What Unorganized Construction Project Data Costs Project Managers?

The construction industry produces a significant amount of data daily. However, most of these businesses need help figuring out what to do with all that data.

As the amount of data grows, it becomes increasingly challenging to organize and navigate through it. Many construction project managers are learning this lesson the hard way.

If you need any information from the daily report you completed six months ago, it could be under hundreds of documents, project files, and photos produced.

Do you have any idea how much money your construction business might be losing due to disorganized data?

Research by RIB Software in Germany mentions the vast majority of data captured in the engineering and construction sectors, from which 90% go unstructured and 96% are unused.

Challenges Construction Project Owners Face due to Unorganized Data

1. Significant Data Waste

Massive data sets are produced by construction companies from every department and stakeholder group, including suppliers, contractors, subcontractors, and the on-site crew.

Sadly, more than 80% of this useful data is shared, accessed, and maintained disorganized, leading to black data with little practical application.

These stats could seriously affect the project's budget and schedule.

2. Cost Overruns

Unorganized data can contribute to cost overruns by making it difficult to track expenses, manage budgets, and identify areas where savings can be made.

This factor may trouble construction project managers while monitoring project progress and accounting for the final amount.

3. Data Silos

One of the biggest challenges that modern construction project managers face is data silos. It significantly impacts and leads to rework that can cost millions of dollars if even one ongoing project or team members seems out of track.

On-site crews often use paper documents to organize information, while the backend team relies on dashboards and emails to store and distribute data, resulting in an entrenched and deepening information silo.

4. Lack of Visibility into Project Performance

Construction project owners often lack visibility into how their projects are performing due to unorganized data. Without the ability to easily access and analyze data, it can be difficult to make informed decisions about the progress of a project.

This is another challenge that construction project managers face that leads to inefficiency in project deliveries.

What is the Best Solution to Streamline Data Management?

Britton quoted in one of his podcasts that, “ One of the things the construction sector does is collect data at the grassroots level. At the source. Whether that is a machine on the shop floor or the Revit model itself, we are collecting data passively. And what that does is it creates an objective set of data.”

So, construction companies or project managers should not stop collecting but organize it in the right manner. But how? The answer is undoubtedly technology.

The best solution to streamline data management in construction is to adopt a cloud-based construction management software that offers robust document management capabilities.

Such software can provide a central repository for all project-related documents, making organizing, accessing, and sharing information easier.

Additionally, modern construction management software can offer features such as version control, real-time collaboration, and data analytics that enable construction operations managers to gain deep insights into project progress, financial reports, and contracts.

This, in turn, can help organizations make data-driven decisions and improve overall project efficiency.

Here are some of the benefits of using cloud-based data management software:

1. Centralized storage: Data management software allows storing all your data in one centralized location, making it easier to manage and access.

2. Improved data accuracy: With data management software, you can eliminate the errors and inconsistencies associated with manual data entry.

3. Enhanced data security: Data management software provides robust security features to protect sensitive data from cyber threats and unauthorized access.

4. Better collaboration: With a centralized data management system, team members can collaborate more effectively on projects and share information seamlessly.

5. Data insights: This software can provide valuable insights into your business operations and help you make data-driven decisions.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, complex construction projects often generate vast amounts of unstructured data. However, this matter can be a veritable gold mine of solutions if the appropriate technical tools and capabilities are in place to manage and sustain it.

Project managers can combine data streams from all angles to reveal hidden project insights using the right data management tools and analytics methodologies.

Adapting to a cloud-based construction management software to incorporate and organize disorganized data is beneficial.

It enables you to eliminate information silos among all stakeholder teams, integrate data sources, and keep your project on schedule by allowing you to base decisions on reliable business intelligence rather than guesses.

ProjectPro is one such platform that can help you streamline construction data without any hassle. To know how it works, book a demo.