You have to prepare and then submit the tender documents. As well as all the estimates, handover documents, change requests, invoices, and the thousands of other documents that every project requires.
The way all of that gets coordinated these days is with project management software.
The benefits of project management software
Project management software is now being used across all industries, but it’s particularly useful in the engineering and construction sector because there are so many projects there that end up going over budget.
According to McKinsey, as quoted in this Project Management Institute paper1;
“Cost and schedule overruns are the norm on construction projects. Large initiatives typically take 20 percent longer to finish than scheduled and close up to 80 percent over budget.”
One of the main reasons for this is inadequate resource management. Which is one of the key benefits you get from using the right project management software.
Resource management
Deciding how much work to take on can make or break a company. Taking on too much work will inevitably mean many of your projects will end up going over budget and getting delayed. But not taking on enough of them will affect profitability and make you less competitive.
Project management software will give you resource management functionality to help you maintain that delicate balance.
It will help you decide how much work to take on, and when. And how to match the various crews and teams with the different clients and their individual projects.
Centralizing data
Ultimately, managing resources comes down to information or data. Everybody needs to have access to all the relevant reports. And those reports have to be updated in real-time. Centralizing all that data, and keeping it permanently up to date, is one of the things that project management software is so useful for.
When it comes to managing data for the engineering and construction sector, there are two main requirements. First, you need to be able to extract all the relevant performance data as it emerges from each of the projects that are ongoing.
And then, you need to make sure that all of that data has been centralized within your internal system, so that all of those reports are accessible to everyone in the organization. And the only way that this can be done is with project management software.
Generating reports
Those reports and forecasts will be based around the key performance indicators (KPIs) which are used to keep track of your different engineering and construction projects. They give you an idea of where things might be falling behind, and what therefore you can do to help improve matters. The problem is, compiling those sorts of reports has always been incredibly time-consuming and labor-intensive.
Project management software gives you project controls that will mean those reports are generated automatically, and in real-time. You’ll get a detailed picture of each of the different projects, and you can generate graphs and Gantt charts at the touch of a button.
An overview of your portfolio of projects
All of which has two functions. It means you can see exactly where each of your individual construction projects are, and what you can do to help get them completed. And it gives you an overview of your portfolio of projects. So you can allocate your resources far more efficiently. All of which will improve profitability.
Cora PPM: the most trusted project management software
Our Construction Management software solution will help you to radically streamline and completely digitize your organization. So everything will be seamlessly integrated, centralized, and consolidated.
It will ensure that all your internal processes are flawlessly integrated, so everyone is kept up to date, and in real-time. It helps manage projects generating more than $20 billion in over 50 countries, which it’s been doing for more than 20 years.
To speak to one of our project management software experts please tell us about your challenges here, and we’ll be in touch to discuss some solutions.
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