Construction Software Review

Surveillance is common in the world, and it is becoming more common at the jobsite. In 2008, according to the American Management Association, 48% of companies were using video surveillance to ward off theft, violence and sabotage, and 7% were using that technology to track worker performance.

The previous section of this article provided an introduction to jobsite surveillance; here we examine the process of surveillance system installation and whether it makes sense to do it yourself or get vendor help.

Having previously looked at the pros and cons of installing jobsite surveillance system yourself, we now turn to the merits and drawbacks of either leasing or buying a surveillance system and examine 

The previous section of this article discussed the pros and cons of leasing or buying jobsite monitoring equipment. This final section looks at some additional considerations, including overall communication and surveillance needs as well as in-house expertise.

Heavy, highway, infrastructure and utility contractors have the same choices of enterprise level software packages as any other contractors. There are some offerings, however, that tailor their packages for this segment or that incorporate modules or functions that are tailored to the needs of the heavy, highway, and infrastructure/utility sectors. This functionality addresses needs such as equipment and asset management, service management, maintenance and even heavy and highway estimating. 

Three such heavy and highway software systems are detailed here:

Heavy Construction Systems Specialists Inc. (HCSS) cut its teeth creating software for the heavy, highway, infrastructure and utility sectors in the mid-80s. Mike Rydin, president and only employee at that time, started the company in his bedroom. Today HCSS occupies a 45,000-square-foot facility, is 30% employee owned and was recently named one of 15 Top Small Workplaces in the country by the Wall Street Journal.