The construction industry is under-automated and heavily reliant on traditional, analog methods and the industry at large ranks low on the digitization curve. The hang-ups are understandable — after all, construction projects involve a throng of independent subcontractors and suppliers who all run their operations uniquely. Projects themselves can vary significantly, making it difficult to develop effective tools and methods that can be applied across a firm’s jobsites and office locations.
Nonetheless, by not taking advantage of digitization and automated systems for everything from time, safety and equipment tracking to billing, firms are missing out on a substantial technological opportunity that is now available to them.
Automation, at its core, is designed to remove human intervention from processes. And, while often thought to outright subtract people from the equation, automation drives workforce productivity and increases growth opportunity.
“When employees hear digitization and automation, they sometimes think, ‘Oh, the office has given me more work to do in the field. They’re making me into a bookkeeper,’ That’s the one thing you hear the most from foremen in the field,” said Christian Burger, president and founder
of Burger Consulting Group.
“They don’t want to be administrators. They want to be foremen and they want to put work in place. So that’s one of the fears that you have to overcome.”
The 30-year industry veteran noted another fear he works to overcome when implementing automated systems: being replaced. When there’s a feature that’s particularly powerful in a piece of software that automates work that employees are currently doing manually, people often jump to the conclusion that their job may no longer be relevant. But really it opens up opportunities to reinvest that saved time into higher-value tasks.
As the industry enters the digital age, here’s how workflow automation, using rule-based logic to automate manual work can streamline processes.
What Is a Field Data Workflow?
Workflows are a business process describing the specific actions that need to be carried out to complete a task properly and consistently. With automated workflows, one completed action leads to another until the task is done. Automated workflows are like tracks guiding a train. At each stop, the train collects data which propels the train further along the tracks.
Specific to the construction industry are field data collection workflows that gather real-time project data throughout a shift, day, week or even an entire project to provide management and other stakeholders with updated information as the jobs progress from start to finish.
Why Should Contractors Automate Workflows?
Automated workflow solutions are built for an entire workforce, including office, mobile and remote workers. With a mobile workforce platform, companies can expedite field data collection and improve accuracy to boost project management capabilities. App-based platforms with automated workflow capabilities collect robust data throughout the day that’s shared between users and systems, giving supervisors and project managers accurate, real-time updates on what’s been completed on a project and how overall production is trending. Using automated workflows on a mobile workforce platform, construction companies can enter employee hours worked and provide multiple levels of approval, allocate labor hours to projects and cost codes in real time, select which tasks or cost codes prompt employees to enter production, prompt employees to fill out required or optional forms on clock
in/out and more.
What Field Data Workflows Impact Project Performance?
With a mobile workforce platform, construction companies have the flexibility to set up customizable workflows that can apply to some or all their employees to help expedite the collection of field data and ultimately help them achieve key business objectives. Here’s a look at some specific workflows that have a positive impact on project performance.
Tracking Time & Tasks
Over the course of a shift, field employees need to clock in and out, allocate hours to a job and have their time approved by their supervisors. Utilizing a mobile workforce platform that’s integrated with automated workflows, workers can be prompted to select their next task or step based on their prior selection. Once a field worker clocks in, automated workflows can track each task the worker completes in a day.
Staying on Schedule & Budget
With on-demand field data, project managers have critical insight into where a project stands as far as progress and budget go. Workforce platforms integrated with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems streamline data flow from the field to the office, syncing information on time tracking, completed work and job costing to improve the accuracy of labor, costs and field progress reporting. Live field data collection provides accurate costs to keep projects on track and budget.
Reducing Safety Risks
After clock in, an automated workflow could prompt field workers to complete a health screening or provide them with workplace safety forms to some or all your employees. The forms could also present training videos on safety protocols and require signature verification before employees can continue in their work for the day. At the end of the day, employees could be prompted with another health screening form that other desired questions such as if they had adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) equipment for the day. If they answer no, a follow up form could be presented that asks what they needed and how many PPE items they would need the next day.
Expediting Billing Processes
Automated workflows increase the accuracy and timeliness of billing for any project that must track time, expenses and production milestones. First, a customized workflow is set up to provide employees access to only jobs and tasks related to their job duties. Labor hours are collected in real time and labor hours by cost code are automatically synced with the ERP to issue invoices for billing.
For companies that bill based on project milestones, unique workflows prompt employees to enter the units completed by cost code when they change to a new task or cost code or have completed their work for the day. This production data streams into the ERP to accurately capture how much work has been completed as it happens.
Through the automation of these processes, companies can effectively manage projects and employees, streamline communications, increase employee accountability, improve worker productivity, expedite billing processes and reduce human error.
