How to take advantage of a CMS can save your project considerable time and considerable budget
The team has packed everything. But the contractor still wants to play. And now it’s time to leave. Because the next project is on the way.
There are many phases in construction projects, but the least discussed always seems to be closing. However, this phase can often be one of the most labor intensive and costly for a public project when it comes to inspection and record keeping. Unlike the contractor who has bid construction phase work and is locked into unit prices, construction inspection and record keeping are often based on a budget number that Public Works expects to meet at best cases, and are likely to be (significantly) short at the moment. the worst. However, it is in this process that we see the most delayed and underutilized transition to a digital delivery environment. Models sure are fun and digital delivery of these models through online bidding platforms streamlines efforts. However, I believe that using a CMS system has a greater financial impact, not only through project operations, but more significantly at closeout.
Consider the typical case we see. A municipal project with one full-time inspector (perhaps two at certain times) requires a decision: monitor the work, or do the paperwork. Projects are complex beings during construction with daily work records, daily quantity measurements, material testing in advance to ensure placement payment, etc. Negating other impacts such as traffic control, meetings, administration, change requests or conflicting plans and site conditions, an inspector’s attention is drawn in many different directions as a single member of the team and can make record keeping seem more piecemeal. effort Record just enough to remember what happened and go to the site to see the work. I once asked a DOT Municipal Program Oversight Officer what to do and his response was, if it’s about seeing the work or doing the paperwork, look at the work.
With CMS systems having been around for over a decade, adoption of these systems has been painfully slow. Some for costs and budgets, some for competition, but mostly for lack of awareness, understanding and translation into savings. So let’s break it down and try to quantify that savings in terms of hours. On average, it takes an inspector 1-2 hours of “daily OT” to complete paperwork AFTER completing field work. By using a CMS like Appia on a tablet or phone, this documentation can be completed in real-time, while the work is being watched, and is available for contractor questions. More importantly, the procedures require post-verification and secondary (sometimes tertiary) signatures verifying that at least someone has performed quality assurance on the documentation and calculations, and has acknowledged reviewing the records generally at some regular interval. However, in a paper-based system (even a spreadsheet-based system), this work is usually left to the ubiquitous “closing” that occurs.
