updated with all concerned parties. The benefits to such scheduling are twofold.

First, computer-generated construction schedules accommodate any level of detail and allow the project team to make changes instantly. By linking activities on the schedule, any one change will immediately reflect its impact on the sequencing of all linked tasks, so a delayed steel delivery will show the ripple effect on curtain wall erection months away.

Secondly, instant communications via e-mail and Web sites allow all project players to stay abreast of changes as they occur and to react to them immediately.

In order for building industry companies to adequately tap their information technology, however, they must make a firm-wide commitment to ensure consistent use of these resources.

For example, CAD layering, file naming conventions, and data entry standards must be identical throughout the firm. Otherwise, the penalties for individuals using their own conventions are lost files, confusion for other users, and wasted time.

It's a major effort that requires all hands to contribute. Firm principals must work with project managers, users, and information technology staff to champion the use of new technologies and to ensure consistency. In order to properly motivate staff across the company, the principals must also understand the nature of the technology and appreciate how its use will enhance firm performance.

In turn, the project manager must understand and be willing to utilize the new technology. The project manager is the conduit through which the enhanced technology can have its fullest positive impact.

Finally, the IT staff has the responsibility of learning how to use the enhanced technology in the deepest detail. This team will not only tap the available potential in the systems, but also be responsible for training the rest of the company on how to mine the benefits.

Without these efforts, companies risk great losses in productivity.

A sad instance involves an architectural firm that upgraded its CAD software to include three-dimensional capability and smart objects, which allow a designer to embed details and specifications about a project feature through a link to a graphic symbol, such as an image of a door. These types of tools enable designers to develop floor plans and then automatically generate corresponding elevations and sections.

The firm used the upgraded CAD software to draw an educational project. However, the firm did not train the entire project staff on the new software, and some of the designers used it improperly, resulting in inconsistent drawings.

Some users found themselves redoing substantial portions of drawings that others had originated, creating costly delays that made the project ultimately unprofitable. Worse, instead of prompting wider training, the experience soured the principals on the software and led them to drop its use - forfeiting the technology's many potential benefits.

In the end, smart use of information technology can vastly improve a company's performance. However, it's clear that realizing this potential demands the enthusiastic collaboration of principals, project managers, end users, and IT staff.

Edward Shiffer is a principal of Information Systems for Design Professionals, a New York-based technology consulting firm.