Insights and Advice for Enabling More Efficient and Sustainable Construction

Construction Software Dashboard: What Reports Are Important And Why?

January 20, 2019
5 mins read

Table of Contents

When we consider the term, ‘Reports’, it is likely to encompass a myriad of different things to different people depending on what they are accustomed to compiling or receiving.  In this article, we will discuss how construction software dashboard reports can be a blessing rather than a chore and why certain reports are so important and can be enhanced with modern construction software.

Let’s focus on the top 3 reports on every project managers’ wish list that are pivotal to success in construction.

  1. Status

    Construction project managers will be all too familiar with the request for a status report ‘this afternoon’ or, occasionally (more sympathetically) ‘by the end of the day’.  This may be at the behest of a colleague, the management, the financial partners or main developer.  Regardless of where the request came from, it needs to be done.

    Those of you who already use market leading construction software will happily accept this kind of request and be able to use a suite like BuildSmart to have that report delivered, accurate and fully up to date at the press of a few keys.  Those who don’t will most likely die a little inside knowing that the trawl through every department and function, to get updated status information, is going to need to start before yesterday to have any hope of having it available by the end of today.

    State of the art construction ERP systems are constantly updated with every action, transaction and development that occurs within the project.  This is possible due to the seamless linking of all project elements from end to end.  These elements always speak the same language and cross reference each other.  For that reason, the actual status of every aspect is always already updated and available to be shared.  Gone are the days of ‘best guessing’ and hoping for the best.  Status reports can now be at the tip of your fingers whenever you want or need them.

  2. Risk

    At the outset and commencement of a project, certain risk factors will have been considered and these will need to be revisited throughout its lifecycle.  These may have a periodic scheduled review or be compiled following a risk review meeting.  Even with this amount of forward planning, dealing with risks in this manner is likely to result in retrospective action or repairs being required after discovery that damage has already begun.

    Imagine having a system that that has all the experience of your combined staff (past and present) that constantly maintains a vigil on the project in every detail and that is able to identify risks in real time.  If that was possible, you could all but eliminate risk or at the very least, minimize any consequences or fallout.  Welcome to the world of BuildSmart, a ground-breaking world leader in helping you manage not only your day to day resources, but also the ability to forecast and manage every detail with the intuition to spot discrepancies and variations even before they occur.

  3. Resources

    In an ideal world, you would always know who is doing what, where, when and with whom.  Traditionally, reviewing the project plan and checking the schedules (including time sheets and plant allocations) to pull together this information would be a daunting and time demolishing task.

    If you have the right construction software, this is already done for you and an actual resource report will be available at the click of a button.  As with the constant monitoring to manage risk, the same principles apply in managing your resources across the board.  This would include your staff, equipment, tools, plant and even your materials and sub-contractors.

    Having this information allows resource planning to be fine-tuned and enable efficiencies on a monumental scale.  You can genuinely get the maximum usage from your equipment and tools as well as achieve the most effective deployment of your human resources and materials across multiple projects.

    If this sounds too good to be true, why not arrange for one of the RIB team to give you real insight into how BuildSmart can be applied to your business.  They can show you what it has done to enhance the productivity and bottom line of some of the world’s most successful construction companies and what it can deliver for you.