Specialists in PR and marketing support for building services, building management and sustainability
Controlled collaboration
(written for
CableTalk)
Sharing key information such as drawings and specifications is a key
element of any project, and getting it wrong can be expensive. Colin
Barnes of Collabor8online explains how new, low-cost online
collaboration technologies can play a vital role in minimising risk
Anyone who’s worked in electrical or mechanical contracting for a while
will be all too aware of the potential cost of errors in project
information. Retentions from main contractors, disputes with
sub-contractors and clients, additional site time to rectify incorrect
work – all of these eat into the bottom line as well as damaging your
reputation.
So it makes sound commercial sense to ensure that information sharing
processes are as fool-proof as possible – and this is increasingly
important as more information is shared electronically.
On the face of it, e-mail is the obvious way to share information. It’s
fast, cheap and can be accessed from any location using a computer or
mobile device. But let’s consider what actually happens.
For example, you might attach a brief, a drawing and a specification to
an email and then send it to other members of the project team for
comment – perhaps six other people. They then send their comments back
separately and someone has to consolidate all of these into new
documents, which are then re-sent so team members can see what each
other has said. They may then reply with additional comments – and so it
goes on, with everyone in the process receiving different versions of
these key documents.
At this point, it’s very easy for people to get confused about which
version is the most recent. “I’ve got version 5 here, but was there a
version 6? As version 5 is the latest one I can find I’ll work with
that”.
On larger projects, the e-mail approach may be replaced by a web-based
repository for all project documents. These make use of expensive
document management systems, typically financed by the main contractor
or end client. However, this approach isn’t financially viable for the
electrical contractor who wants to share information within the company
and, perhaps, with selected sub-contractors.
In the latter scenario, tried and tested online collaboration
technologies that are now emerging for the construction industry are set
to provide much of the functionality of an expensive document management
system, but at a fraction of the cost. As such, they have the potential
to enable contractors to take effective control of how information is
managed and processed. And, crucially, the whole process is very
intuitive and requires no special IT skills, training, software or
hardware.
This is how online collaboration tools work. All of the documents
relating to a particular project are posted online to a central site.
Team members can then view or edit documents, depending on the level of
authority they have been allocated by the administrator. The documents
can be accessed at any time of day with any internet connection from any
location.
People with permission to edit can then create revised versions – in the
same place but with an automatically generated version number clearly
showing which version is which. After all revisions are completed, the
project administrator publishes the final versions for everyone to work
with.
The system can be used with any kind of document - specifications,
drawings, prices, variations or application details, even images or
videos - anything you like. You can also create folders and sub-folders
to organise each project in any way that suits. Furthermore, there is
very little expense, as the software is online and purchased on the
basis of a small monthly fee – though larger contractors can host their
own solutions if they prefer.
Given the potential cost of errors in information management, it
certainly makes sense to look at how the latest technologies can play a
role in reducing risk, increasing productivity and driving down costs.
www.collabor8online.co.uk
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