Software Delivers Projects on Time and on Budget
Mark Robins, Senior Editor,
Posted
12/08/2011
Architectural project management software has tools for
estimation and planning, scheduling, cost control and budget
management, resource allocation, collaboration software,
communication, quality management and documentation or
administration systems, all of which can deal with the complexity
of large architectural projects.
For architectural firms, project management success is critical
to bottom-line profitability. The right project management software
can contribute to this success by boosting collaboration across a
firm and increasing project visibility and communication. But it
wasn't always this way. "In the past, architectural firms managed
their resources, projects, schedules and documents in a very static
way," says Paul Smialowicz, a licensed architect, developer of
ArchAdministrator and founder of PS
Software Solutions LLC, Colts Neck, N.J. "Today, firms are
migrating to software solutions that allow them to employ a more
dynamic approach to office and project management. Principals and
project managers harness the power and flexibility available in
today's software offerings to perform on-the-fly project
scheduling, 'what-if' cash flow projections, dynamic document
tracking/sharing and more."
Making prudent decisions is key for architectural firms and the
right project management software assists in making them. "Good
project management software goes beyond schedules and also tracks
costs to date and compares this with budgets," says Doug Rawson,
P.E., president/ CEO, Base
Builders LLC, Reno, Nev. "This is very important because being
on schedule does you little good if you are over budget. With the
right tools, an architect designing metal structures will see both
the progress and costs so they can make good decisions about their
projects.
"Furthermore, the best software solutions are also capturing the
institutional memory of the projects. All of the information from
design features and materials, to conversations with owners and
consultants can be logged and documented with the project. This
institutional memory gives the firm a repository that can be
searched to get answers about decisions made on a current project,
or to find past projects with a particular design feature or
material they would like to incorporate into a new project. Having
these features built into an integrated system that also produces
timely, relevant reports gives the project manager a single place
to manage all the disparate pieces of information."
The right project management software solution can pay for
itself. "This is an investment with a positive ROI," Rawson says.
"We conducted a survey of our users in 2010 and 80 percent of the
respondents said that our software had a positive impact on their
bottom-line profits. In today's economy, with ever shrinking fees,
you need every advantage you can get to remain competitive and
profitable."
Sometimes architectural firms use many different project
management software solutions to attain their goals. "Baskervill's
technical staff utilizes a variety of tools to manage metal
architecture projects," says Ray Trevillian, AIA, vice
president/director of industrial group, Baskervill, Richmond, Va. "With eight
different market segments, our multidisciplinary firm is varied in
our approach to successful project management. The key to our
success is the consistency of each project manager. For example, MS
Project allows more advanced scheduling on more complex projects
that are larger in scale or longer in duration. It is also helpful
in the management of drawings during the design process. MS Project
is a good tool to track project development progress: percentage
complete. It actually has more capabilities than most people
realize in terms of project management support, like manpower
allocations and management, but we rely on other tools in-house
such as Deltek Vision for that function."
Create accurate schedules
Sharing calendars and viewing team availability is faster than
ever with today's project management software. "Instead of having
to call to see if someone is available to take on work, meet with a
client or own a specific task, today's scheduling software
automates that process," says Brian LaMee, director of product
marketing, Deltek, Herndon, Va.
"This gives project managers a holistic view of their projects to
see where there are gaps in the schedule as well as the impact of
potential changes. What used to take multiple phone calls and
emails today is done automatically in minutes."
Project management software has made designers more efficient
and effective in scheduling and running their projects. "This has
freed up resources and allowed more time to be spent on the
creative side of design," says Rawson. "Having the freedom to
research new Software Delivers Projects on Time and on Budget By
Mark Robins, Senior Editor Project management software prompts
architectural firm success products in the metal architecture
industry allows the architect to integrate more diversity of
products and materials into their designs."
BuildTools incorporates a scheduling system into its project
management software that has a workload view to let users see where
a resource/ subcontractor is scheduled to work on all projects.
"We've built it like many of the desktop Gantt chart scheduling
systems, but refined it for use in the construction industry, by
multiple users in several locations," says Chad Mayes, director of
business development, BuildTools Inc., Minneapolis.
"It keeps the entire team informed of changes to the schedule. All
changes are pushed out to the trades, along with relevant plans and
other documents."
Handle and close RFIs
Tracking RFIs has become a much more viable process with
technology such as the Internet, network document management
systems and email applications like Microsoft Outlook. "It's now
more viable, and sustainable, to maintain RFIs electronically using
various tools to create and archive site visits and dayto-day
communications and project reports," Trevillian says. But this too,
has not always been the case.
Generating proposals has historically required hours of tedious,
manual work. "For example, first, you search for similar
proposals," says LaMee. "If you find what you need, you copy/paste
that as a starting point for the current RFI. Then you track down
other existing documents that have the information you need for
this RFI, including the right boilerplate material and resume info.
For project references, you have to ask billable people for project
examples and details on those projects. And when you ask them,
their first response is 'haven't I already given you this
information before?' Yes, but it is buried in old proposals that
you may or may not know about. But you are not done. To include
resumes for the project team, you have to ask them for updated info
on their role on a project. Rounding out the nightmare process, you
have to glue it all together so it reads as an original document
and ensure it looks professional. This process-in use at many
firms-is repeated for each and every proposal."
LaMee sees key challenges with this approach such as:
• Are you copying the latest and greatest infor- mation? Do you
have the latest employee resume? The latest company
information?
• In addition to potential copy/paste errors, the fact that you
are creating a proposal based on old content makes it a nightmare
for keeping styles and formatting consistent.
• You've spent all your time tracking down old information
rather than customizing this proposal and giving your firm the best
chances of winning.
Automating the proposal process produces materials faster and
more efficiently, allowing users to spend more time where it
matters most-thinking about the prospect. "By using a proposal
generation tool, you can pick the template best suited for each
opportunity and quickly add whatever information you need," says
LaMee. "This includes project and employee information, without
asking billable resources to spend time on something that isn't
billable. You can quickly identify and add commonly used data such
as projects, clients, employees, appropriate images and a text
library with boilerplates into your proposal template."
Track communications and bids
Tracking and maintaining project communications and reports is
now more viable and sustainable using various electronic storage
tools, like the Internet, internal network storage systems and
especially email. "Email has changed the world and the way we
communicate," says LaMee. "We can respond to questions faster and
communicate with people no matter where they are and even when they
are not at their desk. But with all of these communications flying
around, capturing or collecting them in an easy manner is
challenging, especially when you have so many different people
communicating on the project. Have you ever received an email
asking for a copy of an email?
"Today's project management tools collect these communications
centrally and associate them with specific projects. So if I need
to see who approved design changes, I don't have to ask. Instead,
by looking at the project in the PM tool I also see every
communication associated with it, including the email from the
client where they approved the changes and increased budget."
Where are we on that bid? What is the next step to move that
forward? In today's highly competitive environment, architectural
firms are pursuing more projects and business development teams are
juggling even more opportunities. To successfully do this, "today's
project customer relationship management tools keep track of all of
the opportunities we are pursuing, what the next step is and even
activities and reminders for those next steps," says LaMee.
"Instead of remembering to follow-up with the client in two weeks,
my CRM system can automatically remind me. More importantly, others
in the firm have full visibility too. This means if I forget to
follow-up, someone else will get the reminder so we never miss a
step with prospects."
Project management software allows bid packages to be easily
created from the budget module. Users can "create a cover page,
specify a due date, automatically include the appropriate
specifications- specific to the recipients--select the
subcontractors that are to bid the package, select the documents
and then send," says Mayes. "Once sent, the system tracks when the
contractors have downloaded the documents, when they have submitted
their proposals-via online form or simply by replying to the email
request-and will send a reminder if bids are not received by a
specified date."
New technologies, better management
Next-generation architectural project management software will
further strengthen the integration between financial, project and
document management. "These advances will allow architectural firms
to approach projects and practice management holistically," says
Smialowicz. "It will provide architects with a more efficient means
to document, track and deliver their architectural services. I
believe 'all-inone' software solutions will eliminate the need for
double-data entry and ultimately the wide array of software
programs that isolate, rather than integrate, information managed
by architectural firms."
Today's technological developments in project management aid
accessibility and collaboration. "We now see collaboration tools
that allow people from halfway around the world to collaborate
on the same document via the Internet without having to get on a
plane," says LaMee. "With the birth of cloud-based collaboration
tools-including a ground-breaking 'social teamwork' solution that
Deltek will soon be unveiling-people can collaborate and share
information on a project, tasks and project communications without
having to connect their networks or all get on the same software
system."
Building information management is a new software technology
allowing users to better manage their projects. "Its influence on
architecture PM software is in its push to break down the virtual
walls/ firewalls between project team members," says LaMee.
"Project management tools are extending the reach of our tools
outside of our walls as well. Clients are already accustomed to
architects sharing more information with them, specifically BIM
models and such, through collaboration platforms. Therefore, the
expectation for other tools to support pushing information outside
the walls is growing as well. For example, a client may expect the
ability to review and process invoices online, review project
schedules and provide feedback on the project."
At Baskervill, "we utilize BIM as a project management tool to
tie project management software into the process with other tools
like Bluebeam, which is used to perform shop drawing reviews and
checks," says Trevillian. "It is also helping us to go paperless,
as well as manage more project management functions within one
system. Our adoption and conversion to BIM is client driven. We
have committed to completing our conversion by the end of the year
or mid-2012.
"Project management software has had a positive impact on both
productivity and accuracy within all stages of design and
implementation of a project. Additionally, it has enabled increased
production times and given us more flexibility to break design up
into the different phases/ disciplines. Baskervill is constantly
evaluating the tools at our disposal with which to provide better
services for our clients. These evaluations have led us to
implement tools such as Bluebeam, MS Project and Deltek Vision in
our daily work. The transformation we see today is the result of
new systems and is changing the face of architecture and our
industry."
AIA contract documents save time and money
The American Institute of Architects' Contract Documents deliver
a comprehensive suite of more than 100 contract documents
addressing the full spectrum of both large and small design and
construction projects. AIA Contract Documents offer yearly
subscriptions to Microsoft Office-based software that make it easy
to create, customize and manage contract documents and payment
forms to help save time and money.
"The construction and design industry use our agreements and
forms more than any other," says Courtney Holmes, marketing
manager, American Institute of
Architects, Washington, D.C. "That's why we're the most widely
accepted in the industry so you feel confident knowing you are
protected and using a time-tested, rock-solid contract."
A cost-effective option for both large and small businesses, AIA
Contract Documents software comes as a yearly subscription which
provides access to 100-plus AIA Contract Documents that meet the
needs of its diverse user population. The Microsoft Office based
software platform offers users flexibility in customizing and
managing contract documents, more effective collaborating among
parties, and unprecedented choices in generating and printing
documents. The software also offers online resources, such as
webinars, podcasts, content and software training tools.
AIA offers two types of software products to meet architects'
needs. "Unlimited licenses are for larger companies giving you the
ability to select document types from the entire AIA Contract
Document library, draft you own version and finalize to PDF format
as many documents as you would like over one year," Holmes says.
"Limited licenses are for smaller firms giving you the ability to
select document types from the entire AIA Contract Document library
for one year, but you can only save to final PDF format a limited,
predetermined number of document units, which are used up as you
save final PDF versions of your documents." Go to
www.aia.org/contractdocs to learn more.