As contractors work to streamline work processes during the coronavirus outbreak, using a centralised and end-to-end construction software solution is a must.
Construction software over recent years has rapidly advanced, with solutions available for every need of a construction business.
Despite this, many contractors are finding that using multiple software solutions, often at a high-cost to the business, is causing delays and increasing on-site issues.
The use of multiple, non-integrated solutions by the project and financial teams to capture the same project information such as project budgets and subcontracts, can quickly create a “double-entry” environment which creates waste.
Innovations in construction software are changing the way people work, making it easier to implement solutions that make the most sense to a business.
Some software vendors have helped streamline the integration process by taking new strategic technical directions, while others are utilising open construction platforms for data and service collaboration.
Partnerships of industry-leading vendors are also helping make software integrations as seamless and beneficial to their clients as possible.
When top software vendors connect, a single point-of-entry solution can be delivered that eliminates double-entry—helping save time and effort for both project and financial teams, while reducing errors and ensuring data integrity.
For instance, Sage's construction software offers seamless interoperability with other solutions, to ensure construction businesses can integrate new solutions as they see fit and adapt to the ever-changing needs of the industry
Vendors are also providing better integration with the construction industry’s adoption of a common data exchange.
A common data exchange is the connective tissue between open-source data exchanges like the portable document format (PDF), industry foundation classification (IFC), extensible markup language (XML), and application programming interface (API).
The communication framework is leveraged by architecture, engineering and construction project stakeholders to decide what data is critical, who needs to provide it, and how to implement it through CDX-listed standards and technology integrations, producing a CDX-validated workflow.
Industry adoption of a CDX gives you more freedom to use the best solutions for your business.
Construction firms generate a lot of data and most of it often lies within a single system. This can present issues when considering an alternate solution—through data loss or interoperability.
New solutions that fail to integrate with existing solutions can result in performing double entry of data and therefore increased inefficiency.
Once a CDX becomes an industry standard, data can easily be imported and exported between different systems, encouraging collaboration across the industry.
In addition to the push for a CDX, a grassroots effort has been under way in the US to develop guidelines for construction PDF documents. The results of these efforts are expected to be felt across the globe.
PDF documents remain the de facto standard for electronic file sharing between design, build, inspect, and operate (DBIO) professionals, but not all PDFs are created equal.
In the US, the Construction Progress Coalition (CPC) brings together builders and designers to share PDF best practices, pain points, and lessons learned to produce crowd-sourced answers to the real-world challenges the industry faces.
Through its work with industry professionals, the CPC developed Guidelines for Construction PDF Documents v.1 and is currently working on a second version of the guidelines.
It will remain a living document that is periodically updated based on industry needs.
The construction industry has certainly benefited from great technological advancements, and there are more on the horizon.
However, disparate solutions alone cannot address industry challenges such as qualified worker shortages and increasingly complex projects.
The industry must unite and push for increased efforts to develop open source integration standards, simplify data transfer, and increase collaboration.
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