As Jack, a construction business owner arrives at work, he is optimistic that today will be a good day. Jack’s company recently landed the biggest contract they have ever received, which helps the company grow and expand operations in the future. They are still in the beginning stages of the project, but so far operations have been running smoothly, even though this project is really stretching their company’s workforce to the maximum. Jack is primarily using Excel to generate job costing reports, charts and graphs about the status of his projects overall. Nonetheless, he begins to assess the data so far and quickly notices that the numbers don’t add up. With this specific project being so big in scale, Jack cannot remember all of the various aspects and must rely on the information in front of him. He has a particular issue with an amount invoiced to a contractor, but searching around the office through numerous file folders for the actual paperwork is too time consuming and the paperwork may not even be in the office at all. Jack wishes that he had all of the invoices and work orders electronically stored in a central location, which would make it easier to drill down and access this key information. With that being said, Jack is now unsure if the data entered into his Excel spreadsheets is accurate and up-to-date. He will need to double check with accounting, but by the time this is resolved many hours would have been lost already. Jack cannot confidently assess and report on the information, leaving him in doubt as to the current state of the project. If this trend continues, Jack worries about how he can take on another project of this magnitude while Versicherungs-Dashboard continuing to grow.
With a Construction Software Solution:
Jack arrives at the office, ready to begin his day. Jack took the advice and recommendation of one of his colleagues and recently made the switch to an integrated construction software solution. With their biggest contract underway, Jack is confident the project will go according to plan and he can effectively keep track of the project status along the way. He sits down at his desk and opens the software system. He opens the Project Management dashboard, where he is able to attain a 360 degree view of his business, all from one single dashboard view. Not only does this save him time instead of having to sort through numerous spreadsheets and paperwork, but Jack is able to gain full visibility and drill down to the actual documents, which are centrally stored in an electronic document management system. Jack can be confident in the numbers that are in front him, and can accurately attain an up-to-date view of how the business is doing. With the understanding that the information in the construction software system is accurate, Jack can still leverage his extensive knowledge of Excel to generate sophisticated graphical reports. With this functionality, Jack will have the information required to make smarter, more informed decisions about the current and future strategy of his business. With the construction software integrated throughout all aspects of his business, Jack’s employee satisfaction levels are at an all-time high and collaboration between staff members has never been more efficient. Even Jack’s customers have already noticed the improvement in efficiency, which only bodes well for the future of his company. Jack is confident that once this project is completed on time and on budget he will be able to take on even more projects of this size and continue to grow his company.
Which one of these scenarios sounds like the better option? Life with a construction software solution will not only provide you with greater visibility into your business, but also enhance your operational efficiency as well.
The Phased Approach to Project Management Implementation
Implementing a PMO can present significant challenges. For that reason, a phased approach to PMO implementation is not only crucial but also a distinguishing characteristic of successful project management consulting firms. Experienced project management consultants know that a phased approach:
(1) helps to overcome resistance to change,
(2) allows for lessons learned in early phases to be incorporated in systems installed in later phases and
(3) establishes a solid foundation of available project-level data prior to rolling-up enterprise-level information. Second, successful project management consultants also know that, when it comes to designing a PMO, there is no such thing as a “universal solution.” To be effective, a PMO must be tailored to your organization’s project types, management/staff capabilities, and organizational culture. A phased approach to implementation allows the necessary time (in the initial phases) to gather first-hand information about project characteristics, personnel, and cultural nuances so that the delivered solution can be tailored appropriately.
