How Can Construction Project Managers Benefit With Technology

Learn how you can work less to accomplish more

Construction projects are the most vast, the most complicated, the most intricate, the most elaborate, and frankly too much for just one person to be managing. Well, not anymore, because there are automation software platforms that can solve all these challenges for Construction project managers!

Let’s take a look at how they can help.

A Day In The Life Of A Construction Project Manager

A day in the life of a construction project manager includes scheduling numerous meetings and setting up time tables for the whole team. An easy way to solve the puzzle of both time Management and task management is by using a project management software.

Since you need to work extensively with people, teams, and departments, communication and collaboration are top priorities for construction project managers. Fortunately, a project management Tool can solve all 4 of your problems:

• Scheduling tasks
• Distributing responsibilities
• Planning and organizing priorities
• Collaborating with teams

Let us first determine all your tasks and find out exactly how a project management tool will ease your job.

Breaking Down The Timeline Of The Construction Project

You could either be dealing with a construction job, a refurbishing job, or a renovation job, the process could be mapped down to these steps:

1. Analyzing the area, dimensions, and other important parameters.
2. Making the initial sketches and designs.
3. Reviewing sketches from various parties for necessary feedback.
4. Finalizing of the designs by digitizing and sharing them across platforms.
5. Concluding the final outcome and exactly how the project is going to look.
6. Breaking the project down to tasks.
7. Planning the sequence of tasks that lead up to the final product.
8. Assessing how many people to involve.
9. Allotting responsibilities to teams and departments.
10. Setting a timeline for the whole project.
11. Establishing deadlines for all the tasks and subtasks.
12. Analyzing the materials to be used.
13. Calculating the cost and working on cost management.

The time taken in these stages could differ depending on the nature of the project, i.e., is it a residential building, an industrial job, a commercial/institutional project, or an engineering construction.

One thing worth mentioning here is that the duties of a construction project manager include not only managing the project, but also the teams. Regulating various departments and supervising the movement of the project is what this job clearly entails.

So how can you be sure that a project management software platform will help you solve all of that? Let’s find out here:

Why Should You Let One Tool Solve Thirteen Problems?

The very basic, practical, and real reason to ever trust a project management software for easy management is that it helps you in multiple ways. The flexibility and agility of this type of platform make it a versatile and trusty partner for a construction project manager.

Making The Information Flow

Your duty as a manager is to inform other people about their duties. Your job is to give them the details, pass on guidelines, provide them notes that will be helpful to them in performing their tasks.

With a project management software, this part is easy because there are a lot of ways you can do that. For instance, with a tool such as ProofHub, you get to:

• Add as many people as you want to a project.
• Write down project details and attach files and documents they would need to proceed.
• Make “announcements” to notify everyone about any change in the plans or the deadlines.
• Use Gantt charts, with which you will get to show your team the exact timeline of the project. Also, with these, you get to present the initial and final dates of the tasks, along with dependencies in the overlapping tasks.

Sharing Files Easily

With a task management tool like ProofHub, you will be able to share information like you never had before. You can also say goodbye to email threads, waiting for people to call you back, and notifying everyone on updates time and again.

As mentioned above, you can add any information with ease. However that’s not all. You can also:

• Attach sketches, sheets, and information about the figures and never lose track of documents ever again.
• Have a centralized location to come back to for any important information about the dimensions or browsing through the bylaws.
• Pass on notes with ease and make “reporting at the end of the day” a reality with a PM tool.
• You can also save yourself the memory hassle and use “quickies” to leave yourself little notes and reminders.
• PM tools such as ProofHub also help save reminders so that you never forget to set meetings and whatnot with timely notifications.

“Never miss a deadline again. Stay notified with ProofHub! Sign up with us today!”

Making Communication Easier

God knows that as a construction project manager, you need to keep up with so many people. Communication is required in the form of back and forth between contractors, subcontractors, and field supervisors.

A communication software might be great but is not as effective as a PM tool. You should see how a software platform like ProofHub helps you communicate better:

• A project management software has a big hand in keeping everyone in the loop.
• It helps with easy communication through chats and group chats.
• These allow you to not only converse but to also share files and important links.
• In addition to chats, the tool will also allow you to provide reviews by commenting on the task directly.
• Another way to always be connected with your team through this tool is by using “team discussions”, a powerful feature that you get in ProofHub. This is where people from a department can come together to discuss strategies effectively.

Connecting With Clients

As a manager of a large scale project, it gets hard to keep track of the people you have updated with the progress. An important part of this group to keep informed is often the clients.

Transparency is overlooked too frequently. The clients feel left out and uninformed. Here’s how this scenario can be fixed with a project management software platform:

• The tool will help you with adding clients to the list of the people the project pertains to.
• You can add clients in group chats so that they can participate and put forward their needs.
• You can also allow your clients the opportunity to review the process and track the progress in realtime.

All this will make it easier for the clients to reach out to the people concerned and they would be able to rest easy.

Streamlining Workflows

A PM tool will help you create a workflow for the teams. If you don’t know already, a workflow is a representation of tasks presented in their respective sequential stages. Platforms such as ProofHub allow you to choose from a variety of predefined workflows.

Here is why you absolutely need an automated workflow:

• Build a custom workflow with any number of stages.
• It is easier to track the progress of the project as tasks move through stages in a particular workflow.
• Establish deadlines for the tasks introduced in the workflow.
• Build countless number of workflows corresponding to countless types of tasks.
• Making a workflow will ensure little confusion and better time management.

“Build functional workflows using Kanban boards from ProofHub! Start your FREE trial today!”

Embracing Kanbans Implicitly

The best thing to come out of all that a project management tool can offer you is the Kanban board. These boards help you realize and view:

1. The goals,
2. The deadlines,
3. The tasks, and
4. The workflow

With the utmost ease. Not only this, but Kanban boards serve the following amazing functions as well:

• Help track information and progress easily.
• Are easy to use and understand.
• Have “drag and drop” features to save you the hassle.
• Help keep the team on the same page.
• Give you a window to view all the tasks in progress and access the files attached.
• Your team gets to switch between different workflows depending on the type of task they are to attempt.

Reviewing Without Complaining

Reviews are a big part of the planning process for a construction project. It is kind of like a grey area because (1) you are not always sure about how much time the process will take and how many people would have to be called in.

Another trouble with reviewing stems from the fact that (2) sometimes people are unable to provide exact feedback or quote exactly what they would like to see improved.

Here’s how you can kill 2 birds with one stone using a project management tool:

• The reviewing process is a lot easier now because of markup tools that help you point out exactly what you would like to see change.
• ProofHub’s proofing tool for instance is very handy and works on all kinds of images and PDF files for annotating feedback responses.
• You can also review and then comment on tasks to inform people what you thought of their work (sketches and drawings).
• It will also help you reach people with ease with the feature of @mentioning any member concerned with the project.
• Documentation of feedback also becomes easier through these features catering to the review process.

Unifying The Whole Team

A project management software helps you plan projects and organize tasks, but it also unifies all departments and teams under one umbrella. This is very important in a project as you would agree — being on the same page and the participation of all.

Let’s discover how this would benefit you and make your job easier as the project manager:

• No more scheduling dozens of meetings in a day.
• Easily welcome people from all backgrounds: Workers, engineers, contractors, and clients, etc to the platform as it has an easy-to-use interface.
• With the project management tool, they will find that it is easier to maneuver and analyze all the moving parts of the project.
• As a unified front, people will get to work more efficiently with effective collaboration.

Syncing With A Calendar

Setting goals and establishing deadlines is the best way to go about managing projects with a software platform that allows you to do so. However, the timeline of the project might not be clear even with a workflow and Gantt charts working for you.

This is where the feature of the calendar view comes in. PM tools such as ProofHub help you map out tasks so that they are visible on your calendar. This is an amazing feature because it benefits everyone in the following ways:

• It becomes easier for people to track their individual tasks for the day, week, 2 weeks, or the month.
• With a calendar view, it gets easier to hold people accountable for their tasks.
• As the project manager, you get to watch the project run its course viewing everything with a calendar view.
• You get to set recurring tasks as a default so you don’t have to manually set these every day.
• Your team gets to watch their targets and can easily make strategies to achieve them.
• It will also be easier for your employees to set personal and private milestones, present only for them to be seen.

“Set recurring tasks and events with just one click using ProofHub. Start your FREE trial today!”

Tracking With Ease

The best reason to trust a project management tool for your construction projects is that you get to track so many parameters. With a software platform such as ProofHub, you will get to:

• Track absenteeism.
• Track the time taken on tasks and projects.
• Track the progress of individuals, teams, and departments.
• Also, track the resources during their consumption all on one platform!

Customize To Your Liking

The best part about using a management system inculcating the services of technology is that you will never feel any rigidity. A software platform for project management will let you make your project truly and completely your own by providing you a flexible interface.

For example, ProofHub provides you so many features to customize the entire outlook of the project according to your needs, and not to mention, your taste.

1. The tool comes with the feature of white labeling so you can truly define your project and customize your tool at your convenience. Build the whole project on your terms, adhering to your brand and your custom domain.
2. It will allow you to organize tasks, people, and departments in innovative and easy ways. You will be able to label everything with the help of colorful tabs, tags, and by setting hierarchies — with custom roles.

To Sum Up

A construction project management has to play the role of a superhero to carry out the project in a seamless manner. And project management software like ProofHub act as the kryptonite that provides these superheroes with the superpowers to carry out their work. You can see quite clearly how a tool like ProofHub, with its advanced features, empowers construction project managers to be the best at what they are doing.

If you are a construction project manager looking to bring more clarity in your work life, it is time you start using a project management software like ProofHub.

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Read More:

1. Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities
2. 6 Steps Every Team Should Follow — A Project Management Guide for 2020
3. 10 Powerful Tips For Project Management Success

The Value Of Automation For A Construction Project Manager was originally published in ProofHub Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.