Scheduling was originally defined as “the process of creating and maintaining the project steps moving according to a sequenced plan” but such a definition has totally ignored the cost factor with only focusing on the time one. However, time and cost have a cohesive bond, especially in the construction work. Construction scheduling is the first key that gives your company a professional image in the field. An Example for this is the National Basketball Association (NBA) arena project where the construction company had no experience in establishing that size of projects. They worked on making and developing schedules to be negotiated on an open bid. Then the schedules were presented to the owner and he got convinced that he decided to choose this firm to work on the project. The owners stated, “One of the major reasons the job was awarded to this company was their impressive schedule. The schedule gave us confidence in the contractor’s ability to do the work.” Current scheduling software started to focus on combining between the cost and time constrains in an advanced platform. A paperless process in scheduling and reporting minimize delay, entanglement and the chance of losing important documents. In this article, you will know why you need to adopt a scheduling and reporting tool in your business?
Construction Project Scheduling and Reporting Software – An Endless List of Benefits and Gains
A project manager’s life most of the time is messed up because of his working nature. A PM normally works between 60-80 hours a week according to the project and firm size. This will not only have a terrible effect on his work but also on his private life. The first step for being a good project manager is to learn to control the project before the project controls you. Scheduling is almost half of the projects manager’s tasks. Start by searching for the appropriate project scheduling software and start to gain all the following benefits:
Provide a continuous workflow: The construction project normally passes by multiple phases where the speed of work is not fixed. At first, you start your project with a jump and then you pass by a middle phase where everything is moving on a slow pace. At the end of the project everything is done in a hurry. A scheduling software main task is to let you preserve an acceptable working speed in all these phases.
Set goals: One of the main tasks of scheduling is to set goals for all the project members. Without scheduling, you will not have a milestone to achieve and preserve.
Project following up: Daily reporting in the construction industry is the main indicator that indicates the direction of the project. With a paperless reporting process, you ensure that you documented every day new achievements or threats. This step is the very beginning of the risk analysis operation that saves your project.
Reduce the whole construction process time: Advanced planning and scheduling for all the project details allow you to have an overall idea about the project duration. That’s how you can adjust the mechanism of performing some tasks to minimize the project time.
Fewer delays and cost management: Scheduling reduces mistakes of doing activities twice or not in their suitable order. Reworking a task causes major delays and cost loss.
Improving productivity: Planning for each step in the project enhances productivity because every team member is on a full view of knowing what he should do. No waiting for orders or interference in tasks.
Meet owners’ requirements: The main objective of any project owner is to receive his facility finished on time and on budget. Organizing the project tasks, labor and equipment minimizes the chance of any project delivery delay. This is not only beneficial for the owner but also saves the contractor any costs spent on project overtime work.
There are numerous benefits for using a scheduling and reporting software in your work. Starting from building a more efficient process and ending with allowing managers to improve their quality of life. Being a project manager puts you in the leading chair and this pushes you to take the needed decision at the right time. Get your work the tool you need to be always connected with your team, have access to all your statistics and schedules and manage every defect reporting on site. You now have the chance to try PlanRadar 30 days free of charge, the app is supporting more than 25,000 projects per week. Don’t miss this chance and try it now.
How to Decide Which is the Best Construction Scheduling Software in Market with 4 Main Elements.
Construction industry includes enormous projects with multiple intersected tasks. If we came to the scheduling part, you will find that you need as a minimum to check for working labors, equipment, materials, safety steps and maintenance installments. That’s why choosing the best construction scheduling software is not an easy task. You need to put some constraints to evaluate software efficiency as:
- The software should have a work break down structure, where the whole plan is divided into main milestones and then into smaller details of tasks.
- Have a documentation section for all the resources of each task with the responsible team member and the expected duration.
- Generate a best-case schedule by using an algorithm to sequence all the project tasks.
- Include a feasibility and cost study for all the project phases.
After choosing the scheduling software that you are going to use, you start another stage of the project when you begin to pick the subcontractors and put your initial deals with them. Know more about how to use simple scheduling software to manage all your work from the next tips.
7 Different Methods to make the Subcontractor Conform to the Online Schedule
A construction administration software is working on developing impressive tools for scheduling and planning. Yet the whole sector is facing a major problem with obliging subcontractors to work according to the scheduling steps. In the large size projects, it’s getting harder because every subcontractor has his own tasks and mechanism. Here are some of the basic tips that will help you convince the subcontractors to stick to the schedule.
- Provide technical training at the start of the project.
- Arrange scheduled meetings to share updates.
- Share all the information and milestone successes with them, this should give a more effective environment.
- Create the first draft of the schedule and discuss it with them.
- Don’t schedule two conflicting subcontractors’ tasks in the same place and time.
- Manage duration for every task, when it should start and finish.
- Reward subcontractor for schedule compliance and add more charges for the undependable ones.
And the most important task is to provide a connecting platform for all your project subcontractors and project members online. On this platform, you can share all the recent schedules, updates or any kind of notifications. This kind of job scheduling software for contractors and subcontractors will make the whole construction process easier and smoother. Don’t hesitate and choose PlanRadar. For any further information, we are looking forward to hearing from you in our customer care center anytime.
