Construction project management diverges from a typical PM role by demanding and incorporating extensive knowledge of the construction industry, a unique and complicated field. Construction PMs average around 120 responsibilities, which means they have to be more strategic and thoughtful in working with a slew of moving parts and constant change.

To ensure each responsibility is met and every architect, contractor, and supplier remains on schedule and budget, effective construction PMs should utilize tools and strategies that streamline their work. Fortunately, construction management has become more technical with the development of new tools to simplify many processes. It’s how you implement those tools that counts. These five strategies go beyond PM basics to prepare you for the intricacies of the role and direct your efforts toward success.

1. Create a flow of communication

Among the most important elements of all project management, communication is essential to every phase of any construction project. Good news and bad news are equally important when preparing and implementing a build, so you need to establish a flow of communication with everyone on the ground — and every stakeholder and supplier in the plan. This transparency will make the process smoother and will reduce the number of emails and phone calls whenever a problem arises.

One of the simplest ways to create a flow of communication is a collaborative work management (CWM) tool. By syncing discussions, attachments, and calendars, you can monitor news, budgets, and scheduling changes as they occur. A good CWM tool also allows you to relay these changes to other managers and accounting offices in real time, providing a nearly email-free method of project management. That means more time for you to spend at the construction site meeting contractors to coordinate the next stage of work.

2. Make a habit of continuous planning

Construction project managers should start planning long before actual construction begins, and continue revising and developing plans until the project ends. The design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of a construction project each require extensive planning — and each may need to be revised as the next stage unfolds. Anything can happen at a construction site. If you encounter unexpected environmental problems during the pre-construction phase, the design may need to change. Even slight adjustments can affect the overall plan and timeline.

This remains true during the actual build. You will be working with seasoned professionals, often with decades of experience in electrical engineering, plumbing, scaffolding, and carpentry. While your contractors should be trusted, they still need focused direction to coordinate their efforts with each other. You’ll often need to work with them throughout the timeline to develop and refine plans as delays and equipment failures arise. Like any PM, you will execute and monitor developments, but the planning never ends in construction project management. Collaboration shouldn’t either.

3. Observe and ask questions

There is no industry in which PMs will be found just sitting at their desks, removed from the project and his or her team. Every good project manager becomes an integral part of the process, working figuratively and literally alongside others. Construction project management requires more attention and integrated effort than most industries, because the work is so physical. Field elements can drastically affect the workflow of construction projects. There will be many times when you need to actually see an issue in person before you can resolve it.

Familiarizing yourself with the construction site and the duties of every professional working under you will make you a better project manager. Construction is a constantly evolving industry, with new equipment, practices, and advancements every year. You need to continually educate yourself and learn from others in order to administer and manage a successful project. A great deal of communication may be streamlined, but the work still requires regular site visits and conferences with the contractors and designers on the ground.

4. Use tools to monitor costs and budgets

Most PMs have to think about money constantly, but the permits, wages, materials, and equipment of construction projects in particular are often exchanged between an array of financial sources. From the initial bidding process to the project closeout, construction PMs are responsible for tracking and monitoring all costs, especially as they relate to initial budgets. Ideally, you will have an accounting department for managing contractor invoices, but even then, you have to work alongside your accountants to ensure all direct and indirect costs are recorded.

Considering every other responsibility of a construction project manager, tracking and monitoring finances manually without the assistance of software isn’t practical — or feasible. Even relatively small construction projects contain hundreds of moving parts and individual costs, so to remain effective you need to use software that can also manage costs and budgets. A good CWM tool should allow you and other collaborators to input costs, budget changes, and other calculations to keep track of your project’s finances, alleviating the need to coordinate with every participant or to calculate your budget. Additionally, integrating DocuSign reduces time spent collecting signatures for every invoice, which means you and your contractors can devote more attention to the task at hand.

5. Implement automated reporting systems

No construction project manager has the time to reply to hundreds of emails a day — or use the phone to call and address every question about budgets and progress. In addition to concentrating discussions and schedules on one CWM, you can cut down further correspondence by implementing automated reporting systems. Construction project management requires the weekly distribution of various spreadsheets and status reports, and automated delivery tools will save significant time over the span of the build. This automation will ensure the right reports go to the right people on time, allowing you to focus on other tasks and communication. Other reporting systems, like Safety and Health Management, can prevent hazards, track incidents, and streamline worksite analysis when issues do arise.

A CWM tool like Smartsheet benefits not only construction project managers, but also their teams, partners, and stakeholders. Smartsheet fosters transparency at every level for real-time updates, automated reporting, and integration with apps (like Docusign) to streamline processes that could otherwise hold up the next phase. Your software should be a tool that helps you work more efficiently. But, the skills and strategies for effective construction project management require a more in depth look at the industry as a whole, and a better understanding of how your role fits into an overall build.

Try Smartsheet for free or contact us to arrange a free initial consultation to discuss your Smartsheet optimisation – we’d love to hear from you!

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The modern workforce is clearly embracing this shift. According to the American Community Survey, telecommuting has risen 79% between 2005 and 2012. And companies are benefiting from home-based employees — they work 9.5% longer and were 13% more productive than office workers, based on a 9-month experiment conducted by a Stanford University professor.

With telecommuting here to stay, companies are looking for effective ways to accommodate their virtual employees. How do you maintain accountability between remote and office employees? How do you conduct effective meetings with employees around the world?

A New Generation of Collaboration Tools

A wave of new technology is cropping up to make location irrelevant. These applications are designed to mimic in-office experiences, like holding impromptu brainstorming sessions or checking in on progress in real time. And while remote workers may miss out on 70% of nonverbal communication, like facial expressions, voice tones, and eye contact, technology is getting smart enough to mimic these natural, flowing conversations online.  See More…

The post Why Collaboration Tools are Necessary To Keep Up with the Remote Workforce appeared first on SmarterBusinessProcesses.

The Challenge

Struggling with static spreadsheets – Collating updates into one summary doc with multiple versions input from multi users and without the ability to easily track revision history.

The Solution

The good news is there is a solution, it’s called Smartsheet, the work collaboration tool for businesses of all sizes. With one version of the truth, users benefit from real-time collaboration, automatic alerts and notification of changes. See Video

Imagine having all notes, discussions, files and information in one centralised location that’s accessible across browsers, devices and operating systems.

From simple task lists to complex processes, users can attach files, set alerts, automate workflows, view Gantt charts and more.

Find out more about ProofHQ – our online proofing solution for marketing teams of any size in any industry who need to deliver marketing projects faster and more efficiently- Measurably speeding up project delivery and significantly reducing management time, revisions, errors and costs

Contact Us to arrange a free trial or free initial consultation

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A move to Smartsheet has improved communication and productivity and made project management for major installations much easier.

The Challenge

Their specialist engineering team work to detailed project plans as they often have to hit tight shutdown deadlines; integrating clients’ schedules and team collaboration are essentials for success. Choosing the right project management tool was a very high priority to us.”

The Solution

Following an initial consultation, Smarter Business Processes set them up with a Personalised Smartsheet Template which now enables them to update and view data in real-time .

“We are now using Smartsheet for all project planning and, due to its flexibility, have extended its use to our database, stock records, technical library . The possibilities are endless and on top of that it is all automatically backed up!

 We are absolutely delighted with our team’s enthusiasm for using Smartsheet and how it has addressed our requirements.”

Well done to Smartsheet for creating such an excellent product and to Richard and his team for providing the initial demonstration and remote support for getting us up and running in just a few days. Smartsheet has now become an essential tool for collaboration and workflow and the mobile solution is proving invaluable for our remote workers.”

Nigel Vivian – Managing Director – Drives and Automation

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An efficient way of ensuring  all documents associated with a project, plan or on-going activity are easily found by the whole team, is to coordinate the activity on a Smartsheet.

Add all relevant files to that sheet, share it with the team, then everyone literally is on the same page.

• Upload files or just link them to Dropbox, Google Drive or SharePoint.
• Add web links to researched articles.
• Transfer and hold large video files, too big to email.

HR Case Study: Smartsheet has transformed the human resource function of this therapeutic massage franchise.  From interviewing, hiring, new employee orientation and training – Smartsheet fits the prescription for collaborative success.

See TIPs for uploading documents

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Budgets and Cashflows  (it is that time of the year)

Preparing annual budgets and cash flows involves a lot of serious team planning time, collaboration and figure revision.

The Challenge

Collating updates into one summary doc with multiple versions, input from multi users and without the ability to easily track revision history.

The Solution

The good news is there is a solution, it’s called SmartSheet. With one version of the truth, users benefit from real-time collaboration, automatic alerts and notification of changes.

Imagine having all notes, discussions, files and information in one centralised location that’s accessible across browsers, devices and operating systems

What next ?

Request a Smartsheet template for a trial run, you won’t look back.  You will be able to upload your sheets to Smartsheet and use one version of the truth that is shared to chosen contributors with discussions, iterations fully visible with attachments and web links.  Request now

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