Submission and RFI workflows pose significant challenges to project productivity. The contract administration process, while a necessary task, can be difficult and time-consuming for even the most organized project teams, with larger projects generating thousands of submittals and hundreds of RFIs.
The rapidly evolving and constantly changing landscape of the AECO industry has put a lot of strain on the relationship between various interest groups, emphasizing the need for fast and accurate communication.
Architects and engineers must quickly process and resolve RFIs and submittals to keep their deadlines tight and costs within budget, while general contractors look to cover their bases and ensure adequate project quality on the ground .
Needless to say, it can be a bit overwhelming even at the best of times.
Banking on time
Optimizing contract administration workflows for a given project is easier said than done.
Submission and RFI processing moves through multi-company systems, rather than a holistic, automated system. It requires human intervention to upload, download, and re-enter information between systems, and human intervention is unfortunately prone to human error. As a result, the information may be incomplete, inaccurate, or contain errors that erode trust between the parties.
The most successful projects have RFI and Submittal workflows that are processed and handled in a timely manner, ensuring that project quality and schedule are not compromised. Any delay in communicating or sharing an RFI can lead to multiple problems such as rework, security issues, increased costs, and schedule delays.
All of these outcomes will start an endless blame game, eroding stakeholder trust and project coordination.
Finally, when trying to share information between platforms, submissions may appear incomplete or contain inaccurate information, creating lengthy back-and-forth between parties to arrange reviews and resubmissions.
Similarly, poorly written or unclear RFIs can cause significant friction between design teams and contractors, as lack of clarity will require teams to dig deeper and waste more time trying to figure out the nature of the request earlier to process it. This can lead to long delays in obtaining the necessary information or incorrect interpretations, which can lead to construction errors or project delays.
Optimization of RFI workflows and submissions with project information
With tighter deadlines and tighter budgets than ever, the pressure continues to mount in the AECO industry as teams struggle to keep up with the growing complexities of each individual project. It has caused the industry to look for solutions to reduce the high number of billable hours, such as cloud-based contract administration.
Leveraging construction project management platforms like Newforma Konekt helps project teams automate the contract administration process, significantly reducing human error and review times.
Optimizing a project’s contract administration has been a huge help to the AECO sector in general, helping companies:
- Reduce the manual administrative work of uploading and downloading files.
- Reduce the number of emails for the review cycle.
- Show transparency in workflow / ball on court.
- Track high priority items, overdue items, and overdue items.
For example, with Newforma Konekt, architects can archive emails directly from their Microsoft Outlook client as a submission or RFI. They have the ability to extract relevant information from an email, including attachments or images, and populate them automatically within the project record.
By using this feature, architects can eliminate the risk of duplicate data entries and save companies the time-consuming manual tasks of logging each RFI one by one from their inbox.
And even if there is an issue where different stakeholders are unsure or confused about a certain aspect of the project, a central information hub like Newforma Konekt would allow users to see the workflow and history of each submission or individual RFI.
Forget about having to go through the hassle of sifting through thousands of emails to discover a small detail, as project information platforms empower users with robust aggregated search and filtering functions to help them quickly extract what they need to keep the project running smoothly.
Project information management in action
Michael Petrovick Architects PLLC, a thriving architecture firm based in Amesbury, Massachusetts, expertly manages multiple projects simultaneously, earning a stellar reputation throughout New England. They also tried to optimize their contract administration.
They looked into adopting a single source of truth that could help them unify all lines of project information into a simple and straightforward experience for all stakeholders involved in their project.
That’s when they found Newforma Konekt.
Within minutes, the company was able to transform its document submission process, streamlining its efficiency in submitting and processing each RFI and Presentation, while keeping its various partners in the loop at all times.
By centralizing your access to information in a single hub, you say goodbye to cumbersome spreadsheets and messy documents, saving 6-8 minutes per RFI or shipment processed.
The company then took advantage of this recent time and moved on to new projects, unlocking new revenue opportunities and avenues to further enhance the company’s reputation.
Learn more about project information management
Today’s modern workflows require modern solutions to speed up the process, even when we are not sitting near our desks or, more importantly, in the field attending to urgent matters.
Learn more about Newforma Konekt and see how you can optimize your time to take on more projects and improve your pipeline.
