More digital project management tools are used in commercial construction to track schedules, equipment, materials, worker access and the overall status of a project. However, having more software isn't necessarily more efficient.
For instance, one system might manage delivery data, while a different one keeps tabs on equipment, while a third manages project timetables. While this approach is perfect for a certain task, if the information becomes siloed, it can be difficult for teams to understand how a single problem impacts everything.
The biggest challenge, is not always a matter of tech. Sometimes it's just the challenge of linking up the information construction teams already possess.
Why You Should Be Concerned With Disparate Construction Data
A commercial construction site has several team working toward the same project goals. General contractors oversee subcontractors, purchasing personnel take care of procurement, supervisors monitor the field work, and project managers keep an eye on milestones.
Every group could keep its own reporting and documentation system. When these are separate, an individual might have to pull colleagues' numbers, cross check spreadsheets, or manually hash out differences.
Let's say you are getting ready to start work on the installation of equipment on a specific floor, and that the materials haven't arrived. One of your subcontractors has the information that there will be a delay, but the site supervisor is working from an earlier schedule.
Neither team may be in fact short of information. It is just that the information did not get to the right people at the right time.
This type of gap in communication can have an impact on establishing activities, dependency on activities and finding out the priority.
Why Another Tool Is Not the Answer You're Looking For
Adding more software when a workflow is a challenge might appear to be the most natural answer. But in fact, that extra application might in fact make life more complicated.
Workers may have to input the same data in more than one place. Project managers may have to create a separate report. Critical data may be inaccurate if systems use incompatible formats or if data is updated in one format but not the other.
Prior to any new technology installation, construction teams should ask themselves if their largest problem is lack of data, poor quality data, lack of integration, or inability to identify who is responsible for taking action on information.
This is a different issue and deserves a different solution.
For instance: a project with missing equipment documentation might initially require a uniform asset-identification procedure. And, a project with many trustworthy systems that are isolated might derive greater value from integration than from acquiring yet another stand-alone system.
How Connected Devices Can Enhance Visibility
The use of the Internet of Things (IoT) can be used to link on-site physical activities with the digital documentation.
For some use cases, RFId, Bluetooth Low Energy, GPS and UWB are all capable of helping with identification or location workflows. Connected sensors could be used to provide a measurement of something specific on equipment or in the environment.
The different types of technology have their pros and cons. For outdoor, GPS tracking might work for the applications that you need, but other technology that can track things indoors or identify tagged items in a reader will work better.
It aims to gather data for a specific operating objective.
Equipment identification records, for example, can assist teams in tracking down the last whereabouts of an asset. Material records can aid in checks on receipt and whereabouts. Digital access systems can help maintain records of those who are authorized entry.
By having this information available in a shared workflow, your team has less searching across separate records and more time focused on fixing your operation.
Where Artificial Intelligence Fits In
The utility of connected data depends on how well the teams can analyze it.
AI and analytics can, for example, be used to identify trends, cross-reference information obtained from different sources, and flag events for potential follow-up. The degree to which these features are useful depends on the data, the system architecture, and the particular application in question.
The project team might do a comparison of equipment billing records against work requirements to identify equipment that may be idle or that can be reassigned. It might also compare the material availability tables and schedules with activities to identify potential conflicts.
You are not assured that these insights will predict. A system can warn that a pattern or risk exists, but the site staff must still verify the circumstances and determine the course of action.
AI must provide helpful insights to aid in decision making, rather than leaving users feeling that all issues in construction can be fixed by a machine.
Four Steps Toward Better Data Integration
1. Identify the Most Important Workflow
Begin with a common challenge that delays project completion. It could be tracking down equipment, getting materials to the jobsite, ensuring access records are up to date, or collecting job progress updates.
Identifying the problem helps teams prevent one from needlessly devoting resources to technology.
2. Review Existing Systems
Make a list of those systems currently in use and what information is held on each. Find out whether there are overlaps, gaps, delays or sharing issues with the information.
This review can help to identify if the project needs additional system process improvements, system integration, additional data collection or some combination thereof.
3. Establish Consistent Data and Responsibilities
Integration becomes more challenging when various teams have different naming conventions, asset identifiers and reporting processes.
Standardise key data: Setting agreement around key data is all about making information easier to compare across systems. Consider who owns a record and who reviews anomalies and who takes action when a problem is spotted.
4. Measure the Results
Any new system should be measured against the problem it was designed to solve.
The duration of time to find equipment, number of inventory shortages, time to generate progress reports, or team resolves of found coordination issues.
Baseline prior to implementation can inform project teams of any real value being gained from the change.
Why Integration Is About More Than Software
Technology is not enough. Equipment must be maintained, information must be validated and procedures must match jobsite practices.
The system must be integrated into their job also. If data entry is time-consuming or alerts are hard to analyze, users will be less likely to use the system and develop workarounds.
Security and privacy is also worth of discussion, if the systems access workforce data, records, location, etc. permission, retention and safeguards can be set up according to the needs of the organization and relevant requirements.
In this way, integrations work seamlessly.
Building a More Connected Construction Workflow
AIoT- a merger of artificial intelligence with the internet of things-to connect real construction activity with digital data is one way.
Commercial construction applications like CommConAI are centered on applications related to workforce visibility, site access, equipment and materials, and build progress. These three applications demonstrate how connected information can enable operational coordination, used in the context of specific project needs.
But the most effective beginning isn't always a giant deployment of technology. A contractor might find that focusing on one key process, validating the data, and reviewing the outcomes before moving on to other processes can be more effective.
Construction projects require technology, not just technology for technology's sake. They require trustworthy information that gets to the right people, at the right time, in the right context, to support ontime decision-making.
Better data integration will put teams in a better place to get there - not by replacing intuition and dialogue, but by offering a clearer view of what makes sense behind them.
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