Creating a Better Working Environment for Construction Supervisors

As number 27 on the ENR 600 Specialty Contractors list, TDIndustries is a Construction and Facilities Management company operating in the Southwest quadrant of the US. Primarily a mechanical/plumbing/HVAC contractor, they consider their specialty to be stadium construction projects/data centers/hospitals, and other large office construction projects/campuses.

To keep track of the details on a project, they require daily reports on what has happened on every jobsite they are working on, no matter where it is or how big or small. Like most contractors, writing them manually was the standard course of action. But, when looking for ways to streamline their workflow and operations, they realized that this manual process presented a number of challenges:

AT&T Stadium, Dallas

Challenge 1: Efficiency
As they are required to write dailies on every jobsite, TDIndustries supervisors are spending not minutes, but hours writing reports that detail the work done on the project. These reports are then typed and then sent to their customers.

Challenge 2: Language barriers
Having to write clear reports on the go can be difficult and perhaps the best penmanship is not the highest priority. Neither is writing perfect English, if your native language is Spanish.

Challenge 3: Communicating real-time, current information along with photos
Keeping pace on the jobsite while tracking change orders, late deliveries, etc. is what defines an on-time/on-budget project from one that is not. TDIndustries wanted to keep track of all repair issues, incidents, quality issues, etc. so they can make sure they are handled quickly and efficiently. Daily written reports just did not do the trick as they were sent the next day and were often difficult to read the penmanship.

NTT Data building

Leveraging Mobile Reporting Technology

When TDIndustries started looking for ways to meet these challenges, they contacted NoteVault and started a trial and the NoteVault Daily Reporting Platform, along with the Notes mobile daily reporting app on their iPhones.

“We were looking for a way for our supervisors to save time in the field,” said Jimbo Bunnell, Vice President of Operations for TDIndustries. “Completing daily reports can take hours to detail what has happened throughout the day, especially if you’re writing hard copy reports by hand. NoteVault lets our supervisors use their phones to record throughout the day, allowing them to recap and relay events in real-time. This is particularly useful for incident reporting, as our staff can communicate exactly what has occurred and instantly send that information to our corporate safety manager, myself and the project manager.”

By using the NoteVault mobile daily reporting solution, TDIndustries was able to:

• Speak their notes and reports from anywhere on the job using the NoteVault Notes app. Notes are spoken continuously throughout the day.
• Management can view “real-time” all notes being taken on any jobsite at anytime within the Notes app or Platform.
• Get instant notification of any incident. Supervisors talk into the phone and report what has happened. These instantly sends a text to designated people, such as the corporate safety manager, project manager, etc.
• Create professionally translated (Spanish voice to English text) and professionally transcribed daily reports that are easy to read using common language that everyone can understand.
• Include third-party authenticated content (photos and audio are automatically geo and time stamped in the NoteVault system)
• Collate multiple field staff input into single reports
• Ensure all notes are transmitted (NoteVault updates asynchronously when coverage was not immediately available)
• Forward reports to external stakeholders automatically and seamlessly ensuring delivery
• Data is saved for 10 years.

For more information, visit NoteVault.