There are many reasons to incorporate a digital document management system like SKYSITE Projects into your workflow. The big ones, of course, are cost, mobility, convenience, organization, and speed. But during the past several years, considerations around environmental sustainability have come to play a more important role in the ROI of your system.

Consider the following quote from a retail store construction manager:

“The way we used to handle blueprints was incredibly wasteful. We’d have a new set of hundreds of documents made every time we had 10 percent or more of the drawings go through changes. That could happen in a day! After a while it looked like we were stacking rolls of blueprints under the job trailer as if they were firewood!”

This description is familiar if you’ve been in commercial construction for any length of time. And while we might not have thought much about it years ago, today the costs, time, and resources represented by that “firewood” makes no sense at all, especially when considered from a sustainability standpoint.

So-called “green” initiatives now encompass issues such as more efficient construction management, better communication, increased materials performance, more collaboration, and even safety. If you use construction project management software, you’ve already experienced these benefits whether you know it or not.

Efficiency can take on many meanings, but in the context of less waste and rework, keeping the documents up-to-date and in the cloud is an easy win.

Better communication improves outcomes, project schedules, budgets, and the working environment on the jobsite. Enabling RFI’s, submittals and punchlists on mobile devices — not to mention distributing construction documents in real time as they are updated — can keep communication fluid, reduce re-work, tear-outs, and dramatically decrease waste.

Increased materials performance does a great deal to contribute to a more sustainable project, and there are lots of ways to think about it. Sure, achieving a higher R-value with insulation, drywall, or exterior cladding creates a more efficient building, but think about the material performance of paper, especially when there’s so much of it being used in project documentation. It’s only single use, it suffers from quick obsolescence, and even if it’s recycled, it still ends up in a landfill. By contrast, it’s tough to beat the ever-renewable materials performance of a pixel on a screen.

More collaboration keeps everyone on the same page and boost both productivity (getting more done) and efficiency (less work for the same or better outcome). Using construction project management app is far more than just one place for data; it’s also one place for people to interact in a way that’s planned for, understood, and controlled. Outcomes are less costly and more sustainable because they are predictable, accurate and correct.

Safety issues can bust a budget or wreck a schedule faster than almost any other problem on a job site. While not on everyone’s “sustainability” list, keeping the job from slowing down, or worse, coming to a complete standstill, is a natural consequence of better efficiency, communication, increased materials performance, and greater collaboration.

Let’s face it, nothing is sustainable, much less “green” unless it’s completed, on time, built to spec, and compliant with regulations and contract stipulations. A coordinated implementation of a well-designed construction project management system like SKYSITE Projects can do wonders for sustainable business, projects, and your company’s performance.

Thinking about how your company could work more sustainably, increase efficiency and be more competitive on the “green” front? Sign up for a free trial today and find out how “going green” means going with SKYSITE Project.

Project delays seem like a necessary evil in construction. Despite significant financial penalties associated with missing milestones, phase completion dates, or whole project deadlines, it happens more frequently than anyone likes.

The most common reason for construction delays is miscommunication, primarily in the area of setting expectations. Even when expectations have been aligned, if a key player has been left out of the communication chain, problems still come back to bite you in the form of extra meetings, disputes, and in the worse cases, re-work.

It is critical to establish a clear chain of communication for input, distribution, and response to each kind of inquiry. Be it, change order requests, RFI, submittals, or any directives to and from the client, it all has to be captured in writing and addressed by recipients with the authority to act on, or approve each item.

Use the Right Tool to Communicate

The first step in solving communication problems is to recognize where necessary communication isn’t occurring, and then automating distribution lists, document and approval workflows, and approval procedures. SKYSITE has powerful features that make distribution workflows easy to create and easy to implement. SKYSITE also works on an array of mobile devices ensuring proper document control and communication regardless of where team members may be.

Here are four ways communication improves with SKYSITE:

1. All team members and project stakeholders can see the same information in real time with SKYSITE’s synchronization tools — no one works with outdated information.
2. Information is searchable and viewable with a few touches on a tablet or clicks of a mouse, keeping fewer people waiting for information, and more people working on the jobsite.
3. Submittals move faster so the project can, too. By eliminating “packages” of submittals where one issue can hold up a whole group, automating the distribution and approval of single issue submittals streamlines the process.
4. SKYSITE’s synchronization tools can reduce and even eliminate paper from your workflow, reducing the chances of old, wrong, or outdated information from causes errors and slowing you down.

The flow of communication genuinely affects the flow of a construction project and good construction project management software allows you to stay ahead. When everyone is communicating and collaborating efficiently and effectively, projects will run smoother and be completed on time and budget.

Simplify your project management tasks with SKYSITE. Save time and avoid any delays by keeping communication on track.

Sign up for a free trial today.

In the construction industry, AEC professionals lose countless hours dealing with paper documents. Seemingly minor delays searching through paper often add up to more than 8 hours a week. That’s a full day lost, just to paper. Handling construction document management manually requires the sifting through email, digging through paper documents, and searching digital files. What if you could streamline this workflow, and make those 8 hours a week into productivity?

SKYSITE is construction document management done right! A quick and easy solution that simplifies the organization, communication and access of critical information. Now you and your team can stay up-to-date on the current set while working in the office or on the job site.

A Simplified and User-friendly Experience

Can you pinch, tap and swipe? If so, SKYSITE was designed for you. A simple, user-friendly interface makes navigation quick and easy. You can find what you need in just a few taps, and SKYSITE’s highly advanced features can help you keep in touch with your project and your team. SKYSITE’s mobile and cloud based tools keep your team connected, whether they are in the office, or at a jobsite around globe.

Compared to other construction project management software, SKYSITE provides a simple, flexible and unified platform that offers the features you need. SKYSITE lets you publish and organize documents, create and respond to RFIs, manage submittals and Punchlists, and do it all from your desktop or mobile device.

Get Organized, Be Productive

SKYSITE keeps all your team’s information in a single, organized digital work space. Coordinating and sharing information with the right people couldn’t be easier, even while on the go. You have all your information at your fingertips. Features like Desktop Sync, auto-hyperlinking and full-content search ensure you can operate at your best. No more digging through stacks of paper or shipping redlined documents, everything you need is at your fingertips.

One of the major roadblocks to efficient collaboration is missed or lost information. Simply keeping track of all the changes to thousands of documents during a project is a massive challenge. SKYSITE makes it easy with its Latest Documents feature that always displays the most current version of any document. No more wondering if you are looking at the latest file, with SKYSITE, you always are.

Smart Sync tools make it easy to upload your files, and keep them in sync across all your devices, and to all your team members. SKYSITE’s smart sync technology ensures everyone gets what they need, but can’t accidentally delete things they shouldn’t.

Mobile access from iOS and Android devices keeps your jobsite team up-to-date with the latest information, and gives them the tools they need to deal with RFIs and Punches, on the spot, even tagging photos right to documents.

SKYSITE creates an engaging, collaborative and smart way to working together. This cloud-based construction project document management tool gives you a competitive edge with smarter, smoother communication.

What are you waiting for? Start your free trial of SKYSITE and enjoy the power of productivity.