PIM Streamlines Processes and Increases Efficiency

Documents are the primary means of communication between designers, engineers, and contractors working on a construction project. Yet, we’ve found that many of our customers find it challenging to navigate through the massive amount of information a project can generate, whether on paper or even on a computer’s hard drive. Finding one project document among thousands is always a challenge especially as the volume of information grows throughout the life cycle of a project.

Project Managers’ and Project Engineers’ time is precious, their priority is to ensure the project is delivered on time and within budgetary guidelines. Hence, it is imperative they spend time and stay focused on the project rather than trying to manage tonnes of documents.

In order to address these challenges, ARC Documents Solutions has introduced a value-added service called Project Information Management– PIM through SKYSITE ProjectLink. PIM is a major addition to its Construction Document and Information Management solutions. Designed for active construction projects with thousands of documents, PIM offers quick and easy access to building plans and other information from a centralized, graphic dashboard. Once a project is complete, the dashboard and associated documents can then be turned over to the project owners to facilitate building operations.

The problem of document management during an active construction project is three-fold.

1. First, active project documents are rarely collected in a single place. Plans, specs, and product sheets are often maintained in separate locations – they can be stored in digital folders or hanging on drawing racks.
2. Second, the connections between documents are lost – for example, the detailed drawing of an electrical panel referenced in a floorplan is often tied to a special numerical code that references another document in the plan set. On paper, that means looking up the code and searching one document among hundreds of others; in digital form, it means someone has to search for files on a hard drive.
3. Third, turning over the “as-built” drawings to an owner or facilities manager often consists of three-ring binders, product manuals, and a mix of paper and digital files on CD’s or thumb-drives. Lose or damage any of these documents and a building’s “instruction manual” is incomplete.

PIM offers tremendous advantages to construction professionals;

• Keeps project engineers and other key personnel in the field rather than organizing, searching, and distributing documents from an office or project trailer
• Saves time and increases productivity by maintaining one comprehensive master set of documents
• Makes all project documents available to anyone on the project team via the cloud
• Keeps current project documents up-to-date with document links that carry forward from version-to-version
• Access linked project documents from anywhere using any device
• Synchronize markups from one device to all devices
• View and interact with a user-friendly, touch-based dashboard
• Gain a competitive advantage by providing a digital, easy-to-use, and comprehensive project closeout package to clients

PIM services makes the process immensely faster and easier over its conventional counterpart. Finding documents is as easy as “point-and-click” on a computer, or “tap-and-swipe” on a mobile device. PIM make its easier for a project user to find connections between plans thereby improving collaboration with web-based markup.