Recently, SKYSITE exhibited at the 100^th Annual AGC Convention and I was lucky to be part of the team attending the event. As I was talking with a current SKYSITE user, I made a point to share some of my favorite tips. I mentioned one of the features I use almost daily, sending large files, but noticed that our guest was looking at me inquisitively. To my surprise, he had never used that function, in fact, it wasn’t on his radar at all.

That got me thinking, what else do I use every day in SKYSITE that might be less familiar to casual users? It seems we’ve been focused on talking about and training users on admin tools like markups, RFIs, submittals and punch lists, but we disregarded  that there are other features and tricks we use every day that people would find beneficial.

Luckily, we’re all about sharing and to help you get even more from SKYSITE, here are four features that can make your workday easier:

Send files

While many people know SKYSITE makes it easy to share documents, images, videos, and even folders; what’s not as well-known is you can also easily send files, including large ones that typically can’t be sent via email. By using SKYSITE to send your large files (think video, photos, DWG files), you avoid not only having to open another app, such as an FTP to share, but you also avoid paying fees for services or throttled down performance for free accounts.

Storage

While you may already be aware that SKYSITE is great for keeping your projects organized, have you tried using it to store other documents? Because there are no storage limits (in SKYSITE Projects) or per sheet charges, you can create folders and store all types of documents and media. For example, I keep a folder of all the videos we produce in my SKYSITE account. That way, my hard drive is freed up and I know they’re safely stored. As a bonus, I can easily share these right from the app.

Print

While we advocate using less paper, sometimes you just need a paper print out of a document. SKYSITE makes that easy for you. You can connect and send files for printing to over 170 global locations right from the app. It’s easy and works like a shopping cart, and you can deliver prints to yourself or another location. My favorite, while it may not happen often, is you can be in California, and order a print to be delivered in London.

Use punch lists for tasks

SKYSITE’s punch list is an easy to use tool to prepare the traditional list of work, that’s not to spec, near the end of a project and prior to final payment. However, many of our users also use the punch list function to create tasks for themselves and their team from the start of the project. It’s an easy method to assign and create a task on a drawing, and you can even attach a video or voice memo. You get easy accountability and tracking to make sure the work gets complete.

While SKYSITE is the best construction management software for easy project management, don’t forget to check out some of the features that can make your everyday work life a little easier.

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.

Claims and litigation are an inevitable part of business in every industry – the construction industry is no different. The construction industry too has its fair share of disputes.

As a risk management measure, Project Manager and Project Teams should anticipate factors that can lead to potential litigations at the very beginning of a project. Project managers can take steps to reduce these risks, or at least limit the delays, disruptions and financial overruns caused in construction projects.

There are several factors that cause delay in a construction project. Notable among them are – not working from the latest set of document and not effectively communicating changes. These failures lead to disputes with regards to scope of work definitions, costly overruns, and worse, lengthy and expensive litigation!

Delays in construction projects can lead to a cascade of negative financial repercussions for both owners and their contractors. Damages often even double the cost of the entire project!

While it is impossible to completely avoid litigation on construction projects, steps can be taken to minimize the potential for litigation from the document and information point of view.

A highly effective way to mitigate information risk is to ensure that project members are using high quality technology solutions made specifically for the construction industry. Companies using generic document management solutions seem to be least happy with their systems. Nearly one in three (30.1%) AEC professionals said that current cloud technology tools that are not designed for the AEC market made completing a project on schedule a challenge.

Managing construction project documents is innately complex. Projects are becoming multi-geo; Owner, Developers, Architects, GCs, Sub-Contractors and Vendors are spread out, and often work from different locations. To manage and track changes during a project is a herculean challenge. ARC Document Solutions with decades of domain knowledge recognized and addressed these challenges with their solution.

SKYSITE, construction management software, was designed with features that provide “Control” to the Project Managers.

• Strong tracking & reporting capabilities: SKYSITE tracks and generate reports for each document shared, downloaded, deleted, distributed and marked up by any project participant. Create accountability at every level.
• Customize document tracking: a report can be generated on daily, weekly and monthly basis. A project manager can further customize for a specific period.
• Share a report: a report created can be shared with other project stakeholders.
• Strong Privacy Setting: SKYSITE offers Second layer of Project Password Protection options for confidential Projects. This restricts access to those folders/documents/ information that are confidential in nature.

SKYSITE’s strong tracking and reporting capabilities makes information auditing easy and reduces the risk of litigation. Whereby reducing business risk.

SKYSITE not only provides an overview of information flow but also identifies slackers and creates accountability at every level and increases efficiency.

To start reducing project errors at skysite.com.

Although SKYSITE can be used on free apps for Android, iOS, and Windows, SKYSITE offers up a construction document management solution that gives you a lot more than a mobile application.

There are three important differences that make SKYSITE construction management software a solution and not simply an app:

1. The Total Package

SKYSITE touts many features that could stand alone as their own applications, but instead brings them all together for you:

• A project plan viewer
• A mark up tool to let you easily make edits
• An indexing tool specifically for construction documents
• Automatic cloud syncing so your team always works from the current set
• An activity log that lets you track revisions for bidding and collaboration
• Cloud support means you can switch between tablet, phone, and desktop to pick up where you left off

2. Powered by Construction Industry Know-how

SKYSITE isn’t a startup. The cloud solution was built by ARC Document Solutions, the leading construction document management company in the world. For 100 years, ARC has worked with some of the biggest architecture and construction firms in the world. This means SKYSITE gets construction.

3. Local In-person Support

SKYSITE taps into ARC’s 170 worldwide locations. If you need any support or have any questions, it’s likely that an expert can come directly to you at no charge. Try to get to in-person support from any other construction app in the app store.

Still haven’t tried SKYSITE? Get started for free: www.skysite.com

If you need any help, please reach out to us:

• Call 844.759.7483
• Email: info@skysite.com