- Let's look at even more reasons
to go digital and improve productivity
in the field at the same time.
One of the things I touched on
as I showed you these different pieces of software
was the ability to include other users
on your digital project.
Now once we decide to go all in
and make everyone use the digital version of these drawings,
if I store the drawings in the cloud
and keep them updated, it keeps everyone in sync.
We should all be using the same versions of the drawings
because if I'm the project manager
and I'm doing my job managing the information flow
on the project, every time I receive new drawings
from the designer I'm slip sheeting them
into the digital set and then pushing this update
into the software's cloud storage system.
I no longer have to run around making sure
that every printed version of the construction drawing
that exists has the new version
of a sheet physically inserted into it.
In fact, if everyone takes advantage
of the collaboration features in these digital tools,
I don't even have to email the new files to everyone.
Now think about it,
even if I did have to email drawing revisions
to everyone on the job site, that's still way easier
than the old way.
I can just put everyone in an email distribution group,
open the email to the group, attach the PDF file
and then with one click they've been distributed.
Versus the old way of receiving those paper drawings
from the designer, making who knows how many copies
for my subcontractors, my project management team
and my field office.
Then I used to have to write a cover letter to everyone,
attach those and then call the runner
to get those all out to the companies working on the project
and then hope that they make copies
and get them into the hands of the people
actually doing the work in the field.
Even though emailing a digital drawing
to everyone at once is a huge improvement,
we're ready to skip over that process too
because these digital tools that I've shown you
all have built in sharing and collaboration features.
So now if I'm the project manager,
I keep a single digital file up to date
in my cloud-based system and that's the copy
that everyone should always go to for reference.
Digital combined with cloud collaboration
means we should all be working from the same file.
If I look back at my days
running a large concrete trade contractor,
I used to have an entire annex building
in our construction yard, or actually two of them,
one on each side of the city that housed all the drawings
for the 5,000 single family residential home foundations
that we built each year.
They were all kept in binders
and I had to have multiple copies of each project binder.
My crews had to know exactly which projects they would go to
each day so that they could load the correct binders
into their trucks.
If there was a change mid-day
on which projects they would work on,
it meant somebody had to physically get the right binder out
to them in the field and if a revision had come in the day
before and that hard copy hadn't quite made it
to the binder yet, they'd be working from the wrong drawing.
Using the tools I showed you earlier,
this should be a thing of the past.
The instant those drawings are received,
the revisions can be slip sheeted
into the digital drawing set
or I can then continue to work on them for things
like pricing revisions and schedule updates
but in the meantime if my foreman views the drawings
for the project they see the latest version
and we're all working from that latest set.
Or if they end up being diverted
to a different project halfway through the day,
all they need is a data connection, cellular or wifi
and they can view the drawings that they need.
Keep in mind, this is where each of the tools
that we've looked at begins to tackle the issues
in a different way and there's a big array
of features available that varies from product to product
so you have to spend some time to evaluate what works best
for your individual or company situation.
Some of these digital tools incorporate modules
that handle not only the drawings,
but things like change orders and request for information
and they can flag these issues right on the drawings
so people viewing the digital drawings
can all see what's happening.
I know, I just threw a bunch of new concepts and ideas
at you so let's recap.
Step one is make that leap from paper drawings
over to digital drawings.
What I'm telling you now though,
is that once you make that leap,
the tools that you're going to use
to help you work with those digital drawings
have already advanced way beyond the simple ability
to just view and mark up those drawings
so be ready to embrace those tools
to really leverage your switch to digital.
And when I say those tools here's what I'm talking about.
First, mobility.
Don't just make the leap to digital
and leave those digital files on the hard drive
of the computer in your office
or even the hard drive of that laptop you carry around.
All the tools we looked at for working
with digital drawings have the ability
to store and work with drawings in the cloud.
Use them so that you have all of your drawings available
to you at all times.
Next, collaboration features.
As soon as you go digital and put those files
in a cloud-based system, get ready to embrace the ability
to have the entire team working
from a single digital source file all at the same time
so everyone always sees the same thing.
And then finally, digital workflows.
Advanced markup and tagging features
can really change the way you handle the flow of information
on a construction project.
Since almost everything we do in construction
revolves around those construction drawings,
once we go digital on the drawings,
it really is time to start rethinking all of our processes
that are associated with those drawings.
Think about it, RFIs, redlines, change orders,
punch lists, do we really need to generate a paper form
for each issue that arises?
Probably not, because the tools that we're going to use
to work with our digital drawings,
probably include one or more features
that allow us to initiate these processes
right on the drawings themselves
and since they're stored in the cloud
and everyone's collaborating from the same digital set,
why not just stick with a workflow that stays digital?