CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGEMENT & SCHEDULING BUYERS GUIDE


CONTENTS

I. Intro to Project Management Software 
II. Software Advantages
III. Upgrading your Toolbox
IV. Evaluating Software
  a. Getting started
  b. Document Control
  c. Change Order Management
  d. Project Calendar Management
  e. Budget Management
  f. Subcontractor/Vendor Management
  g. Resource Management
  h. Reporting and Analysis
  i. Vendor Selection
VII. Implementing Software

Introduction to construction project management software


Construction project management software can be the difference between making money and losing it; experts say that a good construction project manager, with the right tools, can cut resource and time requirements in half, and save millions of dollars on big projects.

Ray Miller, a superintendent at the University of Cincinnati, saved more than $100 million on projects to overhaul steam turbine generators when working for Dayton Power and Light. Missing a start-up date for a turbine overhaul can cost his company $100,000 per shift in penalties. Miller used Primavera Systems Inc.'s P3 project management system to manage these projects, and credits the software with streamlining the entire project.

"Using Primavera software, we completed the project three months ahead of schedule, saving DP&L more than $100 million. Our turbine overhauls took five to six weeks; historically, they'd taken eight or nine weeks," said Miller.

"Tools", not "tool", is the appropriate term to use when thinking about project management software in the construction industry. The "project management" designation is commonly given to software ranging from simple single-project scheduling tools to full-blown, company-wide systems that manage every phase of hundreds of construction projects around the world.

"There isn't really a single tool that does project management exactly the way everyone needs it. Instead, project management in the construction industry is a process with a lot of different tools," said Peter Luke of PMA Consultants, a Detroit-based project management firm. That's one reason, he said, for the confusing and sometimes contradictory claims made by vendors selling "project management software."

Very few contractors use a structured project management system today. Even fewer offer formal project management training to newly hired or promoted project managers. As a result, said Luke, project managers tend to build their own systems and processes in each company, using whatever software is available. The move to a formal, structured project management system often comes when company growth outpaces the homegrown tools, or when mergers and acquisitions result in a hodgepodge of incompatible tools and processes.

Project management tools can include components that build timelines and schedules, track critical paths and dependencies (tasks that if missed can delay a project or cause it to fail), manage resources such as subcontractors and supplies, control documents and provide audit trails for decisions, initiate workflows (routing of work from one resource or event to the next), track change requests, and much more.

Exactly which components must be included in a full project management system can vary according to project requirements, degree of integration required, and sometimes, what experts and users define "project management" to be at their company. Some companies think of scheduling as the project management function in their organization, while others consider all their organization's activities as a part of the project management process. These users see project management software as a tool that can perform some, but not all, of the project management functions. There is one thing everyone agrees on, however: The right project management tools will improve your bottom line.

For more information on the benefits of construction project management software look to the next article in our project management buyer's guide.


Next: Software Advantages