What does true collaboration across the project team mean for a construction project? The team working on the composite central plant project for Washington Hospital of Fremont, California found out, using EADOC software.
Continue reading “What Does True Collaboration Mean?” »

Some years ago, before the advent of collaborative construction management software, Max Wideman, P.Eng., a veteran capital projects manager wrote, “if [a] contractor wishes to remain profitable he must maintain control of his on-going work, and control of on-going work requires on-going records.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Continue reading “Construction Project Record Keeping in Advance of Disputes” »

EADOC invites current and past customers to provide a review of their experience using EADOC via our partner, SoftwareAdvice.com.

Data on new construction starts for the last quarter of 2011 from McGraw-Hill Construction, suggests that the market is stabilizing and basing for a broad-based return to growth. Savvy construction professionals are using this time to evaluate technologies, like construction management software, to better manage cost and risk when the pace increases.
Continue reading “With the Market Stablizing, Now is the Time to Evaluate Cost-Saving Technology” »

As construction projects grow in size and complexity, involving multiple agencies and sub-contractors, paper approvals and sign-offs become a costly practice.
Continue reading “Moving Beyond Wet Signatures in Construction Projects” »

Does your construction management software follow you wherever you go? Can you access it from any device, even from a smartphone, iPad or similar tablet computer, even from every corner of the job site?

Truly collaborative project management software should untether the busy manager from the office. On the road, at the job site, or at the lunch counter, information should be available and accessible when you need it. Timely access to information can also prevent costly errors – catching mistakes early can prevent them from compounding. With today’s complex commercial and industrial construction projects the ability to quickly respond to the needs of a project are paramount to reducing risk.

EADOC designed its collaborative construction management application to follow the construction manager wherever he or she goes, on any device. Construction Managers have access to real time information about document reviews and current projects costs. You no longer have to wait for a project engineer to update the report and email it to you. You can log in and see in real time how your project is performing. EADOC works with any browser, on a PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet computers, like the iPad or Xoom.

Anywhere there’s internet access you have instant access to all your project information including drawings, specifications, change orders and pay estimates. And with EADOC, each project participant has instant access to information you have shared with them electronically, ensuring that Contractors, Engineers, Architects, and clients all have access to current real time information.

Your construction management software should match how you do business, and follow you right into the field if it has to. With EADOC, your information is right there with you when you need it.

Moving forward with a Construction Management application should decrease your project budget, not add to it. With today’s construction project management applications delivered over the web and incorporating strong collaborative features, the cost savings are delivered immediately instead of 5 to 10 years down the road. Implementation times are reduced from 12-24 months down to 1-2 months when compared with legacy enterprise solutions. When evaluating solutions you should be looking at the direct cost savings that the application will begin delivering within 30-90 days of implementation.

There should be reduced labor costs, reduced project overhead costs of shipping, filling and printing large volumes of paperwork, improved staff productivity and increased project team productivity. As a construction manager or facility owner you need to look at the solution to not only drive cost savings within your organization but also across your entire project team. These total cost savings should be driving your budget for procuring and implementing the application. A cost savings calculation done by a current EADOC client shows they saved over $100K using EADOC on a 2 year, $10M project. After taking into account the cost of purchasing and implementing the EADOC application the net savings was $85K to the project. To learn more about how much you can save on your next project with a collaborative project management application contact us at 877-305-3844 or sales@eadocsoftware.com.

When starting a new project Contractors, Construction Managers and Clients are all worried about completing a project on time and within budget. Almost no one is thinking about what happens to all the information that is generated throughout the project. The operations and maintenance team should be but they are used to being handed large volumes of paper O&M manuals that provide little value on today’s technologically advanced plants. Often these manuals end up in a basement or storage facility to decay along with the bankers boxes of project documents. Considering the amount of money spent on building the plant and the amount of valuable information that is generated Construction Managers and Clients especially need to look at this gold mine of information differently. This information provides ways to reduce operating costs, improve how the next project is designed, and provides historical costs for budgeting for the next project. With project information being tracked electronically throughout design and construction this resource now becomes easily accessible. Instead of storing and shredding thousands of pounds of paper upon project completion this information can be transferred to O&M, Plant Engineers, and Designers at the click of a mouse. With powerful search technologies and the ability to link this data to BIM models and GIS applications these volumes of electronic information will continue to deliver substantial benefits and cost savings to the client. To reap the benefits of this electronic information the project team needs to identify how they are going to manage all this project information electronically from the start of the job. By implementing a project management application from concept through project completion you are building a repository of data that will pay for itself multiple times over during the life cycle of the project. Project teams need to look at the information life cycle just as they look at a plants life cycle cost and control it accordingly.

There are many reasons for IT departments to embrace SAAS(Software As A Service) applications like EADOC’s collaborative construction project management application. We have listed a couple of the major benefits for you to review with your IT department.
EADOC acts as a Trusted 3rd party protecting the agency and project participants information. This is crucial to the success of any project management application. If Contractors, Consultants and clients don’t trust the application and the party that is responsible for managing the application they will not use the tool. Without the project participants using the application to submit their project information electronically you will not be able to reap the benefits.

EADOC takes care of security among a large group of users accessing the application from many vendors and points on the Internet. By using EADOC IT departments do need to expose their internal infrastructure to the outside world reducing the costs and risks associated with public access to their infrastructure.

Data is delivered at the end of the project in pdf and native file formats that can easily be stored and accessed with existing file servers and document management systems. This deliverable allows the IT department to move the information into their existing document management systems.

EADOC handles the large amounts of data processing and network activity that a large capital project generates. The majority of agencies capital project workloads ebb and flow with budget cycles, weather and many other factors. This can require that IT departments purchase a lot of spare network capacity and hardware infrastructure so they can handle the peak project loads. With EADOC this is taken care of reducing the need to maintain spare capacity and providing substantial cost savings.

All these benefits add up to substantial cost savings and security benefits for today’s IT departments who are working under shrinking budgets and increased demands from their users. Leveraging EADOC’s web based construction project management application allows IT departments to deliver a collaborative project management application to their Engineers without spending large amounts of time and money on IT resources.

EADOC

Online Collaboration Software & Construction Project Management Systems are a Necessity, Not a Luxury

In a recent white paper, Alison Way of Think Big Partners (a non-profit group dedicated to the success of entrepreneurs and their businesses) extolled the benefits and growing necessity of on-line collaboration software in the construction business.
The ultimate goal of online collaboration and project management technology, according to Way, is “to facilitate transparent and continuous communication among an entire project team (owners, general contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, consultants, suppliers, and the internal staff)”. Secondary goals support this end by enabling project team members to:

• Facilitate construction project workflow
• Create standards, procedures, and policies
• Create a historical archive of information
• Enable information availability and control
• Improve project control and change management
• Improve efficiency in the areas of time and budget

The white paper analysis of an over 1 billion dollar loss that occurred on a 2008 Las Vegas construction project highlights the need for construction project management software programs that are up to the task of today’s project and detail loads.

Let’s take a look at how EADOC is uniquely qualified to aid all 6 of these goals that ultimately lead to money-saving and error-reducing management:

1.EADOC project management software will help you facilitate construction workflow.

Ensuring that vital information is passed to the right people, at the right time, is very important to the construction project management process. At EADOC, our software can help you eliminate long meetings and phone conferences discussing submittals, change orders, and the status of RFIs.

2.Using the EADOC construction project management  software will help to streamline procedures and policies followed by all team members.

Construction project management software can make sure that right processes are in place to help eliminate errors.  For instance, any file format can be uploaded to the application, with a link to the document right in the notification email.

3.EADOC web based construction management software creates an automatic ‘paperless trail” as you work!

With completely searchable and time stamped document storage available to all the project participants it is easy to keep everyone on the same page. You can access your files from any computer connected to the internet 24 hours a day.

4. Keeping every construction project member in the loop means increased efficiency with EADOC’s software.

Because EADOC’S user permissions are set by you, you can simply add or subtract the names and addresses for those who need to receive notifications on any part of the project. You can easily view a report that will tell you who has received and opened the files, and whose input is still pending. You’ll keep every member of the project in the loop and avoid slowdowns thanks to the vast amount of information flow and control possible with EADOC.

5. Less time and money wasted while searching for new Drawings, RFIs, or Submittals with construction project management software.

EADOC knows that project details can change in a moment and that the more time spent waiting for Drawings, Approved Submittals, or RFI responses, the more money and time is lost. With EADOC’s collaborative benefits, you can be sure that change management happens efficiently and that everyone who needs to know is made aware of the changes.

6.Up to 30% more time saving and significant cost reductions by reducing the need for office supplies and meeting requests.

Find significant cost reductions by greatly reducing the need for paper, face-to-face meeting times, administrative help, and shipping expenses.

Industry watchers know the importance of online collaborative project management for the future of the industry and profitability. View the EADOC demo today to see how EADOC can benefit you!

Eric Law, Founder & CEO of EADOC